Reptile & Amphibian Forums

One of several I caught last weekend:

Beautiful Eastern King Sky. That sure beats all those nasty little racers. I found two more yesterday in Charles City.

Steve
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SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS

"Beautiful Eastern King Sky. That sure beats all those nasty little racers. I found two more yesterday in Charles City.'

I actually found this particular King under some debris with a much larger Racer. That herp trip was a spur-of-the-moment trip - so I didn't have my camera or my OFF. We went out about 6:00pm and found 5 snakes in the first 15 minutes - 2 Kings, 1 racer, 1 Worn Snake and 1 Southern Ringneck. I also picked 38 ticks off myself for 15 minutes in the grass.

I've decided to keep this King. It's a female and is the most docile King I think I've ever caught. When I found her she was about to go into "blue." She had an old wound to her side about 2/3rds of the way down her body, and another on the tail. She has some scale rot on her belly. I brought her home and treated her for mites, bathed her, and treated the scale rot with bacitracin. She ate twice in the last week, both times a frozen/thawed mouse. She crapped three times (big horse craps). And she just shed this morning.

Steve,

Did you find two racers or two Kings? Are you having any luck finding some Kings down there yet?

I know they are being found in Va Beach and Chesapeake but I get you we could find them in Prince George, Sussex, Surry, Isle of Wight, James City, etc????
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Peter Jolles
East Coast Colubrids
www.eastcoastcolubrids.com

Pete, it was two racers. I've found a quite a few Racers and some Blk Rats in Charles City and New Kent counties. All where in, around, or under natural cover. I need to find some good junk sites around me. Here's one of Charles City's loving blk Racers pictured below. Steve

>>Steve,
Did you find two racers or two Kings? Are you having any luck finding some Kings down there yet?

I know they are being found in Va Beach and Chesapeake but I get you we could find them in Prince George, Sussex, Surry, Isle of Wight, James City, etc????
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SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS

Steve,

There are a lot of good junk fields in both counties. Cruise the back roads and look into people's yards. Lots of people live on multiple acres of land and a lot of these home sites have old out-buildings and junk piles in the back that have been there for decades. I've found the old county-folk (not so much the new arrivals) to be very accomodating to "snake hunters."

First thing I do when I approach someone is assure them that I'm not selling anything, and not trying to buy anything. I simply interested in looking for snakes on the property to photogrpah and catalog. I identify myself by name and tell them where I live. I tell them I would be extraordinarily appreciative if I could explore their land and look for snake. Thay almost always say yes. And many times they will tell you good places to look. As a courtesy, always report back to them before you leave, tell them where you were, what you found, and thank them for their generosity. I almost always get invited back. This works very well on the old established residents of Charles City and New Kent.

STUNNING! Looks like she's got some size to her! Great find and great pictures!

Looks great!
If you want to get up sometime, please e-mail me...I'm in Yorktown as I've mentioned once before. The county seems to be bare or I'm in all the wrong spots.

guttersnacks

at

cox dot net
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Tom

"The more people I meet, the more I like my snakes"

It's not bare, it's just all National Historical Park or private property. Try the edges of the fields near the wood line on the battlefields. There's also a lot of creeks back in the parklands. Try them in the morning or early evenings. (This is National Parkland - so you can't keep any snakes, but there is nothing that says you can't go looking for them.) Cruise the roads in the evenings that run thru the parklands.

Also, go cruise some of the backroads in Lackey near the Weapons Station entrance. Bet you'll see some good herp land. I've never been turned down for permission to go "snake hunting." The usual response from land owners is to tell me I'm nuts but to go "hunt" all the snakes I want, more often than not followed by "come back anytime."

I've found 0.2 so far from Va. Bch.. Thanks for the photos.
-Phil

Found on the Peninsula.

Sweet king.
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Mike
KingPin Reptiles Inc.
www.kingpinreptiles.com
^ Updated 5/27