Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all,

I am a Pituophis enthusiast and herp researcher from Oregon, and am new to this post, but have read much of the archived material.

First, I would like to thank Mr. Vandeventer, oldherper, KJUN, and others for your thorough discussion on P.m. lodingi several weeks back.
I am especially interested in this species and have kept them for some time. I have also accumulated all the literature I could access regarding their biology, etc. As you all know, it isn't much.
I am looking for references regarding this species' ecology, status, etc., and anything you all could provide would be much appreciated. Personal experience with wild animals, etc., is also very much appreciated.

Secondly, does anyone know of any captive animals that are either wild-caught or first-generation descendants of wild x wild animals, and/or locality data for any of these animals or observations?
I realize the legality of this may sound suspect, and I do not wish to get anyone in trouble. I am just trying to get information, which will be not be released and not be used for commercial purposes. Additionally, no data will be used without permission.
If you are concerned about privacy, etc., you can email observations to: rombougc@onid.orst.edu.

Thanks to everyone for their time!! Also, thank you to all who took the time to post the initial information.

Sincerely,

Chris Rombough

Undergraduate,
Dept. Fisheries and Wildlife,
Oregon State University

Chris, don't know if you've received any responses to your request, but the most current research I am aware of was a study done by Mike Duran in 1998 under contract for USFWS, with field work concentrated around Camp Shelby in Mississippi. Based in large part upon his work my understanding is that the Federal govt is now studying action for protection of the subspecies.
Mike used to have his study posted on AOL, but the URL no longer works.

Here's a link that may be of value:

http://www.cfr.msstate.edu/gap/MHAnews3.html