The common kingsnake, Lampropeltis getula, was once a species that consisted of at least seven subspecies that, when considered as a group, ranged from coast to coast, from New Jersey to Florida in the east and from southern Oregon to the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula in the west.

These kingsnakes, although present in somewhat lessened numbers in places, still do this but now, based upon genetics rather than appearance and upon the disdain that geneticists have for trinomials, their nomenclature has changed. From old to new (if you choose to apply them, which I do not, LOL:

Old Nomenclature	Common Name	New Nomenclature
Lampropeltis getula californiae	California Kingsnake	Lampropeltis californiae
Lampropeltis getula brooksi	South Florida King	Lampropeltis getula
Lampropeltis getula floridana	Peninsula King	Lampropeltis getula
Lampropeltis getula holbrooki	Speckled King	Lampropeltis holbrooki *
Lampropeltis getula getula	Eastern King	Lampropeltis getula
Lampropeltis getula nigra	Eastern Black King	Lampropeltis nigra
Lampropeltis getula nigrita	Mexican Black King	Lampropeltis californiae
Lampropeltis getula splendida	Desert King	Lampropeltis splendida

*(but only west of the Mississippi River. Identically patterned individuals from east of the Mississippi are now L. nigra)

Formerly Brook's King, L. g. brooksi. Now Eastern King, L. getula:



More photos under the jump...

For decades they were contained in the cosmopolitan skink genus Eumeces, but with the advent of genetic assessments they are now Plestiodon. But the specific name of laticeps has remained intact. They are the largest of the three East Coast five-lined skinks, surpassing the common five-line, P. fasciatus, and the southeastern five-line, P. inexpectatus, in both length and body mass.

The body color of adult males, marginally the larger gender, is a beautiful stripeless fawn brown. When adult they may attain an overall length of 12 inches.

The somewhat smaller females tend to retain at least vestiges of the striping. During the spring and early summer breeding season the temporal region of the head of the adult males broadens and the entire head turns fire orange.



Hatchlings and juveniles are vividly striped and have a blue tail. The blue tail coloring of the hatchlings is intense but it pales as the lizard grows.



In late summer and autumn the orange head color of the adult male fades, the temporal broadening is lessened, and by the time it accesses its winter hibernating locale it would hardly be recognizable as the same lizard.

They hatched! I'm talking about my marginated tortoise hatchlings.

The eggs had incubated for 61 days at 88.2F before the first signs of pipping became apparent. Here's one two hours after pipping:



Four eggs out of the clutch of 10 had "chalked" (an external opacity of the egg shell that is usually associated with egg-fertility) within only a day or two of deposition, and now one of them was actually hatching.



Fortunately, the remaining three chalked eggs also hatched within the next two days. Here's one at two days after hatching:



I was rather excited about the event, for it was not only the first time I had hatched marginated tortoises, Testudo marginata, but in so doing I had laid to rest the long held tenet that a period of hibernation was necessary to successfully breed this species.

You see, because they are maintained outside year round in Florida and provided with heated winter quarters (accessible when the tortoises choose to use them), my breeders underwent no period of dormancy. Yet viable eggs were produced and healthy babies hatched.

While marginated tortoises are certainly capable of undergoing lengthy periods of hibernation, it would seem that this period of dormancy is not an actual necessity for breeding success.

About 50 miles west of my home, I leave the range of the common Eastern garter snake, Thamnophis s. sirtalis, and enter the realm of the blue-striped garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis similis.

In actuality, garter snakes with blue striping may be found in some numbers throughout the Florida populations. But along the Gulf Coast of the state, from Hernando to Wakulla counties, the vast majority of the garter snakes have blue strips and bluish overtones. And the ribbon snakes are also bluish.



The intensity of the blue striping varies from pale to rich blue, while the interstitial skin and other bluish overtones are a bit lighter.



I have seen these garter snakes by day actively searching pond and ditch edges for the frogs of which their diet largely consists. But overall they seem more active at dusk as the setting sun adds its long red rays to nature's palette.

Ever since I had learned of the existence of the mountain skink, Plestiodon callicephalus, I had wanted to see the lizard in situ.

There was just a special something about the blue in the tail of this skink that brought it to the top of my "I-wanna-see" list.



But when I asked Randy Babb to show me one of these skinks in situ, I had no idea it was going to involve a 20-mile power walk across sere desert beneath a blazing sun (about 140F ground temp!).

Or at least it seemed that hot and far to me, a Floridian who's unused to desert conditions. Of course, when Randy (a desert fox) relates the tale, it was a slow one mile walk on a moderately warm day along a cool path on the banks of a lake. How can his memory be so faulty? .

But at the end we saw not only one but several of the beautiful skinks. Mission accomplished. Thanks, Randy.

More photos under the jump...

As have the ranges of several other amphibians in Florida, the range of the rusty mud salamander, Pseudotriton montanus floridanus, seems to have shrunk noticeably.

Once found as far south as the Orlando area, those populations as well as others on the peninsula now seem extirpated. Although I may be overlooking some populations, to be even reasonably assured of finding this southernmost of the mud salamanders one must now travel northwestward to the panhandle counties.



Jake Scott and I recently did just that. We sought and found a suitable locale that was about four hours distant. Almost as soon as we entered the swampy habitat, we walked by a big log. Thinking it was simply too large to roll, we continued along.

We turned logs and debris for the next three hours -- zilch on the target salamanders. On the way back out, the last log we saw was that one we hadn't turned on the way in. We decided it was going to be turned, and it actually was a simple matter to do so (proving that appearances can indeed be deceiving).

Jake had found a lifer. Although it was the only mud salamander found on that day, it alone made the lengthy trip a success.

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About 30 years ago I purchased a half dozen of these alert and attractive little turtles, Geoemyda spengleri, for about 20 dollars each.



I bred this taxon for many years, but finally allowed myself to be talked out of them by a friend. It was a divestiture that I have regretted over the years, so recently I began thinking of restarting the project. But after pricing the little guys at today's market price of 500 to 700 dollars each, the probability of this occurring now seems minimal.

I am sure glad that I had the opportunity to work with this alert and intelligent little (carapace length of about 4.25 inches) Asian species.

More photos under the jump...