Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Thanks to all of those that have inquired on the status of our KY locale northern pine snake project. We are happy to report that we were fortunate enough to get one clutch of eggs this season. This was from a coupling of our cave region pine snake bred to one of our west KY specimens. We will most likely hold a couple of snakes back and donate the rest to some of the zoo's and educational facilities in the state to help raise public awareness of this species in our state and to promote conservation efforts.


I have posted photo's of these snakes on here before but for those that may not have seen them here they are again. The top photo is male snake from the cave region and the lower photo is from the Tennessee Valley population in west KY.

Will and I have been in the field searching for additional stock this year but to no avail. For those of you that have an interest in these snakes in the wild I have included a small selection of photo's of species that share the same habitat with pine snakes in KY that we have found along the way this year while striking out so far lol!

Timber rattlesnakes

Corn snake

Copperhead

Black kingsnake

Red x eastern intergrade milk snake

Thanks,

Phil

Thats awesome Phill.Thanks for sharing.
Shannon

Wow, those eggs are huge. And those pines are gorgeous. Good luck with the eggs and thanks for posting all these great photos.

WOW!those pines are awesome!!!i am coming to ky and finding me one of them!!!!lol!

Thanks Rob! Take us with you when you find one, we could use some help lol!

Phil

Thanks for all the kind words Mike! I will keep everyone posted.

Phil

Thank you Shannon. Always good to hear from you.

Phil

I am a die hard pituophis freak. Those pines are incredible!
However that crotalus is stunning. Thanks for posting.
Adam

Thanks Adam. Good to hear from a fellow Crotalus fan!

Phil

Those two are fantastic Phil! Can't wait to see those ostrich eggs hatch! Your corns and timbers are no slackers either! come down south some Jan. or Feb. and look me up, we'll stay outta the snow and find snakes!
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Todd Hughes

Thanks Todd. Where in Texas are you located? I just might take you up on that offer.

Thanks again, Phil

Corpus Christi, Phil, southern coast, two hours from Mexico!!!
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Todd Hughes

Whoa! Now that does sound cool!

Phil

definitely not forest type habitat, but some cool things can be found, best of all, no snow! Well, hardly ever, it has snowed three times in 47 years down here, lol!
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Todd Hughes

those things are huge. poor snake must have lost 30 lbs. when she laid those.
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1.0.0 Great Plains Ratsnake
1.0.0 Corn, Lavender Aztec het for Amel
0.1.0 Black Ratsnake
0.0.1 Texas Rat (tame)
1.0.0 Broad Banded Water Snake, Hypo
1.0.0 Black Bassador Retriever
2.1.0 Godchildren, 1 Evil, 2 possible hets

lol!Yeah, she did look a bit thin afterwards but she's been throwing down on the medium rats and putting her weight back on.

Thanks, Phil

Great post and update Phil. Hope the success snowballs and you are able to get the population rolling again. Are they rare all over the state? Is it just you and Will looking for the most part? Sure hope they're not to close to gone.

Best of luck and hope to see more good news as time goes by.

Brad

Thanks Brad,

I would consider them rare, or at least rarely seen. There are three known populations in KY. One is in the southeastern part of the state. This population had been the focus of a long term trapping effort by the biologists on staff at an east KY power co-op. Despite years of searching no specimens ever turned up and to our knowledge one has not been seen there in decades. There is a very small population in the vicinity of Mammoth Cave NP. This is where Will and I have concentrated our efforts for the past 8 years or so. The specimen we found there was the first documented live pine snake found in that area since 1969. We have seen a newspaper clipping from the 90's where a farmer is holding up two adults that he killed that were in his field. The west KY (Tennessee Valley) population is clearly the most viable and in most years one will turn up, often DOR. Will's boss at the zoo has been doing research in this area for the past ten years or maybe longer. Will and I do visit this area as well and managed to find a live specimen there in Sept 2002.

Thanks again, Phil

Thanks Phil for the detailed report. The news is quite depressing on one hand. BUT, the fact that you and Will, et al are doing the good and important work is exciting. Seems like the Kentucky Pine project may well be the most important N.A. snake project currently going on. Sure, I know it doesn't even have ssp. status at this point but it is such a distinctive and magnificent animal and its rarity is so indicative of dire habitat depletion that I hope your efforts gain and sustain the support they merit.

I wish you the greatest success!

Its like my pal Jonathan Wright once said, they may be the same species but they are a different snake. They certainly are a unique and interesting population that is in need of conservation.

Thanks again, Phil

Incredible looking pines. Do they get as large as the jersy pines?

Thanks! I suspect that they do based upon some of the eye witness accounts that we have heard from some of the elderly locals that live within their range, but you know how that goes as folks are often prone to exageration when it comes to snakes. None of these people have seen one in recent times but we have talked with several people that recall seeing one years ago and the account always stresses how large the snake was. Some of the pickles we have examined and some of the dead specimens we have seen in photo's were certainly sizeable though.

Phil

Great project. That is one of the darkest Black Kings I have ever seen. Great find. Hope your luck changes finding Pines. Keep up the good work.

reako45

Thanks! The black king was a gravid female found under a piece of metal at one of our research sites. They are some very nice snakes.

Phil

A big congratulations, Phil!

Those pines are GORGEOUS!!!

//Todd

Thanks Todd! Of course, I never was one to count my pine snakes before they hatch though lol! So far things do look good.

Phil

All fantastic looking animals Phil. The pines look incredible. My screen shows a fair amount of yellow,is that a fair representation or is it a lighting camera thing?
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“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Emmerson

Thanks Tony,

What you are seeing on your computer screen is an accurate portrayal. These snakes very much lean towards yellow/ black. They are quite different than any other population of northerns that I am familiar with.

Thanks again, Phil

Very nice. Kind of like LA pines but cleaner. Also I thit your site the other day and the galleries were down. Any plans to brign them back on line?
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“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Emmerson

I wish. Unfortunately our web guy lost the image gallery in our server switch and is unable to retrieve it.

Phil

Unreal, those are absolutely stunning. That yellow is really cool. I haven't seen anything like them up here (Canada) but sadly not many are working with Northerns up here, and even fewer with specific locales. I would love to get my hands on a pair of those. Very jealous, nice snakes Phil!

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the photo's.

Phil