Nice pics. Climacs are absolutely one of my favorite rat snakes! From my experience of working with true Kunashiris (exports from Kunashiri Island) and mainlands, I think the truth is that there is tremendous overlap. You are correct that on average, mainlands tend to be darker olive, but I have seen drab Kunasirs and turquoise mainlands. It also used to be said that Kunashiris were a dwarf form but one of my original exports got to be well over 5 feet. The one difference I have seen with the different forms is that Kunashiris tend to be boom-bust feeders, feeding voraciously for several months of the year and then going on a protracted fast for the rest. All the mainlands I've worked with have tended to be consistent, reliable feeders when out of brumation. It wouldn't surprise me if there was cross-locale variation in this trait as well, but this is my experience in working with climacs for 15 years. Of course, there has also been a lot of mixing between the locales in the captive population so these differences may lessen as time goes on.
Just some observations - again great photos of great snakes!

Ophidiophile Farms

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• E. climacaphora Comparison - Beaker30, Wed Mar 26 12:43:57 2008
• RE: E. climacaphora Comparison - DraigGochHerp, Wed Mar 26 15:55:46 2008
• RE: E. climacaphora Comparison - Ophidiophile, Thu Mar 27 11:46:37 2008
• RE: E. climacaphora Comparison - Shane_OK, Tue Apr 1 01:43:05 2008