Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Have you been able to pull any high yellow wildcaught kings out of the canals in the last 5 years.

Have you found ANY high yellow "brooks" kings in the last 5 years period?

Do you think people released dark ones that bred to the nicer ones in the area and thats why they are not turning up. Or is it because of development and habitat destruction. What do you think is the reason these snakes are so hard to find compared to 15-20 years ago?
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"Yeah ya told me, and ya wrote it down too. But how the hell am I supposed to remember!"

I have not found one in many many years ...but I haven't been down that far south either...
Habitat destruction is #1.
There have been a few I've seen that were pretty nice but probably not the same as the ones from 20-30 years ago.
I'm pretty sure there was some releases, but just how much they would affect the wild population, I surely would not know.
Others here would know much more than I do about both subjects.
:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

crimsonking.piczo.com/

development is the main cause for the lackof field discoveries and the fact that most of the canal that isnt developed runs through the Everglades Natl. Park so the pop of snakes propably well inside the park.And brushing through the steep canal banks down there is a lil scary because of the heavy growth and the cottons and even less scary the Gators and crocs and EDBs are more easily found than a Fl. King. hold on I know ,the Peacock Bass ate em all

I've heard of some really nice looking "brooksi" being found in the past few years. I don't think its so much the quality of kings being found thats in decline, just the quantity. While its true that a lot of kingsnake habitat has been destroyed for housing, their populations seem to have declined even where the habitat hasn't changed much. This is true for rest of the state as well. I don't think they were all that easy to find 20 years ago, just more people hunting for them.

I put in a little bit of time early this year hunting some S.FL canals "brooksi" kings were known from, but came up empty handed. A friend who lives in S.FL was able to put in a bit more time on those canals, but only found a few kingsnake skins. Of course, the canal he found those on is pretty close to getting bulldozed.

With a more dedicated effort, I'm sure we could come up with some nice brooks. I'm hoping I can put in more time down in S.FL this coming Fall-Spring.