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I found a baby albino eastern kingsnake yesterday and wondered if it was worth anything. I plan to keep it, but since I could not find any for sale I thought I may have something special. Any ideas?

I forgot to add that I did find it in the wild in Northeast Alabama.

What you have just done is openly admitted to committing a crime publicly and in writing. It is illegal to collect native species in the state of AL so you know.

http://alabamaherps.com/laws & status.htm#StateRegulations
I don't see l.g.nigra on the list surely common kings can be kept/collected by residents. I can understand dealing in natives, like here in tx. you need a permit to deal/collect in native herps and we have a black list requiring different permits to keep/collect but cannot deal, and a white list with basic resident collection permit required to keep/collect/deal. its really designed to keep NOBODY COMERCIAL COLLECTORS from profiting off of w/c herps its a good thing. theres a big difference in that and a resident keeping/collecting natives for personal enjoyment not to mention the animal in question is albino and quite common for all anyone knows the OP may have permits if indeed they are even needed.

,,,,,,,,,,thomas davis
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Morphs... just like baseball cards BUT ALIVE, how cool is that???

my website www.barmollysplace.com

L.G. Nigra is not included on the list of protected snakes in Alabama and therefore not illegal to own or sell. The list below is from the following publication;

Conservation Chapter 220-2

ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION
AND NATURAL RESOURCES
ADMINISTRATIVE CODE

CHAPTER 220-2
GAME AND FISH DIVISION
Supp. 6/30/13
2-1

Snake, Pine Pituophis melanoleucus ssp.
Snake, Eastern Indigo Drymarchon couperi
Snake, Eastern Coachwhip Masticophis flagellum
flagellum
Snake, Eastern King Lampropeltis getula getula
Snake, Eastern Coral Micrurus fulvius
Snake, Gulf Salt Marsh Nerodia clarkii
Snake, Prairie King Lampropeltis calligaster
calligaster
Snake, Rainbow Farancia erytrogramma
erytrogramma
Snake, Speckled King Lampropeltis getula holbrooki
Snake, Southern Hognose Heterodon simus

From the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Website.

http://www.outdooralabama.com/watchable-wildlife/regulations/nongame.cfm

Nongame Vertebrates Protected by Alabama Regulations

220-2-.92 Nongame Species Regulation

(1) It shall be unlawful to take, capture, kill, or attempt to take, capture or kill; possess, sell, trade for anything of monetary value, or offer to sell or trade for anything of monetary value, the following nongame wildlife species (or any parts or reproductive products of such species) without a scientific collection permit or written permit from the Commissioner, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which shall specifically state what the permittee may do with regard to said species:

In that list they specifically state the Eastern Kingsnake and the Speckled Kingsnake.

Now you're changing it? If AL LE shows up at your door, you will have to prove to them in court that it is indeed a Black King. Otherwise, all they have to do is confiscate the animal and they already have proof you stated it was an Eastern Kingsnake showing you knew it was an illegal animal to collect. Will be hard to beat that in court.

I didn't know the exact species until I had other people look at it. Thank you for your concern, but I doubt the law enforcement in Alabama trolls the Kingsnake.com forum.

AL LE has been made aware of it.

I'm Shaking In My Boots.

...are a d-bag (rhymes with smoosh). Do you really have nothing better to do than pontificate about the legality of collecting a single, aberrantly colored wild snake that will likely be dead due to predation within the year anyway? Really? I'm glad he found it and I hope he is able to derive a new, beautiful captive lineage of BLACK king out of it. I hope you, in your zeal to be the herp policeman for AL hasn't ruined it for him and the rest of us. Thanks, I hope you feel better now. Give yourself a merit badge for being tattle-tale of the year.

Will

Man, I totally agree. He sure sounds like a smoosh-bag with nothing better to do.

I'm with will.

With your technically right or wrong I think your zeal far exceeds common sense.

I hope this no good wannabe gamewarden gets bit by a rattler!

you got beat up a lot in high school didn't you...

"mrs. teacher, fred said he got drunk on saturday and he's only 15"

not saying laws should be ignored, but how dare you try to cause problems for someone without being 100% sure that what he did was illegal?

looks like a black king to me... maybe he was hiking in the middle of nowhere and stepped right over the border... maybe he purchased it and wanted to sound like an awesome herper by saying he found it... maybe he's an awesome photoshopper and it trolling the board... who knows.

to top it all off, most of us know that many herp laws are full blown crazy and herpers have been treated very poorly by LE in the past. why give LE ammo to nail a fellow herper when you arent even sure of the situation???

This an Eastern Black Kingsnake.

How do you know? The range for the Speckled Kingsnake covers most of AL. With the Black Kingsnake intergrading barely into parts. I would say that you found a juvenile Speckled King and therefore you still broke the law. Either way, you would have to prove that in a court because if AL LE comes, they will charge you as the state does not identify the Black Kingsnake as being native. You on the other hand have already stated publicly and in writing where you found and collected this kingsnake and by doing so, have admitted guilt.

http://www.blackkingsnake.com/about/range

I live in Northeast Alabama. The portion of Alabama that the Black King is found. If you are from Alabama, I'd love to meet you in person to continue this discussion.

The fact is you did not even know what you had when you collected it. You posted you had found an Eastern Kingsnake which is illegal to collect in the state of Alabama. You also clearly posted it was about what kind of money you could make from said snake as you asked if it was worth anything. Obviously you are not a very bright person as you then publicly posted about all of this. So deal with the consequences as they come to you. The state of AL does not recognize the Black King as being native. That area is considered an intergrade zone with the Speckled King which is most likely what you have. It is illegal to collect and possess in the state so we'll just let LE handle it from here on out.

Blow Me.

Just the type of response I would expect from someone with your low intelligence level.

No different than a coward behind a keyboard.

a few of us are getting sucked into this fella's game.

best to blow him off, afterall he is nobody and not worth getting banned on the forums over.

one day when you have offspring from your legally collected Lampropeltis getula nigra, let me know.

Agreed, and Will Do.

A person with the same name has posted on other forums and only causes crap. Everybody needs a hobby.

My advice would be to have someone call game and fish and ask about the legality of that snake. If it was found in a populated area, it may be an escaped pet. Without question, there are far more albino getula in captivity, then in nature. There is a far greater possibility that is was an escaped pet, then a native king(albino)Anyway, best wishes and hopefully there will be no problems. Right wrong or indifferent, albinos are not part of any active natural population in the U.S.

Side note, neonates normally suffer a 90 to 100% mortality rate, albinos, suffer a 99% mortality rate, hmmmmmmmmmmmm put those two together and well, that poor thing did not have a chance in Heck. Now it does, until Nobody comes along. I am sure that's what that person thinks of themself.

Good advise Frank. In my experience most LE is cool if you're proactive.
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“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Emmerson

WWW.TDSNAKES.BLOGSPOT.COM

good luck with them and put me down for some as well

don't waste your time with a NOBODY he/she is just a sad pathetic lil troll that needs to hide behind a screenname because he/she is so ashamed of who he/she is.

,,,,,,,,,,thomas davis
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Morphs... just like baseball cards BUT ALIVE, how cool is that???

my website www.barmollysplace.com

No worries, the swat team hasn't made it to my door yet...haha

I am going out this weekend to see if I can find a few of the albino's siblings. This snake was found on a patio in a rural area on Weiss Lake. I figure there may be more out there and the weather is getting back into the high 70s this weekend, so with some luck I'll stumble across more.

1111

That is a sweet find Kris. If you do a search on this forum you will find that there have been several reportedly found over the past few decades. Not sure on the $ value, but I'm sure someone else can give you an idea. Post some pics!

--Dennis

Had trouble uploading pics but here is one.

Here we go.

Very cool find if it is a truly wild specimen, and not a man-made captive-bred cross. However, being found in the area of northeastern Alabama, that would actually an amelanistic Eastern Black king (L.g.nigra), not an Eastern Chain king (L.g.getula) that are found a good bit further to the east and southeast.

Juvenile L.g.nigra typically have the crossbars across the dorsum and the busy mottled light freckling along the sides just like yours also has.

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

serpentinespecialties.webs.com/index.htm

that's neat!
a new line of albino in getula may be worth something to somebody. unfortunately l.g.nigra have always and unfortunately been the literal black sheep and never had much value in the hobby, its sad because they are really cool snakes. collect more from the same area raise them up keep documented lineage, and you may get something, I know breeders who would want that would also want others from the same general area for a locality/morph project.
here are some getula from Huntsville I had years ago.

,,,,,,,,,,,,thomas davis

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Morphs... just like baseball cards BUT ALIVE, how cool is that???

my website www.barmollysplace.com

Adorable! Don't know anything about values, but I would think he would be worth a bit, 'cause I would like one! LOL!
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1.0.0 277 Graybanded Kingsnake, Boris Karloff - R.I.P.
1.0.0 Crockett Graybanded Kingsnake, Julien Sands
1.0.0 Ball Python, Frank Langella
1.0.0 Blue-eyed lucy, Ian McKellen
1.0.0 spider Ball Python, Martin Freeman
1.0.0 Sweet Rosy Bourke Parakeet, Didgeridoo
1.0.0 Ringneck Dove, Pimmdale Plumington
0.1.0 Smart & Loving Daughter

very cool.

If I were in your shoes, i'd do my best to find a few more from the same area. then you can breed and have a locality morph to offer people. If you did that, i'd be first in line to buy a few babies.

Getting some of the opposite sex from the very same area and keeping them locale-specific instead of generic right off the get-go would be a FAR better idea. This would make them that much more desirable without a doubt.

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

serpentinespecialties.webs.com/index.htm

I want to thank everyone for the feedback! I have decided to look for a few more specimen and start a breeding project. I am usually interested in exotics but this little guy/girl has reminded me how many awesome reptiles I have right in my own backyard.

right on man! good luck and put me on your list if you produce any!
getula rock

,,,,,,thomas davis
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Morphs... just like baseball cards BUT ALIVE, how cool is that???

my website www.barmollysplace.com

Congrats and great decision, I wish you luck. Keep looking in the same place, you may see another albino. Again congrats

Many years ago Lloyd Lemke had captive born Tennessee locality amelanistic Black Kings listed at $200ea. That line is nowhere to be found nowdays so prices would probably higher for the first few years' offspring.
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www.hcu-tx.org/