This beautiful snake is a juvenile GREY BANDED KING SNAKE who I have named King Julian!  In the wild, grey banded king snakes are found in south-western USA (New Mexico & southern Texas) as well as in northern Mexico.  However, like all of my snakes, King Julian was bred in the UK and he hatched from an egg in Portsmouth on the south coast of England on July 23rd 2010!

Grey banded king snakes are always banded but can have a very variable selection of colours, with some individuals being just grey and black.  I specifically chose this individual from the breeder because of his particularly rich orange colouration - I personally think that the contrast of grey and orange, with black separating the two colours, is exceptionally pretty!

I also really like King Julian's head as I think it is very attractive indeed, hope you think so too!

It's not just me who thinks that King Julian is lovely though!  On 8th June 2012 I was invited to BBC Radio 1 to share some of my animals with DJ Scott Mills and his team live on Scott's popular radio show in a 'show & tell' style feature - whilst I was there I also met Radio 1's resident film critic, the lovely Rhianna Dhillon, who also took a shine to King Julian!!

Like most snakes, King Julian uses his tongue to smell and to track down his food.  In the wild grey banded king snakes feed mainly on lizards, with small rodents occasionally being taken, but King Julian feeds within my collection purely on mice.  I do not feed any of my snakes living rodents and never have, instead they are kept in the freezer and defrosted thoroughly as and when required.

Children and adults alike love to meet King Julian and indeed all of my snakes, they are consistently the most popular animals during visits and this is why I maintain quite a few snakes in my collection! 

Here is Jake (right) enjoying meeting and handling a young King Julian at his 5th birthday party in April 2011!