By Chris Montross of Darkhorse Herpetoculture
It all started in 1999 when Michael Coone finished college and decided that he was determined to find some of the local population of Red Rats in the foothills of western North Carolina. He had seen them listed as a local species at the South Mountains State Park educational displays, yet none were displayed. With the knowledge of a local population existing and his trusty Peterson’s Field Guide he began searching the area with intent.
The South Mountains sit in 4 counties (Cleveland, Burke, McDowell and Rutherford) in western North Carolina. The snakes are found in at least two of those counties but likely exist in the other two where suitable habitat exists. This range is south of I-40, north of HWY 74, west of HWY 221 and east of HWY 18. This range is disjunct from the Appalachian Mts proper and separated by I-40 between Asheville and Hickory.
Years go by and in 2004 he turned up his first South Mts Red as a DOR (dead on road) in Cleveland Co. Around that same time he started to herp the NC sandhills region and realized he had no trouble tuning up specimens in that area. He applied those experiences to being more successful with his local population. Even though he utilized the same hunting methods. Much of the area is staunchly protected by landowners and having access to appropriate habitat was the main challenge. In 2009 he located some tin refuse within his search area and that ended up being the turn key for his efforts.
The following year in April of 2010 he flipped his first live one, a male, at 6:30 am when air temps were in the low 60s. The following year while hunting Eastern Milks with Dave Niles in a nearby county, they decided to head to the area the original male was found the year before as temperatures seemed good that afternoon, being in the low 70s. A new tin spot was found while cruising the vicinity and they decided to hesitantly ask the landowner for permission to access his land. It was their luck that the owner allowed them to check his tin. There were 4’ x 10’ tin sheets stacked 8 high. His reserved efforts were rewarded with a gravid female and a racer under the bottom piece. He took a picture with the landowner to document the celebratory event. Dave later brought a bottle of Jack Daniels as a thank you to the landowner as a gesture of goodwill and continued permission to access his property in hopes of future success.
In April of the following year, 2012, he returned to the same tin stack that he now had permission to check at will and was rewarded with a male. The nicest of the ones found so far. That year he paired the new male with the female found in the same tin stack from the year before. A pair of the 2011 babies from the gravid female were raised up by Shane Johnson and then transferred to Dave Niles. He got 14 good eggs in 2014. That F1 pair was then transferred back to Michael by Dave. Michael now had 2.2 on hand, 1.1 back from Dave and his holdback pair from the 2012 pairing. In 2015, the 2012 female was gravid with a clutch but escaped just before she was due to lay after a feeding. It was heartbreaking as she had a hypomelanistic look to her. The 2011 female did produce a good clutch for him that year fortunately. Most were released back to one of the original collection sites shortly after hatching. He continued to produce beautiful offspring from 2016-2018 and then again in 2020- 2021. He refocused his herpetocultural interests in 2021 and passed his breeding F1 pair onto a friend.
I got a pair of F2 neonates from him in 2017. The first clutch from my pair came in 2020, 6 eggs (3.3 offspring). A friend moved to western North Carolina in the mid 2010s and began teaching environmental science at a local college. He, Joshua Holbrook, gave me a male yearling in 2019 he had cruised in McDowell County while performing regional herp surveys. The phenotype was identical to Michael’s Cleveland County stock. Upon some convincing from Michael, I’ll be pairing the WC McDowell male in 2023 with the F2 female I’ve been breeding the last few years. Bringing some fresh new genetics to the project he started so many years ago is something he is excited about. The locale is a slow growing, somewhat smaller race with a nice blue/grey toned background highlighted by red or orange blotches. Tan tones come through dorsally in the first quarter of the body.
Babies are small and can be varyingly a challenge to start on pink mice, although many take food on the first try. I believe these guys rival the well known “Miami” type Red Rats of similar phenotype well established in herpetoculture. I have been fortunate enough to get some of Michael’s project in the hands of hobbyists in Europe, so with any luck these beauties will be around for many years to come.
