Just thought I'd share photos of the getula I've found in and around the Apalachicola National Forest. 1st pic is the very first king I found in the ANF in Wakulla Co., FL back in 2001. It was a dor and a beautiful specimen. Wish I had a better camera back then and had collected this specimen. A nice blotched, wide banded king that had some AK influence but obviously was more Eastern as it's blotches were completely dark with no lightening.
The next king I found in the ANF was also a dor but I never got any pics. The third was a juvenile found in Leon Co., FL. Not the best pic but it shows the wide bands typical of the intergrades. This specimen along with many other dors was collected and submitted to Kenney Krysko at the University of Florida to be entered at the museum.
Since I had found two dors on the same road that year, I decided to focus on that same area. Later in 2002 I found this dor on the same road...it had just been hit in front of me and still alive when found.
I still didn't have a decent camera at the time so I decided to scan the snake instead. Pic came out pretty decent. Anyway, not even one week later, I hit this same road and finally found my first live getula in the ANF around 10pm. A typical intergrade but who was complaining.
This specimen was a male so I now hoped to find a female to pair it up with. In July 2003, Pierson Hill and I went road cruising south of the ANF and on a very slow night, Pierson grabbed this male Apalachicola King from the edge of the road in Franklin Co., FL...this snake would later make it's film debut in Bruce Mean's documentary aired on the National Geographic Channel.
2004 was not the greatest year for road cruising. I didn't have that many good nights finding snakes and even though I cruised the same roads as the year before, I only found one king on a road I rarely ever hit. This dor female was found in Gulf Co., FL after a rainstorm had passed through earlier.
This was obviously more of an Eastern looking king with the thin bands but look at all that interband lightening! It was a female too. I would have loved to add it to my collection to breed with what I have but oh well. Nothing I could do. So now we're into 2005. Back in May I found this dor king, more of an Eastern but with some of the Apalachicola influence.
Not the neatest looking king from this area but sad to see killed on the road. Not too long ago, I would have certainly liked to have found this one alive. A male intergrade found dor on my lucky road in Leon Co.
One of the prettiest kings I've seen in this area. Can't believe someone swerved to hit him. Well two weeks later I was more than lucky to find this female under some cover not even a 1/2 mile from where I found my first live one.
She's not the prettiest but at least I finally have a locality pair. Hope you all enjoyed the post!
