We all have our favorite herps..

And when it comes to kingsnakes those that like them have their favorite morphs we so often see and hear about..

But lets see a pic your favorite Banded finds, of your favorite "Color" bandeds.

No debates (Ross!! ).. Bandeds only..

My personal favorite is the Dark brown (chocolate like) and Bright Yellow. Followed closely by Light Brown and Bright Yellow, which is followed closely by Light Brown and White..

1. My Favorite Color

2.Second Favorite Color

3.Third Favorite Color


Lets see "your" favorite Bandeds?

Fundad

Ohhhhhh...Kings! best ever, found by my son, at ARC PS...

Same 'hypo' with a brn/wht intergrade tween coastal and desert phase...

seems to be nothing but banded in berdoo... cool thread idea, Brian... jim

Wow Brian, beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder. Those look like someone puked up poi and egg nog on them

Just give me black and white:



Followed by a little 'Brown Sugga' and white:



The key is 'WHITE'

I agree with Owen - black and white:



Robert

I'm with Fundad on this one. Dark brown/Bright Yellow! Sorry not a full banded it is a little aberrant...

@Jim, So whats your favorite color, besides that really nice Brown and White king your son found?

@Owen Yes Black and Whites are really nice too , but they just can't seem to break into the top 3, BTW I am pretty sure I commented on your brown and white king you have posted here before, but I'll say it again that is a beauty of a king ...

@Robert, that king looks like it as yellow in it?

@ Issac.. Agreed Nice color on your king..

Fundad

Nice kings everyone! I think the best bandeds come from SD Co., not to say there are not killer bandeds anywhere else. Here are some SD bandeds from my website. http://southerncaliforniakingsnakes.weebly.com

A really nice looking banded photo I got from Bill. I don't think this one has been seen here.


From Correcomino.


A nice chocolate desert phase found by Rich Morgan (Rockratt).


Born from a wild caught gravid female near the Mnt. Springs area.

Well...I'm not really a 'king fanatic'... I like them all. Growing up in Highland... I'd see plenty of Brn/Yell... so, of course BLK/Wht were my favorite...like the one you and I cruised...

NOW... living in the hi-d, and seeing mostly Blk/Wht... I dig seeing yell/brn coastals... my pair, I've had 6 years, for my ed talks...(SB Co)


As for what I would consider the prettiest banded I've ever seen?... flipped at 'Bill's Hill', the one time he took me/Todd there (after escondito survey)... golden brn/ pale Yell... Wish I had got a pic, but was just there to look, not collect data. If I had my choice of any banded I've ever seen... I'd pick that one.... jim

And I agree with you, Fundad. I like the brown and yellow first, fallowed by the brown and white. The shade of brown doesn't matter too much to me.

Black & White all the way

I was just about to respond to your post, but you didn't tell us YOUR "favorite" colors?

Fundad

Yeah, I looked back and realized I forgot the question.

now... look back and realize you still didn't answer it... jim

Don't make me bust a hubbs on you.

Gotta have to agree with Owen...nothing beats a dark, dark black and white banded...especially with high band counts!

Still being an 'outsider' (yuk!), I have only ever seen 2, so I hope you won't mind my (obviously) modest contribution. I loved them both .

I -honestly- remember thinking "Am I glad this snake's nicely black and white!". All those brownish ones look like pre-shed to me. I guess I'd better insert " " , to avoid getting torched, but at least, I can factor out the "attractiveness of rareness" bias .


from Big Sur


from somewhere in hellihooks's sizeable playground

I guess it gets even worse if I admit that I'd rather found a speckled rattler than that second king

I like sharp contrast in my kings but the black and white is just too, well, dare I say, black and white

I think the jet black and royal gold is one of the more unique color combos in the herp world. It's got a majestic look to it IMHO. Although I have yet to find a golden king with pure jet black between the gold, (anyone else wanna share one please?)





A close second place for me is the brown and gold. pretty much anything with clean vibrant gold bands is a winner in my book


This one was found in the same place as the last two

edit- yeah I know that last one doesn't have the cleanest bands but it's got the gold -and...
no pics but my favorite banded morph would be a zipper back - the best I've found was about 50% zipper
lastly- any tips on photographing jet black kings? mine always look white from the flash or blue from the sky

yeah... that's why you should never speculate, on what you might see... I still think that Hi-D lyre was the most unusual find of your trip... jim

I love the black and white banded kings. They always remind me of Kraits.

I love the black and yellow banded kings. They aways remind me of the Indian hooded kings

For sure a very cool snake, but I guess I was like any regular "herp tourist" in CA - rattlers, king, rosy, ... as snake-wise iconic species on top of the list, but I believe that's what I was (inelegantly named) referring to with that bias, Jim . I'm pretty sure an inquiry among European herpers would put sidewinder on top of the snake list... Anyway, I haven't learned my lesson, since I'm already speckulating for AZ later this year.


Ooowww... Drifting off topic there, so here's what I really meant to write.
I'll admit that my (albeit shrinking) ignorance towards king morphs urges me to confess at this point that Nate's last "golden brown" sure is verrry nice too!

this is my favorite.

You gotta love the Golden Brown black-bellies...


But the Speckleds are nice too...


However, the Black and Yellow Thin-bandeds are neat also...


but I guess my favorite in So-Cal is the Reddish-brown and Yellow...


And here's a high band count...but it won't be B&W for long...it was a juvie...


Mike Waters' snake is great, and if he ever learns how to take a pic in focus it will be even better...

Nice Kings everyone, kind of cool to know what everyone's favorite colored bandeds are..

Nate, that light brown and yellow king is NICE..

As far as Black and Yellow goes if I ever see a true black and yellow, it would likely become my #1 too

I have seen some dark brown and yellow kings, much like the one you have posted and they are indeed beautiful..
So I understand why you like that combo..

Here is a couple "wantabe" black and yellows




If this one had decent yellow it would be close, but its a neo and the brown would likely get lighter with age..


Fundad

Hard to say my favorite, but I like the light chocolate brown and brightest yellow ones... and I haven't found any quite like that.

Here's some of my favorite's



Eastern San Diego co.


LA co.





San Gabriel mts.



Inyo co.

Just cause you don't see them from Tehama Co. that often, here's a YoY defensively posturing...

Never heard or Correcomino but that snake is awesome, Ross!! All of these kings are great

Yeah, its real nice. Correcomino is one of the AZ guys that comes out here every so often looking for crotes.

Danny, I LOVE this photo.. Matter of fact thats one of the best as found pics I ve seen in a while, I love it when under a small object is ALL snake, especially a nice Brown and Yellow king like that.


This king is nice too


I love it when Jackson checks in too, nice Tehama Co. King

Here is a few kings from up your neck of the woods.
Glenn County

Butte County, Notice the OFF coloring, which is fairly common for that part of Butte county..



Here is a pretty good Zipper king someone mentioned earlier..




And Oh YEAH senior HUBBS you have some Killer examples Too..

Here is another dark brown and yellow for Nate


Fundad

How bout this banded? It's a new morph that Hubbs didn't name.... It's called the "really, really, really thin banded".

Thats a really nicely colored "really, really, really thin banded" Mr Tobler...

Did you find that up your way?

Fundad

Yeah, David's king has some really thin bands. That's as thin as I've seen. You normally don't see bands that thin down here unless the snake is hypermelanistic and that snake shows no traces of it. Very cool.

Man those are some nice snakes! I like the dark brown and nice white ones. Cal kings are one of my top three favorite snakes.

Great pics everyone

PL

This king is one of my favorites. Mostly because he was almost 5' and meaner then any gopher snake I ever met. Excuse the poor quality as this image is a few years old

WOW!
Still... Nate's brn/gold is my fav, color-wise. jim

QUESTION: is there really such a thing as a PURE BLACK ADULT CalKing? ...meaning, when you look at it very closely in hard sun you can't discern even a hint of brown?

Yes there is! It looks like this.......

Gotta be a up pretty early to pull one over on me Mr. VanSooy!

edit: even still, there's just a hint of brown in that austral animal.

Yes.. You know the spot well, you flipped a black belly there in front of Hubbs and I. Fairly sure Hubbs' thin-banded on the cover of his book came from the same spot.

No... not a true black, like nigritus. This is about as close as I've seen...

Hubbs once told me that this morph occasionally (or did) occur at one certain locale... can't remember where, and wouldn't say, if I could...

J Hartley's son is now the proud owner of this king... jim
BTW... nice krait, Kent...

Looks like Kent suckered you Jim I do believe that is a Bandy Bandy ...but good guess

As for nigrita ...Contrary to popular assumption, many, if not all are in fact NOT truly black, just very dark brown. Now Black Milks, on the other hand are negra puro!

My nigrita is BLACK black... I'd take a pic, but don't want to 'wake him up'... I'll check for an older pic. I remember Kent trying to pass that off as a king before... thought I remembered it being a krait... jim

Well, I did offer the caveat, "many if not all" ...I've only seen on live actually ...it was very young but in hard light there was a barely discernable brownish cast. Maybe you should send me the one you have so I can verify it ;-p

If you have a breeder sized female... you just might get to see it... jim

That is crazy nice ...but it doesn't appear large enough to be an adult???

Are you kidding? That thing has got to be at least 4 feet long.

Maybe, but I'm judging by the size of the tweeds in the carpet it is on. ....just doesn't look like more than 20" to me. ...maybe I'm crazy

Are you kidding? Those are branches. I'd say its a YOY.