The Prairie Kingsnake is found in the western portions of Harris County. The scientific name Lampropeltis means 'shiny shield' in Greek; and one look at their shiny body will show you why! Each scale looks like a small shiny shield, protecting them quite well from many predators. Adults and juveniles are similar in appearance, with a lighter background color, offset by dark brown oval spots running the length of the body. The head is somewhat more rounded than many of the other snakes native to the area.

As their common name implies, kingsnakes are literally the kings of our local snake species, and will eat other snakes. In fact, kingsnakes will eat vipers such as copperheads, cottonmouths and rattlesnakes. If a viper manages to inject venom into a kingsnake, it does no harm to the kingsnake. They have the ability to metabolize the venom, and scientists hope to someday find out how this is done, so that we may be able to get a pill or injection to keep vipers from being able to harm US!

Regardless of whether kingsnakes help us to develop cures for snakebite, these are still valuable animals to have around; they eat rodents, which can spread disease, and may even reduce your local venomous snake population along the way!