Jackie,
that is a nice looking Timber to me. A good friend of mine has a pair of bright yellow Timbers and both of them display the reddish-brown dorsal stripe and kind of resemble the animal you posted. Actually, if you have ever read Manny Rubio's Rattlesnake: Portrait of a Predator, you will see pictures of at least of these Timbers(they were his originally and he gave them to my friend a few years ago). I don't remember if both were in the book or not, but there is a picture of a Timber in water that I remember clearly, and that is one of the pair. The Timber you posted is very nice and I like that Copper too. Copperheads have always been special to me as well.
Tom, I like your designation of the Canebrakes as the "Coastal Phase" of the Timber Rattler. And I know that there is no major mystery involving the captive breeding of our native hots, but I am simply not in a situation right now where I am set up to do it(don't have pairs of anything
). And when it comes to Corals, thanks for the vote of confidence, but I'm currently not up to the task of getting adults to eat, let alone a bunch of hatchlings
But it would definitely be cool to see someone captively breed them(has anyone bred them in captivity yet?).
As far as the laws here go with selling native hots, it is not specifically stated as illegal, but it is VERY frowned upon and honestly more trouble than it is worth. But I keep as exact collection data as possible on my natives(most are WC or born from WC females) and I plan on breeding animals from the same or close-by localities together so that if I produce babies, I will be able to release them back where the parent stock originated(assuming the area is still safe for them to move back into). Unfortunately, though, I do have a couple of truly urban Coppers that I probably will never be able to repatriate. It is a funny situation in Atlanta as Copper population densities are DENSER inside the city limits than for 20 miles outside the city limits. I don't see breeding hots as any kind of enterprise or anything, but truly something strictly 100% for my enjoyment.
I would definitely love to have some tree vipers. If it's arboreal chances are I like it.
But my absolute favorites are the Atheris vipers. They are just TOO cool.