Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anyone heard or know of any eastern kings found in SE Pennsylvania? Also, same question about New Jersey.

I don't even think Pa. list them as a state species any more. NJ does have them and I think they are fairly common in the pine barrens but illegal to keep. Not sure. I am sure others can give you a better answer. I have never found a king north of Montgomery County in Maryland, much less near PA.

Yes, there are definitely Eastern kings in New Jersey, and a well-known line in the hobby is from the Burlington county locale, which is in fact in the famed Pine Barren area as Joe mentioned.

Even though Easterns are not "officially" recognized as an indigenous snake in that state, they do show to range up to the exact souther border of Pennsylvania, and I would almost HAVE to think there are a few there, but certainly not many. As far as the rest of the entire state of Pennsylvania, there are no native Easterns at all.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Thanks for the reply. I had asked because I vaguely recall seeing one in an area in PA called the "Delhaas Woods", which is a few hundred acres of remnant undeveloped coastal plain forest directly across the river from Burlington County, NJ. But that was back in the early 1960s. Betcha' none are there today . . .

Yeah, I am quite sure that same area would be totally unrecognizable now. This is a very sad thing that goes on everywhere. I always picture ths grim reality of snakes and other creatures getting plowed over by bulldozers alive, and even the one's that DO manage to escape initially are left with zero habitat afterwards, so they don't have much of a chance either. Man's benefit always seems to be a huge deficit to the wildlife.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Interesting conversation so far. What's even more interesting is that in NJ the pine snake is doing an incredible favor to all flora and fauna (of course, including the native eastern king). The state of NJ has recognized the northern pine snake as a threatened species since the 1970's via the work of such fellas as Ziggy Leczinski (Lord knows I could never spell a Polish last name, LOL...) and Bob Zappalorti who continue to inspect habitat and man-made dens to this day. Development companies have been fighting this for years, and to no avail as it's been clearly demonstrated that once land is cleared it severely compromises the ability for pines to survive (duhhhhh, or anything ELSE for that matter except us grimy humans).

Granted, eastern kings are very much tied to running water/moisture and do not necessarily incorporate all of the same areas as do pines, however this salvage of land in and of itself gives the easterns a better advantage overall. I hike in the barrens many times every year and always see new construction going up on the outskirts of the barrens in numerous counties. Frustrating.

As for availability, well, looking for them in the barrens is a challenge. In the last 7 years I've seen two and have heard of several others spotted. And always near water as well as cranberry bogs. Seem to be relatively smaller than the southern kings with very thin (1/4 - 1/2 inch of a scale wide) pattern. Wish I had photos to share, but I don't unfortunately. Justvstarted taking pics in the barrens a couple years ago and it's been that long since I've seen one.
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www.freewebs.com/jerrykruse

Jerry Kruse

And God said, "Let there be zonata subspecies for all to ponder..."

Very interesting stuff Jerome!..LOL!

That would be great if we could hunt that place together, or ANY place for that matter. I'm sure we will get together one day and try to find a few cool things!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Very true Doug. Since they have been putting up the wall between the U.S. and Mexico, it has stoped more than illegals from crossing over, but has stoped the small flow of jaguars and jaguarundi from repopulating AZ, NM and TX. SAD!

Scott

Too bad NOTHING stops the illegals from coming over, only the innocent animals that have been doing it since time began are stopped. It's enough to REALLY pi$$ a guy OFF!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

It does me that's for sure. The jaguars and jagaurundi are endangered as it is here. They were just starting to make a come back too!

Scott

The Eastern Kingsnake Resource Site doesn't even mention Pennsylvania as having easterns, but does with New Jersey. Would make for some interesting field work.

Scott