From the San Gabriel Mountains. Cal kings are not commonly found up there.
Another San Gabriel Mnt. king. This one may be from the Northern slope where
desert phase occur.
desert phase occur.
This one was also found in the San Gaberiel's.
This one was found at an elevation of 5'000'.
Another awesome San Gabriel Mnt. Cal king.
This Cal king was found on the Universal Studios lot.
This king was found constricting a Gopher after the photographer heard a
strange noise. The Gopher was pulled down the hole shortly after this photo
was taken by stonebird.
strange noise. The Gopher was pulled down the hole shortly after this photo
was taken by stonebird.
Found near Calabasas.
This one from the San Fernando Valley has, what may be, a strange birth defect.
Found in the Santa Monica Mountains.
This one has a head pattern very similar to some SD kings.
Santa Monica Mountains
Brown and tan.
Found under a log in an abandoned field in Seal Beach.
This neat looking pair was found near Palos Verdes.
This juvenile is yellow on top and white on the bottom. This may or may not
change over time, but it's a rare look and the only one Hubbs has found out of
over 2,000 Cal king.
change over time, but it's a rare look and the only one Hubbs has found out of
over 2,000 Cal king.
Zack found this king that was only 3 or 4 bands short of the highest band count
recorded by Hubbs.
recorded by Hubbs.
Here's Hubbs' Cal king with 48½ light colored bands. This is the highest band
count documented. Light bands are counted from the head to vent. This photo
doesn't appear in Hubbs book on Common kingsnakes because it was found
after the book was published.
count documented. Light bands are counted from the head to vent. This photo
doesn't appear in Hubbs book on Common kingsnakes because it was found
after the book was published.
An odd banded king that shows Newport influence. This is the only king I've ever
seen that expressed any kind of Newport influence. The same thing happens in
San Diego County, except the banded Cal kings there have S.D. striped influence.
seen that expressed any kind of Newport influence. The same thing happens in
San Diego County, except the banded Cal kings there have S.D. striped influence.
Also known as the Long Beach hypermelanistic morph, the name Grease king was given to dark individuals from a certain Long Beach field many years ago. Out of tradition, this name only applies to the L.B. hypermelanistic kings at this locale. This site is in serious threat of being developed soon, so a lot of herpers have become interested in breeding the Grease kings and keeping them locality pure. If this site is developed in the near future, there are enough captive Grease kings out there to ensure this locality genetic morph lives on for many generations in herpeteculture. Here are some captive bred and wild caughts.
Here are some captive bred and wild caught's to get a better idea of all the different
phenotypes in this field.
phenotypes in this field.
Dan Voss stock.
Now here are some Long Beach hypermelanistic kings found outside of Long Beach.
This individual was found in Palos Verdes
This individual was found in Palos Verdes
WC West Los Angeles
A very dark individual from West LA.
Another dark specimen with a dark belly pattern.
This individual is very interesting. This appears to be a Long Beach hyper with
an aberrant ventral pattern. I believe this was caused by Newport influence.
an aberrant ventral pattern. I believe this was caused by Newport influence.
A medium brown hyper my friend Byron and I found.
This wild caught has an odd chain like pattern.
An extremely dark example with a head pattern very similar to a Whittier.
A nice looking Newport found by Daniel Lawrence. This morph is generally not as
common as the San Diego striper.
common as the San Diego striper.
Zack west photographing a Newporter in LA County.
The same Newport shown above.
A possible hypermelanistic Newport, found by Zack West.
A juvenile Newport found by Brian Hubbs in the fall under concrete.
Another nice looking Newport.
Another wild caught from West LA.
In the Spring of 2012 Daniel and his friend Matt found two Newports in urban LA
on the same day. This is pretty impressive considering how difficult they are to find
in LA because of extreme habitat loss. This first one has just a hint of scrambled
banding near the neck.
on the same day. This is pretty impressive considering how difficult they are to find
in LA because of extreme habitat loss. This first one has just a hint of scrambled
banding near the neck.
The second one of the day was absolutely amazing. This Newport has the most
yellow pattern on the sides that I've ever seen in a LA Newport.
yellow pattern on the sides that I've ever seen in a LA Newport.
I wouldn't say this morph is restricted to LA County, but most of the reports of SB morphs and partial SB morphs are from LA Co. The majority are SB in the front part of the body. Most only slightly, with some being scrambled banded over the first half of the body. Only two really nice examples, with over 75% of the body being scrambled banded, have been reported in recent years. They were both found in 2006. One by Josh Rosenstein and the other by me. These are still a Newport, but the banding influence somehow effects the pattern. So basically, they are Newport aberrants, just like there are SD striped aberrants, which is also caused by banding influence. Like the SD striped aberrants, this aberrant morph seems to be produced randomly. That's what I've noticed when breeding my Scrambled banded, to other females from the same locale. A nice Scrambled banded Newport is a pretty rare find.
Slightly scrambled.
Another juvenile with some scrambled banding. Seems like it is always more
prevalent towards the front of the body.
prevalent towards the front of the body.
A mostly Scrambled banded from Coastal LA Co. A very good find considering
Joe found it on a vacation out here, all on his own.
Joe found it on a vacation out here, all on his own.
Josh found this little Scrambled Banded Newport back in Feb. 2006. That year
we were the only ones to find this morph. It is obvious right away this one has
a higher band count than mine. Definitely one of the best documented L.A. Cal
king finds ever, IMO. One other has been found since. Its the last one on the
page at this LINK.
we were the only ones to find this morph. It is obvious right away this one has
a higher band count than mine. Definitely one of the best documented L.A. Cal
king finds ever, IMO. One other has been found since. Its the last one on the
page at this LINK.
The Male I found in June 2006.
The Blotched Mud Morph Hubbs found in 2006. One preserved individual was found in a museum and Lou Boyer hatched one with a stripe from a wild collected adult in 2009. It appears this morph is not very uncommon, but individuals as dark as this one are. This morph is expressing both L.B. hypermelanism and Newport.
A Whittier Morph found in Palos Verdes back in the 1980's. This individual
is also slightly aberrant.
is also slightly aberrant.
Same snake as above.
A scanned copy of an old photograph taken by Kents dad many years
ago. I believe these are two kingsnakes he found. One is a SD striper
and the other is a very dark Whittier morph.
ago. I believe these are two kingsnakes he found. One is a SD striper
and the other is a very dark Whittier morph.
The only Whittier I know of found in recent years.
In 2005 when I really started learning about different Cal king morphs, this particular morph, I found on the California herps website, really stuck out to me. I had never seen a Cal king like this and it was found in L.A. To me this was the best of the best. I had always wondered who Don Huffman was. To me he was like a VIP or a celebrity. lol It wasn't until around early 2006 that I found out he was posting on the same forum I was under the screen name DJ. In April 2006 I posted a bunch of Cal kings I had found around the Long Beach area. Don contacted me and told me we should go out flipping boards some time, of course I agreed. After meeting up with him, I found out some of the boards I had found were his. That didn't bother him at all and he actually showed me some more. That day we found about 8 kings, which to me was incredible. Don told me all about his Mud kings that day. From then on I wanted one bad but they were pretty uncommon because he was the only guy I knew of that had found them at the time. Here are some original photos of one of them taken in the field. The colors and pattern don't come out very good because the snake was about to shed.
Here's the photo I first saw of Don's Mud morph on the CA herps website.
Dons second specimen photoed by Fundad.
Another Striped Mud has recently been found after the first two about ten years
ago. Isaac was out herping with his two young sons in mid March 2012 after
some heavy rains. In my opinion, this is the coolest Cal king find, I know of, since
my White water Hypo in 2005. I'm very happy for Isaac as I know I would be on top
of the world if I had found this king. One thing I've noticed that is different from
most of the aberrant Delta morphs I've seen is the lack of speckling on the sides on
these LA Co. Striped Muds.
ago. Isaac was out herping with his two young sons in mid March 2012 after
some heavy rains. In my opinion, this is the coolest Cal king find, I know of, since
my White water Hypo in 2005. I'm very happy for Isaac as I know I would be on top
of the world if I had found this king. One thing I've noticed that is different from
most of the aberrant Delta morphs I've seen is the lack of speckling on the sides on
these LA Co. Striped Muds.
A better look at the pattern.
This particular specimen is different from all the others by having a wide reverse
stripe. This is the only one from the Nitida/Delta aberrant/Whittier aberrant group
I've seen with this pattern. Definitely one of the coolest Cal king finds of all time.
stripe. This is the only one from the Nitida/Delta aberrant/Whittier aberrant group
I've seen with this pattern. Definitely one of the coolest Cal king finds of all time.
Here's an individual with a very small amount of reverse striping.
This is an amazing looking hypermelanistic king. To me this is one of the top Cal king finds of all time. I believe this may belong to the L.B. Hypermelanistic group and is by far the darkest one I've seen. It could also be its own morph. Houses were built where this snake was found. Hubbs has continued to search near by, but has never turned another up. Found by Brian Hubbs.
A juvenile male produced by the snake above.
A very nice black & white. Here is a LINK to Jeroen's website.
Found by "coils" in Saugus CA near Santa Clarita.
Santa Clarita
This specimen from the north western part of the county has an abnormal
amount of speckling, which indicates to me this is the most southern find
for the Speckled morph. Daniel plans to continue searching the area to
see if any more turn up.
amount of speckling, which indicates to me this is the most southern find
for the Speckled morph. Daniel plans to continue searching the area to
see if any more turn up.