Authoritative classification for this king?

[improvius]

I went ahead and bought the king advertised here.

I've seen an identical snake referred to as a "high white desert king," but honestly I don't really know how it should be classified.

Anyway, I was just curious, so I could refer to it correctly. I think it looks fantastic, whatever it ends up being called.

-Imp

[Tim_Cranwill]

It's a California Kingsnake (<i>Lampropeltus getula californiae</i>).

Yours would be called a High-Yellow Cal King or Banana Cal King. Desert Kingsnakes are a different sub-species all together (<i>Lampropeltus getula splendida</i>). Very closely related to Cal Kings but still different.

[improvius]

Great, thanks! Is the black belly also typical of "bananas?"

-Imp

[gonesnakee]

They were probably refering to it being a Desert Phase CK not a Desert King as Tim states they are different snakes. Desert Phase CKs are usually a nice clean crisp white with a solid black, whereas the Coastal Phase ones are usually more of a cream or yellow with lighter or even choclately light black color. The Bananna ones are suposed to be the Hi Yellow Coastal Phase & the Desert phase ones would be considered Hi white. I breed Hi white ones that also have solid white bellies that are refered to as Ivories. Yours is what I would consider an abbrerrant striped or a Bananna. Abberrant because it is not really very clean or Hi Yellow, but just an average Bananna. Nice but nothing special & quite common. My first CK (1rst snake) was an abbrerrant bananna like 1 too & they make for a sweet pet. Mark
P.S. usually to be a true Bananna they should have IMHO less than 30% black (besides the belly that is) & to be a true Ivory they should also have the 30% or less black with a white belly. If they meet the above & are striped they are considered to be striped, not Bananna or Ivory. Does this make any sense? LOL M.