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I spent some time with a buddy yesterday in Hyde County, and had a great day for sightings. About 24 herps in all for the day. Since Im mentioning Hyde, I might as well mention pygmy's, but the sad part is that all 3 we saw were DOR's. NC Fish and Game noticed us noticing a DOR and stopped us for a moment of questioning, but we had broken no laws or gave them any indication we indtended to, so all was well and we went about our way.
Within an area of maybe 2-3 square miles, I ended up with quite a nice trio of Eastern chain kings. All 3 snakes, in VERY close proximity to one another, talk about "from a certain locality"....WOW!!! The first sighting was the BEST!
I saw a huge fat tail sticking out onto the road, so we stopped. As I flew over to it, I noticed it was upside down, with the rest of the body dissappearing into some high grass.
Once I got right up to it, I saw that it was a HUGE gartersnake, complete with the red coloration on it's back, and it had a small male Eastern King wrapped around it's head!!! This was right at the point where the kill had been made!!!! What a thing to happen upon. I tested the garter to see if it was recuable, als it was not. So I bagged the snake while it was still focused on the meal. The garter was questionably too big for the eastern, appearing to be about 6 inches longer and heavier bodied. Later that day it regurg'd it back up, not to my surprise. What a pity for the garter to have been totally wasted. It would have been a nice catch also.
Then a short distance away later in the day a female was found, and then small hatchling size baby in the middle of the road. The baby has some real nice fat banding on it. Im looking forward to raising it up to see how it turns out as an adult. As I said, great day in Hyde, one I will certainly remember. Keep an eye out for locality specific babies in a year or so!

I'd be happy to send pix when I get some of all 3 for those who are interested.

Sounds great. Post pic when you get the chance. Would love to see those NC. Eastern Kings you saw. I've done plenty of herping in North Carolina and just a great state to explore.
I almost purchased a Wayne Co. North Carolina Eastern King at a reptile show a couple of weeks ago from Rick Sladick out of NC. Kind of kicking myself that I didn't purchase her.

Steve

>>I spent some time with a buddy yesterday in Hyde County, and had a great day for sightings. About 24 herps in all for the day. Since Im mentioning Hyde, I might as well mention pygmy's, but the sad part is that all 3 we saw were DOR's. NC Fish and Game noticed us noticing a DOR and stopped us for a moment of questioning, but we had broken no laws or gave them any indication we indtended to, so all was well and we went about our way.
>>Within an area of maybe 2-3 square miles, I ended up with quite a nice trio of Eastern chain kings. All 3 snakes, in VERY close proximity to one another, talk about "from a certain locality"....WOW!!! The first sighting was the BEST!
>>I saw a huge fat tail sticking out onto the road, so we stopped. As I flew over to it, I noticed it was upside down, with the rest of the body dissappearing into some high grass.
>>Once I got right up to it, I saw that it was a HUGE gartersnake, complete with the red coloration on it's back, and it had a small male Eastern King wrapped around it's head!!! This was right at the point where the kill had been made!!!! What a thing to happen upon. I tested the garter to see if it was recuable, als it was not. So I bagged the snake while it was still focused on the meal. The garter was questionably too big for the eastern, appearing to be about 6 inches longer and heavier bodied. Later that day it regurg'd it back up, not to my surprise. What a pity for the garter to have been totally wasted. It would have been a nice catch also.
>>Then a short distance away later in the day a female was found, and then small hatchling size baby in the middle of the road. The baby has some real nice fat banding on it. Im looking forward to raising it up to see how it turns out as an adult. As I said, great day in Hyde, one I will certainly remember. Keep an eye out for locality specific babies in a year or so!
>>
>>I'd be happy to send pix when I get some of all 3 for those who are interested.
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could ya send me some pics? Greatwhitegt@aol.com

Also, Do you wanna sell the Female eastern? Ive been lookin forever for a female and cant find one...How long is she?

Thanks

The female I caught is probably just over 2 feet long. She's not much for breeding size yet, but give her a busy year of eating and she'll be ready.
Im gonna hang on to the trio as a "surprise" new breeding project. Being that the locale was SOOO close on them, just on principal alone it would be silly for me to split them up.

I'll post pix tomorrow since today is my 3rd wedding anniversary