Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,

These are some of the easterns that I was lucky enough to hatch this past summer. This year was unusual as most of the babies fed voluntarily pretty quickly. The GAs are never a problem, but those damn NJs and Outer Banks usually take a while, for me anyway. Please forgive the poor quality of the Outer Banks and NJ baby pictures, as they are very tough to keep in one spot. The GAs however are easy, just wiggle a finger at them and they start playing rattlesnake. This first pic is of a very red baby GA, possibly the reddest I've hatched. Thank you for looking.

Will

This one has some nice orange color too. I know that the bands aren't all that thin, especially compared to something like a NJ. But, for this line of chunky chained GAs, this is a pretty typical, thin banded specimen. Thanks.

Will

Beautiful snakes! There seems to be a great deal of variation with the Ga kings. Thanks for posting. Phil

Hi Phil,

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, each clutch is like a Christmas gift......ya never know what you're gonna get.

Will

Hi,

This is a carbon copy of my super wide banded GA breeder "Frank the Tank". This little one has the lower lateral striping, the diminishing belly pattern, as well as the obvious wide chains.

I know, I know it looks like a baby goini. As I have stated before, it is entirely possible that this line contains some other historical GA/FLA getula (goini, peninsula king) influence which was brought out through line breeding. That's ok, I just think it makes them interesting and unique. These guys don't gain any speckling as they age however and they tend to get bigger (some much bigger) than typical goini. Thanks again for looking.

Will

Hi,

This one is a product of an old, wild caught 80% speckled female and a nearly 100% speckled C. Bartlett male, so I have high hopes for lots of speckling on this guy and his sibs.

I was happily surprised when this clutch came out of the egg hungry for pinkies this year. Last year really taught me a lesson in patience, as I had many stubborn ob king babies. It took a year for the last one to start eating. He went about 10 months without eating anything and lost very little weight during this time. I finally started him on teased mouse tails becasue I got sick of waiting. He jumped to pinks soon after. Thank you for looking.

Will

Are outer banks babies known for being difficult feeders?

Hi,

I don't know why I had such a tough time last year. I don't know of them having a reputation for being particularily picky. I've heard from a couple of guys down south that they are easy to get going on pinks that are scented with ground skink. I guess I lucked out this season, as the same pair produced this year as last. Maybe they got all of the tough feeders to come out in last years litter (lol).

Will

Hi,

Every baby in this clutch has very thin bands, most are half a scale wide dorsally and a couple are so thin that they are indistinct posteriorly. This clutch surprised me also as they began in typical NJ fashion (for me anyway) with only 3 of 12 taking pinkies at the first offering. Then surprisingly eight more fed in one night about a month ago (did something right, don't know what..lol) and all but one are established now. These are strange, as neither parent has any yellow color at all, but the babies typically hatch out white, then turn bright yellow at the first shed and then slowly fade back to white within the first year. Thanks for looking.

Will

Great looking snakes, Will. For the sake of discussion, have you ever produced a GA with light speckling on the first three black bands? Some of the snakes from N.C north show this trait.
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Bob Bull
1.3 L.g.getula MD Locality
2.2 L.g.g GA locality
2.3 L.g.g albino
1.4 L.g.g het albino
1.2 L.g.g P-het albino
1.0 L.g.floridana peanutbutter
0.2 L.g.f. het peanutbutter
1.0 L.g.f. N.E. axanthic
1.0 L.g.nigrita
1.1 L.t.hondurensis het hypo-melanistic
0.1 L.t.hondurensis hypo-melanistic

Hi Bob,

One of my F2 girls was hatched with a little speckling in the first third of her body, which has remained over time, but not increased. It's not a really common trait within my animals of this lineage.

I agree, that red baby should hold most of its color into adulthood. I hatched out 2 with that really deep red orange, I may have to keep one if I can find any room (LOL). Take care.

Will

Will

Will, Do you have any pics of the ventral scales from your wide banded Easterns? From all the ones I've seen up in Georgia and Florida, they don't have the split scale coloration like the specimens from in/around the ANF. Here's a dor I found in the ANF back in July.

The Apalachicola Kings I keep don't have much of any type of checkerboeard pattern, rather a dark line at the edge of each ventral scale. This dor specimen obviously has some Apalchicola influence as you can see that dark line on many of the ventral scales. I was curious to see if any of your specimens resemble it in any way. Thanks.

Hi Sean,

All of the really wide banded ones have a three stage belly pattern. It starts out patternless yellow or cream at the throat and then breaks into a mixed black and cream blotching in the middle area and fades to patternless black in the ventral region. I don't have any pics yet, but I'll try to get some up soon.

My GA babies hatch with a multitude of belly patterns, from the three stage mixed pattern of the super wide banded animals, to variations of the blotched or banded belly, to patternless black, bordered by twin, pale, lateral stripes. I also have a saddled/pinstriped GA eastern that has a mostly yellow/orange belly. I didn't notice the black edged belly scales that you mentioned on any of the snakes that I just looked at, but I wouldn't be surprised if it turned up. Thanks.

Will