Meet the common but beautiful scarlet kingsnake

The first time I ever saw a scarlet kingsnake, Lampropeltis (triangulum) elapsoides, I was in northern Georgia herping with Gordy Johnston.

On our way to Florida, we had stopped at a small patch of recently burned pine woodlands as much as for a break in the driving as for actually herping. We checked the environs of a small soot-edged pond, seeing only a southern leopard frog or two. Along the way we rolled a log now and again, finding first a slimy salamander and then absolutely nothing under the next several.

We gave up on the log rolling until we were almost back to the car and we were actually stepping over the outermost log before deciding to roll it. That proved a fortuitous decision, because after straining and tugging when the log yielded, coiled tightly on the ground, was the most beautiful little snake either of us had ever seen.

Red, black, yellow,black, red black...the pattern was repeated over and over. And the vivid colors actually ringed the 15-inch long snake. That was our introduction to the scarlet kingsnake, and the memory of that introduction remains with me until this day.

More photos below...

Facial aspect of a young adult scarlet kingsnake: A beautiful young adult scarlet kingsnake:

Author, photographer, and columnist Richard Bartlett is one of the most prolific writers on herpetological subjects in the 20th century. With hundreds of books and articles to their credit, Richard and his wife Pat have spent over four decades documenting reptiles both in the field and in captivity. For a list of their current titles, please visit their page in our bookstore.