Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I posted a while back about two adult male Gulf Salt Marsh Watersnakes I collected in August in the Florida panhandle. So far, they've been very nervous captives, and slither explosively around the cage with any disturbance. They've been feeding decently on comets and have bitten scented rodents but not taken. I've been leaving them alone for the most part so they could acclimate and adjust to a captive feeding regimen. Well, I took the larger of the two out today for a health inspection and realized it was a female!! I'm going to probe it later this weekend to be 100% certain.

This is especially exciting to me because I now have an unrelated adult pair from a new locality plus these two snakes are the purest clarkii clarkii I've ever encountered. I'm going to make a concerted effort to breed the pair next Spring.

I'll repost pics of the pair. They have shed several times since these pics and have brightened considerably.

Adult female

Adult female

Adult female, showing ventral pattern

Adult male. I need to take some more pics of this snake as his color has especially improved since this photo were taken. He has some extremely faint vestiges of banding on his posterior, possibly evidence of distant fasciata ancestry.

How are your GSMs doing Michael?
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Pierson Hill

Herpetology and Herpetoculture

The Gulf Salt Marshes are doing great, feeding ravenously on fish and pink/fuzzy mice! In fact, I'm intending to make a concerted effort to photograph them this weekend.
Your observation regarding the deepening or more vivid colouring of your pair is interesting. My pair are much less intense dorsally.
Their demeanor is terrific, a lot like year old puppies. Active, energetic and managable, willingly allowing themselves to be picked up (though they can suprise me and try to jump).
Michael

when you say "I'm going to make a concerted effort to breed the pair next Spring."
What effort??? ha! They'll breed IN SPITE of you, I bet! lol!
Good luck. They are a nice pair for sure.
:Mark

>> What effort??? ha! They'll breed IN SPITE of you, I bet! lol!

Ha! Yeah I hope so. Oddly enough, the male has been trying very hard to copulate with the female for the past two days. I don't think she's in the mood though.

Actually, my 'concerted effort' involves fattening them up and then brumating them this winter. And maybe I'll have a bunch of little stripers crawling around next year.
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Pierson Hill

Herpetology and Herpetoculture