Reptile & Amphibian Forums

man it has been like a zoo around here. No time to visit the forum. Got a couple of nice shipments in with some real interesting stuff.

I finally dug out some pics of the island where i found some baby anomala. The 3rd pic is of Dr. Sim who did a series with me on korean snakes and wrote a book on korean reptiles (in hangul). He is the one in the white hat doing the kimchi squat.

I can only post 3 pics so i will follow up with a few more pics including a couple of one of the baby anomala.

thanks for looking, Don

...

What an interesting place to search for ratsnakes. Don is that the locale where the anomala get black like schrencki? Were any voucher specimens taken for preservation and if so were any opened to check for stomach contents? I'd imagine that an island population might develop different feeding habits from the mainland population.

Regards
John

John, The melanistic adult I found was kept for filming purposes. During that time the snake deficated and inspection revealed its diet to be birds. It was found in the rocks at the oceans edge. Exactly where you would expect birds to forage for food. The babies I located were on a different island the following year and were all found at a much higher elevation and well removed from the waters edge. They were all found sunning themselves on rock outcrops. I did not locate any adults and suspect that their diet changes as adults and they therefore move down to areas to better ambush birds (or move up into trees as I believe anomala to be much more arboreal than schrenki). Again, I have done very little work on any of the korean species up until this point. Now that you guys have given me the bug, I will try to do much more constructive research and post my findings. Like most people, the only thing i lack is enough time to do all the things I want to do but this year i have placed this task high on my priorities.

Thanks, Don

Interesting snakes, Don. Schrencki and anomala are somewhat difficult to tell apart as babies, but I'd say they look a little more like anomala than schrencki. Just a guess though. The second one looks like it's opaque, or there's something wrong with the eye. These are the ones that turn melanistic? Have you kept any of these year 'round, Don? I'd like to see how they behave, etc. I think anomala might have a much shorter brumation than schrencki.

Thanks for the pics....Terry

Terry, no, just refraction from the flash.

I believe they are anomala but as you said, they can be tough to tell as babies. Hopefully I will be able to answer more questions in the near future about specifics of the species. I can say that the anomala babies and the melanistic adult all had a super great feeding response and did not hesitate or not feed one single time. In fact when we were filming the adult, I set it up in a rack and tried a mouse the first day which it immediately took. I then took the film crew outside with the snake and placed it on the ground. I stunned a mouse and it immediately took it. We did that 3 times, each time placing the mouse further away to try to film its "hunt". I would liken their feeding response to that of a big bull snake. Grab it, go crazy and suck it down lickity split. Unlike a cal king though, as soon as you touch it or pick it up there feeding response vanishes and they become very mellow. I have never been bitten by one.

thanks, Don

I believe they are fairly easy to keep. Good luck finding them next summer. An Emory's rat and a milksnake have already been found in s.c. Texas, btw, as the temps are warming a little there. It's still very cold here in n. MI. Later...TC

Thanks to shane i now use google earth all the time. I love it. I believe the island i got the babies on is located at N37 d 24' 16" E 126 d 26' 20".

Thanks, Don

Hey, Don, cool pics.

I've been fairly busy too. Went outside in the sunshine to get some pics of the snow and ice on the trees. Unfortunately, it was only about 15*F. I put the camera away shortly and did some work cutting some brush.

Does "in hangul" mean a foreign language to us? Where are you in that pic...haha? The island looks great.

TC

Terry, I am behind the camera.¤¡¤¡

Hangul is the korean language/writing.

We have only gotten one small snowfall this year. It has been unusually mild (as far as korean weather goes) but we are expecting a large snowfall starting tonight. As a side note, all my time in Korea and last week was the first time i experience an earthquake here. It was mild (4.8) but unusual just the same.

Thanks, Don