Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I for one am a calligaster fan. All of my pics are of KY locale animals. This is special to me because it represents a new quad record here in the state and is one of the few known that have been found this far east in L.c.calligasters range.

This a large adult photographed in Mammoth Cave NP KY.

Hart county KY calligaster.

Grayson county KY prairie king.

Hardin county KY prairie king.

Hart county KY calligaster.

One last pic for now. Another Hart county specimen of calligaster seen in the field. Hope you folks enjoyed!

man those are sweeeeeet calligasters i love how dark most are and the colors,,, our texas calligasters are pretty much just brown occasionally you will find some dark ones but nothing like the Ky.ones w/greenish tones those are great
here is a typical texan calligaster harris county which btw is the mother to my stripe posted below
do you ever see striping in Ky. calligasters?,,,,,,,,,,thomas

Thanks Thomas, to me that is one fine looking calligaster you have. I find the natural diversity between populations to be particularly interesting. Those high contrast snakes like the one you have from Texas are especially nice.

Jefferson county KY. Now known as metro Louisville

I am refering to the first pic in this series. Sorry, I am still not use to this format.

Excellent pics of those Prairie Kings. Those are some stout looking kings. How do they compare in size/girth to the Ky. Nigra that you find throughout the state? Also does the Ky Calligaster have their own look, as far as size/color/pattern, compared to Prairie Kings from other states? Thanks for the photos. As always, outstanding.

Steve

Thanks Steve, yes the calligaster in this area do seem to be particularly stout. I think they are probably doing better here now than in historical times. Abandoned farms have created that perfect mixture of open space and edge habitat for them to live in. We see some good size prairies here. The largest we saw last year field measured at 56" from Calloway county. We see bigger L.g.nigra, but not by much. The largest of those are probably a few inches in excess of 5'. What we have in KY are the forest variety of calligaster. Generally darker than their counterparts that live in actual prairie in the western part of their range and with less contrast as adults. Most of our snakes mature in to an almost unicolorous gun metal gray with only faint pattern.

Those are some healthy looking snakes! I'd soil myself if I flipped one of those impressive brutes.

I have yet to find a calligater in the field but I've got high hopes for this Spring here in NC. Wish me luck!
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Pierson Hill

Herpetology and Herpetoculture

Thanks Pierson. Oddly enough one thing that I have noticed is the generality of snakes seen in the field seem to be healthy robust specimens. Occasionally I will see a sickly looking snake but that is the exception and not the rule. I have yet to see a prairie king in the field that was not of good weight and disposition over all. I wish you luck this year. I would love to see some N.C. mole kings.

I wish we had those around here. Awesome snakes, I hope to find one someday, although it will be a least 400 miles south of here.
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Tim

I'm amazed at how robust all of those wild calligaters are.
They must just be chunky snakes be nature huh?

Are most of you finds in the spring or do you find them throughout the year?