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Well the dang thing is black. hahahahahahaha
a couple of things, Most Az. Black kings have some pattern, there are a couple of locals that are like that one. The Mexican Black kings from around Ortiz Sonora, look like that. Other areas have some pattern.
I would take pics of the belly, unless its also solid black.
I do have pics of southern Az, solid black kings, black splendida types and black Yuma type banded kings. They all occur here. Many black kings have whitish areas mid body just above the ventrals. Check for that.

ALso, most wild caught black kings throw offspring with splendida pattern and darken up as they age. Thanks

I'll try to take some good head, full body, belly shots soon.

you cant tell from the pic, but it's just a tad thin imo so i gave it 3 mice when I got it home(fed it the day I got it, Rainer) and dont want to mess with it too much today.

of note... this thing came from Odessa TX/ Ector County. close to where a couple stripped splendida have been found. A friend of mine has one and a guy posted one on the forum not too long ago.

also, another friend has what looks like a hyperxanthic splendida from the same area. has extra bright yellow, almost gold coloration similar to some of the ultra bright holbrooki.

I for one will be herping the area a lot in the future... might be a genetic goldmine.

About kings, they are polymorphic, many colors and patterns in the same area. They are known for that.
We see that here.
With black kings is a co dom gene, which means its a pain in the arse. If yours is a pure recessive, that would be good.

The problem is, if its recessive, its no big deal as there are already black kings. So the results would be no different then anyone breeding MBK's to a splendida. Which has been done many times in captivity and in nature. So I am not sure I would put much time and effort into that. Unless you are doing it for fun. And if its fun, go for it.

With black kings is a co dom gene, which means its a pain in the arse. If yours is a pure recessive, that would be good.

well if it is a true codom gene than if he bred it to any normal he would get blacks (just as in BP"s codom). Not an inbetween form as in "line breeding"..

So I think a true codom would be awesome..also , and please correct me if I am mistaken, I don't think there ever has been a true codom trait in any lampro before..
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FR quote:
"Doing the same things over and over expecting to learn something else, is the definition of insanity"

please correct me if I am mistaken, I don't think there ever has been a true codom trait in any lampro before..

Newports seem to be co-dom. When you breed one to a banded, you always get at least a few Newoports and no in betweeners.
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I think the Striped/Aberrant Ruthven's and the Patternless Black Gap Graybands might be codom too. I am working with the Patternless Black Gap's and from the info posted on Dan Johnson's website it appears that Patternless X normal results in about 50% of the clutch showing Patternless traits. As far as I know nobody has bred Patternless X Patternless but I hope to do it within a year or two.
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www.hcu-tx.org/

I produced patternless and striped back in the seventies, and bred them to eachother. In that case, the gene produced striping in Blairs types and patternless in alterna types.

The term codom is just not a accurate term, every group of folks has a different interpitation of what it means. In most cases, its anything other then a pure recessive/dominate trait.

That's very interesting. Thanks for that, Aaron.
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well if it's not a reccesive or co-dom trait that can be mixed with other known morphs to create new things, i'm still interested in the idea of a locale specific morph.

I know there are a lot of people like me that for some reason like having a pair of animals from the exact same spot more than animals from 100s of miles a way. I don't know why it works that way because 1 isnt any better than the other, its just how some people work, i guess.

I think what would help matters, is if everyone agreed upon what was what. seems like there are a lot of different opinions on what is a splendida, mbk, califoniae, and intergrade around that area and some folks that think a mbk is not a ssp, but just a morph of splendida. Then when you toss in melanistic vs hyper melanistic and then things like grease kings which seem to be hyper melanistic but to a varying degree but also some times hypomelanistic(ish) later in life.

it all becomes very confussing imo.

well if it's not a reccesive or co-dom trait that can be mixed with other known morphs to create new things, i'm still interested in the idea of a locale specific morph.

I know there are a lot of people like me that for some reason like having a pair of animals from the exact same spot more than animals from 100s of miles a way. I don't know why it works that way because 1 isnt any better than the other, its just how some people work, i guess.

Oh heck, I would much prefer a locality animal like yours if it could be bred to an animal found nearby! IMHO that changes the value a huge degree..too bad most people don't look at it this way.

I bought some of those Long Beach Cal kings from the oil wells a few years ago and I was crazy about them. A remnant population like that , that has been isolated with miles of concrete jungle (know as L.A.) surrounding it and having survived like that is the top of my list.

Plus they were mealanistic. Coolest cal king IMHO. Locality definetly makes them more interesting and more valuable in my opinion..
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FR quote:
"Doing the same things over and over expecting to learn something else, is the definition of insanity"

Do you still have them, Rainer?
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Do you still have them, Rainer?

No, I don't have them anymore. I cut down on my collection a few years ago by about 1500 animals
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FR quote:
"Doing the same things over and over expecting to learn something else, is the definition of insanity"

Oh ok. Well, you know where too look if you ever want any f1 kings from that locale.
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I have a pair of those grease kings as well. I got F3s from Paul Lynum that came from animals he personally collected. I love those kings.

the yellow on my male almost looks a little green thanks to the melanin and the belly of my female is still showing a touch of orange as a 2 year old (she had a ton of orange as a baby)

...

I got F3s from Paul Lynum that came from animals he personally collected. I love those kings.

Paul Lynum collected there to? Geez that kid was everywhere when he was the age to drive. He started early with intensity for collecting and was very successful at it. I remember back in 1991 his room in his parents house was filled with snakes from floor to ceiling. He helped me out one time and took care of a bunch of rosys for me and I will never forget what he did for me.
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FR quote:
"Doing the same things over and over expecting to learn something else, is the definition of insanity"

He's the one that told me about that field in the first place. Paul said him and his brother I think used to play in that field when they were kids.
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Then you have the DNA guys lumping Cal kings and MBK's into one species called Lampropeltis californiae. Then Hubbs saying the Yuma morph is actually a Cal king X MBK intergrade. Lots of different views out there.
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No white on its chin?
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no, not that I saw, and I took a very close look at the head... just a habit i picked up looking for mites on new snakes.

the only thing that wasnt black was the gaped cloaca leaking some wonderful musk. lol!

lol ok, because a lot of MBK's have white on their chin. I don't know if there are any that are solid black. You'll have to look at it again real good and report any light markings if any.
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