Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here you go Jason. This is all but one of the kings I've found. Most were dors and pics of Krysko's kings are included.

First one found was a dor in Wakulla Co. on April 7, 2001. Such a beautiful specimen.

Second king was a dor and I didn't get any pics. The third found was this dor in Leon Co. on July 27, 2002.

The fourth was this female that had just been hit and died in my hands. Found in Leon Co. on September 6, 2002.

Not even a week later, I found my first live king. This male was found in Leon Co. on September 12, 2002.

I plan on breeding him with this female I found in Leon Co. on July 15, 2005. She's been a picky eater and is a bit thin so I won't breed her this year.

The sixth king was this male found by Pierson Hill and I in Franklin Co. on July 12, 2003.

I plan on breeding him with this female I found in Franklin Co. on February 25, 2006.

The seventh king found was this beautiful female dor in Gulf Co. on August 24, 2004.

On May 14, 2005, this dor male was found in Liberty Co. The pair I bought from Krysko were found not too far way from this one.

The ninth king found was this fresh dor male in Leon Co. on July 1, 2005. I missed him by maybe half an hour.

The last two are the pair I found recently in Franklin Co. on March 12, 2006. They may have already bred but I'll keep putting them together. They are one of the best pairs I have as they were found maybe 5 feet from each other.

The male:

And the female:

Finally, here is the pair I bought from Krysko. They were both found in Liberty Co. on March 6, 1992 at different locations. I'm going to attempt to breed these two this year.

The male:

And the female:

Also, it's interesting to see that the male Pierson and I found in 2003 and the female I bought from Krysko look almost identical. I swear they look like twins even though they're from different counties and found miles apart from each other.

They all look great, but I think my favorites are the Franklin County ones.They seem to have a distinct look......
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Lloyd Heilbrunn

Palm Beach Gardens, Fl.

Yeah I still don't know which one is my favorite as I find them all fascinating. But the female I found in February certainly is one of the best looking and lightest individuals I've found. And she's eating f/t mice like they're going out of style! First one I've found that isn't a picky eater.

what a set you have there sean...so may i ask-what are you gonna do with all the offspring?keep them?sell them for cash?put them back ,restocking what has obviously been good to you,for all your efforts?that's a respectable chunk of local gene pool you are in posession of,would you agree?
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"with head raised regally,and gazing at me with lidless eyes,he seemed to question my right to trespass on his territory" Carl Kauffeld

Are you recommending him let go captive born snakes that have been in contact with snakes from other areas? In CA it is illegal to release any cb herps, the reason being they could carry something that does not manifest under good captive conditions and even an outwardly healthy herp can transmit disease to the wild population.
I think it is much better to limit yourself to taking only what you need to maintain your captive lineage and the rest you find in the field just photo or study and let go.
In my opinion only an officially monitored program should release stock to the wild, you are playing with fire if you do it on your own.

He has 8 animals from two counties. Not much of a assembly at all. They are also from different years. Not to mention that it is illegal to release any snakes in Florida native or not.

Later Jason

Im starting to think you are a treehugger Justin lol. I dont think Seans few snakes are a good chunk of the gene pool.

Keith
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ok my last post got deleted because of my post-st. patty's day irish-hotheadedness,lol(implied a curse word,whoops)....ok,aaron;i was not recomending anyone do anything.....yeah keith i guess i will continue to claim 'tree-hugger' status,at least until anyone can teach me why that's bad,lol....but really-i know the risks involving re-releasing captive animals,though in all likelihood,they'd thrive,with no harm done-but there is a risk,hence the laws prohibiting it...but done properly,captive propagation can be very productive(e.g. when you have the right people behind the project,to determine good health of the planted animals;how many should be dispersed,where to do so,and how often,etc.)...as an example:c.b. drymarchon corais couperi have been released in southern alabama in specific,researched locales,though they don't seem to be taking a foothold there;yet all parties involved would agree it's been attempted in ideal habitat...could this be an example of the timing being off,i.e. waiting too long to attempt propagation?hard to say.i think most of us agree it's best used as a last resort,but knowing when it's called for is the hard part.....yeah 8 specimens doesn't sound like a lot.but also,remember how tiny the goini's range is-and how many hours sean put into finding those eight;it's not like he just stumbled upon them....hey sean:do you/have you ever participated with any biologists/herpetologists,local or otherwise,in any field research/studies regarding 'the snake f.k.a. goini'?if not-just my 2 cents-you should,as you obviously seem to have an extensive knowledge of their turf...i also assume your fervor for hunting them in the field is driven,at least somewhat,by an intruigue for their complicated/'problematic' status,evolutionary role,and niche(be it coming or going)so yeah,in summary,i am jealous of the fact sean found these,not me;and that he is apparently right at ground zero to learn more about these first hand....while they are a personal favorite(i have a couple c.b. ones myself),to me they hold a lot more value than just another 'morph' of getula for hobbyists,such as myself.
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"with head raised regally,and gazing at me with lidless eyes,he seemed to question my right to trespass on his territory" Carl Kauffeld

Bruce Means had mentioned breeding the pair he bought at the Daytona Expo in the National Geographic video and releasing the offspring. So I'm curious what kind of studies have been done on releasing CB snakes. Has anyone ever done an actual study on this? I know there are ones with the Gopher Tortoise but with CB snakes is it all theory?

Either way, I'd like to release some of the offspring where the parents were found but plan on contacting Bruce about this and see if I can do it the proper way. I figure if the eggs are kept in a seperate room (my snakes have their own room) and hatch in a seperate area, they're not coming in contact with my collection and are less likely to contract anything from them. If anyone has any input, I'd love to hear it.

Also, for anyone interested, I've kept what I've found so far but don't plan on keeping everything I find in the future. What I'd really like to find now is a patternless or striped specimen and I would keep those but other specimens will most likely be photographed and released. In fact, Bruce has mentioned how he wants to put transmitters in WC specimens and radio track them. I hope to assist him in this project and if I find any more in the future, maybe I will be lucky enough to be a part of this and see what data we can come up with. Overall, I am just happy to be able to find these kings and know they still exist.

Great photo's Sean! If you do sell some of your offspring, please put me on your list for a pair of the Franklin Co. March 12, 2006 pairing.
Thank you,
Phil Patton

Thanks Phil! Hopefully that pair will produce some offspring. I'm gonna wait and see how many I get and what they look like before I decide to sell any but will let you know.

Absolutly awesome Sean.

Thanks Aaron!

Well Sean you know I want some of these babies. I would be interested in the pairing of the male you and Piersen found bred to the Franklin Co. on February 25, 2006 female. The Krysko pair produce nice babies and I think I should be on the list for them because I was there at Daytona when you picked them up. Which by the way I am still kind of mad about, even if you already worked out the deal before hand, it was kind of rude to buy such nice snakes right in front of me.

Nice group all in all but as a series of pics the DORs are just sad to see. I hope you keep getting there before the cars this year.

Later Jason

Jason, Let me see if they breed and what she produces and I'll let you know. I'm not sure how many offspring I'm going to sell yet as I'm really interested in seeing how they turn out and lighten up as they age. I may be tempted to keep all of them! If Krysko's pair breeds, I won't keep many of those. Only the patternless or striped if those are produced. I'll let you know if they breed though.

Yeah the dors are a sad sight for sure. But it's a sign they're still there.

Hey Sean,I found a DOR in 2003 on 67 that looked alot like the one in the first pic.Beautiful animals.Trey

Trey, Do you have any pics of that one? I'd love to see it. Also, do you know Lindsay Pike? He mentioned to me about a year ago that he had spoken with someone that found one off that road. Just curious if it was you.

Sean,didnt have a camera with me that day.Went back the next day to get pics and it was gone.Dont know Lindsay but I did speak with a guy out there that week and told him about my find.I will be in the ANF for a week in May,maybe we can get together and do some herping.Trey