Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I couldn't get the adults to sit still but here is a pic of a 2 year old male hypermelanistic Cal king I kept as a future breeder. I really liked his light color and broken pattern.

-----
Rick Staub

Now that's a intresting king! And that pic is worth a thousand words!
I'm tempted to screw up my budget and put in a order,lol!
Thanks Rick,

That is what is known as a ghost or Palomar (Not the correct term for the hobby). Same as Kerby used in his breeding with the JR lavender strain and got those weird ones.

i thought it was a ghost blackbelly cali??????? what's this palomar stuff?

Sorry, but he is a pure hypermelanistic from Davis locale. Just a little different from the rest but not that much. There is a lot of variability in this population and more that has not been seen yet if the wc kings I saw this year in Sacramento are any indication.

>>That is what is known as a ghost or Palomar (Not the correct term for the hobby). Same as Kerby used in his breeding with the JR lavender strain and got those weird ones.
-----
Rick Staub

Sorry, but he is a pure hypermelanistic from Davis locale. Just a little different from the rest but not that much. There is a lot of variability in this population and more that has not been seen yet if the wc kings I saw this year in Sacramento are any indication.

Are these the same that Gary Keesler had in his collection back in the early 80's? Still got the old pics, but they had a darker color sheme.

Hypermelanistic is probably the proper term for the Palomar "ghosts" anyway. Or is it? They look the same except for pattern. Are they? Or is it just the camera...

KERBY?

These originated from Eric Loza or David Muth from stock collected up here near Davis, CA just outside Sacramento. They are what used to be called black-bellies which occur randomly from Fresno north to Sacramento at least. I think the term hypermelanistic is more appropriate considering they are more chocolate in color anyhow. This one is a little different from others I have produced, mainly due to the lighter markings.

Here is a more typical sibling.

And one with a cleaner stripe

-----
Rick Staub

Thats top is more typical of what I would consider Davis. The bottom pic has that washed out look again like the Ghost Palomars. Guess the camera played tricks on me.

Yes Rainer it's the camera. I have seen both the Palomar "ghosts" and the Davis Blackbellies in person and they are quite different. Basicly the Davis are HYPERmelanistic abberrants and the Palomar "ghosts" are HYPOmelanistic (or possibly Lavender) abberrants. The original Palomar ghosts also had a shorter than normal head structure, though this may have been bred out by now. And yes the Keasler blackbellies from the 80's are the same thing as Rick and Eric's Davis hypermelanistics.

My Ghosts also have the shorter head.

Kerby...
-----
Lonesome Valley Reptiles
www.lonesomevalleyreptiles.com
Specializing In California Kingsnakes

The B.H.B. Ghost is not the same gene as the hypermelanistic Mendotas, as I bred them last year and did not get any Ghost or hypermelanistics, but just a bunch of double hets.

This year I bred the Great Valley Serpentarium JR Lavender to a Mendota and got a bunch of double hets.

I do believe that the Davis and Mendotas are the same recessive gene. I have not bred them to each yet to prove it.

I did breed a Blizzard to a Mendota and got ALL hypermelanistics. So that is the same gene (hypermelanistic part).

Don Shores said he bred a melanistic (hypermelanistic) to his Chocolate Banana and got ALL melanistics (hypermelanistics), so that appears to be the same gene.

Kerby...
-----
Lonesome Valley Reptiles
www.lonesomevalleyreptiles.com
Specializing In California Kingsnakes

Those are Davis locale?

-=-

OK - I have a young female king that is allegedly "Sacramento" locale - which isn't that far from Davis.

The story is she was found in someones backyard in Sac. While she is banded, she isn't typical banded - and seems more abberant to me, even though there isn't any striping - so I assumed she was CB that escaped, or possibly offspring of CB that escaped.

I had heard of the "Davis Phase" before, but I didn't realize they were that much abberant. I'll probably never know, but I guess it is possible my girl is wild stock.

She's also a very light brown. Interestingly, her color has changes since I got her from another herper (about 6 weeks ago) - her cream was much more yellow and her chocolate also was a different tinge.

These are the same pictures I posted of her awhile back - noting that her belly was almost completely cream.

-----
3.0 WC; 0.2 CB L. getula californiae
0.1 WC; 10 eggs (7/11) Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata

Cool snake. I have never seen anything close to her from this area -- Davis or Sac.

>>Those are Davis locale?
>>
>>-=-
>>
>>OK - I have a young female king that is allegedly "Sacramento" locale - which isn't that far from Davis.
>>
>>The story is she was found in someones backyard in Sac. While she is banded, she isn't typical banded - and seems more abberant to me, even though there isn't any striping - so I assumed she was CB that escaped, or possibly offspring of CB that escaped.
>>
>>I had heard of the "Davis Phase" before, but I didn't realize they were that much abberant. I'll probably never know, but I guess it is possible my girl is wild stock.
>>
>>She's also a very light brown. Interestingly, her color has changes since I got her from another herper (about 6 weeks ago) - her cream was much more yellow and her chocolate also was a different tinge.
>>
>>These are the same pictures I posted of her awhile back - noting that her belly was almost completely cream.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>-----
>>3.0 WC; 0.2 CB L. getula californiae
>>0.1 WC; 10 eggs (7/11) Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata
-----
Rick Staub