• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

I'll have pippies soon ...

FunkyRes

FunkyRes

New member
not corn, so I hope this is the right place.
I did three pairing this year - one didn't take (they mated, but not even slugs were produced. Male is proven)

The first pairing was my big bad male MBK cross my banded amel Cal King:

08M4xFM2.jpg


Produced 14 eggs - four went south, 10 seem to be OK - and a few of them just started denting, right on schedule (due towards end of the month)

She double clutched w/o second pairing - and on the 15th I got mostly infertile eggs, but 5 that look possibly viable (one of them has definitely gone south though) - it will be interesting to see if they make it.

Anyway - I'm really excited about this cross, to see how they turn out. I've heard MBK x Cal King clutches can be extremely variable in both pattern and size of the neonates.
 
Well good luck with your hatching but true aficionados of MBKs prefer to have full blooded and Solid black snakes. If you sell them, sell them as cal king crosses and don't get them confused as MBKs. This would like being told you have a full blooded corn but find out its been crossed with a rat snake.

Now don't get me wrong there are intergrades in the wild but we prefer to have Grade A snakes (the solid glossy black snakes.) and not one that is checkered or speckled with white. Those are not a pretty king at all.
 
I'm planning on selling them under the trade name "Adobe King" (either it takes or doesn't) but definitely will identify them as intergrades and what species make up the intergrade.

I'm well aware that solid black MBK is what the market wants, though every field herper I knows says solid black MBKs are extremely rare in the wild, it's selective breeding that has produced what the trade seeks. I'm actually of the opinion (as are many) that MBKs are actually a melanistic phase of the Desert King (splendida). Sometimes MBKs hatch out looking like splendida and turn completely black as they mature, the scale rows etc. are the same, etc. - I guess like how nitida and comjucta have both been found to be Cal Kings.

I don't know of an mtDNA study on MBK vs Splendida but it would be interesting to see one.
 
First nose broke through :D
The nose looks very MBK - I can't wait to see the rest of him (her?) though ...

I'll snap a pic later today.
 
could be an interesting clutch, would love to see pics, may give it a go with mine, and see what happens

lee
 
Very shy - likes to tuck its head back in.
From what I can tell - the upper labials are black, the lower labials and the chin have some white. The front part of the top of the head (all I've seen so far) is black - including the four scales over the nose that usually have white in Cal Kings. I've only seen one eye - and it is very dark like MBK neonates.

I'm very interested in how the head patterns turn out - the mother has quite a bit of head pattern, typical of So Cal Cal Kings. MBKs have no head pattern. So I'm curious to see how much (if any) head patterns these guys have.
 
First is out - here's some pics:

without flash:
08AA01-01.jpg


with flash:
08AA01-02.jpg


with flash:
08AA01-03.jpg


without flash - belly shot:
08AA01-04.jpg


without flash - side shot:
08AA01-05.jpg


two more are pipping.
I'll hold off with more pics until all are out.
 
Cool! I love the belly pattern on that one! Do you think it will keep the thin bands or will they fade as the snake ages?
 
Hmm, so it's kind of like you put mom's pattern on an MBK. Is that what you expected? I can't wait to see more, and to see what happens after the first shed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top