Reptile & Amphibian Forums

King as found earlier in 2012

Nice Cotton

Pine

Grey Rat

EDB as found

Some shots from around the ANF

Young EDB as found basking

Eastern Mud. This was an interesting find as I was looking down and spotted it crawling through the leaf litter on the water's edge.

A couple dor Kings that I literally missed finding alive by seconds.

And a couple live ones

This was the first getula I've ever found in the month of January. This king was found just almost 2 years ago as well and still big and healthy at just over 5 feet and fat as many captive animals I have seen.

And lastly a parting sunset.

Wow Sean,.......some super nice shots of some excellent specimens.

Yeah, those are some REAL beefy looking kings in the last two photos there.

That is so sad about the DOR. My friend was just telling me on the other forum about a nice melanistic Eastern Hognose he was only seconds away from capturing but instead was greeted by Mr. Goodyear first....

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Thanks Doug! That last dor king was also big and measured at 53 1/2" from head to tail. I had just spotted a dor Mudsnake on the side of the road and only stopped to get a couple quick photos. Was out of my truck for maybe 2 minutes or so before I made a U-turn and spotted the king in my headlights just 10-15 feet from where I was just parked! It had obviously just come onto the road when I stopped, made it to the middle of that lane when it was hit. If only I had not spent the time on that Mud and just made the U-turn instead!

Yeah, weird how the extremely unlucky hand of fate gets dealt with things like that.

....ARRRRGH!!!!..

Youve probably found your share of ones you have inadvertently saved just like like that too though, so that's a great thing.

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

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Unfortunately Doug, finding one alive on the road in the ANF is a very hard task. I found 8 AKs last year and 6 of those that were all found on the road were dor. Missing them within seconds like that though is just even more heartbreaking.

I certainly agree that it is extremely heartbreaking.

Yeah, they simply cannot compete with 70 mph vehicles.

ps I accidentally put a smiley-face icon in my earlier post, because I hit the wrong key. I meant it to be a sad frowning face..

I'm glad you can save a few precious wild lives on those roads now and then though. That's about the only way it can be looked at I guess. I saw a smashed Coral Snake, many DOR corns and Yellow rats, and an almost 7 foot very light PINK Eastern Coachwhip where I used to live. I did find a few awesome live snakes too though that were in the interior of the wooded neighborhood far away from the main entrance street.

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

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Doug, your finding coral snakes, too?
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Gerard

"How awesome would it be to deny the prophecy?"

www.livebaitclip.com

GONE FISHING!!!

LOL!!,.....no, I wish,.. just a smashed one in a neighborhood road cruising at night years ago.

A long time ago, I scored two nice M.fulvius in a big brush pile though. I was pretty excited to find those..

Found a cool little Pine Woods Snake (Rhadinaea flavilata) deep inside a big rotted tree limb in the same area not 2 minutes into looking around. There were some really striking corns and Yellow Rats in that area too. Some of the nicest I've ever seen as a matter of fact. I caught one in the same neighborhood 20 years earlier that was probably the very cleanest, brightest Yellow specimen I've ever seen anywhere...

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

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Nice series of photo's Sean. So are you still keeping/ breeding Apalachicola kings?

Phil

Thank you Phil. I haven't kept anything in my collection for some time now. You getting back into keeping some kings?

Yeah, I missed keeping them and decided to change that. I have started a few projects over the winter.

Phil

Nice. What kings have you started keeping again?

I sure have - e-mail sent.

Phil

Fantastic shots. Tough to beat seeing them in the wild, thanks for sharing.

Thanks. I agree.

Very cool. Especially that last King. The Pine looked a little too lean. Interesting to see how well fed that last king was.
Thanks for posting the great pics.

Bob, the Pine did look like it could use a few extra meals but several of those kings had been eating dang good!

Nice photos. Thanks for sharing them.

Thank you very much.

Sean, that first king is awesome! Hopefully this year you will leave the house 5 minutes earlier and find some of this years alive. Where is the coral snake pics?
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Gerard

"How awesome would it be to deny the prophecy?"

www.livebaitclip.com

GONE FISHING!!!

Nice pics Sean. That's a heartbreaker on the DOR.

Keith

Your pics remind me of a couple things.

It's not common for many of us to take such nice artistic pics.

As beautiful as some of our captive bred animals are, sometimes there's nothing like the beauty of the wild ones. Specificly those EDBs!

I appreciate the comments Bob. I think my photos reflect what I tend to enjoy. Even when I had animals in my collection, I always preferred to get shots of them outside in a more natural looking environment. More appealing to my eyes IMO.

Which dor Keith? There are two I posted. Both were found in the ANF btw and just several miles apart from each other as well.

Some really nice photos in there Sean. I particularly like the road through the forest shot. Very well composed.
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“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Emmerson

WWW.TDSNAKES.BLOGSPOT.COM

Thanks man!

Photos worthy of National Geographic!
Especially liked the rattlesnake pics. Sad about the DORs, I guess everything is a rattlesnake to some folks. Not that I hold with running rattlers over either. I always drive around them, too.
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

Hey thanks! Both of those dors I posted had a hard time being avoided as it was night and anyone driving on that road at the speed limit would have hit them. Sometimes I am just a few minutes too late.

Love your photos and subjects. I've been wanting to come explore that area for some time.

--Dennis

If you do come to the ANF, don't expect too much. It's a great place for sure but I have found the key to finding things is by spending more time than anything out there. Right now I am not seeing snakes in the ANF but am having better luck elsewhere. The ANF is definitely a beautiful place though.

Well done! 1st king is fantastic.

:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

crimsonking.piczo.com/

What's up with the two wc males you got last year?
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Gerard

"How awesome would it be to deny the prophecy?"

www.livebaitclip.com

GONE FISHING!!!

You got two WC kings last year Mark? Did you or someone else find them? Any photos?

I've had them..One I got after he took a ride in a car (got loose before photo shoot) back to SC.

Both can breed this year but I'd prefer a wc female for at least one of them..

:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

crimsonking.piczo.com/

A wc girl like this little beauty?

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Gerard

"How awesome would it be to deny the prophecy?"

www.livebaitclip.com

GONE FISHING!!!

It's been neat to see the resurgence of intrest in goini/meansi and all the fresh blood these past few years. I think there is also some intrest among professionals in protecting wild populations so I wonder if future access might be limited. I hope this round of goini/meansi don't fade from the hobby like they did in the past.
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www.hcu-tx.org/

How's it going man? Hope all is good over there. The people that have a lot of them now don't play around, they should be just fine. How are the other kings doing?
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Gerard

"How awesome would it be to deny the prophecy?"

www.livebaitclip.com

GONE FISHING!!!

she would likely do the trick..
:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

crimsonking.piczo.com/

Sean, what wonderful and unique pics! Love it!
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Genesis 1:1

Thanks man!

Amazing finds. Nothing beats some field herping pics amongst the sea of captives.

Great Mudsnake!

Great finds and pictures, Sean. That first photo is amazing.
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Thanks Ross. I appreciate it!