Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was talking to Sean B. last night and we got on the subject of what made you like certain animals in this case we were talking Easterns. So I was wondering what has inspired you to love or want the snake(s)you have today or plan to get in the future ? Could have been a pic in a book or a snake or any reptile at a reptile show etc... I just thought it would be cool to see what prompted folks to get into the animals they have.

Keith
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It was this pic in the Audobon Field Guide To Reptiles & Amphib. Of N. Amercia . I had always loved reptiles since I was little, keeping Anoles and Garter snakes and various amphibians . My folks moved us all from Detrtoit,MI to beautiful Madison,WI in 1982 when I was 12. My parents got me the Audobon book soon thereafter and I was instantly enthralled with that Eastern King pic that was in there. That's when I became a full fledged "Getula Freak" . I spent years looking for an Eastern just like that one and never really found it until a couple of years ago. It wasnt just the pattern but the ground color as well. Anyway thats why Im a Getula guy but as far as reptiles in general and why I love them it's probably genetic LOL.

Keith

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This is the snake that to me reminds me of that Audobon Eastern right down to the color. It only took me 20 years or so LOL.

Keith

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I credit "A Snake Lovers Diary" and "The Kingsnake" for instilling in me a deep appreciation for the eastern kingsnake. It has been my #1 since age ten and it remains one of my life's goals to see one in nature....... I really need to work on that this spring. Here is the one I look at most, recently.

Will

I have the book a snake lovers diary and I still give a glance every now and then. Didnt ya just wanna slap that kid for killin that Timber Rattler out in the Barrens.lol

Keith
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The first time I read that section I was in the public library and I recall setting the book down and walking away for a moment to deal with it. I know I've audibly said "dumb ass" while reading that book to myself in the backseat of the car when I was young. Dude, if you run across a copy of that one, let me know.

Will

I think this photo says it all for me. It's all a bluff, and a wonderful one at that.

My weakness is Arizona herps, although I'm a life-long easterner. Several visits to Tucson over the years, the thrill of catching my first Pituophis affinis, and Kauffeld's chapter "Trail of the Tiger" all fanned the flames of my interest for the fauna of that region.

As does this little girl who nightly curls up on her plastic leaf perch. I almost feel obliged to fan her with palm fronds.

Without a doubt, my passion with snakes are for the common Kings(getula), with the Eastern being my favorite. My love for the chain king came years ago at one of the local parks in the Richmond, Virginia area (Maymont Park). While visting the nature center, where they keep various species of native reptiles, there was a young lady holding a nice Eastern King. This Eastern may have been her own pet, or he may have been one of the exibit animals. I can't remember. Anyway, I held this guy and I was so impressed with what an awsome animal he was, I knew someday I'd have one. Well all these years have passed without having an Eastern in my collection, until just 10 days ago. I am now a proud owner of my first Eastern King from Jim Sargent of split rock reptiles.

Steve

Congrats on your first eastern. That's gotta be exciting. I still look forward to that great day myself. I finally got my first 2 pyros 3 weeks ago. I emphasize "finally" since I've looked forward to the day for 25 years.

Easterns remain elusive for me. I've never as much as handled one. So I drool over the beauties posted here. I've handled florida, speckled, california, mole, milks and now Az Mtn kings, but the chain king remains a ghost.

My favorite snake of all time has to be California Kingsnake. Just the plain banded black and white phase. I think I saw a picture in the Life book "The Reptiles" by Archie Carr. The picture of that Cal king seemed so exotic to me being I was growing up in Nebraska during the sixties. Jerry Conways picture of a Santa Isabel/Solomon Island Ground Boa on the cover of a 1999 Reptiles Magazine sparked my interest in Candoia. I have kept lots of other snakes but these two species are my interest today. Randy

Growing up in South Louisiana the snake to catch was the Speckled King. I was in 2nd grade when I caught my first one. This started everything for me. This is probably why most of my collection is King Snakes. I still keep a couple of normal Speckled Kings. I think they are one of the most under rated snakes. The pic is of a female I caught a week ago under a board.

Mine was to educate my kids. I used to always catch garters as a kid. I had caught one in the yard one year and brought it in to show my kids. Once they figured out it was a real snake they went running. I decided then to get a "pet" one to show them they aren't "bad". I did some research and decided to bring home a King from a local reptile show. I've been addicted since, buying whichever species, pattern or morph I like at the moment. My favorite seems to change with whichever snake I'm holding at the time .
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Ace

and I know it's sacrelige to even mention his name here but...It was the Croc hunter. lol The episode at Eglin when he "finds" the southern pine. It was doing it's whole bluff show and I thought "Wow! that thing looks mean." Then he picked it up and it immediately chilled out. So I got me some. Strange, most of collection is made up of brooksi and I'm not sure where I first got interested in them. I think it was John Cherry's website. Getula is definitely my favorite now but I still love my penis.
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Martin Whalin

"It is foolish to let singleness of purpose deprive one of the joy and delectation of the many wonderful sights and sounds incidental to the quest."
-Carl Kauffeld
My Email

>>and I know it's sacrelige to even mention his name here but...It was the Croc hunter. lol The episode at Eglin when he "finds" the southern pine. It was doing it's whole bluff show and I thought "Wow! that thing looks mean." Then he picked it up and it immediately chilled out. So I got me some. Strange, most of collection is made up of brooksi and I'm not sure where I first got interested in them. I think it was John Cherry's website. Getula is definitely my favorite now but I still love my penis.
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>>Martin Whalin
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>>"It is foolish to let singleness of purpose deprive one of the joy and delectation of the many wonderful sights and sounds incidental to the quest."
>> -Carl Kauffeld
>>My Email
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Martin Whalin

"It is foolish to let singleness of purpose deprive one of the joy and delectation of the many wonderful sights and sounds incidental to the quest."
-Carl Kauffeld
My Email

Martin I know that was an accident but I nearly had a heart attack I laughed so freakin hard. Still laughing dude....

Keith
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I laughed pretty hard on that one too. Then I started again the next time I saw my....uh...pines. lol
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Martin Whalin

"It is foolish to let singleness of purpose deprive one of the joy and delectation of the many wonderful sights and sounds incidental to the quest."
-Carl Kauffeld
My Email

>>I laughed pretty hard on that one too. Then I started again the next time I saw my....uh...pines. lol
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>>Martin Whalin
>>
>>"It is foolish to let singleness of purpose deprive one of the joy and delectation of the many wonderful sights and sounds incidental to the quest."
>> -Carl Kauffeld
>>My Email
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National Geographic shows, others animals, books...anything like that. Whenever I see a facinating reptile...I find out if it's affordable, fairly easy to care for, if it will not pose a threat to my life...that sort of stuff...and if it passes the criteria then it's most likey coming home.
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Chris Vanderwees
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My inspiration was a 6' e king at the local herp club's annual open house. dang what a wrecker that thing was. keith, it belonged to dick deuel- dark bluish black, narrow white chains...sweet,scary and tempting beast! well, noone had any to offer so then I found my way to my true love, brooks kings.
i don't know how I got involved with pines, and now I'm finding my way back to e kings.

dave b
normal brooks
hypo brooks
axanthic brooks
ghost brooks
flame brooks
eastern kings
black pines
louisiana pines
northern pines

I kept a wild caught ?hypo? California kingsnake for about a couple of weeks in the mid eighties. I couldn't get it to eat anything except lizards so I let it go where I picked it up. I've always enjoyed looking at snakes on display or on nature shows. I didn't own another until last March when I got the wc from Mont. Co. MD. Something just clicked when I picked him up. I now have 1.1 albino easterns and 0.2 hets and 1.1 hondurans(1.0 het hypo and 0.1 hypo). Yeah, I got the kingsnake bug, BTW I hear that its incurable.

Seriously, the easterns are magnificent animals. I would like to breed an eastern with a complete thin white chain pattern (dorsal and lateral)on that shiny blue-black background. First, I'll have to obtain a female or two from Md. Until then I'll just enjoy photo hunting for wild specimen and watching the one's I own.

Of course, I'll add a few more, I really want a pair of the blue-eyed blondes. They look almost identical to the king I caught just outside of Camp Pendelton.

Bob Bull

My inspiration was 2 things I think, that ocurred around the same time when I was about 7 or 8 years old:

At the time we lived in the country, about 10 miles outside of Shelby, NC. we had quite a bit of land including 2 horse pastures and quite a bit of woodlands that came almost right up to the back of the house. One day my little dog was barking at something in the grass in the back yard, so I ran out in typical country tomboy fasion (barefoot) to check it out. At first I couldn't see anything, then I noticed a smallish snake slithering along underneath my feet. I knew exactly wahat it was as mu Dad had taught me well and I instantly froze and just watched him go on his merry way. It was a young copperhead, and to this day I have absolutely adored them, other Bothrops species and cantils aswell.

The second actually went on for a few years until we moved away from that property. There was a HUGE bright yellow and black kingssnake who patrolled around our house, I could always find him if I went looking, and my dad (being very British) called him 'King George', and instructed me to leave him alone as he was a 'good' snake, and would eat all the 'bad' snakes and keep them away along with unwanted rodents. I remember tracking that snake and laying in the grass watching him sun himself for hours it seemed. He was awesome. To this day I adore kingsnakes of almost any kind, especially the easterns which I am finally getting into thanks to Keith Hillson's site and Will Stills wonderful breeding projects =) I've been breeding Cal kings for a number of years now, hopefully soon I'll be breeding eaterns too =)
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"Klaatu...Verata...Nicht--cough, cough, cough!"

He is 3 years older and would bring snakes back from boyscout camp. That got me to reading all the snake books at my school.