Gray-banded Kingsnake — Fact Sheet

Lampropeltis alterna · Gray-banded Kingsnake · Graugebänderte Königsnatter

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

• Indoor, locked enclosure for one snake; minimum 120 × 60 × 60 cm.
• Seal narrow gaps; kingsnakes may eat other snakes and must not cohabit.
• Substrate: 8-12 cm compacted soil/sand with excavator clay.
• Avoid pure loose sand, calcium sand, sharp stone and unsecured heavy slabs.

🪨 Enclosure furniture

• Snug warm and cool hides plus a ventilated humid hide.
• Flat stones supported directly from the enclosure base to make safe crevices.
• Cork, low shelves, artificial plants and a small heavy water bowl.
• Anchor every rock so digging cannot cause a collapse.

💡 Lighting

• Low-level linear UVB is recommended over part of the warm zone.
• Provide shade and crevices at all heights.
• Replace lamps by measured output/manufacturer schedule.
• Photoperiod: 10 hours in winter, up to 14 in summer.
• No night lamp.

🌡️ Temperature

• Basking spot: 29-31 °C

• Warm zone: 23-27 °C

• Cool zone: 20-24 °C

• Night: 18-22 °C

• Desert origin does not justify uniform heat; cool crevices are essential.

• Thermostat heaters and measure the surface and both air zones.

• Avoid heat rocks and unguarded bulbs.

💧 Humidity & water

• General humidity: 35-55%; ventilated humid hide 55-70%.
• Let the main substrate dry after light watering.
• Small heavy bowl with fresh water.
• Avoid both bone-dry air and chronically damp bedding.

🐁 Diet

Feed freely:

• Frozen-thawed mice; juveniles every 5-7 days, adults every 10-14 days.

In moderation:

• Scented or lizard-shaped captive prey when establishing difficult hatchlings.

Avoid:

• Wild lizards, live rodents, force-feeding without veterinary direction and oversized meals.

Supplements:

• Whole prey needs no routine powder.

💤 Brumation

• Mainly a breeding tool: about 10-14 °C for 8-12 weeks.
• Use only healthy, established adults after body-condition and digestive checks.
• Never brumate juveniles, new arrivals or compromised animals.
• Monitor weight and hydration and involve an experienced veterinarian if condition changes.

🩺 Health — warning signs

• Persistent hiding with no feeding → stress, insufficient cover or wrong temperature.
• Regurgitation → excessive heat, oversized prey, disturbance or disease.
• Retained shed → dehydration or missing humid refuge.
• Mouth rubbing → insecure crevice or escape behaviour.
• Obesity → adult fed too often.
• Burn or crushing injury → unguarded heater or unstable stonework.
• Egg binding → missing nest, poor condition or reproductive complication.

Seek a reptile-experienced veterinarian for weight loss, repeated regurgitation or reproductive signs.