Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Been a while since I posted some photo's and thought I might as well throw a few up. Most of these have been posted at one time or other but I plan on updating with new photo's later this year. I'll start off with one of my young black pines from a group that I am raising up. This is an '07 as a hatchling.

Another from this group.

Ocean county N.J. northern female.

Ocean county N.J. northern male.

Dekalb county Alabama northern.

Calloway x Lyon counties western Kentucky northern.

The previous snakes mother.

Cave region northern pine from Kentucky.

One of my female southerns.

Brother to the above southern.

Sarasota county Florida hatchling southern pine.

Female Louisiana pine.

One of my Kankakee bulls.

Another of my Kankakee's.

Hatchling Kankakee bulls from last season.

Updated photo's coming soon!

Hope you enjoyed.

Phil

n/m

Awesome!!!!
Where did you aquire the reddish northern from Alabama? Do you produce any of those red pines?
Thank you

She was produced by Zach Veal. I have an adult male on breeder loan that was produced by John Meltzer from the same locale, northern Alabama. Will be putting them together in a couple of weeks.

Thanks, Phil

Phil,

Your critters are looking great! Good luck with breeding. It should be a very low key year for yours truly. I'm setting up a temporary room at my mother's house, can't sell my place if the herps are there. But you never know; between selling two homes and buying a third, not to mention planning a wedding (which happily is going well), I don't expect to do much, but I may come up with a good breeding or two. Hope all is well, your posts are always excellent, I'll e-mail you soon.

Bart

Thanks Bart,

Good luck with the wedding and I wish you and the future Mrs Bruno all the best!

Things have been tough on our end lately. We may have lost our best property for pine snake potential in the Cave Region but we do have many other good things lined up in the area. The season is drawing near so we are optimistic. We remain on this property but in a limited capacity.

On the up side our work is now being supported by KDF&WR's and for this we are very grateful.

Look forward to hearing more from you.

Phil

Great looking snakes Phil!
I really like that yellow kentucky pine!
Just got done reading your book and it inspired me to get out there a little early, maybe next time I'm down in the area we could hook up and do some herping! Last time I was there I managed to find some great looking crotes and a couple coppers. None of the more common snakes but I only had a day.
Nate

Hey Nate,

Glad to here that the you found the book to be inspirational! It's good to hear that it had the desired effect. My co-author Will Bird and myself are very happy with the way it turned out.

I believe we have some common friends here in Ky (Donnie and James) and where you herped is a special place for sure. Would like to get out with you the next time you are passing through and turn a few things up.

Thanks, Phil

Great to see the collecton doing so well Phil!
Are those Lloyd's blacks?
Also...how about adding a pic of that male LA pine to the post, I am curious as to how he compares to mine.
Went looking for that elusive Okeechobee co FL again yesterday...but no luck.
Keep in touch my friend
Ron
P.S. Put me down for those AL too.

Good to hear from you Ron!

Actually, the lodingi in the photo's are from Brad Bauserman. The pair from Lloyd are doing great and look great too! I need to update photo's of everything.

The ruthveni male you are referring to is blue at the moment, but he growing like a weed and never refuses a meal. Eating rat pups and > 3' now.

Good luck with the Okeechobee pines. Will be spending a lot of time looking for west Ky pines and Cave Region pines this year. We are optimistic but as you know, its rough sledding...

Look forward to hearing how you do!

Phil

Love the pics Phil!!!!
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Genesis 1:1

Glad you enjoyed!

Thanks, Phil

Nice Phil, I love the red color of the AL pine's.
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Too many animals to count......
HerpsGai

Thanks! She is even redder than the photo shows.

Phil

Those Kentucky and Alabama northerns are beautiful! The cave region Kentucky is tops IMO. Very nice Phil. Thank you for posting.

Jeremy

Thanks Jememy,

Without a doubt the cave region pine snake is our favorite as well. We plan on continuing efforts to find more specimens from this population and secure this line.To the best of our knowledge this one is the only one of its kind in captivity.

Phil

You've got some fine snakes there, Phil.
Can't really pick a favorite, they're all top-notch.

Tim

Get pics, Phil. Those baby Kankakkees look familiar. LOL!! My pair are doing awesome and growing like weeds. My female black pine is doing equally as good. Go ahead and put me down for a pair of everything!!

Zack
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Everything I know about life I learned from Nintendo!!!

Hey Zach,

Glad to hear the Kank's are doing well for you. They are one of my personal favorites. When you making it back to Louisville next? You should come out this spring sometime if you get the chance.

Thanks, Phil

Hopefully sometime soon. Working two jobs and hoping to go back to school, so my schedule is tight. Hopefully, when my female black pine is ready we could set up a "snake date". Of course, if you decide to get rid of a young male that will work too

Zack
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Everything I know about life I learned from Nintendo!!!

Hey Zach,

I am pretty set on raising up the group that I have but I would be more than happy to arrange a rendez vous with your female once they are mature and ready for action.

Phil

That Ocean Co. NJ Northern male is my fave. very sweet.

reako45

Thanks! My pair is from John Meltzer's stock, which are some of the finest out there.

Phil

I completely concur Phil!!!!! All Meltzer stock!!

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Genesis 1:1

Thanks for the kind words Tim!

Phil

Beautiful Pits Phil. That cave region Ky. Pine is absolutly gorgeous.
I've got to get up to Ky. again soon and see you guys. Hope everyone is doing great.
Steve
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"I never had any luck with women. One girl told me to come on over, there's nobody home. I went over, there was nobody home."
Rodney Dangerfield.

Good to hear from you Steve. Had a great time last time you visited. Let me know if you are passing through again.

Thanks, Phil

Far freakin' out! Way to go Phil, nice pits all the way around! I was close to your neck of the woods last week but not close enough or warm enough to call in a field trip. When do you guys usually start the flippin'? I saw some awesome spots in lower Tennessee and Alabama. Now I know why tin is "king" in your area! I actually made a gray rat and slimy salamander find in 'bama.
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Todd Hughes

Hey Todd,

Thanks for the kind words regarding the collection. The snake hunting season has started here but does not go into full swing for a couple of more weeks. At this point we have done no actual searching for snakes but we have been using our available time laying out metal and placing funnel traps and fencing in preparation for the season.

If you find yourself passing through again look me up!

Phil

Alright Phil:
I gotta know where I can get a hold of the red Alabama and any of those yellow northern pine's?

Hoping to produce some of the Alabama pines this year. The female is very red but the male looks quite a bit different and is not red in the least. From what I understand northern Al pines can be extremely variable so it should be interesting to see what the result will be if successful. If I am able to produce hatchlings I will be sharing these with John Meltzer since he was kind enough to provide me with the male to complete this pairing.

We hope that one day we will be able to produce enough of the black and yellow northerns from Ky to pass along to other serious hobbyist so that this line is preserved in captivity. We are still trying to secure more genetic stock and plan on a reproductive attempt this year. Our original female is a very old animal and it is hard to say how this will work out. We have two of her daugters that we are raising up and these should be breeding size in '09. They are actually close right now but this project is too important to us to risk. Our first goal is to establish a nice breeding group of these animals and then hopefully in the years to come share these with other Pit enthusiests.

Thanks for the interest. I will keep everyone posted on our progress.

Phil

Awesome pics and snakes as always!!! Impressive collection!!! Kevin

Thanks Kevin!

Phil