Among those who search for reptiles in North America, there has always been great interest in Eastern Hognose Snakes, Heterodon platirhinos. They are beautiful, variable, display unique behaviors, have an interesting natural history, and are unlike all the other snakes we find locally.

Getting a nice picture of a wild Eastern Hognose Snake can be very difficult because they will roll over on their back and play dead when they feel threatened, and once they go into this routine it is not only hard to make them stop, but they also seem to never look as good once they play dead. During their defensive process they tend to disgorge their belly contents and also stop filling up with air to hiss which makes them look thin and deflated. Take my advice and try to get your pictures of this species before they feel too disturbed and roll over on their backs.

Neophytes will quickly reach down and pick up snakes as soon as they are discovered. When a specimen is discovered the best thing to do is to try to get pictures immediately. When I am on Hognose hunting grounds I carry my camera with me, sometimes it is even already turned on. If the snake tries to escape use a stick or branch to move the animal but whatever you do, DO NOT TOUCH IT WITH YOUR HAND! For whatever reason, these snakes are less disturbed by the feel of natural materials but the feel of your hand will often cause them to play dead upon contact. THINK when you find one of these snakes! Calm down and be patient. Do not give up. Instead, just focus on keeping the snake calm. They will often turn their heads sideways just before they flip on their backs, so if you see them doing this back off a little bit. If they do flip over you can put the snake in a bag for 20 minutes and then carefully dump it out and try again, but even if this works the snake will not look as good as it did the moment you found it. I hope this information proves useful and I wish everyone good luck in finding and getting nice pictures of these spectacular snakes!

This amazing looking cultivar is a Super Genetic Banded Paradox Albino Ball Python (Python regius). I had the honor of hatching the first example of this new morph earlier in 2015. People who know me and follow my posts here, on my site, and on social media are aware that I have been hatching a whole lot of Paradox Ball Pythons, especially Paradox Albinos. Friends joke that I must be putting something in my water, but the fact is that after many years and much effort I have hopefully made an advance in how to produce Paradox Ball Pythons.

The Paradox Gene is not fully understood and I am not trying to claim that I fully understand it. What I am saying is that results speak for themselves and that it took more than luck for me to produce Paradox Albinos and other Paradox Ball Python Morphs every year for the past 5! I expect to hatch more in 2016 barring thermostat or incubator malfunctions!

Isn’t this Jungle Carpet Python crazy looking?! It is one of a kind and a Super Form from what the Ball Python Crowd refers to as a, “Dinker Project.”

I noticed that the mother of this snake looked just a bit odd when it was a baby. I bought her, bred her, and then bred one of her male offspring back into her to get a super form of the co-dominant gene that she carried. I know a lot of kingsnake.com users attend Reptile Shows so I will share my story about buying the mother of this snake.

All morning long I was busy at this show vending at my table and I was unable to make a round until around lunch time. When I arrived at one of the better Carpet Python vendor tables there was a crowd standing around looking at a baby JCP in a deli cup marked $350.00. They were all commenting under their breath about the little snake, but for me there was no discussion. I peeled off the cash, handed it to the vendor, and then picked up the cup with the snake.

All the guys said, "WHOA!! I was thinking about buying that” . The vendor looked at me and said, “That snake will turn out to look normal and so will all the babies.” I made two replies. To the crowd I responded, “You can keep thinking about buying it, but I just bought it.” To the vendor I said, loud enough for all to hear, “If this $350 female JCP turns out to be normal I will more than break even selling her normal babies.” There are lessons to be learned in all of this but don’t ask me what they are. I am just trying to have fun and I am relegated to but one of these crazy looking JCP after about 10 years of effort.