Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I found this one pulling out of my driveway for work. Just sitting there on the side of the drive. She had a little head injury so I figured I would nurse her back to health.

This girl may neighbor found maybe 10 miles away. He was going to keep her a pet for the kids then determined it was a bad idea since she is fiesty. He was going to let her go in the yard, but my wife was talking to his wife at the time...and of course, my wife has my back in these sorts of situations I figured if he let it go my "backyard locality" speckled stock would get contaminated, so she is now a part of the collection.

Very similar pattern on both girls. Now all I need is to come across a male in the back yard and I am going to get a St. Tammany Parish hobby line of speck kings going for myself
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-Daniel Hill

Eastern KS? Those are awesome. Wish they would show up in my driveway!

Not even close on the guess

Southeastern Louisiana.....Pearl River, Louisiana to be exact.
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-Daniel Hill

Wow!,....those ARE extremely similar!, nice too!

looks like they hatched on the very same day as well!..LOL!

great looking finds!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Even in person it would seem that they were found within yards of each other. Most specks around this area look like that though. I have a few field pics of others I have seen in the Honey Island Swamp area, I will have to see if I can find them.

The one in my hand is a juvi..... The second female is an adult.
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-Daniel Hill

I didn't look at the head/eyes good before to see the age difference that is sort of obvious now..LOL!

very, very nice animals for sure, man!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

. . . they would show up in my driveway!

Here in Washington you are lucky to see a garter snake in the city limits.
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Kent

In amarillo, I've found rattlesnakes in city parks Though maybe having diamondbacks living right in the soccer field isn't so good...

Nice! When I think of hte hours spent field herping for kings...grrr...lucky! Those're pretty.

The best advice is, to always put them where they came from. This is not so much about what they look like. That is only your concern.

Their(the snakes) concern is knowing the lay of the land and where to go when and who are the bad guys and who are the good guys.

When I go out in the field, I usually record the GPS corridinates of the reptiles I see.....especially if something decides to follows me home.

I had caught the speck in the driveway and was hoping to come across another in the yard to get a breeding pair going that are specificly local to my 120' x 80' piece of land that I call my yard. A neat little project for myself.

Like I said the neighbor was going to release the king from miles up the road in his yard. Good thing my wife knows that is a 'no-no" and claimed the speck for me before he could release it.

Most people do not consider that snakes from several miles apart may be part of completely seperate gene pools. If my wife had not stopped the guy, I would have probably found that snake from 10 miles away in my yard the next day and kept it to pair with the one I found in the drive......never knowing that the snakes had two different origins. Sad that sort of incident probably happens fairly frequently.

On a similar note, when I go out in the field I usually bring a GPS to record the locations of animals I see. Fun stuff to see things in the same area over and over again
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-Daniel Hill

I agree,....

having locality specimen's that are 100% KNOWN to have came from your own yard is indeed cool to know and share!

I have some similar ratsnakes and corns just like you described as well, and it makes for very interesting and detailed stories to share with other's.

Here are just a couple of the nice specimens.

~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I need to herp in your backyard. Nice yellow. These are far from rare in Duval Co. but not as clean and with wider stripes. At least with the individuals I have come across. Now, in Nassau Co. I have seen very nice, clean bright individuals with narrow, distinct black stripes.

Yeah, I know what ya' mean.

I have found some in this same area that weren't really anything to write home about, yet I have also found some absolute screamer vivid, clean, bright individuals too here. It seems that over here on the extreme east coast of central Florida, they are about as far from any other subspecific geneflow as you can get, which often equates to some real eye-popper's now and then!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

How do you get them to pose like that? We are having a nice day here in Vancouver, WA, and I thought I would try to get some outdoor shots. From past experience, pics taken in full sun washed out the colors, so I will try the shade.

Sorry for the hijack.
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Kent

Thanks!,....glad tou like that one. She's the same snake that is featured on the snakes: "general" forum page that won a photo contest a couple years back.

Believe me, I know exactly what you mean when it comes to aggravation with photography...LOL! It takes a ton of experimentation with different lighting situation's in combination with the many different camera setting's that most all good digital's sport nowadays.

I took that pic in a dappled light situation so the colors wouldn't be "washed out" as you mentioned. But a lot of this can be compensated for too if you get really familiar with the camera and the setting instructions, which in itself can be a whole other huge can of worms too..LOL!

After a long while of trying different techniques, I've finally started to get some fairly consistent decent results now at will, which I'm extremely thankful for, because prior to that, I'd have to take bunches of shots just to get one or two decent one's. I'm sure many can relate to that scenario!..LOL!

Anyway, that corn was captured across the street when she was about 19 inches long, so she was pretty calm by the time I actually took that photo. She was 3 years old in that pic.

thanks again!, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I took a bunch of pics today, and I will look at them on my computer tonight. If I can, I will post some on the corn snake forum.
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Kent

.
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Doug, you ever see a speckled in your yard? Post a pic of that and let everyone know just how diverse Florida has become

HHAHAHA!,..no speck's, but unfortunately, I'll bet I could find a Burmese python before too long!..LOL!

~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Is there a nulcear reactor in your mists? That's the largest, gnarliet king I have even seen. That has to be the true super booksi

.
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

It kills me when you talk about finding corns and kings in your yard, or across the street. The snakes we have in Washington are not so accommodating.
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Kent

Probably have better luck checking sewers and under rocks in that area.

or maybe rummage around old nuclear "dump sites" for those elusive three-eyed eastern milks..LOL!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Yeah,..I hear ya' there!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

They look very similar to my Calcasieu Parish holbrooki. This pair was found in my back yard.

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Matt Kauffman