The Lampro Blog: West Texas Gems
The Gray Banded King Snake has somewhat of a cult following. Herpers from all over the nation and even other countries venture to the semi-arid desert of West Texas in search of these prized king snakes along with many other of the flora and fauna west Texas has to offer. West Texas is full of old townships that were established during the oil booms of the early 20th century and later in the 1970s. When the oil boom died down so did these small west Texas townships. It seems the money flow brought by the Alterna hunters (herpers) have kept a lot of these small west Texas towns alive. Since the 1970s, and maybe earlier, west Texas herpers have been welcomed with signs that read “Welcome Snake Hunters.” Great camaraderie amongst the Gray Band hunters has grown to an all out addiction and cult following for those that save up every year to make the trek to such desolate Trans Pecos roads and cuts in search of some of arguably the most beautiful king snakes in the nation. In June of 2012 there will be the first annual “Snake Days” in Sanderson, TX. Many believe that this will be the beginning of a great annual tradition.
L. alterna are very popular among snake keepers around the world. There are two genres of Gray Banded Kings – Generic and Locality animals. The word “generic” seems to be derogatory but it really isn’t. There are many beautiful generic Gray Bands that are not hybrids. They are merely non-hybrid alterna that have been out-crossed multiple times among numerous localities and/or line bred for a desired look. Locality animals seem to be the most sought after. Extreme Alterna enthusiasts will not breed a pair of wild collected animals solely on the fact that they were found in the same county. They would rather breed a pair of wild caught Alterna from the same road cut or draw in hopes of producing offspring that are more likely to occur in nature. I am one to believe that once a certain locality is line bred for a few generations the “natural” look is lost but there is nothing wrong with labeling them as animals with parental stock originating in said locale.
Along with all of these localities and generics there have been some morphs pop up in captivity mostly from the Black Gap locality. Hypomelanistics, Anerythristics, Ghosts (Hypomelanistic & Anery Double Homozygote) and Speckled/Granites have all been produced in captivity from Black Gap parental stock by Dan Johnson and now a few others. Chris Baubel has produced some Leucistic and Hypoerythristic morphs from his non-hybrid alterna. Many have produced hybrid amelanistic alterna by introducing the amelanistic gene from the Lampropeltis ruthveni. Experienced hobbyist can spot these crosses rather easily, but if line bred for more generations they can very much resemble an amel Gray Band. Not until one is documented in the wild will there be true believers.
This Summer we plan to be hitting the roads and road cuts of West Texas numerous times. I believe we are all thankful the road herping ban has been lifted in Texas. We live about 4 hours from known habitat. So I can foresee numerous future blogs that will document our West Texas field herping trips.
Lampropeltis alterna – Black Gap Female (Alterna Phase)
Pattern Variation and Mexicana Similarities:
Alterna are one of the most variable king snakes in the United States. Back in 1901 Mr. E. Meyenburg collected the first recorded Kingsnake from the Davis Mountains in Jeff Davis County, TX. The following year (1902) A. E. Brown, the General Superintendent of the Philadelphia Zoological Society classified it as a new species of Ophibolus from West Texas. Today there are two phases of Gray Banded Kings – the alterna phase and the blairs phase. We now know the first Davis Mountain King was an alterna phase. A half a century later in 1950 A. Flury found a “new” DOR king snake in west Texas 9 miles west of Dryden, TX. Flury named this king snake Lampropeltis blairi because the specimen had a phenotypic pattern different than that of the Brown specimen that was later named Lampropeltis alterna. Two decades later in 1970 E. Tanzer was able to make the connection between alterna and blairi. In 1969 a gravid female alterna phase was found in Val Verde County near Comstock, TX. The gravid female laid 5 eggs that hatched. Three were blairs phase and 2 were alterna phase. They were then declared to all be L. m. alterna and the two phases were just polymorphic variations of a single type of king snake. In 1982 Gartska classified L. alterna as its own species and removed it as a subspecies of L. mexicana at the same time L. ruthveni was reclassified as its own species as well.
Since there is such a huge herpetoculture and herpetological following the Gray Banded King and its geographical variations is well documented in the US, not so much in Mexico for reasons numerous reason. Alterna-morph snakes predominate in the western, more arid part of the range, while blairi-morph individuals are characteristic of the more humid eastern segment. In future blogs we will describe how there are numerous similarities between alterna, greeri, mexicana and thayeri, phenotypically speaking. The main similarity is the fact that they all have a banded phase and an alterna-like phase. For example L. m. thayeri express two polymorphic morphs. In one litter there will be banded neonates called Milk Snake Phase or MSP and alterna-like neonates called “Leonis Phase.” Many do not know that there have been banded morphs of greeri and mex mex found in Mexico but it is documented and very interesting in my opinion.
Size:
• Hatchling: 7 – 12 in.
• Adult: 28 – 36 in. (normal)
57.75 in. (record – Edwards County, TX.)
Scalation:
• Dorsal: 25 rows near mid-body
• Ventral: 210 – 232
• Sub caudal: 56-62
• Infra labial:10
• Supra labial: 6 – 8
• Anal Plate: Single
Range:
Alterna are also found in extreme southeastern New Mexico where they are a protected species. Their main US range is throughout the Trans-Pecos region of southwestern Texas. In Texas alterna range from Edwards County near Rocksprings west to the eastern edge of El Paso County in the Hueco Mountains. Then their range goes southward within the boundaries of the Chihuahuan Desert of north-central Mexico (including Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo Leon, and probably northern Zacatecas). They also range outside desert area near Monterrey, Nuevo León and on the eastern part of the Sierra Madre Occidental in northern Durango at elevations above 7550 ft. Gray banded kings from the eastern part of their Mexican range have been found from 3280–5900 ft elevation. The U.S. portion of their range is well defined compared to the distribution within Mexico as with all Lampropeltis south of the US / Mexico border.
Habitat:
Rocky canyons and arroyos, limestone ridges, fissured slopes and boulder / rock piles are preferred, although specimens are occasionally found in desert flats or on road right of ways at night.
Prey:
L. alterna feeds primarily on lizards and rodents, although lizard eggs, snake eggs and amphibians like the Canyon Tree Frog Hyla arenicolor have also been reported as prey. Ophiophagy (consumption of snakes), common in Lampropeltis getula, is rare but has been observed in captive L. alterna.
Popular (not all) Localities:
Brewster County, TX
Big Bend National Park (Off Limits)
Alpine
Christmas Mountains
Study Butte
Terlingua
Peppers Hill
Lajitas
Black Gap
Christmas Mountains – Photographed by Troy Hibbitts
Black Gap – Photographed by Troy Hibbitts
20 miles south of Alpine – Photographed by Troy Hibbitts
Crane County, TX
King Mountains
Crockett County, TX
US Hwy 190, East of Iraan
Ft. Lancaster, US Hwy 290
Howard Draw Road/FM 2083
Juno Road, Tx Hwy 163
I-10 – in Crockett County
Culberson County, TX
Beach Mountains – Photographed by Troy Hibbitts
Eddy County, NM
Edwards County, TX
US 277, North of Loma Alta
US 377
FM 2523
FM 674 (Brackettville Road)
Rocksprings
El Paso County, TX
Hueco Mountains along US 62/180
Jeff Davis County, TX
Boy Scout Road, FM 1832
Limpia Canyon, TX 17
TX 118 – between Ft Davis and McDonald Observatory
McDonald Observatory, Tx 118
Musquiz Canyon, TX 118
Davis Mountains – Photographed by Troy Hibbitts
Kinney County, TX
Hudspeth County, TX
Hueco Mountains along US 62/180
I-10
Pecos County, TX
US 285 North of Sanderson
Iraan, US Hwy 190, FM 305
US 90 West of Sanderson
FM 2886 South of Bakersfield
US 385 Glass Mountains / NE of Marathon
US 67 SW of Ft. Stockton
I-10
Iraan – Photographed by Troy Hibbitts
Sheffield – Photographed by Troy Hibbitts
Presidio County, TX
River Road FM 170
Lajitas FM 170
Shafter US 67
Pinto Canyon
Candeleria
US 90 Between Marfa and Alpine
West of Big Hill River Road – Photographed by Troy Hibbitts
Lajitas – Photographed by John Lassiter
Lajitas – Photographed by John Lassiter
Real County, TX
Reeves County, TX
Sutton County, TX
HWY 277 South of Sonora
Terrell County, TX
Lozier Canyon US 90
Palma Draw US 90
Sanderson West US 90, East US 90, US 285 North
Dryden US 90
TX 349 Dryden to Sheffield
FM 2400
FM 2886
Dryden – Photographed by Troy Hibbitts
North of Sanderson – Photographed by Troy Hibbitts
Upton County, TX
King Mountain
Photographed by Troy Hibbitts
Val Verde County, TX
Juno Rd TX 163
Loma Alta US 277
Langtry US 90
US 90 Del Rio to Comstock
US 90 Comstock to Langtry
US 90 Langtry to Pumpville
Pandale Dirt
Pandale Paved FM 1024
Juno Road – Photographed by Troy Hibbitts
Loma Alta – Photographed by Troy Hibbitts
Mexico
Durango, North of San Juan Del Rio
Coahuila
Coahuila / Cuatrocienegas
Coahuila / Cuesta del la Muralla
Monterrey
North of Saltillo
MANY Unkown localities
The Lampro Blog is dedicated to all things Lampropeltis, both captive and field related, with multiple contributors.
John Lassiter has been a herpetoculturist, field herper, and snake keeper for over 20 years. His main passion is the Mexicana Complex Lampropeltis. John has been working on some very interesting projects with some of the best stock available. Many of these Mexicana have never been seen before in the mainstream hobby. Check out John’s website, “Coastal Bend Captive Breeding.” He can be contacted at jlassiter.cbcb@gmail.com
