Photo Credit: ©WCS A head-started female Siamese crocodile nesting in the wild

In a huge win for conservation, the first ever nesting behavior has been observed by reintroduced female Siamese crocodile that resulted in two hatchlings! The hatchlings are now being headstarted by the Wildlife Conservation Society.

The authors note: “While collecting eggs for incubation in May 2022, we were able to identify a unique series of notched tail scutes on a female C. siamensis as she aggressively defended a nest.

“From these markings we determined the female was hatched on 11 August 2012 (age = 9.75 years) and released in March 2014. A camera-trap placed at the nest on 11 May 2022 and recovered on 5 July 2022 recorded 1724 images.

“These images indicated the female remained in attendance at the nest throughout the monitoring period. Camera-trap imagery captured eight nest repair events and two nest defense events; during the later the female defended the nest from village dogs.”

They have managed to reduce the mortality with their headstart program by an amazing 90%! To read the paper and full story, click here.

Typical eastern (chain) kingsnake from the FL-GA state line.
Well, firstly, if you are inclined to listen to the geneticists, the Florida Kingsnake, Lampropeltis getula floridana has become a nonentity, a snake having no special or interesting qualities. And that same disregard for subspecies would apply to the phases we have long known as “brooksi” and “goini.”. So for our purposes, herewith we’ll disregard the genetic findings and mention the various getula kingsnakes in FL as subspecies, as Linnaeus meant them to be.

In one subspecies or another the Kingsnake complex ranges throughout Florida

From the FL Keys in Monroe County, to the St Mary’s River in Nassau County, Fl and then westward to the Escambia River in Escambia County—In other words throughout all of FL---you will be treking through “Kingsnake Country”. These big, beautiful, secretive snakes are, or at least once were, found from border to border to border (and far beyond) in the sunshiney state of FL.

the USA.From the FL Keys to GA and AL a Kingsnake of some color could be encountered.Not only are these Found in one or another color beautiful snakes

When adult the various subspecies of the Eastern Kingsnake, including the nominate form, are big, occasionally attaining or even exceeding by a few inches, 6 feet in length. The base color may vary from yellow or black in northern FL to brown or yellow in southern FL.In northern FL the yellow occurs primarily in 2 discrete areas—Apalachicola Natl Forest and coastal neFL. A darker narrow vertebral stripe may or may not be present. They are rare in the former area and have not been seen for many years in the latter region.

Most individuals seen from north of the Ocala, FL area and except for Apalachicola area have been of rather typical eastern (Eastern Chain Kingsnake) pattern. The keywords in that sentence are “rather typical.” The differences usually most visible are in the variable amount of white—the thickness of the white bands both dorsally and laterally.Kingsnakes from the Panhandle , except fo the Apalachicola area, are white chain-patterned black snakes.

Florida Kingsnake pattern and colors are usually lighter overall than other subspecies, but some have a truly bungled light pattern over the black, or vice versa. Look for these from Ocala southward on the peninsula to Miami..

South Florida or Brook’s phase: Most King Snake enthusiast have searched eagerly for this Kingsnake having greenish ground color near Andytown—what? You don’t remember Andytown? No wonder. It was swallowed decades ago by the Interstate Highway System!—and more of a golden yellow down Everglades National Park way. Although variable both in ground color and the amount of dark patterning, all are well worth the search to find your choice.

Appalachicola or Goin’s phase may be virtually patternless ot have large often elongate oval darker dorsal pattern. Although variable they are often quite similar to Brook’s King variant from southwestern FL.

Ahhhhh. Florida! The land of the Kings.
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