Quote:
Maybe captive bred or captive raised do not but wild ones will eat eggs in a new york second. I have seen them do it several times in my lifetime and this big sucker here, gobbles em up when I put them out for it.
This one is often mistaken as a rattler on first glance...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/7630_kingsnakevariety.jpg
This is the variety that lives in my yard...huge one
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/7630_013923_ca_kingsnake.jpg
California Kingsnake
Here you can see pictures of the various varieties of Kingsnakes:
Kingsnakes varieties
You claim to have watched that particular snake eating eggs? Are you J. Lassiter? The one who took that photo? Hmmm......
The reason I post this is that I bred lampropeltis for many years. Eating eggs is a specialized behavior that requires a vertebra with a spinous process that is used to crush the egg. I didn't believe that lampropeltis had this shaped vertebra, making it very difficult to break the egg. Without breaking the egg internally, there is no way to digest it.
I believe kingsnakes WILL eat chicks and they will, certainly, eat the rodents attracted to all the food around a coop.
BTW, if the above poster feeds eggs, successfully, to her king.....I stand corrected. I will have to go back and take a look at lampropeltis skeleton and figure it out. Corn (elaphe guttata guttata) are one of the many rat snakes. They are specialized egg eaters.
Appearance and Anatomy of Common King Snakes
Colors and patterns: vibrant reds, yellows, oranges, tans, black and white arranged in bands, rings, stripes, patches, spots and speckles, with the exact design depending on the species, subspecies, individual and locale
Length: typically 2 to 4 feet, rarely 7 feet, hatchlings 8 to 13 inches
Head: somewhat wider than the neck, plate-like top scales, bulging eyes
Body Scales: smooth and glossy, giving rise to the scientific species name "lampropeltis," which means "shiny skin"
Hunting Attributes: powerful body, which the kingsnake uses to suffocate its prey by constriction
Common kingsnakes, which occur in a rainbow of polished colors, rate near the top of the most beautiful snakes of the world. For instance, the Sonora Mountain kingsnake of Arizona has narrow red and white rings separated by thin black rings. The common kingsnake of California typically has broad dark bands separated by cream-colored bands. The scarlet kingsnake of the southeastern United States has broad red rings and narrow yellow rings separated by thin black rings.
Superficially, some common kingsnakes such as the Sonora Mountain kingsnake resemble the venomous coral snakes, but the kingsnake's red rings are bordered by black rings and the coral snakes red rings, by yellow rings. Remember the old saws: "Red touches black, you're o.k., Jack." And, "If red touches yellow, you're a dead fellow."
Modern Distribution and Habitat
The kingsnake is comprised of eight species, including the common kingsnake. The kingsnake has the largest natural geographical range of any land snake. It occupies an array of habitats from southern Canada to northern South America. The common kingsnake, with a number of subspecies, occurs across the United States and northern and central Mexico, from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast to the Gulf coast.
Exceptionally adaptable for a reptile, the common kingsnake makes itself at home in a diversity of habitats, ranging from desert basins to riverine wetlands, from valleys to rolling hills, from coastal estuaries to grasslands, from shrublands to forested mountain foothills. Secretive, they often seclude themselves in dense vegetation, under rocks and beneath fallen logs and inside rodent burrows. They usually keep to the ground's surface, but they can climb swiftly into brush or swim efficiently in ponds and quiet streams.
Hunting Habits and Diet
Hunting during the day, especially around sunrise and sunset, or through cool summer nights, the common kingsnake will prey on just about any creature that it can overpower with its constricting coils.
It feeds, most famously, on other snakes as well as on lizards, small turtles, frogs, birds and small mammals. It also eats the eggs of reptiles and birds. Equipped with an enzyme the breaks down the venom from poisonous snakes, minimizing the damage it suffers from bites it will eat rattlesnakes, copperheads, cottonmouth water moccasins and even coral snakes. Its practice of eating venomous snakes makes it exceptional among the reptiles.
