Reptile & Amphibian Forums

When I was a kid, about 7 presidents ago, one of my reptile books had a b&w photo of a man holding an indigo (wrapped around his wrist I think) with a caption that ran something like, "Indigos Make Great Pets." It was probably a very basic reptile book, possibly Ross Allen or Hobart Smith's, but I have been searching for that book/photo for years now and wondered if it rang a bell with anyone here? B

Is this the one? It was definitely ringing a bell when you described it so I started digging through my old snake books. This is in Richard Stratton's book Beginning With Snakes and was definitely one of my faves when I was a kid too. Let me know if it's the one you were thinking of.

Billy

I have had that photo burned in my head for over 30 years. I will now look for the book. Even hearing the name doesn't ring a bell but the photo is definitely it. Thank you! Bryan

I have another book called the T.F.H. Book of Snakes. It's an oversized, hardcover, coffee table style book. It has the same pic in it as well as a nice head shot of a blacktail cribo, a Spilotes p. mexicanus that is heavily melanistic (opposite of what we usually think of with mexicanus) and, of all things, a big Pseustes sulphureus! I'll try and take some more digi's of those pages over the weekend and post'em up.

Billy

That book was my BIBLE when I was a kid (that and Conant's field guide, of course)! I literally wore the cover off it with my constant thumbing through the pages. At one time I'm sure I could have quoted the whole thing from memory. And that picture inspired a friend and I to order an adult Eastern Indigo (from Thopson Zoo in Clewiston FL) for the princely (to a couple of 11 year-olds) sum of $30.00! By the way, it was written by none other than Hobart Smith.

Thanks for the memories!
Brad Chambers

Ironically, this is the same book that sparked my interest in Gonyosoma 20 years ago. You may remember the full page picture of a bright green ratsnake which was only refered to as "Elaphe spp." For a few years I had a fascination with a snake I did not even know the name of!

I lost my entire herp library in a flood a few years back. It was a pretty large collection. I decided to not collect books after that but did pick up a copy of Beginning With Snakes last summer for the nostalgia. It was also the first reptile book I ever purchased.

Oh yeah, I also remember the Indigo picture quite well.
-----
Current snakes:

0.0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Java locale (green)

0.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Malaysian locale (green)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Java local (green)

2.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Seleyar locale (all black)

1.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Celebes locale (Black & Tan)

>>Is this the one? It was definitely ringing a bell when you described it so I started digging through my old snake books. This is in Richard Stratton's book Beginning With Snakes and was definitely one of my faves when I was a kid too. Let me know if it's the one you were thinking of.
>>
>>Billy
>>

That's funny. I haven't seen that pic in what seems like 100 years LOL. Had the PICTURE hardwired in though Thats one of the reasons I wanted one when I was a teenager
-----
Thane

That was the first book I ever owned. My grandma knew I loved snakes and bought it for me on my 5th birthday. I've treassured it ever since. It's deffinitly got some cool pictures and they seem to turn up everywhere.