Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everyone,
I was interested in possibly getting an Arizona Mountain Kingsnake. I have other colubrids so am okay in the care department. Just a few questions regarding the snakes themselves:
1. What should I expect to pay for a nice-looking, clean (no black wash, etc) pyro?
2. Are these snakes as docile as CA kings?
3. In your opinions, who has the nicest pyros?
Thanks in advance for your advice!
SF

I have several pyros and have paid anywhere from $0 to around $200 for them. A good, clean pyro with no black crossovers will average in the $100 to $150 range. Hybrids can go up into the thousands.

Pyros are very docile. They do not musk and bite the way Cal Kings sometimes can.

I think the best people to talk to are Jeff Teel (who is on this forum often). He seems to have a lot of hybrids. Ric Blair has good locality pyros. Robert Applegate produces a fair amount of normal and hybrid pyros too.

I think you accidentally said hybrid when you meant to say color morph. The albinos, "specials", hypos, and hypoerythristics jeff, bob, ric, myself and others are working with are pure az mtn kings, not hybrids.
peace
terry

>>I have several pyros and have paid anywhere from $0 to around $200 for them. A good, clean pyro with no black crossovers will average in the $100 to $150 range. Hybrids can go up into the thousands.
>>
>>Pyros are very docile. They do not musk and bite the way Cal Kings sometimes can.
>>
>>I think the best people to talk to are Jeff Teel (who is on this forum often). He seems to have a lot of hybrids. Ric Blair has good locality pyros. Robert Applegate produces a fair amount of normal and hybrid pyros too.

Sorry, I used the wrong terminology. I'm not a breeder, but I understand that these animals are bred to have specific genetic traits that aren't common in most wild pyros. I'm a fan of "normal" phase snakes, but I do like pyros with reduced black and little or no crossovers. I live in SE Arizona and see wild pyros regularly. Abberant patterns and lots of black crossovers are fairly common, but I have seen some beautiful reduced black snakes with real classic patterns in the Chiricahua, Huachuca, and Santa Rita Mtns. It's nice to see people like Ric Blair and Jeff Teel breeding locality pyros as long as it's not affecting wild populations.

You say you live in Arizona and you said:

"I have several pyros and have paid anywhere from $0 to around $200 for them. A good, clean pyro with no black crossovers will average in the $100 to $150 range. Hybrids can go up into the thousands. "

In Arizona, you are only allowed 4 pyros, no matter if they are CB or WC, and you ABSOLUTELY cannot buy or sell any - period. If you are breeding them, then you have 12 months to "gift" the babies away. So please explain "paid..." and "I have several..."
Thanks

Kerby...

Several means that I currently have 2 pyromelana pyromelana, and 1 pyromelana woodini, and 1 pyromelana knoblochi. All are captive bred. The maximum amount of adult pyros you may possess in AZ is 4. You can collect two a year with a valid hunting license. You may not sell or trade l.p. pyromelana or l.p. woodini in AZ. You may sell Knoblochi because they are not indigenous to AZ.

My four were all legally obtained. The knob was purchased at a local herp shop. One of the pyros was given to me recently, and the other two were purchased out of state. I'm not sure of the legality of purchasing pyros out of state and then bringing them in, but I thought it was OK. I'll check with AZ Game & Fish on it.

I know you live in AZ Kerby, and have a few pyros. Where did yours come from?

Thank-you for the clarrification, your post was vague. Currently mine are wc and cb from those wc. I give away baby pyros every year

Later

Kerby...

Yup, and Kerby's are pretty nice! Here's Lady, one of his '01 animals.

-----
~Sasheena

Hi,
I think that Chris baubels line of pyros are the nicest looking normal pyros out there. His are from the santa rita mtns too. His are usually high triad counts with the white bands almost as wide as red bands in really nice specimens. Also, a guy named randy wright has a very nice bloodline that produces low band counts, and I mean low band counts. he has a male with only 16 triads, looks like a sinaloan but is pure pyro pyro, i have a sib to it. And they produce full red caps too. As for color morphs- Terry Dunham will probally have some albinos and hets next year available to people, i dont know about other moprhs he has being available or not. The pyro morphs are brand new still, and pyros have suck small clutches and takes them a while to reach breeding size they will remain quite rare for a couple years. Thats about it I guess. Oh yeah, the applegate pyros are spectacular. One of the nicest moprhs I think, although they are more of a pattern morph than a color moprh. Thanks for your time.
jeff Teel

PS, none of my pyros are hybrids, I can guarntee that. On most all of them i know exactly where they came from-whos bloodline, who caught them and such. Just wanted to make that clear. But beware, I have had people offer me albino ruthveni x pyros before. Just make sure you get albino pyros from people who got their stuff from BHB, thats the only guy i know who has pure albino pyro-(and the people that have bought from him) there is a guy in KS I believe who has some, but I've never been able to contact him again.

I agree! I got my pyros from Chris and I absoluty love them. Here's a picture of my female.

That is a very pretty snake, but they all seem to have large heads compared to their body... is it just me, or are they really like that?
-----
~Banana~

Pyros have flat-wide heads to help in catching lizards that seek shelter in the cracks of rocks at night. On adult wild-caughts, the males have a tendancy to have bigger heads than the females.

Kerby...

np