Lampropeltis getula nigra: Black King Snake

Black Kings' scales are characteristic for being very smooth and shiny. These snakes can grow as long as anywhere from 91 to 122 centimeters. They live in parts of Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, and also northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. Black Kings live in edge habitats, where fields meet forests, and in the burrows of rodents and ruins of abandoned buildings. They are not particularly located based on bodies of water and they require temperatures of 81 to 91 degrees Fahrenheit.

King snakes will primarily eat hognosed snakes, red-bellied snakes, black rat snakes, fence lizards, red spotted newts, house mice, and meadow voles. In captivity, these snakes need to eat as often as every 7 to 10 days. For mating male king snakes will pin each other to the ground and once one of them admits defeat the winner will go entangle himself with the female that was disputed over. The males are known to bite the females' necks during reproduction. A female may produce anywhere from 3 to 24 offspring. Black king snakes help their ecosystems by maintaining the populations of rodents, frogs, rattlesnakes, and cottonmouths. They also are prey for larger snakes, mammals, and birds of prey. They are also very helpful to humans by keeping the venomous snake populations down.

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Lampropeltis_getula/#food_habits
http://www.the-livingrainforest.co.uk/living/images/caresheet/fRAIXEGOn-mexican%20black%20king%20snake.jpg
http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/information/?s=030030
http://www.thekingsnake.co.uk/Common_king_snakes_care_sheet.htm
http://www.blackkingsnake.com/about/habitat

Eastern Hellbender

Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganienis, or the Eastern Hellbender, is found in the eastern states: western North Carolina and Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, southern Indiana, northern Georgia and Alabama, and southern New York and Pennsylvania. They live in clear, fast-paced streams and rivers where the oxygen is rich in the water. This makes them a big indicator species because they only live in healthy waterways. If the crayfish population is up, the river is free of chemical or silt runoff, and the water has plenty of movement; there will be Eastern hellbenders.
They commonly prey on crayfish, and they also eat some insects, worms and minnows. Their only predators for juveniles would be snapping turtles, watersnakes, and large predatory fish. Adults only have humans as predators. They can grow to as big as two and a half feet. They are closely related to the Ozark hellbender, which is found in Missouri and Arkansas. The difference between the two is that the markings on the backs of Ozarks are larger than the Eastern's.
 The Eastern hellbenders mate in autumn by having a male make a nest in the bottom of the river and leading females into the nest to lay their eggs. The males fertilize the (150 to 450) eggs immediately and the female will leave the eggs to be protected by the males. The males will have to viciously fight off other hellbenders, all while waving their flat tails to push oxygenated water down to the eggs.

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/hellbender/

http://www.hellbenders.org/The_Hellbender_Homepage/About_Hellbenders.html

Squamata Colubridae Elaphe guttata (Corn snake)

Corn snakes are measured to be anywhere from 3 to 6 feet. I'm sure their genders have some role on their size but had little luck finding such a statement, but instead I found a tail distinction in the genders.So I am slightly confused as to how my Amelanistic corn snake, Scar, is as huge as she seems to me. I feel it might be a worthwhile project to keep measurements of the snakes to help judge gender, feeding, and growth. 

Back on the topic of corn snakes, they live in wooded, rocky hillsides and groves, meadows, barns, and abandoned buildings. They can be found in such habitats all the way from the top of Pennsylvania down to the tip of Florida and as far west as Kentucky and Louisiana. Their bodies should stay between 75 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit preferably. Corn snakes when full grown can eat small rodents and birds, and whenever the corn snake is first born it can easily eat a pinkie and in the wild they tend to prey on small lizards and frogs. Corn snakes may have 10 to 30 oblong eggs and in the wild they give birth to them in rotting wood so that the heat trapped acts as an incubator. These snakes live approximately 10 years in the wild; however, they can live as long as 23 years in captivity.



http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/ReptilesAmphibians/Facts/FactSheets/Cornsnake.cfm
http://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/elagut.htm
http://www.cornsnake.co.uk/sexing-corn-snakes.php
http://www.anapsid.org/corn.html