Posted by:
Ameron
at Wed Dec 17 20:44:51 2014 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Ameron ]
My adult male looks so much like a Brooksi that I questioned the veracity of the dealer from whom I bought him. He confirmed a captive bred & rescued animal, but won’t name the original breeder nor his location.
Mine is a Speckled, but he is so light in color, banded and straw-like in appearance, that I wonder if his parent stock is from the western edge of their range on the Great Plains or the edge of them, where typical greenish & dark colors fade to become more light to match the surrounding prairie grasses.
I’ve done extensive online research of images to try to match his color & light banding pattern, but only specimens from CO, KS & OK come close to him – with honorable mentions from the Ouachita Mountains area. (He is not so much green in base color as he is mossy brown.) He more closely resembles juvenile photos with their banding pattern than he resembles most adult photoss (except Brooks adults).
I know that captive-bred animals are a mix, and can reflect various colors or patterns, but mine is so unique that I feel that very strong locale-specific genes are dominating his appearance, and I’m curious about the region where wild snakes most resemble him.
Field herpers, if you would share your County-specific or State-specific photos of staw-colored & banded snakes which you’ve seen, I’d be very grateful.
Ameron Portland, OR
1.0 Lampropeltis getula holbooki 1.0 Lampropeltis triangulum sinaloae x hondurensis 1.0 Pantherophis guttatus (Tallahassee area colors & patterns) 1.0 Agrionemys horsfieldii kazakhstanica
Photobucket link with photos of him is at the bottom. Link
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