Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Lately I've seen or heard of Milksnake hobbyist giving up their collection because of the work it takes to keep a large group of Milks, and that the North American Milks in particular are fussy eaters and harder to care for.
I've been working nonstop lately and have not been able to work w/ my collection like I'd like to. Get home, clean tubs, water, back to work, come home again, feed animals, clean tubs, water, back to work again. Over, and over for weeks now.
I started thinking about thinning down the group of snakes I keep because of the work involved.
Well, the other day I was free from work for a few days, and was able to go through my collection at a slow enjoyable pace. Feeding and cleaning, checking weights of animals, taking long enjoyable pause w/ each animal. What a difference it made in how I looked at the work involved. It didn't feel like work at all, it was just fun and interesting. So, I took a few new photos of animals I have and thought you all may enjoy.
Oh, and the collection isn't going any where.

I have been working w/ a nice young group Cherry county animals, and they are starting to really look good now.
Cherry co. female

Cherry co. male

Another male, one of my best for sure.

Female

Another female

Male, Cherry co.

I'm really happy w/ these Thomas co. Pales too.

This Thomas co. male came from an all white headed father.

And as you all know I have a few Bighorn county Pales too. Next year should be a big year for these Pales, as I have 5 females that will be bred in 2009.

W/C female

An old Bighorn male. He could breed again, but I have better males to put w/ the females. I love this old tough guy though.

Here is one of my better males. Nice wide terra cotta saddles, yellowish back ground, w/ only a little bit of newsprinting. And you gotta love the M on his head for Multistrata.

Cole has this Bighorn male in his collection, and I never get tired of seeing him.

Love his granite face.

This girl is a beast now, and hopefully will drop a nice clutch next year.

Good looking Bighorn male from 2005.

Female from 2007. Never missed a meal yet, even in blue.

Moving on to Stillwater county, and I've gotta say, these Pales are some of the best looking Pales I've ever seen. When we start to produce more of them, they will rival any nice looking Cherry county NE Pale, no doubt about it.
Female

The clutch she dropped this year.

The view from the hillside she came from.

Another Stillwater female.

Here is a little stop in Powder river county.

Yellowstone county.

Here are some Gentilis I feel lucky to work w/.




This little dude started slow but is eating like a champ now.

Part of the fun for me is taking photos of animals, and trying to get a good shot w/ my limited camera skills.

Love the many crossovers that can occur on Gentilis.

Before we move on here is a good day of herping this spring.

I have been working on a hypo. Syspila project for some time now and finally saw some results from this year. Thanks to Jeff's help.
This is a big het girl.

She produced this hypo. male. And the next photo is a het. female.

Here is an 05 hypo. and normal.

Nonlocality normal. Pretty sweet for just a plane Jane.

Now I love working w/ these locality Syspila, and this female is an eating beast.

As is the male.

I have been working w/ a small group of Hwy 118 Celaenops.

One of his off spring.

One of the perks of working w/ Celaenops.

Well that's what I got. Gotta go back to work.

-Dell

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Work is the curse
of the drinking class!

Thanks Phil.

Hwy 118, female

Dell:

Even though I don't work with any of the species you keep, I gotta say I was drooling over several, especially the syspilia group. You job on the river looks pretty cool too!

Rob Haneisen

Rob,
thanks for the kind words. You have a great collection yourself. You may be hearing from me about those Black milks you keep.

Here is the tri. color I got from you last year.
-Dell

Dell:

Glad to see that hypo tri-color holding his colors well. My black milks are gravid but still haven't laid. Every year, they just get later and later, but at least they give me big healthy clutches. I can feel 13 or 14 eggs in one female and 10 in the other. Should get one clutch this weekend if I'm lucky.

Again, awesome pics from you.

Rob

You are so right! I like the hobby and I always have to maintain the thought to not let it get away from me. If the collection gets to big then it becomes work and not fun. I retire in 19 months and I am looking forward to when I can spend more time with my snakes. I always try to maintain a manageable group.

I Love this Hobby! Specially this time of the year! Babies!!
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Thomas Sierra

Thanks Thomas,
Work always seems to be in the way of living. Keep that collection going, and I bet your counting the days until you retire.
-Dell

nicest posts that I have seen in quite a while. Thanks so much for taking the time to share with all of us some of the unique animals that you come across in your neck of the woods, as well as a few others from your collection.
All of the animals look really nice and your photos were great!
Thanks again for the tour.
Nathan

Nathan coming from you that means a lot. You put up some of the most interesting post in this forum. Thanks a lot.
I keep fumbling w/ this dam camera, one day I may have an idea what I'm doing w/ it. But I'm not holding my breath.
-Dell

Fantastic, buddy! That was an AWESOME milk post! We've gotta get together some time this week and do a little photo shoot... I've got a couple hundred pics to take... LOL I've been a little lax on the photos this season, but your post has spurred me into action.

Those Cherry Co., NE animals are looking awesome. I haven't seen then in quite a while, I guess! The Bighorn Co., MT animals are something else, too - and a ton of fun to work with. Man, can they put away the food! I'm with you on the Stillwater Co., MT animals, too. I have a feeling that once we "release them to the public", they'll take off like wildfire. They're consistently stunning, and feed like champs!

If you're free tonight, maybe we can do a little photo shoot? Gimme a call...
-Cole

Wait A minute...... did you just ask him on a date!!?
-Ryan

Feel like taking some photos tonight, buddy? I know you've got a few clutches of syspila and gentilis that need to be photographed... Plus, I think you owe me a beer.

-Cole

Now you're asking me out!? I mean, you have good taste and all, but come on. Every time I try to take a picture of those new syspila I develop some new nervous tick. Its just not good for my blood pressure. But I am always in for a beer!
-Ryan

Sounds good Cole. We could punch out Ryan too.

Great "stuff" Dell! I love all of those MT. pales!

Dan

Thanks Dan,
-Dell

Dude! Whadda killer series of pics!
Love 'em all but you know my fondness for syspila.....

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I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way. - Robert Frost, 1935

Here's a sparkling little hatchling from the orange line.
Jeff

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I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way. - Robert Frost, 1935

That thing's soooo ugly. You shouldn't taint your collection with it, so I'll take it off your hands and split the shipping with you... LOL

Damn, Jeff, your syspila collection is stellar. I know you've put a lot of work into building it over the years, and I want to let you know that it's paid off! Nice.

-Cole

Keep those photos coming Jeff. That is a nice looking Red.

Wow Jeff, that is incredible!

Dave
DNS Reptiles

You've got to warn people that there are blindingly bright syspila in these posts, Jeff! I never get tired of looking at the screamers in that line of animals - keep 'em coming!

-Cole

Thanks Jeff,
I owe a lot to you, thanks for you friendship. Always look forward to talking w/ you.

Next year we'll get eggs & neonates out of this female.

This hypo male is getting big, but not big enough yet for the gorilla syspila, maybe in three more years he'll be big enough. I will put him on a female next year for the first time though.
-Dell

Man o' man that red is killing me Jeff... let me know if you ever get tired of him... lol.

Chris

Killer post my friend! I think you have spurred even me to get more into those North American pains in the butt! I am glad you have decided to stay in the hobby, something I have thought about as well. Plus if you got out of it, we would all just sit there and stare at each other while we smoke our cigars. There would be nothing to talk about!
-Ryan

Ryan,
we could talk about how funny looking you are.

No really this is Ryan after he got sick on the cigar. He got that ash all in one long puff, and it shrunk his head.

moral of the story - don't mess with Dell when he knows how to use photo shop!

-Ryan

GREAT STUFF Dell. I'm loving all those little NA Milks.

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Joe

Glad you enjoyed it Joe, thanks.

That is a great looking Eastern, and a good shot of it too.
-Dell

Thanks Dell, but my shots "pale" in comparison. I've learned a lot from all you guys over the past year though.

Got a question for you. Most of us can't wait to reach retirement and fish, herp, golf, etc. every day. Do you dream of grabbing a shovel and getting in the ditch or putting a suit on and sitting behind a desk when you get there? Get back to work! (Yes, I'm jealous)
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Joe

I'll tell you Joe, I like people, and I'm a people person, but some people are easier to be around then others. I'm in a boat w/ some folks I really don't care for for 8 hours. By the end of the day w/ difficult people I want to eat a gun.
My grandfather told me once, "if you have to be on time everyday Dell it's a job."

This really felt like work. July 5th 2004.

Those are some great points Dell. I guess after a while I would look at the way I fish a lot differently if it was being done under those circumstances. Look forward to updates on your collection.
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Joe

thanks for taking the time to photograph all your milks...many of us know what kind of time that all takes!

-Rusty

Boy it does take a lot of work and patience to take photos of snakes. But it's fun when you get one photo you really like, and you didn't drop kick the snake to the moon after you took the photo.
Thanks Rusty.

-Dell

Dell, great photos there. I especially love those syspila and killer celaenops you posted. Glad you decided to keep the collection. I've made a few mistakes in the past getting rid of stuff because I thought I was too busy and regret it.

Great stuff!

Dave
DNS Reptiles

Thanks Dave,
I don't have any regrets so far, thank God. The only regrets I have are snakes I wish I had in my collection.

Here are a pair of Celaenops that I sold off this year. When I see them as adults I'm sure I'll regret it then. They should be killer adults.

wow, those are very nice as well!

Dave

So many things to address...

I'll just summarize by saying holy freaking hell man!

Top notch post full of eye candy!!! I'd like to spend some time casually looking them over as well! Quite an impressive group... though I'm pretty preferential to the 'terra-cotta' Bighorns.... though you're right about those Thomas' and well -- sharp snakes -- but while I'm at it that gorilla sure threw you a nice male! Enough of that run-on-sentence...

You sir have a sick collection of smaller NA milks... I'm pretty sure I don't even have to say it! By the way, great shots! Glad you found the time to pop some off... I still think I need a huge rock to photograph on myself!

Keep up the great work with them and I look forward to what you manage to produce in the time to come!

Chris

Chris,
you have a pretty "sick" collection yourself, so coming from you that is a big complement. I love the NA milks your working w/, and really glad you like the Bighorn Multistrata. I already have you down for some Stillwater county animals when they become available.

Bighorn county, 2005

Stillwater county

my favorite na milks

Gotta love those Reds.

That was like a visual buffet for milks...insane.

You really have those things figured out man, great work!

I leave in 8 hours for 9 days in AZ...

Hey Chad,
Thought you may like that post. You are the Milkman.

9 days until AZ? I bet your chewing your Berkinstocks off in anticipation. Good luck.

-Dell

Only kidding w/ the above photo. Here you go for real. Mr Yellow, Stillwater county.

awesome post Dell, I freaking love that 05 hypo.sick man just sick.....
You need some osprey swim bates man.

L8r

Glad to see american milks for a change here,fantastic post,

Thanks
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Doug L

my bad
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Doug L

I had to have the syspila-on-a-teat pic and the hash marks on the egg shell is very clever - love that one too (but didn't snag it)
Jeff
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I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way. - Robert Frost, 1935

just send me a pair of Cherry Co. Pales like Dells and we will call it even
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Doug L