Posted by:
JKruse
at Mon Nov 30 07:41:57 2009 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by JKruse ]
So sorry, but when I stated "all those markings" I was trying to indicate the markings that are along the edge of the mouth in that side-photo you provided. Again, it is the head of this snake that screams something "other than" and renders it suspect to a historical intentional crossing of some kind. The body looks great and the white bands flare outwards as they proceed towards the ventrals which is a classic campbelli look.
And yes, this is very much possible to have a head that only indicates foul play. I have been battling this issue in my own corner of working with Baja mountain kingsnakes (zonata agalma) whereby a certain couple of breeders out west have intentionally crossed the southern Baja mountain kingsnake from the Sierra de San Pedro Martir mountains INTO the northern Baja mountain kingsnake from the Sierra Juarez mountains (two completely different snakes genotypically and in phenotype expression)........and what is left are snakes that often having a Juarez-like body with a Martir-like head.......SO MANY folks have been getting ripped off and lied to. Only those with a trained eye can differentiate the fake from the real deal.
And this is the ongoing battle with intentional hybridization and crosses particularly when they arent being honestly represented. Specimens of the lower-end variety, such as Puebdurans, have and still do wind up in petshops all across this country of ours.
More to come..... ----- Jerry Kruse
And God said, "Let there be zonata subspecies for all to ponder..."
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