Thanks for asking the question about the Texas gentilis. Of the the 4 different subspecies of milksnakes that occur in Texas, gentilis is indeed the hardest of all to come by. I say this because I have known a number of TX & Non-TX collectors that have found amaura, annulata & celaenops typically over the years, when the weather & ground moisture are favorable for the milks to be at the surface or moving. I have known of intergrades of gentilis to be found to the N & NW of Abilene. True gentilis from TX are from quite arid, isolated counties in the Eastern panhandle of the state. I have driven thru some of those areas in early spring & saw favorable habitat & even checked some accessable locales, finding ringneck snakes & some lizards, much like the gentilis habitat I have found them in in KS. I really think moisture & weather rule whether they are found & it may be a very small window in the spring to be able to find them there in those areas. I think because of the well-known ease of finding gentilis in Central & Western KS, people or should I say the milkheads, typically would go to the easiest place to find them, and TX, where true gentilis occur, is a tough, un-predictable place to go & find them with ease. Other than the gentilis posted in this thread, I personally havent seen anything but intergrades ever found or photoed from TX, yet we know they exist there.

Another really perplexing question that I wish we knew more about, why is it that milksnakes that occur in TX over all areas of that huge state, seem to be absent or never found in much of the Hill country from I-35, South of Dallas/Ft. Worth down to almost San Antonio & then back West aways?? I have been thru alot of the Hill country & counties where there are no records for milksnakes, yet the surrounding countryside has plenty or rocks, cover & food items, anyone got any ideas why milksnakes are not there?? Then again, maybe, just maybe there are some isolated colonies of milksnakes out there in Central TX & no one has simply came upon them, but that seems un-likely, given the interest & number of people in TX. Just some thoughts on this. To really see how devoid the milksnake are in Central TX, take a look in Tennants hardback edition of "The Snakes of Texas", from the 1984 printing if you can. I am sure theres been some new records of milksnakes in TX since that printing, but not sure how many. Later, John

[ Hide Replies ]

• Central Plains Milk Snake - varanid, Sat May 26 14:43:58 2012
• RE: Central Plains Milk Snake - KcTrader, Sat May 26 18:21:41 2012
• RE: Central Plains Milk Snake - varanid, Sat May 26 18:35:11 2012
• RE: Central Plains Milk Snake - John Fraser, Sun May 27 07:04:33 2012
• RE: Central Plains Milk Snake - KcTrader, Sun May 27 12:05:43 2012
• RE: Central Plains Milk Snake - varanid, Sun May 27 15:01:13 2012
• RE: Central Plains Milk Snake - KcTrader, Wed May 30 09:37:42 2012
• RE: Central Plains Milk Snake - John Fraser, Mon May 28 13:20:21 2012
• RE: Central Plains Milk Snake - BrandonD, Tue May 29 10:34:07 2012
• RE: Central Plains Milk Snake - varanid, Tue May 29 12:51:22 2012
• RE: Central Plains Milk Snake - BrandonD, Tue May 29 22:51:56 2012
• RE: Central Plains Milk Snake - varanid, Wed May 30 15:23:10 2012
• RE: Central Plains Milk Snake - KcTrader, Wed May 30 09:29:06 2012