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We had the great fortune to see this beauty while in the field a few days ago!

Theoretically this snake is from an area where mugitus and melanoluecus integrade but it looks very mugitus to me.

She was basking at the entrance of a gopher tortoise burrow. Having had only minimal experience with wild pines I am astounded by how well their colors match the colors of the local sands, oak leaf litter, and pine duff......

I wonder if Bart and others would comment on their pinesnake experiences in that part of their range...?

Congrats on the snake and great ideas for theme.

No Pines here in the west but I did find some really nice deserticola in the Eastern Mojave last weekend.

One was crossing the road on the way in to a spot and on our return about 90 minutes later we found another just like it in the same exact spot...obviously a male tracking down the female...or just two males following the same track...didn't sex 'em.

More pics and trip account here: serpentrack.com/herps/trips/2010/?a=051410

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See all my snakes at SerpenTrack.com

No Pines here in the west but I did find some really nice deserticola in the Eastern Mojave last weekend.

Wow...that is a beautiful snake.

More pics and trip account here: serpentrack.com/herps/trips/2010/?a=051410

Great trip account...nicely done.

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/scott

Excellent! I haven't been to that area in years. Every spring I day dream of favorite herp places I want to explore again, and that's definitely one of them. Awesome!

My experiencs with wild Pines involve Northerns in the Carolinas, and even the black and white ones are remarkably cryptic in the white sand where they're found. The snake in the photo you posted reminds me a lot of the Pines i've seen/found in Aiken and Orangburg counties in South Carolina.

Bart

John,

I assume you are talking about an area in South Carolina. I've seen three from that area. One from around Aiken and one from Tillman and both of them looked very much like southern pines, much like your picture. I also saw one in Ulmer SC which I suppose would be a intergrade but it had more northern pine looks. But you are right, they tend to take the color of the backgrounds. If you want to see some really nice colors go to where the ground color is clay red such as North Georgia or the south east Tennessee. They have a yellow color with brown blotches, which blends in perfectly with the background.

All I can say is though, you must have a magic touch when it comes to pines. You go into new areas an walk right upon them. I have been living in pine snake country for 35 years and I have seen a total of about 16, and that includes the DORs. What is you secret?????

Dan

All those many many winter hours of my youth spent looking at conant's book and other references must have congured up some good carma, ahhh who am I kidding... Chalk it up to dumb luck!

I hear what you are saying...can't tell ya how many hours I've spent in those books along with Ditmars, Conants and Kaufields and you are right "luck" does play a part in it. But, also I found that "luck" with a lot of wisdom seems to happen a lot more then without that wisdom. I think that is about four pines in a year or two??? I spend at least 30 hours a week in the field and I see one about every two years!! LOL

Dan

When I go out herping I always keep my expectations low as to not be disappointed.

I stand at 6 pine sightings in 12 months. (I wonder why I waited so long in life to get my butt back east!) One of those was a very pancaked DOR big male Florida pine.....

I struck out twice last year, as I fully expected the black and Louisiana pines are both one up on me! I did see a little wild black pine but it had been captured a week earlier as part of a telemetry study. Not to sound like a purest but it is hard to beat walking up to a wild snake out doing its thing. I would take that over seeing something on the road any day.....

Those are pretty impressive numbers John. Unless someone knows of "hot spots" eastern pines, at least for me, just aren't that easy to come by. Now indigos on the other hand have always been easy finds for me. Go tell. But congratulations on your success. Next time you head east give me call and you can train me on finding pits!!!

Dan

only if you share your indigo secretes with me....

My wild Drymarcon #? only two and both were in mexico....Red tails...

Its like fishing fellas, you wont catch fish if you dont go fishin much, you have to rack up hours in the field to see more that the common hiker, I have seen over fifty Indigos here in cent fla but only 6 pines in 30 years.

I agree. I've seen over 200 indigos in 33 years that I lived their and about 15 or 16 pines...and I worked in the field at my job plus all of my personal time searching. I lived in the Tampa Bay area and the hot spot for pines was in the Brandon area. I'm sure they are not there now though. It is funny, because I knew several other people who had racked up 20 and 30 pine snakes in about fifteen years and neither one of them had ever seen a indigo. Strange how are expirences can be so different even in the same general areas.

Dan

I have seen a few in the wild all over the state, black on the dorsum seems to be a trait found in the extream north fla, all the pines I have seen south of tampa were grey or tan with brown to lavender patches and rust colored tail patterns and no eye bars. here is a pic of a Kissimmee fl pine that blends very well with the ground...

Here's a big 4-5' San Diego in North County back in '06:

//Todd