Reptile & Amphibian Forums

..in california. Can anyone tell what it is?

close up of the face looks like a king, but it also looks like a ratsnake. Could it be an escaped pet/hybrid? My guess would be black rat/cal king.
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~Sasheena

It was in a remote area in California so an escapee or released snake is out of the question. Also there are no blackratsnakes in California.

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sgsdfg

This snake was found under a board right next to a calif king in a remote area in Northern calif. A scale count was done and it is a "natural hybrid" Gopher X Calif King.

How convenient a hybrid new to science is found in the wild just as a debate is going on about wild caught hybrids on the hybrid forum.

Kind of funny this sighting wasn't first posted on the hybrid forum. From looking on the hybrid forum seeing your name there, it appears that you are a keeper of hybrids as well.

What a coincidence! Call the museum of natural history right now!

I suspect all the other guys on the hybrid forum will be posting wild caught hybrids and therefore try to give those retarded crosses some legitmacy. Oh, I found a hybrid between a Cal King and a whipsnake in the the middle of Death Valley!
Oh really? Me too, except the one I found was in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas! Oh, and don't forget the garter crossed to the rattlesnake near Hemet!

First off, there is almost always a stupid discussion in the hybrid forum with people trying to justify or protest hybrids. If this post was made to support hybridizing based on the occurence of wild hybrids (which isn't the most logical idea anyway), it would have served much better in the hybrid forum. The discussion you're referring to has been dead for a week, and bluerosy didn't even participate in it.

It is spring time, which is the best time of year to find snakes. If someone's going to find a wild hybrid, this is the most likely time of year.

Secondly, this snake was found and posted on another website a few days ago as a natural oddity, by someone reputable enough to not joke around like that. They posted it asking if anyone had any ideas as to what it was, other than gopherXking, which is what it was assumed to be.

If you really think that snake is a captive produced hybrid being labeled as a wild-caught so it can be used to support the idea that hybridization is okay, then you have fooled yourself into thinking so.

How convenient a hybrid new to science is found in the wild just as a debate is going on about wild caught hybrids on the hybrid forum.

Kind of funny this sighting wasn't first posted on the hybrid forum. From looking on the hybrid forum seeing your name there, it appears that you are a keeper of hybrids as well.

What a coincidence! Call the museum of natural history right now!

I suspect all the other guys on the hybrid forum will be posting wild caught hybrids and therefore try to give those retarded crosses some legitmacy. Oh, I found a hybrid between a Cal King and a whipsnake in the the middle of Death Valley!
Oh really? Me too, except the one I found was in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas! Oh, and don't forget the garter crossed to the rattlesnake near Hemet!

The person who is in possesion of the snake has been advised to take it to an institution, if for no reason other than so that its occurrence can be published.

There has been a lot of talk abot this snake on "another" reptile site. Not sure if the name will be bleeped by KS but here is the link:

http://www.[bleep]/cgi-bin/talkrec.cgi?submit=lt&baseurl=http://www.[bleep]/fieldherping&msg_num=28590

BTW a glossy X Gopher was also recently caught in california.

Did you do any scale counting? Anal plate? Not that I'll be of any help but I'm curious. It's definitely a hybrid though.
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Martin Whalin
My Email

Quotes from guys named Carl:

"Science stops at the frontier of logic. Nature does not, she thrives on ground as yet untrodden by theory."
-Carl Jung

"It is foolish to let singleness of purpose deprive one of the joy and delectation of the many wonderful sights and sounds incidental to the quest."
-Carl Kauffeld

>>..in california. Can anyone tell what it is?

I don't think the remote location precludes its being a captive-produced hybrid. I've heard too many stories, they make one's head spin. Unfortunately.

Alternately, since we know it can happen in captivity, i believe that under unique circumstances it can happen in the wild too. So could be. Just not conclusive. imho.

peace
terry

I think the chances it's natural are pretty good. In California multiple Gophers and Kings are pretty commonly found together under a single board and I could easily see them making a mistake during a breeding if there was a pair of one species and one or more of the other species.

I'd say there is a serious Corn influence going on in that little mongeloid!lol

Mongoloid thats funny, it doesn't look Asian to me. I think you mean its a mongrel.lol