Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys, I've long been dreaming of getting a pair of Cribos since I live in Florida and can't own Indigos. Since these guys can be very pricey I have been taking my time trying to decide which ones might be right for me. I though I would ask here to see what are your favorite Cribos and why? Also pics would be great, thanks for any input ~Jorge
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

Hi Jorge What's your favorite kingsnake? LOL

It's not easy to chose I happen to like both the blacktails and yellowtails equally. The unicolors and redtails I just haven't found quality that I like enough to go out and purchase but I don't rule that out.

My blacktails are from John Michaels of BlackPearl Retpiles. My male is out of his breeders. My female is out of his Chuck Elliotts.

This first pic shows one of the things I love about Cribos, their size potential. This is his sire.

Another of the sire.

Here is his dam.

Here is my male baby.

Here's the female I don't have pics of her dam and sire.

My YTs are from Freight Freitas. His Dam is a F1 CB that he got from a Canadian breeder. His sire is an LTC WC so these are fresh blood for YTs here in the states.

YT Dam

YT Sire

My female baby from above parents.

My male baby.

The criteria I used in choosing was I wanted black tail cribos, not blackish, not blackish brown but black. John had the best available in really black with good contrast between body and tail.

For the YTs I love the high contrast in Freight's adults although I had first pick of his babies and could have gone with his more lemonheads I chose these two in the hopes of them turning out like the parents.

I love Indigos and had couperis back in the late 70's. With interstate permits and my concerns about the thin gene pool in CB Easterns I'm not prepared to 1 have the government involved in my herps in any way. 2 Not prepared to spend the money and possibly have genetic complications due to the thin gene pool. This my not really be a concern but at almost 2000 for a pair I'm not prepared to take that risk.

The Cribos have similar care, temprament and size to the couperi so for the time being anyway I will be more than content with them.

I would highly recommend either of these breeders. They both have been extremely helpful and always available with any follow up after the sale. I don't think John has any BTs available right now. Freight has an older pair '09s of BTs and YT babies available. While his prices are a little higher I think the pics show the quality of his animals are well worth the price and his babies are feeding, an important consideration.

BTW did you see those yellow cribos Ben Seigel had on his ads? Not yellow TAILS beautiful sulfur yellow over the whole body. They were WCs out of Paraguay if I remember correctly and weren't available for more than a day but awesome looking animals.

Is this kind of what you were after?
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BigT
There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. The ignorant can be taught, stupidity is beyond our control.
1.2 P. m. melanoleucus B/W N. J. Northern Pines
1.2 P. d. deppei Mexican Pines
2.2 P. l. lineaticollis Linis or Lined Pines
1.2 P. m. lodingi Black Pines
1.1 Drymarchon melenurus Blacktail Cribo
1.2 M. s. cheynei Jungle Carpet
2.6 L. p. pyromelana Arizona Mt. Kings
1.1 L. g. californiae B/W Cali kings
0.0.3 M. f. flagellum Eastern Coachwhips
1.2 G. m. bottegoi Western Plated lizards

Thanks for some good info! Your right it is hard to pick a favorite King, lol. Brooks have got to be the ones, but which one? I like both of those(YT & BT),a lot. I am not ready to buy either right now due to work being slow, but I do want to start planning it. Funny thing is I find Indigos here in my back yard about twice a year. But they're so protected as you know that, there's no hope in ever keeping any. I've always wanted some indigos, but I guess Cribos will satisfy my hunger. I would like to breed them since they cost so much, it would be an investment. Is there one that is easier to breed then the other?
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

Compared to Lampropeltis Drymarchon are not as easy to breed. An 8 year old can breed kingsnakes. LOL All the Drys are trickier to breed. One the copulate in the fall to winter and ovideposit in the spring. Easterns can be cooled but YT and BT you can't drop below 70. They have a considerably smaller range of tolerable temps. Over 85 for prolonged periods can be fatal. Basically feed up while they are eating but fat snakes don't make good breeders. Drys do have considerably higher metabolisms than Lampros though and can eat a lot without becoming fat. YTs and BTs are about equal when it comes to breeding. I think one of the most important aspects for them is they breed during the rainy season so regular misting encourages this along with dropping temps down into the lower part of the range. Being snake eaters like Kings it's important to introduce the male and keep and eye on things.

For investment purposes you would be better to spend the money on YTs as they command higher dollars for babies.
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BigT
There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. The ignorant can be taught, stupidity is beyond our control.
1.2 P. m. melanoleucus B/W N. J. Northern Pines
1.2 P. d. deppei Mexican Pines
2.2 P. l. lineaticollis Linis or Lined Pines
1.2 P. m. lodingi Black Pines
1.1 Drymarchon melenurus Blacktail Cribo
1.2 M. s. cheynei Jungle Carpet
2.6 L. p. pyromelana Arizona Mt. Kings
1.1 L. g. californiae B/W Cali kings
0.0.3 M. f. flagellum Eastern Coachwhips
1.2 G. m. bottegoi Western Plated lizards

Thanks for all the info bro! I have been reading up and preparing for a while. I don't want to jump into it but I really would like to get a pair of probably YT's in the future. A lot depends on the economy and availability when I'm ready to buy. I welcome any and all info though since I still have time to change my mind.
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra