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Greatballzofire   Hatchet_man_90221   L.ROY   Greatballzofire   The_Thunderer   Greatballzofire   Greatballzofire   L.ROY   Weecreekers   The_Thunderer   Crimson king   Greatballzofire   Candy_Corn   Greatballzofire   L.ROY   Morsel   Greatballzofire   TinaJ   Greatballzofire   Greatballzofire  
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 #1822973


Greatballzofire
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 My New Arizona Mtn. Kings


My new female Arizona Mtn. King hatched 7-16-08 and arrived this morning from breeder. She was very restless at first and and so I finally re-introduced her to her hide, so she wouldn’t rub her nose sore on the glass. I had to take her photo again with her in her sphagnum moss nest, as the first photo didn’t take.
She didn’t seem to mind. Once she figured out her hide she calmed right down.


Her brother. He went right under his terracotta saucer hide after this photo. I took his picture while he was still in his shipping cup.

She weighs 9.1 grams, he weighs 11.8 grams. My juvenile Calif king weighs 22.8 grams. Fortunately the ft pinkies I have on hand are really small, as these babies are really little guys. They make my Cali look positively beefy! They are quite strong for as tiny as they are. She got wrapped around my fingers when I was putting her in her hide, and I was impressed with her strength.
08/07/08  02:56pm

 #1822992


Hatchet_man_90221
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   Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 1822973


 My New Arizona Mtn. Kings

Congrats very pretty snakes



08/07/08  03:18pm

 #1823007


L.ROY
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   Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 1822973


 My New Arizona Mtn. Kings

that’s my favorite type of pyro, excellent choice and congratz!
08/07/08  03:38pm

 #1823040


Greatballzofire
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   Message To: L.ROY   In reference to Message Id: 1823007


 My New Arizona Mtn. Kings

Thanks, L.Roy and Hatchet_man!
They are woodini. I was looking to get pyros that if you went out in the mountains and lifted up a rock this is what you’d find, as close to the wild as possible. They were started on unscented live pinkies and their second feeding was unscented ft pinkies, and I will feed them in a few days. So my lizards can rest easy! LOL, just kidding, I would never feed one of my bluebellies to the snakes, I’d just use the microwaved scat like I have done with Snakezoid, the wild Cali. But it looks like I can save the scat, too. If anyone ever needs any western fence lizard scat for scenting I am happy to mail it.
08/07/08  03:59pm

 #1823380


The_Thunderer
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   Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 1823040


 My New Arizona Mtn. Kings

Wow... They really look beautiful! I wish I were somewhere where could catch a couple of those... just to take pics though. I know that they’re really hard to switch to pinkies.

Congrats on the very pretty newbies!
08/07/08  09:03pm

 #1823509


Greatballzofire
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   Message To: The_Thunderer   In reference to Message Id: 1823380


 My New Arizona Mtn. Kings

Quote:

Wow... They really look beautiful! I wish I were somewhere where could catch a couple of those... just to take pics though.


Arent you in Arizona, Thunderer?
The Huachuca Mountain Kingsnake (Lampropeltis pyromelana woodini) is a subspecies of the Utah Mountain Kingsnake found only in the Huachuca mountains of Arizona and Mexico.
I’m close enough in the Sierra Foothills to find Sierra Mtn kings, which look a bit similar but are a different subspecies, zonata not pyromelana.
Link
Thanks for the positive comments! This is my first snake purchase. Next will be some knoblochis, when I have more room and facilities.
08/07/08  10:53pm

 #1824580


Greatballzofire
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   Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 1823509


 My New Arizona Mtn. Kings

I fed my three snakes tonight, the two baby pyros for the first time ( although they had each eaten one live and one ft pinkie while with the breeder ). The littlest one, Dotz the female, ate hers right away. I was able to watch her do this; in fact I was almost a captive audience as she kept hold of my fingers with her tail when I put her in her feeding jar, and finally let go of me when she started eating. Just to be on the safe side I scented their jars before hand by putting one of my pet western fence lizards in each jar with a little bit of water, for a few hours. This initiated quite a feeding response with Dotz! I didn’t think such a tiny snake could eat such a large object, and I had given her the smallest pinky I had. I am just amazed that she ate and I got to watch her. I am used to my wild Cali who never eats if she thinks she is being observed.
Her brother Woody spent more time in his jar. I put a bag over the jar to give him some privacy. He might be a little more like my Cali king Snakezoid, who is a shy feeder and must always be covered when she eats.
So everybody is happy, even the lizards, who had a rather anxious afternoon. But I would never feed them to the snakes. They are my pets, too.

All this probably seems silly to the experts here, but for this newbie every success is priceless!
08/08/08  10:58pm

 #1824586


L.ROY
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   Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 1824580


 My New Arizona Mtn. Kings

not silly at all, in fact very awesome!
08/08/08  11:03pm

 #1824676


Weecreekers
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   Message To: L.ROY   In reference to Message Id: 1824586


 My New Arizona Mtn. Kings

Nice additions to your family, GBoF!

I love those snakes, too. If I got another, that’s what it would look like, confirmed after that awesome link you sent with pics of all the King Snakes as well as the Milks!!
08/09/08  01:24am

 #1824705


The_Thunderer
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   Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 1823509


 My New Arizona Mtn. Kings

Quote:

Arent you in Arizona, Thunderer?
The Huachuca Mountain Kingsnake (Lampropeltis pyromelana woodini) is a subspecies of the Utah Mountain Kingsnake found only in the Huachuca mountains of Arizona and Mexico.



Yeah, I am, actually. However, I really haven’t had the opportunity to go out to the higher elevations to "see what I can see". One of my dreams is to be driving up the road one day and find one of these guys... But because I live in "the valley" the likelihood of that happening - esp. in the 100+ degree weather - is NIL! LOL. One night, I thought this dream had come true... but what I caught was a beautiful "lizard eating" long nosed snake. I had to let him loose as he didn’t even sniff at the pinkies I offered. LOL.

Every so often, we get to go close to the Huachuca Mts... I hope for the day that I’m able to see/catch one of the rare AZ Green Rat snakes too!

Also on that list... Gila Monster, Bull Snake, etc. and so forth and so on. LOL.
08/09/08  01:59am

 #1824823


Crimson king
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   Message To: The_Thunderer   In reference to Message Id: 1824705


 My New Arizona Mtn. Kings

Good luck with them. They are beautiful snakes.


:Mark
08/09/08  09:38am

 #1824841


Greatballzofire
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   Message To: Crimson king   In reference to Message Id: 1824823


 My New Arizona Mtn. Kings

Thanks everyone for the well wishes and votes of confidence!
I suppose I could have started off with a less challenging sub species, but these pyros just really floated my boat, and where I live is more like their native habitat than other snakes. They have this characteristic of twining themselves around my fingers, and if I slightly close my hand, nesting in the cupped fingers. Most endearing! I will prevail upon my mate to get some photos of that, as I am really not that adept at one handed photography.
08/09/08  09:59am

 #1826524


Candy_Corn
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   Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 1824841


 My New Arizona Mtn. Kings

Very pretty! I love the colors on pyros.
08/10/08  09:26pm

 #1838760


Greatballzofire
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   Message To: Candy_Corn   In reference to Message Id: 1826524


 My New Arizona Mtn. Kings

My pyros are doing well. They are in blue now. Dotz ate last night but Woody didn’t. He has had a few lizard meals since I got them, just to get some growth on him. Today I took them outside in the daylight to really look at them and sure enough they are in blue. By the time they are done with this shed cycle it will be feeding time again, and I expect Woody will eat the pinkies. I found a good way to thaw out the pinkie; I put the frozen pinkie in a little cup in my incubator which is a steady 80.5 Fahrenheit and it thaws out in a short time and looks almost alive. Also it doesn’t smell mousy like when I would thaw it out in a bag in warm water.
Speaking of blue, L.Roy, did you ever find your escapee that was in blue?
08/21/08  08:52pm

 #1838980


L.ROY
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   Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 1838760


 My New Arizona Mtn. Kings

no and i’m pissed because it’s a 1.0 and right now with my 07’s and 08’s i’m @ 2.7 and soon i’ll down to 1.7 because a 1.0 is sold. but i hav’nt probed my 2nd ’08 easterns yet (0.0.10) so hopfully i’ll get some 1.0s from them, we’ll see. sorry for the rant.



08/22/08  12:33am

 #1839500


Morsel
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   Message To: L.ROY   In reference to Message Id: 1838980


 My New Arizona Mtn. Kings

They’re so pretty! I only live less than an hour from Sierra Vista, where the Huachuca mountains are. someday...I’ll get out there and see what I can find under some logs and rocks! They are beautiful. I don’t think I could ever take a wild one home with me though. All the wild populations have enough trouble sustaining themselves as is.
08/22/08  02:44pm

 #1839520


Greatballzofire
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   Message To: Morsel   In reference to Message Id: 1839500


 My New Arizona Mtn. Kings

Yeah, it is probably better to get captive bred babies than to reduce the wild population still yet more. On the other hand, if you should be so fortunate as to find a wild snake and it is a young one you can switch over to pinkies, you may be doing it a big favor by adopting it into captivity, seeing as these little animals are not at the top of the food chain. Older adult snakes should just be left in their wild home, since as they have made it into adulthood they are set in their ways diet wise, and are successful at avoiding predation so can reproduce and increase the population.
I have given this some thought because my young Cali king is a wild snake. I saved her from being a cat snack. She has adapted well to captivity, even with me, a neophyte snake keeper. If I let her go she would likely be eaten by something eventually.



08/22/08  03:06pm

 #1839559


TinaJ
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   Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 1839520


 My New Arizona Mtn. Kings

Those are some really beautiful snakes.
08/22/08  03:47pm

 #1839588


Greatballzofire
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   Message To: TinaJ   In reference to Message Id: 1839559


 My New Arizona Mtn. Kings

TinaJ,
Thanks! I am pretty pleased with them. I like their personalities. They seem calm. Once they finish their current shed I will post some more photos.
By the way, good luck with your own babies! L.Roy is a good guide and will lead you through neonate care; just do what he says and your babies will become big beefy kings like his!
Sorry L.Roy, that you have not found your escapee. I read somewhere that you can catch snakes and lizards with these glue traps which are easily removed from the captive with vegetable oil.
Link
These are not the same kind of glue traps used to catch rats and mice, where the victim gets stuck on fatally.
I’m thinking of getting some of these removable by veggie oil kind, and setting them out in a cage that the intended target can enter, but not other predators like cats and raccoons. Like any trap, you’d have to check it every 12 hours at least. And set the traps in the shade!
08/22/08  04:19pm

 #1839595


Greatballzofire
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   Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 1839588


 My New Arizona Mtn. Kings

Link
The link to the product page.
Link
The link to the lizard trap which also works with snakes.
I am posting these links because finding your way around this website is a little tedious.
08/22/08  04:31pm


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