Reptile & Amphibian Forums

After seeing that stuff that Sean posted - which was all just amazing, I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring with a few goodies...

This male is from coastal Los Angeles County. I love how light brown he is and the color on the ventrals is very white. He's sired many a clutch here at the ranch, and this year was no different.

Moving alittle south to the infamous Signal Hill oil fields...
This small male was produced by parents collected in the oil fields. He's really dark and even though small, he put some work in on a couple of females that I collected from the same fields.
These pairings will produce some super dark animals - a few weeks from now.

This is the above snakes sister and will be his partner next season.

This is the first female I collected in oil fields. At first glance she really doesnt look all that dark, but she's got the goods for sure... Even when paired with a 'normal' looking coastal, she produces dark - hypermelanistic, offspring.
I've got two batches from her and the small male above going this year and if they do what I think they will...... I'll have some nearly black Grease Kings cutting eggs soon.

A few years ago I gave up all of my Cal Kings except for my Hypers. I have three different localities of hypermelanistic Cal's. - and love them all!

Thanks for looking.

byron.d

Wow!!,....killer stuff there Byron!

I really like those alot man!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

This should be a pretty good year for these animals.

byron.d

Byron, that would be really cool if you figure out how to get some very dark kings from those snakes. I've only managed to breed my hyper (from the secret spot. lol) once and only two appeared to be hyper but not very dark. This year the LB hypers bred but the female just laid 5 eggs last week. It will be a while before I see what I get. Both are from that same field. Here's the female the day I found her. What an awesome field this is.

I will send you a PM with pictures when they hatch. Great post man. I like that little male you have, his head is dark. I'd still like to figure out why some have the really dark bellies and others don't. Thats also very interesting that normal looking female produced hypers. You were right about her.
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I cant wait to see what you get this time around. Do keep me posted on that.

I think it's gene flow that determines how dark they turn out..... I'm hoping that by breeding the dark male to my big girl will produce a sort of 'super'hyper.

You've got some of the best looking Grease Kings I've seen anywhere.

byron.d

and boy to I realize I have a east coast bias. Anyone else?

lol Believe me you're not alone there. There are a lot of CA guys that think these are ugly kings too. The thing is you would have to herp the area they are in to really appreciate them. If you are a deli cup herper, you're likely never going to like them or understand them. There's only couple of places left in Long Beach where they are semi common, but finding kings in that area is tough because:
1) They rarely turn up.
2) The place is over hunted which makes the AC less than desirable for the kings. Moisture does not last long in So Cal so its very important to have a good moisture seal on your boards. When you have 15 guys hitting the same boards, there's no chance of that AC maintaining a good moisture seal.
3) The habitat is less than ideal because most of it has been disturbed.
4) The worst part is the damn homeless people using our AC to build their homes. lol That will always be a problem in areas like this.

You can find hypers outside of L.B. but they're very rarely seen and the habitat is extremely limited. Sure its nice finding Cal kings like these over and over...

but after you go through 50 of them in two years and all the sudden one day a hypermelanistic king pops up...

you appreciate the rarity and abnormal look about them. With these snakes its not a beauty contest but rather what it takes to find them.
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I'm hardly a deli-cup herper (I spend more time in the field than in my snake room) but those just don't do much for me. *shrug* I mean, as examples of local variation they're neat enough but aesthetically they're not what I'd choose to keep or breed.
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We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
6.6 African House snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
.1 corn snake
4.2 Florida Kings
1.2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
0.0.1 Argentine boa

Well, glad you called em ugly, I would have been castrated for it. Varanid, if you are a field guy you can appreciate the rarity and the IDEA of the snakes as much as anything. My east coast bias speaking, but the rarer the snakes are on the east coast the prettier they are.....and I aint no deli cupper! LMAO

I should have kept the picture to that very dark possibly hypermelanistic Florida king that was posted on FHF a few years ago. It was just as dark or as ugly (if you prefer) as these Grease kings. So your statement of the rarer the prettier in the East only holds water in your little world, Jeff. lol
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My own little world includes locality mole kings, coastal plains milks and Monster Island milks. Man I LOVE MY WORLD!! Dont get any grease on my kings please!

I love my Grease kings, but a few months ago I lost one of my females. So now i am down to 1.1.

I don't know why the female died. She was eating fine and one day there she was dead. No explanation as to why.

To appreciate these kings is also to understand (or see) the small lot they come from in the middle of the largest concrete jungle, Los Angeles, in the world. I recently flew into LAX and was looking down over the long beach area prior to landing. As i was gazing down I was thinking there is no chance a relic population like this could survive in that tiny spot they call te oil fields. But they are there and are incredibly valuable to me.
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www.Bluerosy.com

To appreciate these kings is also to understand (or see) the small lot they come from in the middle of the largest concrete jungle, Los Angeles, in the world.

That's actually pretty damn depressing. To think they're that vulnerable. But I see and like lots of animals in the field I wouldn't want to work with in captivity; Masticophis, Diadophus, Tantilla, Hypsiglena, are some of my favorite finds but I have 0 interest in keeping them as captives. Why I like them in the wild but don't want to keep them I don't know. I can't explain it. ----- We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid. 6.6 African House snakes 3.2 reticulated pythons .1 corn snake 4.2 Florida Kings 1.2 speckled kings 1.2 ball pythons 0.0.1 Argentine boa

Glad to see you guys understand and appreciate the concept behind these snakes. If it was all about who posted the prettiest snake, this forum would be pretty boring.

Jeff, its pretty lame to try and turn this into an East Coast vs West Coast thing. Very childish, and that's the type of attitude that tears us apart. Of coarse I could give you examples of what we have to counter your examples and turn it into a big argument, but I respect a lot of the East Coast herpers here and am not going to drop to your level and insult my friends in the proses. All I can say is along the lines of what Byron said, at the end of the day its what you appreciate that really matters. The hell with what anyone else thinks. And for the record, I love a lot of the herps on the East coast too. You might think you are looking funny or proving the East Coast is better, but in reality you are showing the rest of us your young minded mentality. Grow up my friend, quite disrespecting the next persons interests and you will be respected around here.

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Look, I am in no way making anything a east/west thing, and I DID post that I appreciated the idea of them. The fact that east coast guys prefer east coast stuff, ditto for west coast only means THE EXACT SAME THING!! Everyone has favorites, and its ok. Dont think I'm trying to make an arguement, dont try and pretend you are better than me or ANYONE. Frankly, I'm getting tired of being singled out....other guys can say the exact same thing yet you take it differently coming from ME? WHY? I dont know you from Adam. We can have a conversation and agree to disagree, you shouldnt assume an arguement that frankly isnt there. Chill.

There is alot more to what makes these snakes special than what they look like.

At the end of the day the only thing that matters is that I like what's in my collection.

Take it easy Bro.

byron.d

I hope that applies to everyone. If we all wanted the same stuff it wouldnt be as fun!

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>>At the end of the day the only thing that matters is that I like what's in my collection.
Ain't that the truth? They're not my thing, but no big deal. I've probably got things some people are puzzled by (someone here calls ball pythons pet rocks ).
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We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
6.6 African House snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
.1 corn snake
4.2 Florida Kings
1.2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
0.0.1 Argentine boa

Ain't that the truth? They're not my thing, but no big deal. I've probably got things some people are puzzled by (someone here calls ball pythons pet rocks ).
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I think there are some people on this forum that have pet rocks.....and the rest of us refer to them as..... Cant be a snake if you take the top off the cage and leave it for a day and it hasnt moved!

nah, mine would be out like a flash. my first escape was a ball python that managed to get to the top shelf of my closet (7' off the ground, still don't know how).
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We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
6.6 African House snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
.1 corn snake
4.2 Florida Kings
1.2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
0.0.1 Argentine boa

Nothing wrong with the West coast kings but the East coast ones really make my bells and whistles go off!
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

Those are killer Byron.
Check out this hyper boy I collected last year.Way north btw.
L8r

this little female was found less than ten feet away.I hope she turns out to be het.

Those 2 snakes you found are a killer project you have going there.
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www.Bluerosy.com

Very Nice Brother! I too have a fascination with a couple of specific localities of snakes based on my experiences with them in the field and what it took to learn how to consistenly find them. You kind of learn how the animal operates, when it's surface active, what it needs in the wild, and you want to take a part of that home with you. I totally gotcha and respect a guy like you all the way.

I have never been to the west coast, but I would imagine that if the habitat for that locality is shrinking that would give you even more incentive to establish a captive breeding pool of your own. Way to go!

Michael Coone
Conover, NC

ugly, but it makes my day every time I see one...

Carry on. What you are doing is good. Thanks for sharing.

Michael