Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A female from 2004

Getting ready to come out of brumation

Came from the High White line, no yellow

Kerby...

Those look awesome Kerby. Do you brumate all your snakes every winter?
Tell us some of your "projects" for this year. What will we see in Californiae that we have not seen yet? And, When are those quad hets gonna be available?
Again, Nice calkings Kerby,
John Lassiter

Yes, I do brumate all of my snakes, except for a few select future breeders that I keep warm and feed their first winter. I still have a few non-feeders that will most likely feed when they get warm.

I like to brumate my snakes in November and not bring them back up until March (depending on weather). Last year I was able to wait until 15 March before I cranked up the heat. The longer I can wait the better. I used to bring everything up in Feb, which meant that I would have babies to feed in July. Too many mouths to feed, and TOO MUCH TIME for non-feeders before winter time.

I prefer to bring my snakes up in March, breed later, have babies hatching in late August/early September just before the Fall Reptile Shows. It is also easier to deal with non-feeders this way. On non-feeders (after all the tricks fail) I will usually force down a couple of mouse tails before brumation.

Also, I breed pyros and it is more in tune with their cycle. I live in pyro country, so I try to match the weather. Pyros in the Prescott, AZ area don't get active until late March/early April and the babies aren't hatching underground until early fall. They may not even be lucky enough to get a baby lizard for their first meal before they brumate. Most probably don't get their first meal until the next spring IMO.

As far as my projects (het wise), I will be producing this year (haven't finalized the pairings yet LOL):
Ghost x Lavender
Lavender x Mendota (melanism)
Lavender x Carlsbad (brown with yellow stripe)
Ghost x Albino Banana
Lavender x Blizzard - A Blizzard displays 2 traits at the same time (albinism & melanism). All the babies will be triple hets (albinism,lavender, & melanism).

I already have:
Ghost x Albino
Albino x Mendota (melanism)
Albino x Lavender
Blizzard (albinism & melanism) x Albino

The reason I am breeding Lavenders with the Mendotas is to produce double hets that will eventually give me a Lavender Blizzard.

The reason why I am not breeding certain recessive genes to others is the size issue of my cal kings. They all aren't the same size for breeding purposes LOL

Kerby...

Definitely keep me/us posted on your pairings this year. Sounds like you have your hands full, again. Great news.
And yes it is better to brumate nonfeeders. That is one of my many nonfeeder tricks.
Thanks for your information Kerby,
John Lassiter

I will be breeding those this year too. Now if we can only produce some females that have the really wide striped like the males LOL

How about a wide stripe Lavender???

Kerby...

Widestriped Lavenders sound awesome. Even a widestripe high white albino would be cool.
Let me know if you have any nice females this year. I am still looking for a mate for this male.
Keep me posted Kerby. You got some nice calkings over there.
John Lassiter

"The reason I am breeding Lavenders with the Mendotas is to produce double hets that will eventually give me a Lavender Blizzard"
Don't forget who gave you this idea LOL I hope it pans out for you and wan't to be on top of that waiting list. I think between You, Don Shores, and Rich Hebron some of the best Cal Kings ever seen will be produced in 05. I can't wait to see some of this stuff, Tom Stevens

But unfortunately, it is a slow process

Kerby...

Ya know if I wanted in on this asap[ I think it's a cool project but do not own a single Cal King] and had "ingredients" to get this going I would contact BHB and get myself a male Purple Passion. Then you can use him as well as a double het male you'll have created and possibly even get a little different look from the 2 different fathers? Maybe even be able to label your offspring as being able to offer unrelated pairs? Not a bad idea if you ask me. I can't wait to see what pops up in 05 Tom Stevens

I still haven't seen a picture of one yet, and B.H.B. still hasn't updated their website yet?

Kerby...

Ya know I met Brian and Lori at Daytona last year and they were cool people and their rep is outstanding. However I called and left messages 3 times over the course of 2 weeks and never got a reply. I mentioned this to a friend who knew them and he got a response in 10 minutes. Kinda bugs me but I hear they're very busy with thier new huge facility. Their site has been under construction for like a year. I will bite my tongue for now, since they seem to be very cool people but a returned email or phone call is not too much to ask for. Don't feel bad about not seeing a pic yet, I have been waiting 2 or 3 years LOL. In Daytona all they said was the babies are killer but the adults are not as impressive, and that they sell out fast because they don't produce many. I will email them again. Wish me luck Tom Stevens

I first bought some snakes from them back in 1997. And have bought from them since then. I too have had bad luck on them returning e-mails or phone calls, but once I got a hold of Brian one day on the phone then everything went smooth.

Persistence............

Kerby...

Are the albino kings a bit nippier than the non albinos? Someone I know has a high white king (not albino)purchased from you two yrs ago it is very tame .
Her husband told me they got that color because ofcourse they are great looking but the albino version can be a bit nippier . They looked into those first but opted with reg type.
You find this to be the case?

Some say that because they say that albinos have poor eyesight, compared to the already poor eyesight LOL

I have had some very mellow albinos, so IMO it is just an individual thing.

Kerby...

Thanks .