Reptile & Amphibian Forums

But this snake is hard to get a pic of - he's ALWAYS on the go!

Julien's a Crockett County, produced by T.D. Mac.

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1.0.0 Mexican Kingsnake, Vincent Price
1.0.0 277 Graybanded Kingsnake, Boris Karloff
1.0.0 Crockett Graybanded Kingsnake, Julien Sands
1.1.0 Ball Pythons, Pete (Peter Cushing) and Kali
1.0.0 Pastel Ball Python, Claude Raines
2.3.0 Bearded Dragons, Bela Lugosi, Spook, Ramoth, Sid Vicious & Ember
1.0.0 Pushy Lovebird Baxter
0.1.0 Goth-Punk Teenager
1.0.0 Tolerant Husband

Wow, really nice! How old is he? I really like the looks of the dark blairs! =)
Thanks for sharing!
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Gray-Banded Kingsnake

Thanks - I think he's pretty cool. He's almost 3 years old. His parents were both black & orange and he gets darker every shed (he's F1 from two Crockett County snakes T.D. Mac caught and bred). I love how the white dashes between the colors shows up so nicely on the black; I thought it would just fade in but it doesn't.
I have another male gray-banded, an F1 Radio Tower who's a lovely slate gray & bright orange. I got him about 8 years ago from T.D. Mac.
They're both such lovely snakes I almost feel guilty that they're just my pets. I'd love to find females to breed them with, but I'm too attached to them to take the chance that my inexperience would get them harmed (I've heard too many horror stories of snakes fighting rather than mating). Also, I'm too tender-hearted; I'd completely lose it trying to get the babies to feed. At least I know my limitations - there's gotta be hobbyist keepers like me, for the breeders to sell too, right? LOL!
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1.0.0 Mexican Kingsnake, Vincent Price
1.0.0 277 Graybanded Kingsnake, Boris Karloff
1.0.0 Crockett Graybanded Kingsnake, Julien Sands
1.1.0 Ball Pythons, Pete (Peter Cushing) and Kali
1.0.0 Pastel Ball Python, Claude Raines
2.3.0 Bearded Dragons, Bela Lugosi, Spook, Ramoth, Sid Vicious & Ember
1.0.0 Pushy Lovebird Baxter
0.1.0 Goth-Punk Teenager
1.0.0 Tolerant Husband

I especially like how clean the orange is on him! Was it always clean that way since he was young or was it a little dirty and washed off with age? Killer snake!

Yeah I thought that way too, but until I talked to some breeders and actually became friends I've learned so much. The breeding hobby is very rewarding but has some bad experiences, but mostly, great experiences. I'm just confused how some people out there can handle having over 300 breeder snakes and not to mention the end result...all those hatchlings to care for until they are sold. Many people did start out small though and worked their way up acquiring the snakes they would like in their collection. Right now I am also keeping snakes as pets, but eventually step into the breeding hobby. I am so excited about this that I even have a list of snakes I would like in my collection! =)

~Tony
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Gray-Banded Kingsnake

I also forgot to mention that it is your collection. You can keep as many as you want or as less as you want. I'm not going to have a lot of snakes in my collection, probably around 10-15 breeder snakes at the most and then you would know that there is probably 120 hatchlings or most likely less. I need to stop babbling!
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Gray-Banded Kingsnake

And nope, you're not babbling - just enthusiastic!
I know what you mean, it's tempting to breed when they're so gorgeous, and the babies can turn out so different, it would be so exciting. But one more thing standing in my way I forgot to mention - the only female gray-bandeds around here are generic, and I feel I should honor the breeder who kept my boy's lines pure. I'd have to search for and purchase females of the same locale, and that's not easy. Besides, as I said before, I'm a wimp. I'd be too upset if the babies didn't eat and some died.
But I LOVE the pics of the babies the experienced breeders here produce!
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1.0.0 Mexican Kingsnake, Vincent Price
1.0.0 277 Graybanded Kingsnake, Boris Karloff
1.0.0 Crockett Graybanded Kingsnake, Julien Sands
1.1.0 Ball Pythons, Pete (Peter Cushing) and Kali
1.0.0 Pastel Ball Python, Claude Raines
2.3.0 Bearded Dragons, Bela Lugosi, Spook, Ramoth, Sid Vicious & Ember
1.0.0 Pushy Lovebird Baxter
0.1.0 Goth-Punk Teenager
1.0.0 Tolerant Husband

That's what's so interesting about the dark blairs, is that they change so much as they shed I love it! Anyways you're right about the problems feeders but I'm sure most if not all colubrids prefer lizards over mice, it does take some time to convert them to mice feeders. If you check out the Alterna page there is an article on how to feed picky hatchlings especially Alternas.
I can see the orange kind of overlapping the black a little bit. That is a gorgeous snake also! Thanks for sharing that one!
Yeah hope you breed that dark blair because his beauty will go to waste!!! Lol =) His band is almost jet black. One of the nicest looking I've seen!

~Tony
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Gray-Banded Kingsnake

Nope - his orange was always clean & bright, it was just that his gray was gun-metal gray, and it's slowly turning black (which I hoped it would do, since both his parents are almost black & orange).
Here's a pic of my older gray-banded, Boris. He's always been bright & clean, too, but I've noticed a little "bleeding" of the orange at the edges of the black line into the white line between the orange and gray that he didn't have when he was younger. It really isn't noticable unless you look really close, and it doesn't bother me at it - I just find it interesting. I'll have to try and get a close-up pic of it to post.

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1.0.0 Mexican Kingsnake, Vincent Price
1.0.0 277 Graybanded Kingsnake, Boris Karloff
1.0.0 Crockett Graybanded Kingsnake, Julien Sands
1.1.0 Ball Pythons, Pete (Peter Cushing) and Kali
1.0.0 Pastel Ball Python, Claude Raines
2.3.0 Bearded Dragons, Bela Lugosi, Spook, Ramoth, Sid Vicious & Ember
1.0.0 Pushy Lovebird Baxter
0.1.0 Goth-Punk Teenager
1.0.0 Tolerant Husband