Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Guys, here are two pics of Bonkers at 9 months (not a great pic but you can see all the red in the banding) and the second at 14 months - this is the one Keith with the Goodyear looking chain pattern near the ventrals - also look at the nearly all black ventral scales like the photos you guys were showing - has to be from the same parents (I'm still trying to find out where exactly the snake was from in Tallahassee)

The third is me holding the late Terminator 17 months before he died - he was really starting to put on size when he croaked. To get an idea of scale the tape measure is 5' and I'm 5'9"

Bonkers at 9 months:

Bonkers at 14 months:

And my main man! The Terminator at about 65" and nearly 5 lbs and 17 months before it was all over.

Im 99.9% sure thats an Enge Georgia Eastern. He sells his Easterns in Florida only at shows and I think he lives in Tally. Did you see my account of a King and a Cribo fight. Its posted below were you mistakenly stated Indigo's are the King's of snake eaters. Get a tail shot from underneath so we can try and sex Bonkers.

Keith
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Keith,

A big 6.5' monster Eastern or Florida is one of the coolest snakes in NA IMO - pretty, tough as hell, hardy, easy to care for, and just great all around. That's why I've got 12 right now!

That was a cool account; I have no doubt that ounce for ounce or pound for pound a king is the toughest snake in North America and will kill a YT or Indigo 80% of the time if the are near the same size.

But a 8-9' Cribo or Indigo will likely kill a 6.5' or 7' King unless the King managed to avoid being bitten on the head and got a wrap - then I think it would be a brutal battle with one killing the other or both being mortally wounded, or both going their own way.

I've held and seen 7.5 foot Indigos that are so large around that it's amazing and holding one of these 9-10lbs snakes is wild. A Dry. of that size will kill even a large Eastern most of the time IMO because they are just so heavy-bodied and have such girth and huge heads and such power in their jaws.
So a Dry. that size I think are the baddest snakes in NA (in South America Mussurana will kill even the largest YT or BTs).
Now if you find (or grow) a 7.5 foot, 9lbs Eastern or Florida then it would be a really tough fight.

Now, having said that there is no doubt that kings are more successful snakes as a group in North America than Indigos are, or have been, for 10s of thousands of years and biologically speaking are one of the dominant group of snakes in North America. You just have to look at the range and how many different spp. or Lampropeltis to see how dominant they are. And when you consider that they are snake eaters, the baddest group of snakes in NA!! I just think some Cribos or Indigos get too large for even the largest Kings...maybe I'm totally wrong and kings could even kill a YT or Dry that's longer and heavier than they are. I'm not taking a chance with my snakes though!

-John

n/p