Not true. If your house is very dry, you're going to at least need to offer a damp retreat during sheds. The smallest depends on what you consider a king snake. There are generally more options in the Lampropeltis genus if you don't mind tapping into "milk snake" faction. Barring that, a couple of smaller common name "kings" are the scarlet(L. elapsoides) and grey banded(L. alterna). Between those two, I'd recommend alterna for the easier keeper and better handler in general.