Hi All,
25 Years Ago today, May 14, 1987, when I was 28 years old, I had taken a week of vacation to hunt snakes in South & West Texas. 1987 was a year I had come to look forward to, for the State of Texas had lifted the protection status off of Graybanded Kingsnakes & Mexican Milksnakes & I could now actually just buy a license & hit the roads without any real concerns from getting busted for something as trivial as finding a tri-colored milk or kingsnake, without looking over my shoulder anymore. Anyway, back to 25 years ago this day. I had driven my 1978 yellow Datsun truck into Freer this evening & drove around checking for places to stay, from Motels to shacks & ended up renting a travel trailer from an old man, named Mr. Ford, who had a sign along the West side of TX-16, in the North edge of town. He offered me a small trailer for $10.00 a night, which I considered affordable at that time. After paying Mr. Ford & getting the trailer keys, I unloaded some things, then drove on into town & visited the local Dairy Queen there. By now, it was already 8:30pm & the sun had set already. I was late to get out driving I had thought, as I always started driving just before dark in West TX in the past & thought I should do the same here. Of course hunger had overroad my hunting urge, so I thought to myself, so what if I get a late start, I'll be out searching right after a great meal here. So without regrets, I ordered my food & it was about 8:45pm by the time they had it ready. I sat there relishing my cheeseburger, fries & a coke & thought about how exciting it would be to soon head back out on the road to snake hunt for that elusive annulata milksnake that I had looked at countless photos of in books & read & re-read its natural history notes in books like Williams 1st edition Milksnake book. Just past 9pm now when I left Dairy Queen & headed North out of Freer, on TX-16. My plans were to hunt the intersection area North of Freer, at the junction of TX-16 and TX-624, road cruising 4-5 miles N & S of that jct. on 16 & also driving the 11 mile West stretch of TX-624, that crossed the Nueces River & went past a Naval Test Station Site, where my turn around point would be, then back to 16 again. Freer is in Duval county, but after some 7-10 miles North of town, you cross into McMullen county, so McMullen would be my target area mainly, though I knew milks could turn up anywhere in the entire area. Ok, leaving town North, I soon find a dor Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, as I recall, while still in Duval county, then head on North into McMullen county. Its dark now & I am hoping to see a live snake sometime & it doesnt take to long. Around 9:30pm, at exactly 17 miles North of Freer, on the East shoulder of TX highway 16, in my headlights I see the taletell tri-colors of a snakes body slowly moving towards the grass in the bar ditch here & its un-mistakable, its an Annulata! My first live snake of this trip & bingo!, I find the snake I had driven over 700 miles South to search for & catch, a Mexican Milksnake. By the time I get stopped, I am nearly almost past the snake & I quickly stop the truck & jump out with a flashlight in hand & run towards the snake, which is now 2/3 of its way into the grass, with only the last 1/3 of its body visable. I quickly & gently grab the snakes last third area & then get a better hold of the entire snake, as it squirms & defecates in my hands, but no problem here, for I had just caught my first ever wild annulata from its natural surrounding throrn-brush habitat, quick check of it & it was about 25" long & was a male & it was great! Mission accomplished I said to myself & continued on that night, finding other snakes, but not another milksnake that night. Fast Forward now to May 14, 2012. Today is a epic day for that 87 found annulata & its owner. For today marks 25 years of its survival in captivity & is currently my all-time longevity record for any milksnake that I have ever kept. Today, this old male annulata measures around 34" & other than a benighn abcess, on one side of its body, near its vent, hes in pretty good shape & I do beleive that since he was 25" long when first captured, that the snake was no doubt at least 3-5 years of age then, which would make its actual age 28-30 years old! Heres 2 shots taken today, 5-14-2012, of the old annulata, which lives on still in my collection here in Fredonia, KS. He again bred a female annulata this year, from about 7 miles away, and she will be laying another clutch of McMullen county, TX annulata eggs in the next few days. Hope you enjoyed the actual account of this snake & his continuing history......JF

Male Mexican Milksnake, wildcaught 5-14-87 from McMullen County, TX:

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