Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Cal morph and mutation observations

Always wondered why…..

- with the huge popularity of the cal king in the pet trade/hobby since the early eighties - how little effort their has been with the combing and maximizing the known morphs and mutations comparatively to all the work with corns and pituophis. I know kerby, myself and a few others have done some, but most of the available cal “looks” appear the same the do/did in the area the were collected.

- With how big the californaie range is; how almost all the known cal morphs originate from san deigo county. Palomar mt ghost, newer ghost barczyk has, blue eyed blond, original ruby eyed lav, SD hypo etc

- A lot of the stupid misrepresenting names probably haven’t helped

Does anyone know where the original albino cal was collected?

Hi Jeff,......

Exactly what specific genetics does that gorgeous specimen display? The fact it has both a lavender look along with the pure white bands tells me there is something very unique going on there. Is that also one of these lavender axanthics, or is it normally pure white from being a desert phase?

I remember seeing an amel Cal. king in the early 80's at a high-end reptile store in south Florida, but I have no idea where the very first known amels specifically originated from.

BTW, I'll give you a call tomorrow Jeff!

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

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Hi Jeff, I have an old book on common kings and it shows a wild caught striped CA king from San Diego. The book was writen by David Perlowin and the picture is by David Travis. I think the reason why a lot of morphs are from SD is because that is where the highest concentration of kings are, especially near the coast like Carlsbad. That and the large population of people, which equals more field herpes, is probably why more have been collected in that area. A lot of land has been lost to development, so its not as easy as it used to be just ten years ago. BTW, I like your platinum. Do you have any pictures of it as an adult?
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Hi

The original albino was collected in Balboa park, and kept at the zoo for many years. Then was traded to Jim Brockett and Barney Tomberlin, for a mangrove snake.

They sold it to Ted Davis, who was a good Friend of David Travis.

I acquired the old albino male and three hets that Ted produced years early but never fed. They were three years old and like 15 to 18 inches.

I recieved them around Christmas and by summer, had produced many eggs from the hets. I also bred that male to every know local known at the time.

I ended up hatching a number of albinos that first year. By the second year, I bred a male that was hatched the year before. hahahahaha .

That same year I bred the male to Stripes, bandeds, newporters, L.A.X blacks, desert black and whites, etc. Producing hets from all of them.

That Male lived to about 35 and died in Ross Adcocks care some years back.

A few years later, John Ruiz acquired another banded albino, but it was not the same strain. That strain did not stick. Thanks

What year was the albino found?

Thanks

Kerby...
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Life is like a bunch of fish in an aquarium....we all get along (bonding) until I want to eat you....and I do.

Wow, some good info there, Frank. Thanks
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That is a beautiful specimen you have pictured there, Jeff. Will be watching for your answer to Dougs question about its background.

--Dennis

Jeff, could your Platinum cal king be an albino hypo? Here is a hypo that I produced last year....if it were albino as well, it might look similar to yours. Any history of the genetics on the Platinum? I know we have communicated a couple of years ago on your snake, but I can not remember what you said about the Platinum cal king.

Thanks

Kerby...

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Life is like a bunch of fish in an aquarium....we all get along (bonding) until I want to eat you....and I do.

You're very close, Kerby. I won't answer for Jeff unless he doesn't come back today. I will say this, the white corporation was a surprise but they still need to be bred back to black and whites to improve the white. That's why I want to see a picture of that snake as an adult, to see how white it stayed. That photo was uploaded to KS in 2007 I believe.
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I meant white coloration.
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back ground...

A friend of mine Davy developed these 8-10 years ago. He was working on trying to produce blizzard cals. This was typically done by blending an albino cal and a near patternless chocolate baja type cal, to eventually ine breed albinos with less and less pattern.

He used a ruby eyed lavender instead of a normal strain albino. The F2 of these yielded him black and whites, high melanin dark cals, and rub eyed lavs with varying shades of whiter than usual bands.

I tracked down and purchased a few of these 3-4 years ago. I plan to try a few things with these guys, but primarily try to intensify the white banding with Mojave blood. I have a clutch from this year that is only hours old. I will work on getting a pic of the babies and a current pic of an adult next to a typical ruby eyed lav for comparison.

Thanks for the info, Jeff. Yes, please post those pictures with the platinum next to a lavender. I'd like to see the babies after they shed.
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So it is displaying the Lavender gene, only the snake would have been a really nice black and white before the Lavender gene?

Correct?

Here is an albino that I produced a few years ago that came from the nice black and white line. The albino on the black and whites make it pink and white, no yellow what so ever.

Kerby...

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Life is like a bunch of fish in an aquarium....we all get along (bonding) until I want to eat you....and I do.

And here is the result of those nice high white reverse stripe (white with a black stripe) that is albino.

Thanks for the info Jeff.

Kerby...

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Life is like a bunch of fish in an aquarium....we all get along (bonding) until I want to eat you....and I do.

a cool project Jeff! I like that one in the picture above. Looking forward to the pic of Mojave Kings.
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