Introducing the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center’s
newest educational animal ambassador: California kingsnake, Oreo.
With her chocolate-brown and cream-colored stripes, she practically
named herself. In December 2008, the 4-foot long snake was
transferred to WERC from another wildlife center where she had
lived for several years.
Introducing the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center’s newest educational animal ambassador: California kingsnake, Oreo. With her chocolate-brown and cream-colored stripes, she practically named herself. In December 2008, the 4-foot long snake was transferred to WERC from another wildlife center where she had lived for several years. Incomplete shedding over her eyes caused an infection that left her blind in her right eye, and therefore she is not able to be released.
The beautiful patterns and colors of the kingsnake’s banding vary in different California locations; banding can be lengthwise or ringed around the body. The smooth-scaled and glossy snake – its scientific generic name is Lampropeltis, which means “shiny shield” – has alternating bands of black or brown and white or cream. (The California mountain kingsnake, which inhabits a more limited geographical area, has black, white and red bands.)
The kingsnake’s name is fitting: It is cannibalistic – it eats snakes and is immune to the venom of rattlesnakes. It also dines on a smorgasbord of other wildlife, including small rodents, lizards, birds and bird eggs, turtles and frogs. Snakes have relatively poor eyesight; they use their forked-tongue to “smell” their prey and can feel vibrations. The non-venomous kingsnakes are constrictors, and like boas and pythons, they kill by coiling tightly around their prey to suffocate it. Its lower jaw then unhinges enabling it to swallow its meal whole.
Kingsnakes may rule as “kings” over the local reptile, amphibian and small rodent population, but they are considered an edible delicacy by other animals: Their predators include hawks, eagles, coyotes, bobcats and even other kingsnakes. A wild kingsnake is usually quite docile but when threatened, it may excrete a foul-smelling musk and vibrate its tail to warn off those predators or some unwary person who might try to pick it up.
Oreo joins WERC’s team helping to educate our community about the natural history of reptiles and to encourage the peaceful coexistence between civilization and our native wildlife. Oreo will appear at public events and local school programs, as did two of WERC’s past educational kingsnakes: Quasimodo, who had his back broken when a cat attempted to eat him as he was hatching from an egg, leaving him partially paralyzed, and Cat-Got-My-Tongue, who had his tongue pulled out by a cat.
CGMT thrived for two years at WERC until one day his caregiver was shocked to see CGMT’s tongue flicking at him. This miraculous recovery meant that CGMT no longer needed to be kept captive as an educational animal and he was released into the grassy hills.
