Patternless Appalachicola King *pics*

[Katt]

Here's my male patternless appalachicola king. His name is Fabio. I named after a lovely girl saw him and calle dhim handsome. He is a very handsome snake. I got him from Vanan who traded some gex for him from someone else. Vanan had traded for him having been told he was a speckled king, but when I saw him, I knew, he was no speckled king I suspected he was a "goini" king (now known as appalachicola). So I posted him around and had him psotivitly identified as a patternless goini.

Fabio has a great temperament. Very easy to handle, over 4.5 ft long and thick. He's a great eater (coils like a brooksi), if not a little stupid. I have tried to sell him once, but no one seem interested so I am glad to keep him.

Anyway, here are some photos I took of him today.

A body shot to show the "patternless" pattern of his entire body.

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v147/Kattia/Kings/fabiobod2.jpg">

A close up scale shot to show how the scales are coloured.

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v147/Kattia/Kings/fabscale.jpg">

And some face shots to show his cuteness.

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v147/Kattia/Kings/fabface.jpg">

I like this shot myself.

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v147/Kattia/Kings/fabface2.jpg">

Not too many people have goini, much less male patternless once. The babies are screaming red, but grow up and are either a nice light yellow or a muddy sort of orangey yellow colour. There are "Blaze Phaze" goini which retain lots of orange and actually look nice. I prefer no orange myself.

I have a soft spot for speckly looking kings. Vanan thinks this guy is a bit goofy as he often dunks his head in his water slurps it up, snorts some up his nose and start sneezing for an hour. Sometimes sneezing so hard he vomits up his water. Then he drinks some more and he's ok. That's Fabio for you!

[Crazycorn]

If your were in the states I would buy him! Awesome snake.

[thunder]

awesome!

[Tim_Cranwill]

Very cool! I almost bought one a few years back.... kind of wish I had now. :)

[kidchameleon]

nice, ive never seen one of those before, but he looks really cool.

[vanderkm]

He is a great looking snake Katt - sounds like a cute personality too - their little wierd traits are so appealing!

thanks for the pics - nice to see some of the less common species once in a while,

mary v.

[Katt]

Thanks guys for all the nice comments.

Anyone else got these guys??

[marisa]

There was a show on, I believe it was Snake Wranglers...I believe the guy was looking desperatly for this very species because he fears they are going extinct in their native range. He spent days setting up traps, and field searching, noting that the true ones were "patternless"... He even took a trip to the Daytona Show, and picked up a pair of CB babies from Gulf Coast Reptiles.

I may be mistaken though on the species. In any case, beautiful snake.

Marisa

[Ace]

Hmmmm.....are you sure that snake doesn't have some Brooksi in it?.....oh, now wait.... wrong forum :rolleyes: . LOL He looks great Katt, I'm surprised Vanan left you have him! Here's a link that somewhat goes into what Marisa is talking about.....Apalachicola Kings (http://grove.ufl.edu/~kenneyk/uf.htm)

[aaron]

Marisa,

you are correct on the species as I had seen the same show. It really peaked my interest in them! Katt that is a very nice specimen!:cool:

aaron

[Stockwell]

That's a really nice snake Katt...But it sure does look like a holbrooki.(speckled king)
I've had goini before but never seen one like that. They were more popular 10 years ago, because neonates can have gorgeous bright orange speckley hues but these tend to diminish as they age. As you know goini are considered intergrades between Floridan kings and Easterns. The eastern influence usually produces a wide banding effect with brooksi type speckling underneath so Ace is obviously right when he said it looked like it had some brooksi in it, since brooksi are Florida kings

[Crazycorn]

They were given their own name though, as that show said.

[Simon]

nice pics and nice animal~!!

[Ace]

Ace is obviously right when he said it looked like it had some brooksi in it, since brooksi are Florida kings


Actually, I was referring to a big fuss going on in another forum based on the same comment made about a pic posted of an Apalachicola. (just playing)

I know "goini" are supposed to be intergrades, but my understanding of what's referred to as an "Apalachicola" now, is supposed to be an isolated, undescribed subspecie of Getulas, of which Ken Krysko and Bruce Means are now studying. In the link I posted above, it sort of goes into it. Obviously, the study hasn't been published yet (that I know of), and yet there's a fight about them elsewhere :rolleyes:. Once the study gets published and the specific meristics are known, you can better know if it truely is an Apalachicola or not. Still a great looking King, WHATEVER IT IS!!! LOL

[Stockwell]

Yeah, whatever it is... They're all getulas to me. So many of them overlap naturally and then who knows what breeders are mixing and matching. It's just like some nigritus have that touch of pattern which is supposedly a splendida influence. Many of them are probably a blend
If the actual source of that animal can't be tracked down, my first instinct would be to breed that snake to a holbrooki and see if it produces perfect holbrooki phenotypes.. I think that would tell Katt alot...
Breeding it to a goini could produce anything since most goini probably come from mixed lineage and can phenotypically produce any combined blend of chain king to floridana/brooksi

[Katt]

This guy is DEFINITELY a goini. Not only has he attempted to breed goini females, I have posted him in KS and had him identified as goini. He is, just a patternless goini. Also, he is just HUGE. He dwarfs the 1.2 of speckleds we had. Speckled kings are more black.

Goini.
http://www.pitt.edu/~mcs2/herp/Lg_goini.html

My speckled.

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v147/Kattia/Kings/estrellaside.jpg">

More goini stuff.

http://www.calacademy.org/research/herpetology/ch/ch/2001/5/figure10.htm

Great goini site describing the various phases.

http://www.calacademy.org/research/herpetology/ch/ch/2001/5/

[Katt]

Sorry, please read appalachicola where I wrote goini.