Arizona Kingsnake

Question
We have a king snake nesting in our yard. This would not be a bad thing, but after doing research it turns out that they're not exactly friendly (even though they'll solve the rattle snake problem). We have 2 dogs, and children in the yard frequently and wouldnt want there to be any altercation, large or small, between either the dogs or the kids. Would you know of how to make one leave?  

Answer
David,

My first piece of advice to you and your family would be to make absolutely sure that this snake is indeed an Arizona Kingsnake and not a Sonoran Coral Snake.  You might already know this, due to where you live, but if you are in question at all, there is a little rhyme that may help you identify the snake you are seeing in your yard.  It refers to the red, yellow, and black color pattern of the coral snake and any other red, yellow, and black snake encountered in the US or Mexico.  It goes:

Red touches yellow, kill a fellow. (coral snake)
Red touches black, venom lack. (anything else w/ same colors)

Like I said, you may already know this rhyme, but if you didn't, this is a sure-fire way of distinguishing between the two.  If it does turn out to be a coral snake, you should contact a local wildlife removal service and find out about having the snake removed from your property.  I am not familiar with the wildlife laws of Arizona, but if this occurs the remover will most likely only move the snake a short distance from your property, as many snakes will not survive very far out of their normal home range.  Be warned, however, that if there is one coral snake around, there are probably more in the same area, so this will not absolutely solve your problem.  It may just be a quick solution for the time being.

If you know that the snake is not a coral snake, and is in fact a kingsnake, the best thing to do would be to just give the snake its space.  This may seem hard to do with children and two dogs running around the yard, but like I mentioned before, if there is one snake around, there are probably more around.  Removing the one snake you see may not solve the overall problem.  Be sure to make your children aware of the snake and to be sure to treat the snake with respect, not touching it, and observing it as a beautiful part of nature just like any other animal.  The more your children know about the wildlife in your area, the less likely they will be to fear it, and as a result, will learn to appreciate wildlife and coexist with it.  As for the dogs, kingsnakes, although they can be termpermental, are relatively harmless.  They cannot seriously harm the dogs.  If you don't allow your dogs to mess with the nest or to molest the snake, you shouldn't have too much of a problem.  I know you cannot observe every action of you children or your dogs at all times, but if you know where the nest is you can sort of steer both your dogs and children away from it.  Also, like you had mentioned, kingsnakes eat rattlers, so just think of it as a way of controlling the rattlesnake population in your area.  Things could be a lot worse if you had rattlers all over your yard.  If the snake did happen to bite someone, or you really just don't want it in your yard, you could have it removed, but like I said before, removing it is not a definite answer.

I know this probably isn't the type of answer you were looking for, but the thing you have to remember about living in the southwest is that you will at times encounter nature.  The sad, yet wonderful thing about living in Arizona is that you can live right in the middle of wild America.  I hope this has given you a little bit of help with your problem.

Good luck,
Joseph Glenn