I've never met snakes with such a wild range of temperment than kingsnakes.

As far as captive specimens go, I've met adults that are every bit as nice as you could ask for, if a bit hyper. I've also met adults that do nothing but bite, and they BITE and HOLD ON (not a feeding response either).

Another note on kings: They are the only wild snake I've encountered in the US that I haven't found AT LEAST ONE specimen that was reluctant to bite.. on average I'd say that wild copperheads, water snakes, garters, corns, and texas rats are all calmer than wild kings.