Lagartha the Eastern King

I haven't posted Lagartha's location in over a week. On May 15 she was found in a forested area near the high school, and she has stayed in that area since then. Lagartha on the 15th I have been advised that I shouldn't publish her exact location to keep her safe, and I agree completely. I can only imagine that she is happy in an area without people and with good cover. I'll show the area once I know she has moved. I got my last update on her location on May 21st.

When the Urban King Project came out on 5/13, they started trying to find Lagartha from where she was last found. She had traveled (presumably) up the creek across my back yard, and to the front of the house that is behind mine. My rough estimate of the distance from her new location to today's was about 500 feet. I've had to increase the area in my map to cover how far she went. I hadn't initially expected her to go much father than my immediate neighbors' yards. On Thursday the 14th, the Project started tracking on the street behind me rather than from my yard. It was a good thing, because she traveled 3 yards further away from me. She was in the front yard and was again underground. 1 is where she was on the 12th. 2  is where she went on the next street over, about 500' away.  3  is her location on the 14th. I'm going to have to go over to the other street to see where she turns up next time they come out.

On Sunday May 10, Urban King Snake Project came out to track Lagartha for the first time. It took them about 30 minutes, but they found her in our next door neighbor's back yard. She was hiding under some ivy, and once we knew she was there, we could see her. On Monday May 11, she had moved to the same neighbor's front yard. Their property is right next to the same creek that is in our backyard, and Lagartha was near the house end of their driveway halfway down the hill into the creek. We couldn't see her, but the tracking chip led us to some rocks and we assumed she was under them. Her location on Tuesday May 12 wasn't far from her Monday location. She was further downstream right where the creek goes under one of our neighborhood streets. Once again, we couldn't see her, as it appeared she was underground. 1 Is Lagartha's release location. 2 is May 10, 3 is May 11 and 4 is May 12.

The snakes were brought back home on the evening of Thursday May 7, 2020. They had been sexed, and the first one was a female, and the second one was a male. The people from Urban Kings released the male a block or so away from our house so he wouldn't go right after the female. They told us that males tend to have a bigger range than female and they travel to look for mates. Due to the size of the male, they speculated that he may be the dominant male of the area. They also had decided to not tag him since the female's data was more valuable. The female was released in our yard on the outside of the bottom corner of our fence. She immediately crawled away into a hole. We were told that eastern kings don't dig their own holes, but instead use rodent holes. We don't have a picture of her release, but enjoy this aerial image. 1 is where the female was collected. 2 is where the male was collected, and 3 is where the female was released. We named the female L...

Three days later onn Tuesday April 28th, I saw another snake. This one was just outside the ivy in the grass. Again, I called the project right away, and they were able to get to my house in about 15 minutes. Meanwhile I was able to get  some video. This one may have known I was watching because it crawled up the hill, across the back of the garage, outside our fence, down the hill, back inside the fence and back toward the ivy. I was afraid it was going to take cover in the ivy and we wouldn't be able to find it. Luckily Bryan got here in time. Again, he scooped it right up. He thought this one was a male, and a decent size. He was going to take this one to UGA for the same checks as the first snake. I'm sorry if my videos make you sea sick.

We found an Eastern King snake in the ivy in our backyard on Saturday, April 25, 2020. I was aware of the Urban Kings Project via the Chattahoochee Nature Center's Instagram postings, so when I saw the snake basking in the ivy, I gave them a call.      Urban Kings Project First sighting in the ivy They took about 15-20 minutes to get to our house. I had lost sight of the snake when it moved in the ivy, but by chance when we went into the backyard, it had come out into the grass. Bryan scooped it right up. He observed that it might have a fungal (?) infection that has been found in local snakes, and it was likely a female. He pointed out the musk that she was putting off as a defense mechanism and that he had to be careful to keep her in the shade so she wouldn't overheat. Eastern King Snakes are non-venomous, but as he pointed out, anything with mouth parts can bite. The snake was happy to demonstrate and bit him on the arm before he left with her. The project i...