- KING OF THE KENTUCKY FORESTS - Part 2 Photos and Story by Phil Peak |
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I recall clearly the late August evening ten years ago when I heard a knock at the door. It was the hottest part of the summer and I had recently returned from work. I have the reputation of being the local snake guy, so my neighbor from two doors down thought it prudent to alert me about the large snake that was in his yard under his box elder tree. As I exited my front door in the direction of his yard I recall my neighbor informing me that the big snake had regurgitated something on the driveway that separated his yard and mine. As I walked forward I quickly found the partially digested remains of a rat snake that was easily four to five foot long. At this time I knew that the snake in question must be a big king. Sure enough, lying quietly under the tree in his manicured lawn was a king snake as thick as a small mans wrist that had no | ||||||||||||||||||
| indication of it missing a meal in the recent past. Unlike most king snakes that I have seen in the field this beast launched itself into me with a fury that is seldom seen by any species of snake. I have no scientific data to back it up, but I have the impression from talking with others that are interested in king snakes that a certain percentage of king's are overtly aggressive by nature. These snakes are usually quite large and feed preferentially on other snakes. Type A's so to speak. I don't know how true this is, but enough of us have made observations to this effect to warrant further investigation.... | |||||||||||||||||||
| Unlike many snakes, the King Snakes in Kentucky seem to be decidedly diurnal. Late afternoon will usually find them resting contentedly in some out of the way spot, often with a full stomach. We have found them on a number of occasions actively foraging from around 9:00 AM to 1:00 Pm . Unlike the king snakes found in other parts of their range, the Black King does not seem to be as directly linked to water ways as in the deep south where they often frequent canals or cypress swamps or in the west where riparian corridors are often utilized. In Kentucky edge habitat is usually frequented whether it be where the field meets the forest or aquatic environs. We have found them to be equally numerous on the edges of swamps as we have on high and dry ridges of pine and oak. | |||||||||||||||||||
We have found that those kings from upland habitat seem to be the most likely to be dark and patternless and those from low lying regions tend to retain more of the juvenile coloration. There are exceptions to this rule however, and occasionally a snake is found that deviates from what you would expect to see from a given area. Regardless of where found, the king snake is always a welcome addition to the days species list. There is a place in south central KY that Will and I have secured access from the property owners to develope a site. We stumbled on this place one Winters afternoon several years back while scouting for potential places to search for pine snakes in the Spring. There was already several sheets of tin that was positioned well and a great deal more that was stacked in the ruins of a burned out house.We quickly modified this site so that the available tin could be used to its best advantage. It was with great anticipation that we returned to this place one cool but sunny early Spring afternoon. Upon lifting the first sheet of tin we were greeted by a large pair of king snakes. The second sheet yielded a third and so it went. Before long we had discovered a veritable horde of these constrictors that seemingly thought our pine snake site was a good place to set up shop! To say the least no pine snakes were found that day nor any on our subsequent visits to this particular tin field. On most given days though we would find a king or two hanging out somewhere under some of the tin.... In addition to searching for pine snakes in the cave region Will and I take a number of trips each year to western KY in hopes of tracking down a pine snake from that population. In late April of this year we made our first expedition of the season to this part of the state. Coming off the heels of several weeks of unseasonably hot summer like weather a major cold front had finally inundated the entire region. Personally we like this type of weather provided there is plenty of sunshine during the day. As we left Louisville that morning the temperatures were hovering around the freezing mark. The first day of our trip had a forecast of a high of 50F and mostly sunny. Perfect we though for hunting tin. We timed our arrival so that we would be at our first site in late morning so that the sun would be high enough in the sky to be warming the tin that we planned on looking under. Like clock work our first stop produced a pair of kings under a single sheet of tin. From there we proceeded |
 King habitat in Calloway Co. |
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| finding kingsnakes all day. Twelve in all with each one found under some form of artificial cover. The bonanza of king snakes was only slightly interrupted by a smattering of other species including a timber rattlesnake that was found sunning near a stack of mangled tin. As it turned out this was one of the few places we stopped at that did not yield at least one king snake. The next days weather was not so cooperative yet in the brief period of sunshine that we did have we managed to find several more kings in the next county over.... | |||||||||||||||||||
