Collected a nice cotton in northern Alabama.

[SCReptiles]

Went out field herping Sunday morning for about 3 hours. We were mostly looking for cottonmouths and feeder bull frogs. We came upon a massive cotton basking on a log just about 3 feet from the bank. The biggest we had seen in this area was about 2 ½ feet and maybe 1.5 to 2 pounds. This guy taped at 3’8” and weighted 4 pounds. That was after he had musked about 5 times and defecated twice. I am thinking he was about 4.5 pounds when we brought him out of the water. Surprising to me, it probed male, making him the biggest male I have heard of this far north. In the picture he is still packed with mud. Later that night we washed him off showing a clearly defined back pattern. He is very a nice animal. I am very glad we found him.

[SCReptiles]

Collected in Northern Alabama 5/15/03.
Male. 3'8" and 4 pounds

[Chobdragon]

Awesome find

[unBOAlievable]

Nice find Chuck,:)
By looks I would have ruled it a female to, to bad its not.

[SCReptiles]

Yeah, I know. We still have the male we got from you. I want to breed him because I like his color. Last time we hunted cottons I brought home a 3 footer that was fat as all get out, but it probed to be male also. Now I have 3 male cottons! I gave one to my friends at the Virginia Reptiles Zoo. I bet it was the only female. =) Just my luck. I am happy to have a male of this size. There are several large females around, I am hoping to get one of them and set up a pair or trio breeding for size.

[SCReptiles]

Update: After a week in captivity we reweighed and measured this cotton. He had a large defecation yesterday and of course has not been offered any food. His weight went down to 3.6 pounds. We put him in a Midwest 2” tub and let him crawl as far in as he would fit, it was about half way, then we laid him on a flat table and allowed him to relax and stretch out as much as possible. We then used the string method to re-measure him and he taped at 4’1”. Planning to offer food tomorrow night. Thinking he will scale at about 4.5 to 5 pounds after a good meal and some water.

[BWSmith]

Yeah, I need to find a nice 4 foot male for PK. Breed some Cottons that are het for FREAKING HUGE!!! lol

[Stalabros]

I think that you should put him back in the wild, buy a captive bread if you really want one. Thet snake just went from a nice forest or bush to a 5 foot tank (probably). If that's not cruel, I don't know what is. Captive bread snakes are always in a tank or cage so they do not know the difference.

[BWSmith]

Once a snake enters a snake room, it is dangerous to rerelease them. The chance of introducing diseases to wild populations is too great. It could extirpate an area.

[SCReptiles]

Ha ha, do you think CB snakes are found in the cabbage patch? The original breeding stock came from the wild. Believe me, this old boy would much rather be kept in a clean cage, feed regularly, and breed regularly then living in that disease infested swamp running from alligators and snake hating fishermen. Snakes do not desire free roaming space. Keep them at a comfortable temperature and well feed, they will not move regardless of the space.

[SCReptiles]

BW, I don't want to sell Gunther, but we would be more then happy to lone him for a week or two next spring. =)

[Invictus]

You are much braver than I, measuring and probing a cottonmouth. :)

[SCReptiles]

Once you have them in the tube, they are easy to work. I wouldn’t attempt to freehand probe a 4 foot cotton. =)

[JoeBradley]

Stalabros,
Captive bred snakes have to start somewhere. It is hard to find anyone that is breeding cottonmouths. We are using this snake to get our breeding project going. We hope to use this guy to get a good captive stock going and then we will not have to remove any more from the wild. I understand your position about wanting to keep snakes from being moved from their natural habitat but this is not an endangered species and believe me our snakes are not mistreated or poorly kept by any means.

[fatboy]

Personally I see no problem with taking "Gunther" from the wild to start a breeding project. It is not like you are endangering the well-being of the Cottonmouth populatin in Alabama. Helping if anything. Good luck on finding a large healthy female.