Well I am sorry to say this but it is a little too late.

After I came home from school I found that the enclosure has broke and the snake escaped.

Sorry,

Joey

I just looked up your city - looks like it is in striper range, so it probably is a natural product of the locality where you found it.

What I'm going to say may be unpopular to some - but please do not let it go. Since you have exotics, there is the slightest remote possibility that you have now exposed that king to exotic pathogens, and releasing the snake could result in the introduction of an exotic pathogen into the wild. This is in fact why it is illegal to release it back into the wild in California. You took it home, legally, you have to keep it.

While the odds of passing on such a pathogen are slim - it has happened before, with Desert Tortoises.

California Kingsnakes collected from the wild usually do quite well in captivity. They are not in any kind of danger in the wild - in fact, they overproduce. Overproduction means that more hatch than the habitat can support. Survival of the Fittest and Luck determine which get to survive and which are removed. Small quantity hobbyist collection has absolutely zero impact on the wild population. What tends to effect a wild population are:

1. Exotic diseases (hence why it is illegal to release it)
2. Habitat Destruction (houses, shopping malls, etc.)
3. Invasive species (feral cats, etc.)

It's a beautiful striper - better quality than many captive bred stripers. Are you in San Diego county? If you are not where stripers are common, it may even be an escapes pet - probably not if stripers are known to be where you are, but it doee happen.

Feed it, have a fecal float done, and enjoy your new pet! Try to get the GPS coordinates of where you collected it so that if you ever decide to breed the locality, you can get the appropriate captive breeding permit (they want to know location of all wild caught starting stock).

AFAIK you do not need a fishing license until you are are 16 - and you definitely would not go to jail even if you do need a license, a fine is the most that would happen.

Keep in mind that there is a possession limit of 4 cal kings taken from the wild, and that limit applies whether or not you are 16. It's per person, not household, and does not apply to captive bred - only wild caught.

I argee its better to leave them out there so they can breed and help keep calis native animals around ya know also cali kings are not expensive so a cb banded or even albino would only set you back about 30 bucks and be a much easyer captive then a wc one

i know... i will...soon...

I don't think you need a lisence just to ketch a native snake, just as long as you let it go afterward. Which I'm assuming you plan on doing, right? Wild caught snakes should stay in the wild.