LOL!,..yeah, I know!...the mere mention of any of this usually gets every one putting the "gloves" on..LOL! And it is just as you said about many of them in our hobby.



I see a bit more nelsoni influence in the normal ones, because of their extremely high RBR(red body ring) count, but yet the black outer triad rings are pretty thin and more vertical shaped Sinaloan's have between 10 to 16 RBR, and nelsoni have 13 to 18(sometimes one or two more). Nelson's red rings are much shorter(as yours display), and flair outward more abruptly on the top of the dorsum than does sinaloae, sometimes even connecting.



Nelsoni also has a split(notch), or incomplete first black ring behind the head, or is sometimes only VERY thinly connected under the throat, whereas sinaloae has a complete thin ring under their throat that many times forms a slight forward-shaped "V".



Nelson's tails also tend to be more suffused with black pigment, and their red tail rings are usually more non-existent than sinaloae's are, but there are some exceptions to this here and there.



Yes, there is overlap in their ranges, and nelsoni's range is much smaller and is a bit further inland. Sinaloan's range more towards the coast in the Mexican state of Sinaloa and the neighboring areas, and has a broader range.



Here is a pic of a VERY awesome nelsoni I had many years ago. The difference between this specimen and good "text-book" Sinaloan is like comparing night to day. This guy is one of THE nicest examples I have ever seen ANYWHERE!, but there are some nice ones here and there if you really know the characteristics to look for.



Hope this helped a bit bro. And those are still some really nice snakes you picked up, no matter what.





best regards, ~Doug







-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"



my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com/index.htm

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