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These both came from the wild and have adapted very well to captivity.
The first is an male Eastern and is about 2' long.

This lady laid 8 eggs shortly after she was picked up and all 8 hatched.
She Has been eating very well (2 med mice a week) last week I found a 2' Rough Green snake in the yard that looked to have been played with by a bird or cat. It was still alive so I tossed it in with this female she ate it down like a noodle! That was one week ago. I offered her a mouse but she had nothing to do with it. With cooler weather coming is this normal? Also I've been told that she is a Black King Snake, others have said Eastern and I've even been told that it could be a hybrid of the two.
So what do you all think she is? By the way I'm in NW Ga.

Thanks
Jeff

Yes, with the onset of cooler weather, some snakes will sense this sooner than others and decide to go off feed in getting ready to begin the brumation process.

That female snake in the bottom pic has a lot of Black King(nigra) involved in it's lineage, and could also have some Eastern as well to varying degrees. Depending EXACTLY which county you are in northwestern Georgia, there are pure nigra in the extreme northwest corner of the state, but as you move southeast some, it begins a very wide intergration zone of the two subspecies, then further from that, it begins to be more pure Eastern territory.

It isn't a hybrid, the correct term would be a natural intergrade. But I see more Black than I do Eastern in that specimen.

What county is it from, then it can be narrowed down better from getula range maps.

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

When I mentioned it probably having a bit more Black than Eastern, it still shows a definite intergrade pattern of the two because of the very thin, wide spaced broken chain pattern characteristics. So it's certainly intergrade to whatever degree, see what I mean?.

BTW, those are nice!

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

Maybe it's from Chattooga. LOL Just kidding around.
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Steve W.

>>Maybe it's from Chattooga. LOL Just kidding around.
>>-----
>>Steve W.

LOL!

Man!,..I know,...it looks exactly like that animal, doesn't it??..LOL!

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

The female (bottom one) is from Floyd Co and the Eastern was from Bartow Co.

Going by one of the latest range maps, Floyd and Bartow County are JUST inside the nigra area of the map, but it is at the very southeastern part of the nigra range, which explains the intergrade pattern with the Eastern(L.g.g.).

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

I have a rack with six adult and sub-adult easterns and three of the six have shut down within the last week. I have another eastern that started slowing down three weeks ago but will still take small meals, just not as often. Make sure you keep the heat on the hot side on for a few weeks after the last meal they take to ensure all food is out of their systems before you brumate them.

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

>>These both came from the wild and have adapted very well to captivity.
>>The first is an male Eastern and is about 2' long.

Nice snakes, Jeff.

Am I the only one who sees something odd about the appearance of the first one, the eastern king? If we saw that on a captive bred bench at expo, is eastern king the first thing that would come to mind? Does anyone wonder if it might be a captive-bred & released animal? Or have i just not seen enough wc easterns? I know lots of you on this forum have seen lots more than i have.

I noticed the strange pattern right off too, but can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe just a weird type pattern for whatever reason(s), who knows.

It would be really cool to know what the rest of the siblings looked like in that wild clutch. I wonder if any other folks have captured ones that look like that in the same general area?

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

Well this fellow was picked up off a road in the middle of no where there were no houses around. This is one of the meanest Kings I've ever had! He bites me every time I open the container, you would think it was a Gray Rat Snake lol

He got teased a lot by the other kings for looking different and is just angry at the world!!! LOL. I think he is pretty cool looking but I have not seen one like that before. I will say that I noticed that easterns in general can look very different pattern wise, even from the same locale. I would call that one very different but awesome!

They both look like intergrades with nigra to me.

Yeah, that is very possible too. The two counties where they both originated is very close to the intergrade zone as well in northwest Georgia.

Nick,..hows about some pics of those killer "Osceola-Suwannee" kings you have??..LOL!

Man, those things are gorgeous!

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

I second that request!!! Lets see some photos please!

~ZF