Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Last Sunday prooved to be an interesting day for my field partner Will and myself here in Ky. We are starting to see the young of the year on our trips out now. We found this hatchling black kingsnake under a sheet of tin at one of the sites we visited. It has come to my attention that many people do not realize that baby nigra begin life heavily patterned and lose most or all of this as they grow.

This praire kingsnake was found under a sheet of tin as well. If you look closely you can see that this snake is recovering from a recent wound on the right side of its head in the area of its eye. We often find snakes with injuries lying under warm sheets of metal where the higher temps perhaps speed up the healing process.

Once again we checked a number of large pieces of artificial cover like this one. We found this roof of a collapsed shed last year and due to its size and location we felt that sooner or later something interesting would be discovered beneath. On two prior visits this year solitary copperheads were found under this roof but given the possibilities that large shelters such as this offer we were hopeful that sooner or later much more would come to light. On this day three snakes were found.

The first snake was this southern racer. This is one of the most common snakes in our area and can be found in just about any terrestrial situation.

The second snake was this handsome timber rattlesnake.

The third was an adult black kingsnake. It is unusual for us to find kings co-habitating with other species of snakes but these big pieces of metal seem to produce endless possibilities and a variety of circumstances. Hope you enjoyed our little journey into the world of the kingsnake! Phil

Nice work Phil and Will! I especially enjoyed the young nigra as well as the Timber! Keep up the good work and I am still on the trail of the big calli-g!
Todd Hughes

That timber rattler is gorgeous. Did it act very defensive towards you? Also, I'm very surprised to see that Kings are living with/around those other snakes. Great pictures, happy herping!!
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1.0 Goini
0.1 Hypo. Floridana

Thanks.Actually the timber, like most of them was fairly laid back. Despite us moving it a short distance for pics it never struck or even rattled. Phil

Thanks Todd. Good luck with the calligaster. It would be neat if someone could find a five footer. I'm betting one is out there somewhere. Phil

I especially liked the juve black king and calli. That juve reminded me of what they look like. I remember seeing some of those when I used to live in s. OH years ago. They were fun to work with.

TC

Thanks TC. Glad you enjoyed the pics! Phil