First snake (first herp!)

[ArachnidSentinl]

After years of being into inverts and silently watching you herp people from the sidelines, I finally could not hold out any longer.

I should preface this by saying that I'm fairly adamant about not purchasing animals from big box stores, but as soon as I saw this guy I fell in love. I'm not sure if it was his personality or what, but he was just the one. Nevertheless, at the time I walked away, telling myself that the herp game was something else entirely. My gf wanted me to shop around a bit, so I spent the next month or so cruising the web looking for a cool snake. I found a ton, of course, but in the end I decided to keep that extra cash in my wallet (doin' the ol' destitute student thing).

So last week I swung by to pick up some crickets, and low and behold, my friend was still there. Talk about waffling...I probably walked by his viv sixteen times! But, somehow, I managed to scrounge up the willpower to walk away.

I continued to window shop for a few days, but for some reason I was just too emotionally attached to this little king. After my gf figured this out, she went and bought him for me. And thus I am now one of you

On a side note, is there a name for this particular morph?

 

[J.huff23]

That thing is just beautiful! Nice snake man.

 

[ArachnidSentinl]

That thing is just beautiful! Nice snake man.

Thank you!


Based on my (very amateur) research, I believe that he's a Lampropeltis getulus floridana (Florida king snake). A second opinion would certainly be welcome, of course.

 

[Shrike]

Thank you!


Based on my (very amateur) research, I believe that he's a Lampropeltis getulus floridana (Florida king snake). A second opinion would certainly be welcome, of course.

I believe you're correct. Awesome snakes!

 

[ArachnidSentinl]

I believe you're correct. Awesome snakes!

I have to say, he's a great ambassador for snakekind.

Thanks for the input, btw!

 

[Shrike]

It's also worth pointing out that this is a naturally occurring subspecies, not a color morph achieved through selective breeding. Those nice red patches will fade with age and size. You won't care though. This is a robust, impressive, and generally docile king snake.

Have you seen any tail rattling behavior? Small kings will engage in a bit of Batesian mimicry from time to time.

 

[ArachnidSentinl]

It's also worth pointing out that this is a naturally occurring subspecies, not a color morph achieved through selective breeding. Those nice red patches will fade with age and size. You won't care though. This is a robust, impressive, and generally docile king snake.

Have you seen any tail rattling behavior? Small kings will engage in a bit of Batesian mimicry from time to time.

I haven't yet, but I could certainly see it happening. He's a feisty little guy.

As for the color, thanks for the clarification. I suspected as much after doing some light research. Right now he has a ton of red on him. It'll be interesting to see how his coloration changes over time.

EDIT: Scratch that! He just rattled his tail Apparently he was not in the mood to socialize.

EDIT II: Looks like I may have had the incorrect subspecies. It's possible that he's a Lampropeltis getula brooksi. Again, just a guess.

 

[Shrike]

I think they're interchangable. If anybody can dispute this please let me know. Pitbulllady, where are you? You're a connoisseur of our southern snakes.

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/herpetology/fl-guide/lampropeltisgfloridana.htm

Note the various synonyms. Ah, taxonomists. They make you pay attention.

 

[ArachnidSentinl]

Figured as much. You know, it's sort of fun being a noob again. It feels like the first time...

 

[SpiderJunkie]

my first and only herp

she's got the most amazing temperament!

 

[cantthinkofone]

Nice looking snake! it appears healthy but i would check. ive had multiple problems with petsmart before and now buy from an independant rep shop near me i absolutley love. great luck to you and your new pal.

 

[ArachnidSentinl]

she's got the most amazing temperament!

Looks like your attachment didn't post. Try again?

Nice looking snake! it appears healthy but i would check. ive had multiple problems with petsmart before and now buy from an independant rep shop near me i absolutley love. great luck to you and your new pal.

Thanks! And yeah, I do worry a little bit. 99.9% of the time I would never buy an animal from a big franchise (Petco, btw), but for some reason this guy wouldn't let me walk away (actually, come to think of it, I think this is the only animal I've ever bought from such a store). I'll be vigilant, rest assured.

His enclosure is very basic for the time being. Apologies for the poor quality image (cell phone, heh).

 

[tjrd83]

Very nice snake but is that blood I see toward his backside? If that's dinner it blends it very well.

 

[Bugmom]

The tail rattling is one of my favorite things that certain species of pythons do. Especially when they are wee little things. It's like "Oh, look at you, trying to scare me off but you're all of a foot long. How cute!"

 

[ArachnidSentinl]

Very nice snake but is that blood I see toward his backside? If that's dinner it blends it very well.

That's part of his dinner. I didn't notice it laying there until after I uploaded the pics.

 

[Najakeeper]

Awesome snake, I hope he/she will have a long and healthy life.

Be careful, snakes are as addictive as tarantulas .

Currently, I have 7. 5 venomous and 2 non-venomous. They took a room of my house for themselves and my wife hates it .

 

[Gnat]

that last pic with the blood spot: it also looked as tho the snake was in shed, looked to me its eyes were milky, just an observasion

 

[cmack91]

Cool looking snake you got there. Kings are really fun to work with as im sure youve figured out already. I dont have any now but i just got a honduran milk snake recently and he is awesome. Has he shed yet? I see hes in blue in your last pic.

 

[ArachnidSentinl]

He shed the following day. I didn't notice he was blue when I threw in the mouse, but he sucked it down regardless. I guess I have no real context to support this observation, but this little guy is quite the garbage disposal

Here he is post-shed:

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

 

[SpiderJunkie]

woops yeah looks like it didnt post properly.. well here she is! finally decided to call her Indica because she is so calm, mellow and gentle :')