Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I made a slit on the last egg and I have been waiting.How long will it take to come out? The first hatchling came out last night and has already left the egg.

Cool. Is the pic above a Culver City king? Are any of the babies melanistic?

One of the five that have hatched appear to be melanistic. But the body is not completely out. The head and neck are all black.

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I am still waiting for the last snake to emerge. I cut a slit earlier but no luck. How long does it usually take?

What locality is it?
About the last egg, i know for a fact it can take days before they leave the egg.
Are your hatchlings the same type as the pic?

"What locality is it?"

I wanted to answer this because I am excited about this locale. The pair is from Culver City Calif. It is from an area I grew up in and has almost zero habitat. The only thing I remeber are a few empty lots that probably have apartment buildings built on them today. Very very difficult locale. I would think this was almost an extinct locale since the 60's. But somehow these kings managed to survive in a true urban jungle. Amazing find and amazing hatchlings to have.

The only things I found on these lots were alligator lizards and I saw two dead gopher snakes in the mid 60's.

Culver City is a small area in west Los Angeles. It is near Beverly Hills, Venice Beach, Brentwood and Santa Monica. Talk about PURE locality specific. WOW!

Thanks Rainer, i had to ask because it looked to be an obviously unique cal, glad to know there are surviving rare locales still in Calif.

Locality is NEAR Culver City. This one too. Not mee handling it, so not my gloves either.

The only strip of habitat I know is just south of Marina del Ray/Playa De Rey. Just off of Culver blvd and west Jefferson north of Loyala University. I think the area is some sort of protected bird area.

If that is the spot then Cal kings have been collected there quite a bit. A friend of mine Brian Hubbs has seen numerous cal kings in that area.

Baldwin Hills, Ladera Heights to be exact.

That is amazing. Now I really want a pair.

The area near Marina Del Rey's a bit southwest of Baldwin Hills/Ladera Heights. I grew up in that area, and have been running around those hills for ages. I've seen an occasional Gopher snake there, but never seen any kings. The Malibu area's a good hunting spot if you're hoping to see some nice kings.

reako45

Because of the dark prefrontals i have to say that is a interesting cal, thanks

First of all, SHAME on Dudifus for EVEN mentioning a locality for these kings. The Baldwin Hills are seldom herped, and the area is a gold mine for kingsnake studies. Now, everyone knows the locality. Thanks a lot Don. Hope your boards don't get too overhunted next year, but if they do you have no one to blame but yourself. Why can't you just share pics and say "coastal L.A. county" or something lke that? Why do you need to mention one of the last good king areas in L.A? I don't get it. Even in my book I didn't mention any sensitive areas for zonata (except for one well-known place). But you just blurted out a top secret spot. Way to go.

And Rainer (bluerosy), why would you want to mention any other places in L.A. either? Who cares if I've seen lots of kings there? Did you know that they developed the areas I used to hunt, and now there are condos and other crap where snakes used to be? I have a few other secret spots in the South Bay, but those places will never be revealed. I think a few cal kings need to live their lives in privacy. This is one reason I do not go with people and set up board lines anymore. The guys just can't keep their mouths shut, and I end up just seeing other people's tracks thru the grass, instead of snakes. Unbelievable.

R U Hubbs. If so I would like to ask you about the Grahmm Mnts in AZ. Email me please.
Snakesunlimited@sbcglobal.net
Thanks Jason

Me so sorry Meester. Peeple just keep pressing me about location so i cave in, I theeeeen so. Besides my boards hard to find, I can't even find dem. By the way, here is real location with foondad holding king,I theeen so.