Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey folks,

I'm getting into snake breeding as a hobby. I have experience caring for pet store quality snakes, but now I want to move onto breeding some more interesting specimens. If possible, I'd like to sell the results to help finance the hobby. I have several questions, so if anyone can help me answer any of the following that'd be great. I am looking to work with California King Snakes.

I see lots of people posting pictures of different morphs. Through my research, I have become familiar with a few more common ones. However, I'm still not fully understanding how morphs work.

1) Is there a list of all California King Snake Morphs?

2) Can anyone explain or link me to detailed information on how each morph came to be?

3) When breeding different morphs together, what sorts of results should I expect?

4) Is there a list of which traits are recessive and which aren't?

5) Where can I find detailed descriptions of the genetics behind snake breeding?

6) What are the most rare and prized CA kings snake morphs?

7) What CA king snake morphs tend to be the easiest to sell (either to people who want pets, or to pet stores.)

8) What are the legal issues around selling off extra snakes? Do I need a business license to sell on the classifieds here or to local pet shops?

9) What is the best way to acquire breeding age sub adults? (I don't want to wait years for babies to mature.) And how do I determine a reasonable price to pay for them?

I'm sure i'll think of more questions, but this is a good place to start. Thanks in advance!

You might have a hard time finding sub adults. I rarely see them for sell. Your best bet is to keep your eyes on the classifieds here and on fauna. Also, go to all the breeder expos you can. This year I've watched the classifieds like a hawk and one thing I've noticed is they don't sell very quick at all. The market has been saturated with Cal king morphs for years. I don't think the list of information you are looking for for each morph exists. You will find bits of information here and there. But the histories on each morph, that's a tough one. There's a little info on that in Brian Hubbs book on common kingsnakes. Also, a lot of these morphs you see today originated in the wild. You can find pictures of those in Hubbs book as well. You can try contacting Frank Retes and Kerby Ross with some of your more detailed questions. They both post here, so maybe they can help you out a lot better then me. Check out Kerby's website. Good luck.
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For Cal king morphs check with kerby. he is the leading authority on Cal king morphs (save axanthics). lol!
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www.Bluerosy.com

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Drop me an e-mail if you have any questions and I will try to help.

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.

There are over 70 NATURAL varieties of Cal. king alone, nevermind the countless captive-bred morphs in addition to this. You would be doing yourself a huge favor by first getting Hubbs' book titled "Common Kingsnakes"---"a Natural History of" to even begin to understand alot of what you are asking about.

You are asking to know just about every single facet regarding Cal. kings, and decades of personal experiences regarding them in your one single post, and that simply isn't going to realistically happen.

Again, the book I mentioned is THE best single source you could possibly start with, and then hone things from there.

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

serpentinespecialties.webs.com