Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Lately I've been taking care of a batch of wild baby rabbits and on my way out to check on them I spotted this guy hiding in the long grass next to the house not too far from where I've been keeping the baby rabbits! The guy was a doll to hold, not a single threatening move from him. Some would say that he was "puppy dog" tame. Of course this all happened while the boids were soaking up a bit of that sun as you can see in the last picture.

Nice one Kitt!! Looks to be a good four footer. The pattern is very clean and evenly speckled. What state are you located in? IMO the big ones are pretty calm in the field, with the smaller ones tending to be more skittish and snappy. I quess once they reach that size they can afford to be more calm and less defensive LOL!!

Something along those lines . I'm only 5'1 and the one picture were I have him stretched out serves as a decent reference I suppose. I live in Louisiana.

Sweet. I live in Baton Rouge. The LA specks seem to have the nicest, most even pattern IMO. I saw some killer specks from Lake Charles, and the ones from Baton Rouge to New Orleans appear pretty evenly speckled as adults.

This guy happens to be from Northwest LA, courtesy of Caddo Parish. ;D

Nice. I have never personally found specks north of Baton Rouge. Are the specks that far north in LA typically that nicely patterned?

I don't think so? Most lean towards the banded kind. This is the first time I've seen one like this around the house.

Thanks for the info Kitt. I am just personally curious of how locality influences pattern in holbrooki. I have never captured or really seen specks from that far north in their range.

What do you mean banded kind? Does anyone know if the Specks intergrade with Chainkings?
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

Their speckles will line up just right to almost look like bars/bands... They'll form a pattern of sorts.

Here's a small one Kev caught in New Orleans.

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

Yeah,.....she is talking about holbrooki that tend to have more of a thin "cross-bar" pattern along with the speckling, as opposed to solid speckling like her recent specimen. Easterns only intergrade with the speck's range in Alabama. Otherwise, Eastern's only intergrade with the Black kings(L.g.nigra).

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

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

That's what I thought. I always woundered what a cross between a Chain and a Speckled would look like? I know what your thinking Doug, ha ha
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

"I know what your thinking Doug, ha ha"

LMAO!!

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Yup that's it! I had to wait till I stopped laughing to post this! great picture!
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

>>Yeah,.....she is talking about holbrooki that tend to have more of a thin "cross-bar" pattern along with the speckling, as opposed to solid speckling like her recent specimen. Easterns only intergrade with the speck's range in Alabama. Otherwise, Eastern's only intergrade with the Black kings(L.g.nigra).
Holbrooki intergrade with Splendida and Nigra as well as Chain kings.......
It seems all three intergrades have some "crossbars".....
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...
www.coastalbendcaptivebreeding.com

"Holbrooki intergrade with Splendida and Nigra as well as Chain kings.......
It seems all three intergrades have some "crossbars"

Yeah, that's right John. Speck's certainly do intergrade with all of those ssp. you mentioned. I was only referring to where the Easterns intergraded with holbrooki basically.

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

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

>>
>> Yeah, that's right John. Speck's certainly do intergrade with all of those ssp. you mentioned. I was only referring to where the Easterns intergraded with holbrooki basically.
>>

Yep...I know....I was just adding that on the outer edges of their range they all have a "crossbar" pattern from other getula influences.....
I live smack dab in the middle of an intergrade zone between holbrooki and splendida.......One of my favorite snakes to find in the field in our area along with Annulata, Drymarchon and Atrox......
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...
www.coastalbendcaptivebreeding.com

yeah man!,...I agree. That area you are in sure does have some cool herps bro!

Speaking of specks and such,...how's that yellow amel specks sex life doing right about now??..LOL!

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

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

>>yeah man!,...I agree. That area you are in sure does have some cool herps bro!
>>
>> Speaking of specks and such,...how's that yellow amel specks sex life doing right about now??..LOL!

She hooked up 3 times with a wild caught Refugio county male that Todd Hughes has......I gave him back thinking he did the trick....She is in her pre egg laying shed, but I don't feel any eggs....She is Very robust so she may have eggs...maybe not.....We'll see in a couple weeks....I have had a lay box/area in her enclosure for a week or so......If she doesn't take this time around I will be sure to try again.....I have a PH whitewall male that I may try on her.......he was brumated with all my other snakes....I don't know how or if the Refugio male was brumated at all......Todd brumates his snakes "naturally" and it probably wasn't enough.....regardless of what folks say about brumation.......LOL
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...
www.coastalbendcaptivebreeding.com

>> Speaking of specks and such,...how's that yellow amel specks sex life doing right about now??..LOL!

Here's a couple pics of them "in action".....

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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...
www.coastalbendcaptivebreeding.com

WOW!,...yes, those two are quite the nice looking pair!. I sure hope things took with her. I am sure even the NORMAL het offspring will be great looking from those guys.

Good luck with all that stuff John. Things are getting pretty active here now too!

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

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Great find!, and what a well-mannered one too!

Are you going to hold onto that one?

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

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Of course this all happened while the boids were soaking up a bit of that sun as you can see in the last picture.

Your neighbors must love you.

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www.Bluerosy.com

np

Lol... I live at a dead end street with a farm taking up the entire other side of the street, and the one neighbor has a wooden divider between us in the front part of the yard so I don't think they even know I let such big snakes just crawl all over the yard. Although... if they ever knew, I think they'd be rather upset. o.- Not too sure if I'll keep the snake. I'd like to, but at the same time I think it'd do more good at pest control out in the backyard. Everyone else in the house wants to keep it. Beeeeeeh.