Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here's mom as found 6/12 at 2230.

Here she is 6 weeks later.

And heres the end result.

On a side note. Before I left for this trip the all-knowing Forks said that there would be a gravid female caught on the 12th. I found a Langtry female on the 11th that looked by all accounts to be gravid, so I thought he was pretty close. Turns out that snake wasnt gravid, and this one, which looked far from gravid, proved Forky to be right on the money.

Wow, That is really great! Congrats. I love to see the variety in them. That is what this hobby is about. Thank You for sharing.

Jim

wow,
that snake didn't even look like a female! Did you house it with a male or did it come home pregnant. And the langtry, is it even a female? It's amazing how misleading kings can be compared to other colubrids. (Tom)

I threw the male and her together on the ground for a bit, but he showed absolutely no interest in her. I thought she was a male at first too. Even after everyone told me it was a female, the body shape just didnt seem right. After I took off I didnt see her again for about a month due to problems with shipping. Rak was holding her for me till I returned in July, and fed her a few times I think. Finally, upon my return, I opened the bag up to see how she was doing, and she looked like hell. I gave her some water and in a few minutes I noticed she was sloughing off her skin. I helped her out, and while she was crawling threw my hands I felt the lumps. I was pissed at myself for not noticing it in June, but nobody else noticed it either. It makes sense now though that the male didnt care, as she was already gravid. Anyways, I was certain they would be bad since she had been in a bag for a month, but this snake keeps you guessing. A snake as big as her can hide 5 eggs pretty easily, so I guess she fooled us all. That Langtry snake was a no-doubt-about- it female, however she wasnt gravid. How are all of yours doing?

All of mine were 2 yr olds and are all feeding on f/t hoppers and doing well. I have video of your snakes and next time I break it out I'll have to look close . Your in-situ shot does not look like a gravid femle to me but I'm sure you are happy....especially with those nice babies!

if you like, but I doubt youll see much. In fact since you werent even able to see that the snake was a female while it was in your hands I highly doubt watching a video would do much for you. On top of that you werent able to tell the Langtry snake was a female. That snake was so blatantly obvious, even a novice wouldve known. As I said earlier this snake is 40 inches long. The eggs only caused a bulge about 6 inches up the snake. I couldnt tell the snake was gravid 11 days prior to oviposition. A day later as it sloughed, I felt the eggs, and upon close inspection, there were several small bulges piled up at her ass end. Bob Hasse looked at her 5 days prior to oviposition, and even he was not positive that she was gravid. You just have to imagine 5 small eggs in a big ass snake. They are very easily hidden.

woman is pregnant, huh?

Hey Give me a email about yours babies
Keith Carlson
wendys1@roadrunner.com

Those are some nice looking babies, congrats. I really like that mom she must have looked so black on the rocks. I wonder if the babies will darken up, they look very light.

Dan

im sure theyll darken up a bit. I want that Langtry male for loan.
Talk to you later

Those are AWESOME!!!!! Congrats. I love that female...

Congrats... LUCKY!!!!!!!

Steven

Awesome?????? Or did you mean average? No offense to the guy who caught the female and got the eggs to hatch, thats always a thrill but I don't see anything awesome or great about them. I save those adjectives for far better looking alterna like the ones from Brewster, Presidio, Hudspeth counties etc. Just my opinion, don't hate me for it! BA

I have to say that I like the black on black alternas out there myself. Something that not very many people work with, but they are interesting and attractive animals in my opinion.

Lance

i was pretty stoked with the whole turn of events myself, hope to see you out there next year.

Awesome?????? Or did you mean average? No offense to the guy who caught the female and got the eggs to hatch, thats always a thrill but I don't see anything awesome or great about them. I save those adjectives for far better looking alterna like the ones from Brewster, Presidio, Hudspeth counties etc. Just my opinion, don't hate me for it!

...and yet were they all pictured on a postcard from Newton, Kansas you'd pay through the nose for it on ebay!
LOL
J/K Brad!

PS. Why is Hudspeth on your list? Most of the ones from there look like Collin's babies save a little less black and orange.

Ouch!! That was below the belt. But funny! You've been listening to Fraser too much.
Why Hudspeth? Pinstripes, not thick black and lighter gray for more contrast. BA

NO! Those are nice but nothing like the Hueco alterna from Hudspeth county.

>>NO! Those are nice but nothing like the Hueco alterna from Hudspeth county.

Much better! Nice snake Lance. When you caught that a year ago they were still "rare" from there!!

I found 2 that were dead ringers for Huecos, in Sanderson. Also, there have been close to 20 Huecos taken in the last few years, and they all look the same. Id like to see some from the Van Horn area, know of any?

Check with Troy Hibbits. His brother found one there 12 years ago or so. Don't know of any recent ones from there but a real nice lg. lep was found there a couple of months ago.

the black on black animals a lot. Some of my favorites.
Others would say average.... The usual saying "beauty is in the eye"...

Best Wishes,

Steven Owens

Collin, Congrats, those are cool Wonder what the father looked like???

Scott...........

I've been hunting Graybands a few years now and have never collected...oops I mean "observed" a gravid one yet. Hard for me to imagine what you did!! Find a gravid Grayband and she craps out 5 awesome babies !!! Wow !! Kinda blows my mind !!

Way to go, Colin !!

Youll find one, Im sure. I was pretty stoked myself.

Wow Stu, now your sounding like Dick Vitale! Awesome baby!! I still say they're very average. Check out the Brewster county specimans to see what awesome should be used on, specifically Black Gap, Xmas and River road.

Brad, I don’t know who Dick Vitale is so I don’t exactly know what your meaning is, however I do know this; it’s easy being an “arm chair” quarterback. If all you do is look at “other” people’s animals, pretty pictures on the internet, maybe buy a few friends “picks of the litter” or pick up a few “keepers” from the reptile show I can see how one could get pretty picky. If all you’re doing is looking at pretty pictures of other people’s animals and basing your standard on them then of course “normals” will never look as good. But when you get out and hunt these little critters enough you realize how difficult they might be to observe in the wild and how many hours, days or even years between sightings, you tend to gain a deeper appreciation for “all” of them and not just a few. You may even see the beauty in “every” one of them especially the “wild caught” alterna. As someone said “wild caught alterna are like a box of chocolates; you never know what your going to get”. Hope this gives you a clearer picture of why some of us might have a broader appreciation for “all” alterna and not just the few. Hope my ramblings make sense and nobody “hates” me for them! Lol =]

you said it exactly. Who are we to judge the course of evolutionary process? What is seen in the wild is what favors survival, enabling an individual of a species to be a successful contributor to perpetuating its kind, not to satisfy some human's particular likes or dislikes of how an organism 'should' appear. Leave that for the dog shows and deli-cup snake fanciers. Only humans can exhibit such ignorant arrogance.

By the way, is 'speciman' the singular form of specimen? Inquiring minds want to know.

I think "specimen" is singular and "specimenzez" is plural.

Thanks for clarifying that--I learn something new every day. LOL.

In popular culture
Vitale lent his name and voice to the 1994 Sega Genesis game, Dick Vitale's Awesome Baby! College Hoops. Vitale and Nessler also provide the commentator voices for EA Sports' NCAA March Madness video game series. In 2004, Vitale released an autobiography cowritten with Dick Weiss entitled "Living a Dream". The book has several thoughts and comments on his days with the Pistons and ESPN, and memories of former NC State basketball Coach Jim Valvano. Vitale currently stars in commercials for DiGiorno pizza and Hooters restaurants. He guest starred on The Cosby Show along with friend Jim Valvano as furniture movers in the eighth season episode The Getaway. The character "Rick Vitality" from the DOS PC game Three Point Basketball was a parody of Vitale.

Sorry you didn't know who Dick Vitale is. You might be better off anyway. He can be very annoying sometimes. My whole point about Colin's snakes were that they were average looking babies in my opinion. I take exception to all the superlative adjectives that society and alterna culture places on individual people [sports, hollywood etc] and the particular looks of any individual or group of alterna. Thats my own freedom of opinion. This is a forum for opinions isn't it? Sorry Stu if I got your shorts in a bind. By the way, I wasn't able to make it to Texas this year but wanted to very badly. Been hunting west Tx. since 79 but never had a year as succesful as yours. Congrats.
Also, you alluded to that all I do is look at pictures and buy babies at reptile shows. I've been to one reptile show in my life, Houston 1992 and didn't buy a thing. Was really turned off by the "meat market" atmosphere. Please talk to me in person before you start casting expursians about me. Thought you were above that. BA

Hey Brad

No harm done here! I know where I fit into the grand scheme of things. I didn't make any direct accusations only inferences. I figured if the shoe fits wear it and if it doesn't...don't cram your foot into it.

As far as my comments regarding Colin Smith, I was really commenting on the entire experience. You know...finding a gravid female and her producing 5 pretty cool looking babies.

Thanks for the positive comments though. I really feel blessed to have had such a banner year.

Maybe I'll see you out there next season. You might have to hunt those "other" counties if you want to run into me! Lol

Stu, this is known as Alterna Envy... Notice Brad said he was NOT able to come down this year. But has been down every other year.

Brad, I got your point. You opinon was based on the animals looks.

Just gotta bust some chops.

Ok folks you know the drill..."hard to convey emotion and feeling through posts and email". Assume positive intent!
Phasers on stun, good luck, KIRK OUT!!!!!

I agree 100% Steve! BA

Give me a break Brad... Collin caught a neat black-on-black girl that ended up producing a nice clutch of babies for him. Finding a gravid female and hatching her eggs is something that few get a chance to experience. Be happy for him!

Damon,
Your taking my point of view wrong. I'm happy for him doing just what you said. My whole point was that they were very average looking IN MY OPINION!!! You and John have caught some outstanding looking alterna from Sanderson and other areas but the wild caught gravid one that Colin caught in MY OPINION is u--y! I give it a 1.5 on a scale of 1-10. Just don't see why ev eryone is calling them awesome. The fact that he caught a gravid alterna is fantastic and that he got ALL the eggs to hatch is very commendable [Our mutual good friend had a horrible hatch rate this year!!!}but they're looks makes me yawn. I have absolutely nothing but respect for Colin, a person I've never met. Brad

I completely understood your point. I was questioning the social aptitude of eagerly volunteering your negative assessment of Colin's animals when he was clearly excited about having hatched them. I'm not arguing entitlement to opinion, just the savvy of knowing when and how to voice it. Even if you're bored, you don't have to yawn out loud.

In other words if you don't have anything good to say about somebody don't say it? I reaffirm I was not intending to burst Colin's bubble. I was just making a personal observation of the babies in question that 2 or 3 other people said were awesome. Can't someone have a difference of opinion? I'm very happy for Colin and wish him the best of luck in the future with breeding the same female and maybe some of the other babies if he keeps some of them. Plus I'm happy he took that female out of the wild gene pool!!!!!!!! Cheers Damon!
P.S. How about posting a photo of that Gap looking, triple alternator alterna captive born snake you have so people can see that Sanderson can produce beautiful alterna every once in awile!!!! Don't hate me Damon, had to get my Black Gap plug in there! BA