Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How in Heaven do you get your Kingsnakes to pose all nicely for his/her picture to be taken?
Mine are all over the damn place, you need three people with five hands and that has not dealt with holding the cmaera yet!!
She is usually off at a high rate of knots with him in HoT pursuit, jerking his evil intent to have his way with her and she won't have none of him wriggling her tail and throwing him off.

One technique I saw used was to put a cup or bowl over the snake till you are set. have someone lift it up and snap the shot.

Another is to cool the animal down before shooting which makes it sluggish. WARNING be very careful if you try this.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

Easy! just let it have somethin to eat and let it chow down.

A little trick I use is to cover the snake with a bowl or pot, get your camera ready then remove the bowl or pot. The snake will stay still for a few seconds while it adjusts its eyes to the light....Then you can snap some photos......
That is how I got these to stay still for a photo......
John Lassiter

One method I use is put the snake into a tall white plastic transperant cup. Take the cup outside so the sun shines through and make sure to use a camera with a macro function.

Eastern X hypo brooksi

goini x hypo brooksi

Goini X lav brooksi (will be avaliable this yr)

i think i like the top one best. Looks like a close relative to this guy.

I am duly chastened and humbly impressed NoT just by the sheer quality of the pictures but the staggering beauty of the snakes.
Thank You raerfang (Frank), JETZEN, jlassiter (John), and bluerosy for all your advice and guidance. Much appreciated.
I shall try out your suggestions.
JETZEN while my Female Kingsnake does not mind me around when she is eating she is definately NoT keen on having the male anywhere near her when she has her mouth full of rodent. She jiggles her tail in annoyance, excitement, and fear I suspect.
I shall try the bowl idea I suspect that will work and plastic cup idea will work, IF I can get a plastic cup large enough. These are big California Kingsnakes.
Thank you all so much for your advice, guidance, and assistance.

COOL! you're headed in the right direction for taking the kind of pictures you want.
I'm gonna try Rainers suggestion,if i can ever stop taking feeding pics in hand,it's gonna be a tuff habit to break.

I like to take pics of my snakes in a natural setting. I usually use my backyard. Here's how I get mine to settle down.

I let them have a few minutes to slither around on my lawn. If they don't do much I take them to one of the spots I like to take pics. Then I coil them up in my hands and calm them for a few seconds. Then I place them where I want to take the pic but keep one of my hands on them covering their head. With my other hand I get the camera ready and move myself into position to get a good pic at a good angle so that their head can be seen. Then I quickly remove my hand and snap the pics. Usaully I can take 3 or 4 pics before they move out of position.

Heres a pic of a male thayeri I just sold. I used the technique I just posted to get this pic.

Vichris

a

a

a

Very nice looking Grey-Band. What's the age/locality on him if you know? Also love the Thayeri in the above pic. I have one Alterna,and I'm going to have to purchse me a nice Thayeri one day. You guys over on the Mexican form have some killer looking variable kings. How are they compared to Alterna as far as size? Also, they're somewhat easier from what I understand then getting baby Alterna switched over to pinkies. Thanks for the pics.

Steve

Thanks for the compliment Steve. And thanks for looking

The gray-band is a 2003 River road male I aquired from Vivid Reptiles. I have a similar female but she does not have the bluish cast that the male in the pic has. They should be ready to breed next year.

Thayeri and Alterna are very close in size & temperment. And yes I have found thayeri to be fairly easy to get going on mice. I've only had one that gave me real fits.

I have 2 female thayeri that are gravid now, so I hope to have a few to sell this fall. I know of several breeders on the mexicana forum who should have some hatchlings this fall. I should have 6 or 7 female thayeri ready to breed next year.

Can't wait for 2006.

Here's one of my best females

She is great looking Chris.
I have been saying those exact same words for years...."I can't wait until next year...." It gets better and better every year.
John Lassiter

Those are all some great looking thayeri there.

How the heck did you post all three pics or is that only available with the enhanced version of the photo gallery.

Sorry all, I don't mean to hijack the link.

Just today I found the option on the post message page. It now has a list of all my photos at the bottom of the page and I can select three by holding Ctrl while clicking on the three I want to post....
John Lassiter (Pics courtesy of David Weymouth)

cool

Hey vichris your Thayeri pics are absolutely stunning and so clear what camera are you using is it an SLR, a Digital, or a digital slr?
John how do you do those multiple pic postings and all of the pics are brilliant of course as are indeed the subjects.
Don't worry about hijacking the link, we are all Learning to get better pictures of our snakes.
Thank you all for your most interesting contributions. I am most grateful for all your guidance and advice.
Thanks.
AQ
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AQ
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Biochemistry is the aweinspiring study of the fires of life
in all its glorious biodiversity.

Thanks for the compliment and thanks for looking.

The camera is a digital Kodak Easyshare CX4230. Its a very inexpensive digital camera. We got it free a couple of years ago when we ordered a new Dell computer. I'm still learning and playing with it. About my only complaint is that does not have a very good macro function. I shouldn't complain though it does take some very good, clear, pictures and I'm very happy with it overall.

Here's one more thayeri. I purchased this one from Chris Bodner.

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>>How in Heaven do you get your Kingsnakes to pose all nicely for his/her picture to be taken? ...She is usually off at a high rate of knots with him in HoT pursuit, jerking his evil intent to have his way with her and she won't have none of him wriggling her tail and throwing him off.

you seem to be describing efforts to photograph a pair that's not ready to breed yet, they're in the pursuit-and-flight stage, female flight being typical when she's not yet ready to accept the male. I think most of us would also find it very hard to get a good still pic of snakes in that condition. I also think most of the pix you're admiring are either single animals or pairs that have hooked up. Sure, those latter pairs were ready to breed, there might have been some very little pursuit but once the female accepts the male it is a relatively static situation that's (again relatively) easy to photograph.
terry

Hi rtdunham (terry),

You are absolutely correct in your assessment the Female was NoT ready to mate she was a new acquisition specifically for my four year old Male which is in full breeding mode.

They are settling down and she is becoming calmer, maybe soon I can get a pic of them both together.

Thank you vchris for the camera information. I am pretty amazed at the quality and clarity of the pictures from your (free) digital.
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AQ
___________________________________________________________
Biochemistry is the aweinspiring study of the fires of life
in all its glorious biodiversity.

Hello folks,

Thank you for all the great guidance and advice.
First I tried bluerosy's idea slightly modified by sticking my little Pueblan Milksnake (Lampropeltis triangulum campbelli) in a bucket. This is what I got.

With my large Male California Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula californiae) I tried the idea of putting him under a .. well actually it was a wooden drawer. This is what I got.

Both ideas worked just great thanks to you all and for the record I was using a 6Mbp Trust digital camera.

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AQ
___________________________________________________________
Biochemistry is the aweinspiring study of the fires of life
in all its glorious biodiversity.

King George after removing the box covering him.

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AQ
___________________________________________________________
Biochemistry is the aweinspiring study of the fires of life
in all its glorious biodiversity.

and another

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AQ
___________________________________________________________
Biochemistry is the aweinspiring study of the fires of life
in all its glorious biodiversity.