WANTED: Field collector in SoCal!

I am looking for a herper/field collector in the Southern California area -- San Diego, Orange County, Carlsbad, etc. -- that can track down and obtain a specific locale of California kingsnake for me. I do realize it is winter and they are all brumating, but when the spring comes around and they begin waking up, I would like to try to start searching for my project animals. I have been on a fruitless search for striped coastal phase Cali kings, which are the chocolate brown and yellow variety. I'm just not finding any on the market whatsoever -- not even banded coastals. I used to have a rare pure Carlsbad coastal pair with perfect stripes, and unfortunately lost them when I lost my collection a few years ago. This was the pair I had:





The chocolate and yellow variety are mostly found in coastal areas and areas with more vegetation, but can be found occasionally in sandy/rocky areas. Coastals are not as common out there as desert phases (black/white and black/cream), and are apparently not that common in the hobby as I guess there is less demand for them. But I have always liked them and I'm hoping to get lucky in finding a few. Here are a few more pics of what I am looking for:






I am looking for both genders, any ages/sizes. The striping does not have to be unbroken, and doesn't have to run the whole length of the body. Abberant is OK, just prefer if at least half of it is striped. The cleaner the sides are, the better (like in the pics). I may potentially be interested in a banded animal if it has rich chocolate coloring with bright lemon yellow markings. I also may be interested in a black animal if it too has bright lemon yellow markings (striped only in this case, no bandeds). No off-whites or creams, yellow markings only. If you are interested in doing this scout work, I will compensate you for your time and cover all shipping expenses. If you can manage to track down a really nice specimen or even a Carlsbad locale like the ones I used to have above, I will DEFINITELY provide appropriate compensation. If interested, please reply here, PM me, or e-mail me at jennifer.harrison@hotmail.com . Thanks!

It is illegal to capture and sell California Kings in Ca.

Anyone who does so is poaching and anyone who buys them is smuggling as well as poaching.

Wow. I didn't know that. I guess that nixes that.

But then I have to ask, where do all these other people get coastals, deserts, lavendars, blue-eyed blondes, hypos, chocolates, stripes, wide stripes, bananas, Carlsbad and San Diego locales, etc? All the founding animals for these variations were captured in the wild. I know at least 2 people that have specific locales that no one else has, and neither live in California.

Originally Posted by JenHarrison

Wow. I didn't know that. I guess that nixes that.

But then I have to ask, where do all these other people get coastals, deserts, lavendars, blue-eyed blondes, hypos, chocolates, stripes, wide stripes, bananas, Carlsbad and San Diego locales, etc? All the founding animals for these variations were captured in the wild. I know at least 2 people that have specific locales that no one else has, and neither live in California.

The way they do it legally is by getting a breeders permit so they can legally sell the offspring from their wild caught snakes. And just so that you know, the coastal variety is much more common than the desert variety because the coastal habitat is more favorable for CA kingsnakes. The desert phase blk & wht is more common in captivity because most people prefer blk & wht over yellow & brown. Look for a guy named Shannon Brown. He sells different locales of CA kingsnakes and might be able to help you if you are still looking.

I already contacted Shannon, he does not have this variation of coastal Cali king. I contacted Kerby Ross, who I originally bought my pair from, and he doesn't work with them anymore. I contacted someone else on another popular classifieds site that listed coastals for sale, but they are like Shannons and are cream and black, not the true coastal variety like what I want.

So thus far, I'm still SOL, and no luck in any field collecting offers either. I may be going out to San Diego in August and may just have to go herping myself and ship them home. :/

Originally Posted by JenHarrison

I already contacted Shannon, he does not have this variation of coastal Cali king. I contacted Kerby Ross, who I originally bought my pair from, and he doesn't work with them anymore. I contacted someone else on another popular classifieds site that listed coastals for sale, but they are like Shannons and are cream and black, not the true coastal variety like what I want.

So thus far, I'm still SOL, and no luck in any field collecting offers either. I may be going out to San Diego in August and may just have to go herping myself and ship them home. :/

Did you know most juvenile coastal Cal kings start off cream & black, then change to yellow and brown as adults?

In the locale lines I am looking for, they do not. They are bright lemon yellow and rich chocolate brown from the moment they hatch. The ones I had (pictured above) were hatchlings when those pics were taken, and all their siblings were identical. That is what I'm looking for.

Originally Posted by JenHarrison

In the locale lines I am looking for, they do not. They are bright lemon yellow and rich chocolate brown from the moment they hatch. The ones I had (pictured above) were hatchlings when those pics were taken, and all their siblings were identical. That is what I'm looking for.

Yes, I know there are some that come out that way but most don't. If that's exactly what you are looking for, you will probably be looking for a long time. Too bad you don't live here, I could take you to go find them but not in August. They are not out during that month.

I don't mind waiting for the perfect snakes. I want a pair like what I had, so it's worth waiting for.

If I see any adds with stripers like that, I'll let you know.