INTRODUCTION

Greyband Kingsnakes come from the Trans-Pecos region of Southwestern Texas & Northern Mexico where they can be found in Rocky canyons, limestone ridges & rock piles and occasionally in desert flats.The Greyband Kingsnake is a medium sized colubrid reaching adult lengths of approx 3-4 foot. Hatchlings emerge from there eggs around 7-10 inches and some hobbyists have reported problems getting these to except rodents as there first meal. We are lucky, the majority of our Greyband hatchlings readily except defrosted pinkies immediately after there neonate slough.

WILD TYPE PHASES

A typical "Blairi" phase Greyband can be characterized as having between 12-15 wide red/orange saddles bordered by narrow black, which in turn is narrowly bordered by white, on a grey background.

The typical "Alterna" phase Greyband has 17-33 black bands that may or may not be split with red/orange, alternating with between 10-25 broken black bands, on a gray, background.They may also have a speckling of black pigment over part of all of there bodies.

Locality Greybands are bred in large numbers in the USA, including those from the Christmas Mountains, specimens from this locality include animals with a jet black ground color and bright neon orange saddles. Another popular collecting location is the Black Gap again high contrast animals are found here. In the early to mid 90's hundreds of herpetologists would make there way to Western Texas where the collecting of Greybands took place between the months of April to July. It is because of there efforts then, that the Greyband is widely available today as captive bred specimens. At the peak of the collecting years animals would be sold at the sides of the roads for hundreds of dollars to herpetologists wishing to pair similar looking animals up. This pilgrimage is still practiced today by dedicated "alterna" hobbyists, which has been christened "Alternaculture"

COLOUR & PATTERN MORPHS

Albino Greyband has been achieved in captivity by breeding the Albino gene from the Ruthvens Kingsnake into this species. To the best of my knowledge a pure albino specimen has not been found in the wild. Albino Greybands are beautiful snakes in shades of oranges, yellows & whites.

Striped Greyband. Blotches are replaced by striping, this morph is quiet variable.

FOOD & WATER

In captivity these animals will eat a diet of mice. In the wild they feed on small lizards, small snakes, nestling birds & rodents. Hatchling Greyband Kingsnakes have a somewhat bad reputation for being picky feeders, preferring there first meal to be lizards rather than commercially raised rodents. This is not a problem if you buy your snake from a reputable breeder who has started the snake on rodents. As usually once they begin feeding on mice they will continue to do so with no problems.
Hatchlings can be fed every 3-4 days on pinkies, where as adults will only require feeding once a week on appropriate size mice. Fresh drinking water should be available at all times.

TEMPERAMENT

Hatchlings can be a bit nervous but soon calm down with handling and age.

TEMPERTURE

A thermal gradient with a hot spot of 84 degrees F and a cooler end in the mid 70's.

HOUSING

Greyband Kingsnakes should always be housed separately because of the cannibalistic qualities of these species.
Hatchling Greybands should be kept in a small container with a paper towel substrate, provided with a hide and fresh drinking water.
Adults & Juveniles can be housed in aquarium type enclosures, vivarium or a racking system, a general rule for deciding the size of a snakes home is length approximately equal to three quarters your snake's length. The cage's width should be about a third of your snake's length. A hide should be provided at both ends of the vivarium. Good husbandry and overall cleanliness are essential to your snakes general state of good health. If the enclosure is dirty, too wet or dry, or too hot or cold, this will cause skin or respitory problems or both.

SUBSTRATE

Hatchlings are best kept on paper towels.
Adults & Juveniles can be kept on a sterilized bark/wood chippings or aspen bedding, newspaper and paper towels are often used in racking systems but are not very pleasing to the eye when used in other forms of housing. Pine & Cedar shaving should never be used as these can be potentially dangerous to the snakes as they could digest some when they are being fed, and the fumes from the shavings can be toxic and could cause respitory problems.

HIBERNATION

To hibernate your Greyband Kingsnake for the winter, make sure it has had no food for two weeks and that the temperature is normal during this time allowing the snake to fully digest it's last meal and empty it's guts. After this the temperature should be lowered gradually over a few weeks until its 55 F . The snake should not be fed during this period but fresh drinking water should be available at all times. After three months the snake can gradually be warmed up over a two week period and can then be offered food again. Most hobbyists hibernate there snakes from mid November to mid January.

BREEDING

After hibernation and approx 3 weeks into a normal eating pattern for the female they can be introduced to one another, males will sometimes not eat at this time being more interested in breeding than eating. Female Greybands should only be bred from if they are healthy and feeding well. A female that has eaten well from a hatchling may be sexually mature by 18 months of age. The female should be introduced into the males cage. Once several copulations have been witnessed or the female looks fatter mid body they should be separated. The female should be given a laying box. A plastic container big enough for her to coil loosely in, filled with damp sphagnum moss. She may refuse food during her pregnancy, or may only except smaller prey items than usual. Expect her to lay between 5-10 eggs any time between 5-14 days after she has shed. The eggs when they are laid should be removed to another container two thirds filled with damp vermiculite ( when a handful is squeezed in the palm of the hand only a small amount of water should be produced. ). Do not rotate the eggs, and don't unnecessarily handle them. The box should have a fitted lid, and the humidity inside should be 100%, some condensation will form on the lid if this is too much and is dripping on the eggs, the vermiculite is too wet and a little dry should be sprinkled over the surface to take up the moisture. I usually have the egg boxes ready in the incubator a few days before I expect her to lay, this way the vermiculite is at the right temperature and any mistakes made in making up the vermiculite mixture can be rectified. The eggs should be checked weekly removing the lid will give a good exchange of air. The Eggs should be incubated at 80-83 degrees F, expect them to hatch after 50-70 days. The female should be offered food after she has laid, although some will refuse until they have had there post laying shed. It is a good idea then to feed her twice a week on smaller prey items until she has recovered her weight lose.
The hatchlings emerge between 7-10 inches and should be housed separately. They will have there neonate shed 5-10 days after hatching, at which time you can begin to start feeding them. As mentioned above Greyband Kingsnakes can be difficult to start on rodents, if all attempts to get them to feed fail you may have to resort to other means. We have an article on feeding problematic hatchlings that you may find useful at this point.
It is not uncommon for female Greyband Kingsnakes to have two clutches of eggs per year, the second clutch is usually laid around the time when the first clutch is hatching. The second clutch is usually smaller than the first, if say 10 eggs were produced in the first clutch expect around 5-6 in the second.

 © Sue Knight 2002