The Barkers had pure Cape York spotted pythons. There are a few breeders from these original animals around. Unfortunately, many people have called normal spotteds Cape Yorks, or may have inadvertently bred a Cape York with a normal spotted and messed up the lineages. We got ours from a guy that got them from a Barker line breeder. They do get larger and have a different pattern than common spotteds. Raymond Hoser, an Australian herp guy, has also proposed giving them subspecies status. He's kind of a "hoser" for a lack of a better term, but he makes a valid argument with the Cape York spotteds, aka blonde macs. There are some fantastic blond macs in Australia. Do a google image search for Cape York spotted and you will see many pictures. Here is the exerpt from the abovementioned Ray Hoser article:



"ANTARESIA MACULOSUS BRENTONOLOUGHLINI subsp. nov.

HOLOTYPE



A specimen at the Australian Museum from 16 km east of Coen, Queensland (R16772) (Lat. 13° 55' S, Long. 143° 11' E).



DIAGNOSIS



Known in herpetoculture as "Blonde maculosus" this subspecies is the (usually) large light coloured form from far north Queensland.



In the absence of reliable locality data and DNA data, both of which separate Antaresia maculosus brentonoloughlini subsp. nov. from Antaresia maculosus maculosus this newly described subspecies can be readily separated from other Antaresia maculosus by it's greater preponderance of light colouration relative to dark blotches on the dorsal surface. Normal Antaresia maculosus maculosus have roughly half to half (50%:50%) dark versus light blotches. For Antaresia maculosus brentonoloughlini subsp. nov. the ratio is generally at least 60% light colour to 40% or less darker blotches.



Antaresia maculosus brentonoloughlini subsp. nov. is also on average a larger subspecies, with specimens attaining 150 cm being fairly common. This size is relatively rare in normal Antaresia maculosus.



Antaresia maculosus brentonoloughlini subsp. nov. is known only from Cape York in Queensland to about as far south as just north of Cairns. In the region from about Cairns to Townsville and inland from here, specimens are in many respects intermediate in form between Antaresia maculosus brentonoloughlini subsp. nov. and Antaresia maculosus maculosus, but are probably best assigned to the form Antaresia maculosus maculosus on the basis of their smaller adult maximum sizes and the fact that their dorsal patterning is generally more like that of normal Antaresia maculosus maculosus.



Antaresia maculosus brentonoloughlini subsp. nov. is a hardy captive and common in captivity in Australia. A number of NSW breeders of snakes breed large numbers of Antaresia maculosus brentonoloughlini subsp. nov. (as of 2001-2002). Husbandry requirements for all Antaresia maculosus subspecies appears to be identical in terms of how cages are set-up, incubation of eggs and treatment of common ailments."
AAR

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