Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Last night I went to the local pet store in Casselberry, FL to get a couple of rat pups. One of the guys who works there that I've known for a while says "Want to see something cool?" He pulls a box out of the shoebox rack and in it was a hatchling scaleless corn snake! He told me a guy brought it in a few days earlier--his daughter had found it in the parking lot at Disney World! The sad thing is when he pulled the box out we realized it was dead. It had a lump from a pinkie so it was eating. He thinks the guy kept it too long and may have had it without water. It had ventral scales the entire length but no head scales or dorsal scales. The pattern was pretty normal, but slightly abberrant. Too bad it didn't make it. I wish I had my camera with me.

Too cool and too sad at the same time.
Maybe it was a Lake Apopka snake??? LOL
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Regards, Bill McGighan

Are you saying that maybe all the pesticides got to it? I think only gators and mice survived that area. :O

I grew up in in "Big Potato" (Apopka: Indian word for "Big Potato". Actually, I grew up in Plymouth and went to school in Apopka but nobody knows where Plymouth is.

Ya'll take care & stay out of Club Juana.

Mike
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It is said that 1 out of every 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Think of your 3 closest friends, if they're normal, then it's you.

I know the area well, Mike (HappyHillbilly), though I spent more time herping the Sorrento area to Mount Dora.
Good location for the Wekiwa Springs and to enjoy Orlando without living in it!
Here's a DOR Short-Tailed Snake (Stilosoma extenuatum) from Plymouth.
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Regards, Bill McGighan

Nice find, Bill!

It's been 30 yrs. since I dove head-first into reptiles (mostly snakes) as a teen in the mid '70s, in the same areas you mentioned. I don't recall ever seeing a short-tail or really even knowing about them. I looked 'em up on UF's "Snakes of FL" site and judging from your pic, that was a good size short-tail. I bet finding it tickled you to death.

In the mid '70s I found a coral snake that had been run over on a dirt road behind the old GE plant there in Plymouth. I beleive the record at that time was 47 1/2" and the one I found measured 45".

Its sad to see the urban sprawl taking place in the Sorrento area, especially Wolf Branch Rd, SR46 & 44. At least part of 46, towards Sanford, is protected, or at least, it was.

I went field-herping in the Pine Lakes area when we went down there to see my folks in July.

That's enough chit-chat, for now. I'll leave ya be.

Take care!
Mike
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It is said that 1 out of every 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Think of your 3 closest friends, if they're normal, then it's you.