Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everyone,

I'm realtivly new to the forum, and I've gotten some great help here in the past, so I thought I'd ask this question.
I am a new environmental science teacher in lovely NJ and thought it would be a great idea to have an example of NJ's biodiversity in the class. I used to work a little bit with Northern Pines at college and currently have two gophers. I am conisidering bringing into class as a room pet a Northern Pine snake. But to keep it intresting, I wanted to get a color morph. I am just not sure whats actually out there for this species aside from albino. Does anyone have pictures of other types? Or info regarding permits? I already have tentative permission from my school..double checking today. So does anyone have any thoughs? All comments are welcome.

I think a normal wild type pattern can be just as interesting or more so than a morph particularly if the animal is used to help teach natural history or ecology of a native herp. A morph and a wild type of a species would grow to be the same size, exhibit the same behaviors, the only difference is....color.
I understand you may encounter difficulty acquiring a wild type northern pine in New Jersey, but that would be my preference.

daveb

Maybe you should get a normal pine AND morph to show the results of one gene mutation. Plus then you have two snakes!

While I personally like that idea, I doubt my administration will be terribly found of it. It depends on what sort of equipment they have available...heck, if they have a bunch of old 40 breeders or better laying around..I'll be in heaven.

~M

I'm not positive on this, but I don't think northern pines are allowed in captivity in New Jersey. You may have to go with a southern.
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"I'll be back at 6 if not 7. 8 the very latest but definatly no later than 9...ish...Moscow time."

I've heard that a few diffrent times, but i knew a biology prof who had a breeding colony of northern pines including two albinos (I think..they were all white with very reduced offwhite patterns). And a pet store nearby was selling a northern pine, when i asked if that was legal, he said they had all the docs...

~M

I guess it is just illegal to collect there, I know that for sure. Must be some other states that you can't keep them in, I'm pretty sure there is more than one.
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"I'll be back at 6 if not 7. 8 the very latest but definatly no later than 9...ish...Moscow time."

Although I don't live in N Carolina, I know that you can't legally possess them there.