Breeding Projects

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Black Phase Timber Rattlesnakes	Yellow Phase Timber Rattlesnakes (KY Locality)
We have 2 captive born 2002 males from Perry County, KY locality. We will  be placing them back with a light black (charcoal) female that was captive born in 2003 from Harlan County, KY parents and with a 100% pure blood NY locality  black timber female. This will be her first year breeding. Off spring is expected in the late summer, early fall of 2008.	We have a 4 foot plus male that was collected in Middlesboro County, KY.  He will be going back to a female of the same locality. She is bright yellow on head and back, but fades to black further from the rattle. Also he will be breeding back to a captive born 2003 female from Stratton, VA. She has a yellow head, but darks on on the back and fades to black at the tale. Off spring expected late summer, early fall 2008.
Yellow Phase Timber Rattlesnakes (PA Locality)	"Greenish" Phase Timber Rattlesnakes
We have 1.2 CB 04 yellow timbers from the Blue Ridge mountains in PA. male is light yellow thru 85% if his body, almost could be considered a hypo-melanistic. One female is almost as yellow as the male. Bright yellow head, but fades to black further from the rattle.   The other female has a slightly darker head and more of a green pattern down the back. Off spring expected in the late summer, early fall of 2009.	We have a black headed male that fades to a greenish color throughout most of the back, then to black at the tale and a yellow headed female that fades to almost the same greenish color through most of the back, then to black at the tail. The males was collected on 2006 in Wise County, VA. The female has been in captivity 5 years and her locality is unknown. Both are very large by timber standards, well over 4 feet. Off spring is expected in the late summer, early fall of 2008.
Pastel Timber Rattlesnakes	F3 Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes
This is an experimental project. We are going to take our light colored "high yellow" male timber rattlesnake from PA and put him back on an F1 female timber that was collected from a mountain range in north GA. She is pictured her along side a normal colored female from that range. She is clearly a hypomelanistic animal. The off spring will have to then be breed out to prove the color to be genetic, so we are looking at a very long term project here, but we are hoping to produce off spring similar this this:   These have been labeled as Hypo timbers, pastel timbers, and caramel albino timbers. I suppose all names are fitting, but pastel means "light colors," so I find that name to be the most accurate.	This is a group project between CHS and Mike Williams. We are putting our F2 2004 male back with his F2 2003 female. Both snakes are around 4.5 feet and in prefect health, heavy body weight. The male has a lightly pronounced yellow banding of the diamonds, and the female has a very pronounced yellow outline of the diamonds. Off spring are expected in 2008.
Cottonmouth/Copperhead Hybrids	Cottonmouth/Copperhead Hybrids
Commonly known as Cottonheads, these are a hybrid that occasionally occurs in nature. It was first offered as captive born by Mardi Snipes in 2003. We have an adult female FL cottonmouth that was collected about 150 miles north of Miami, FL in 2003. She is an amazing snake. Prefect in all areas. She is about 3.5 feet and has excellent girth. The other female in this trio is an exceptionally large western female that was collected just south of Dallas, TX in 2003. She has excellent color, light by western standards. She is also about 3.5 feet in length and almost as large in girth as the FL female. They are being paired with a 100% southern male from North FL. He is a light southern, about 3.5 feet in length, but less girth then the cottonmouth females.   Off spring is expected in the late summer, early fall of 2008.	The second cottonhead project puts a FL male with 3 exceptional female copperheads. The male is a FL locality with very unusual markings. He strikes a liking resemblance to a cantil.  He is a little over 3 feet and has been in captivity at least 3 years. All females are large, over 4 feet. The first is an exceptionally red specimen that was captive born in 2002 from parents off the SC sand hills. The second was collected in Madison County, AL in 1999. This is the largest copperhead we have seen. She is a northern/southern inter grade, with exceptional marking and no spots. Off spring is expected in the late summer, early fall of 2008.

Cottonmouth/Copperhead Hybrids

F2 Cottonmouth/Copperhead Hybrids

The third cottonhead project puts true hypo-melanistic male northern copperhead to an exceptional virgin cottonmouth. The copperhead was captive breed by Tanith Tyrr in 2003. The cottonmouth was captive breed by us from parents collected in Madison County, AL in 2003.  The copperhead holds all the patterns, hourglasses and spots, of a northern locality copperhead, but is lighter in color then a true southern. The cottonmouth has maintained a light black background with red patterns interwoven. Off spring is expected in the late summer, early fall of 2008.

This is a group project with another breeder. I have a captive born 2003 female from the original Mardi Snipes project. 1  2  My partner has her brother from the same litter.   This will be the first known attempt to reproduce the hybrids in captivity. Often hybridized mammals tend to be infertile and unable to reproduce themselves. (Beefalos, Ligers, Mules) Some think the cottonhead could be infertile, but this doesn't seem to be as true in reptiles as it is mammals. Hybrids from eastern and western diamondback have been hybridized and reproduced. The same is true of retic and burm crosses and Green Tree and Carpet Pythons.  These results are going to be of great scientific interest.  A genetics professor at Southern University has done DNA research on my animal. He believes the hybrids will be fertile, but he believes they will produce 50% Cottonheads, 25% cottonmouths, and 25% copperheads. Off spring is expected in the late summer, early fall of 2008.

Hyper-Melanistic/Spotless Northern Copperheads

Striped Copperhead

The female is a PA locality. She has been in our collection since 2003. She is the darkest copperhead we have seen. the back is almost black, bands are well defined, but hard to see due to the over all darkness of the snake. She is 100% northern, but completely lacks the spotting normally present between the bands. The male was collected in KY 2006. He is dark by is own right, but not as dark as the female. His bands are obscure due to his overall darkness. He also completely lacks the spotting between the bands. Off spring is expected in the late summer, early fall of 2008.

This is a group project with Jamie Sargent. We will be breeding my striped male back to his striped female. Both have a full stripe down the dorsal, with only the very last band near the tail touching. My males was collected in MS about 40 miles east of New Orleans in 2006. 1  2 Jamie's female is from a SC locality.   There is debate among experts as to wear the stripe is genetic or the result of temperature flocculation during the gestation of the snakes. the conclusion of this project will prove definitively should the genetic school of thought be the correct one. Off spring is expected in the late summer, early fall of 2008.

Hyper-Melanistic Canebrake Rattlesnake

Carolina Pygmy Rattlesnakes

Female was collected from the SC sand hills in 2006. She is large, around 4.5 feet. She has the widened canebrake head, rusty colored dorsal stripe running the full length of the body, however, the background color is as dark as our KY locality timber rattlesnakes. She is one of the most unusual canebrakes we have ever seen. She produced 9 babies in late summer 2007. All 9 were exceptionally large and darker in color then normal canebrakes. We held back the darkest male to eventually breed back to this female. Time will tell is the babies are going to blacken up. Off spring expected in the late summer, early fall of 2009 and line breed off spring from the CB 2007 male and original F1 female expected in 2010.

This is an F1 pair collected in 2005. They are Oglethorpe, GA locality. The male holds more pinks then the female. The female is a touch larger. These are sometimes referred to as "Strawberry" pygmies. Very few of the GA locality are produced in captivity. Off spring are expected in summer of 2008.

Locality Specific Timber Rattlesnakes

Louisiana Pine Snake

Dade County, GA Sand Mountain locality. We have 1.2 timbers all from the same farm. The male is exceptionally large for this locality, over 4 feet. Both females are about 3.5 feet. 1 2 They have all been in captivity since 2005. The come from the region where the timbers and canebrakes intersect. They are a dull yellow-grayish color, with black chevrons and dark tails. They are unusual in color and rarely offered on the market. Off spring is expected in the late summer, early fall of 2008.

The most endangered of all living snakes. It was estimated not long ago to be only about 34 of these snakes in captivity. The wild populations are hard to track due to there reclusive lifestyle, however, they are thriving in captivity. This snake has been upgraded to a separate species, making them legal to keep and breed in GA. The male and female are both from Terry Vandeventer stock and were captive born in 2004. This will be the first year breeding this pair. Off spring is expected in the late summer, early fall of 2008.

Other animals with future breeding significance: CB 2006 Female 100%  heterozygous for amelanism Eastern Diamondback. CB 2007 Female 100%  heterozygous for amelanism Eastern Diamondback. CB 2007 hypo-melanistic western cottonmouth gender unknown.  CB 2006 aberrant cottonmouth. Possible copperhead hybrid. Beautiful red color, with bands resembling copperhead hourglasses.  Collected 2006  aberrant cottonmouth. SC locality. Clearly defined bands resembling a broadband copperhead. Planning to acquire a light colored broadband copperhead with geometrical bands and produce broadband cottonheads.    CB 2007 female yellow timber. KY locality. Chevrons form a connected stripe about 1/3 of the snakes dorsal. CB 2007 spotted canebrakes. The chevrons break along the dorsal giving the animals spots, rather then chevron patterns. Female born from out 2007 hyper-melanistic litter, male born to a litter from Jamie Sargent.

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