Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys. I purchased this desert king in November from The Great Valley Serpentarium. It was sold to me as a desert king, but the ditsy moronic sales girl said "it maybe could be a cross with a cal king". Does he look like a cross or a pure desert king? Thanks for your help.

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That snake definitely has splendida in it, but it looks like it has too much yellow and is too clean to be a "pure" desert. I've seen some from the I-10 area north of the Chiricahuas that have lots of yellow, but not quite like yours. The desert king intergrades naturally with the Cal king north and east of Tucson, so this could be a natural intergrade. Knowing Bill Gillingham, I'd say this probably is a natural intergrade, but ask him, and I'm sure he'll tell you.

Here's one from south of Tucson with the typical "dirty" coloration....

Another with more black and very thin banding from the same area....

Ventral view of that snake...

Also, check out the blotch sizes and number to help decide, although there is bound to be a lot of variation.

Yours is a very pretty snake, btw, and I'd like to know how it came about, as I'm considering working with Cal x desert intergrades someday.

TC

Here's one from just east of Tucson that is very dark.

Greg

nm

Here's one from the Santa Cruz Valley south of Tucson that has a lot of black pigment...

Here's a young one with a lot of yellow pigment from near the Chiricahua Mtns...

Do you ever see examples like this young one from east of Tucson?

TC

It looks like it could be a true splendida from its western range were it does, in fact, breed with californiae. Splendida to the eastern part of its range intergrade with Holbrooki (speckled kings). It is a nice looking specimen at that.
John Lassiter

Here is a picture of a wild caught Aransas Co. TX specimen showing holbrooki influence.

I see cali written all over that snake, it may look like a natural intergrade tho, I LIKE IT! these two lovers may produce something like it.

You may never know for sure if it's an intergrade.
I know for sure that it's a neat looking snake.
Selectively bred Okeetee corns are much more
colorful than most wild-caught Okeetees.
The same thing may be true with desert kings.

Tim

Third Eye

Thanks for all your help guys, I really appreciate it. I think I'm going to try and get in contact with the owner of the serpentarium and see what he says. good stuff.