Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here is my first snake. I must have been about 10 and was living in New Orleans. A guy down the street from my house had a snake collection and his mom worked with my mom. I used to go to his house after school and just stare at the snake cages for hours sometimes. He was much older than me and i think he wanted to get rid of me so he gave me this baby speckled King with a small aquarium as a gift. That was all I needed to get me started. I found this picture while looking for that big Florida king picture.

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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

Awesome Jorge!, very cool that you have that photo of it too!

I think my very first snake was a Rough Green Snake(Opheodrys aestivus) that I captured in the front shrubs of our house and kept for a good while around 1966-67. Not long afterwards, my mom was getting me nice Indigo's, Floridana, Corns, yellow rats, etc... from a friend of her's husband that was a very avid collector from the Homestead area of southern Miami/Dade county. Man, that virgin wilderness area was just STACKED with cool snakes back in those days..LOL!

I have a pic somewhere of me holding one of my Indigo's in 1971, I'll try to dig it up sometime and post it..LMAO!

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

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Yeah i'd like to see the pic. I have always wanted an Indigo ever since I saw my first one. Ironically now I see them on my property every now and then and I can't have them cause they are so hard to get permits for. Life can be so cruel sometimes, lol.
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

I have always wanted an Indigo ever since I saw my first one. Ironically now I see them on my property every now and then and I can't have them cause they are so hard to get permits for. Life can be so cruel sometimes, lol.

Maybe i am assuming to much here..but

Anyone know WHY these Indigos are still so protected?

i mean, i see tons of pics on the field herpers forum from people that are not even looking for them. lots of people see them frequently. i even saw one by accident about 9 years ago while visting florida for the reptile expo .

i bet field studies to determine how many Indigos there are per square will prove they aren't rare nor close to be endangered..
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www.Bluerosy.com

They are pretty common in some areas where they are found, but completely absent in other areas they once occupied. The require large tracts of unbroken habitat with access to wetlands and high/dry ground with gopher tortoises, especially in the northern parts of their range. For this reason their populations have been significantly reduced. A busy road between the high ground and the low ground will completely wipe out an indigo population. They're completely gone from the Florida panhandle, and Alabama. There are only a few isolated populations in Georgia.

Even in Central Florida where they can seem common, they are only present in certain chains of relatively unbroken habitat. They used to be statewide.

A lot of younger Florida herpers have never seen an indigo, and a lot of old-timers haven't seen them in "years". I took a friend out to look for pine snakes a few months ago. We didn't find a pine snake, but did find an indigo. This was his first indigo in over 20 years. It was my second in 2 weeks.

I've never heard about their range in Florida shrinking....

Texas Indigos can still be found in large numbers in their range......And they are protected as well....For the reason I mentioned below....
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...
www.coastalbendcaptivebreeding.com

I've been at this same location for 15 years. When I first moved here I saw 5 or 6 a year randomly without searching for them. Recently I only see maybe 2 a year. I used to raise chickens and maybe that has something to do with it. The chickens I think would attract them. But what kills me is when they want to destroy hundreds of Acres to build some houses or shops they don't care how many Indigos and Gopher Tortoises are being destroyed. But if you catch a pair and try to propagate them....Oh no! You can't do that!
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

doesn't sound like they are any different from any other snake facing habitat destructuion.

My point is , it is not from overcollecting.
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www.Bluerosy.com

They're probably more sensitive to habitat fragmentation than any other southeastern snake species. But yeah, their decline has nothing to do with collection.

It is just as Nick pointed out. They need HUGE areas of land to thrive, and of a certain type too.

Many snakes, like even those "grease' kings that you have, can sustain themselves on a tiny field in the middle of the big city, whereas an Indigo definitely cannot. They are simply different than many other snakes. And just as Nick also mentioned, in general, where the Gopher tortoise has been extinguished, the Indigo follows suite as well. Their habitat goes hand in hand.

They used to be very abundant in south Florida, but I guarantee that is not the case anymore. Only here and there where it is still suitable, and that doesn't really leave a whole lot of areas compared to decades ago.

People could breed them by the thousands, but if there is no suitable habitat for them to be released into and thrive, .......no more snake.

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

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

>>Anyone know WHY these Indigos are still so protected?
>>
>>i mean, i see tons of pics on the field herpers forum from people that are not even looking for them. lots of people see them frequently. i even saw one by accident about 9 years ago while visting florida for the reptile expo .
>>
>> i bet field studies to determine how many Indigos there are per square will prove they aren't rare nor close to be endangered..

The thing about indigos is this.....
A couple law makers heard about or may have even saw an indigo eating a rattlesnake......These tunnel visioned law makers thought they were the best snakes on the planet and they got them protected.......I think it has nothing to do with populations........
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...
www.coastalbendcaptivebreeding.com

Nostalgia kick You never forget your first right?
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We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
6.6 African House snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
.1 corn snake
4.2 Florida Kings
1.2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
0.0.1 Argentine boa

So how did that "not getting into a lot of snakes" thing work out?

What can I say? You can't have just one!
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra