Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Before I start my venture on Rubber Boas, I want to mess around with cross-breeding king snakes. I currently have a female Mexican Black King and a male Goini King. I plan on arousing the male with a female Goini and replacing her with the MBK at the last second, hopefully achieving impregnation.

Does anyone have any idea whether this has been attempted before, or what the offspring would look like?

I am not the hybrid police (actually in this case, the intergrade police) and those are your snakes and you can do as you see fit. But I gotta ask, why not just breed MBK to MBK or goini to goini? Very often, the intergrade mixes are not very attractive (at least to me). Pure MBK and goini are both pretty inexpensive and the classifieds are full of them.

While I find MBKs and Goinis to be spectacular in their own rights, I've always wanted to see what can come from selective breeding, like Jungle Corns and Sinacals. I've always been fascinated by the possibilities of color and design, especially in Colubrids, and am especially intrigued by what can come from this specific combination

Does anyone know if currently this is even a cross. I was told, hmmmmmmm no need to read, that getula was narrowed way down, to one or two types. Or is going to be.
About crossing kings. First, what your going to get is dark getula. not so much black, just dark and possibly speckled getula, which I agree would not be attractive.
About breeding them, the way your going about it is problematic. Both types are snake feeders, and they feed on snakes that are not THEM. That is important to understand. Them is the scent of their parents and siblings. All else is often considered "others" so its fair game to eat. Remember, they do not keep up with current taxonomy or even old taxonomy. All they know is, what smells like us, is us, what doesn't is not.
Which brings us up to how. First and best is to raise the intended species together from as young as possible. But if you do not have the ability or patience for that, then place them together during hibernation, when they are not in feeding mode. Those are the two best methods, Anything else like scent trickery can work or not and not is a fairly high percentage.
I crossed a thayeri with a black and white cal king. After a couple generations, one hatchling came out a black and white cal king with a fine alterna pattern, tiny black bands, with small black alternate markings I no longer have those animals. A friend does. Good luck and make sure you label any results as what they are, crosses/hybrids.

There shouldnt be a need to pull the ole switch-a-roo... if they are up for breeding, they will hook up and do their thing. If they are not up for breeding they will either ignore each other, both spaz out, or one will try to eat the other. (one of my cal king pairs had been doing everything but breeding for about a month, until yesterday when they just lined up like magic... when it works, it works)

The babies will mostly likely end up dark ugly brown with dull speckles.

your snakes so do what you want, but please let people know exactly what they are and let them know to do the same if they ever part ways with it or try to breed it themselves.

For the sake of your male MBK, better be certain that the female is ovulating. Otherwise, she may try to eat him. Using your male goini may actually be a good idea to see if she is responding, then switch. But be ready to save the MBK's life just in case.

You will end up with dark getula with varying amounts of speckles. Probably grow to be large. Not saying they will be unattractive, but they probably will not be beauties, and they might not be desirable to other hobbyists.

I think crosses are awesome pets. I myself have a couple, and they are the least skittish colubrids I have, and their desire to feed and grow in captivity often outdoes many non-crosses. But I am in the minority on this issue, and I respect the breeding of similar or locality animals. I took in the crosses as "rescues" so to speak - nobody wanted them. And this is what may happen to yours.