Reptile & Amphibian Forums

There's been a lot of talk lately about the different types of mexicana snakes. I've read a little about it before, but I'd like to get it straight for once One of the reasons I'm asking is because (as some of you may know) I purchased a snake labeled as a thayeri that is probably not. I looked up a lot about greeris which I think she may be, and I'm not sure if the requirements for her may be different from a thayeri.

I'm supposed to get pictures of her parents soon though, and she should be shedding soon (the day I got her her eyes were blue/grey because of that, poor girl probably couldnt see well) so I'll be able to find out how to take a count to see what she probably is. I'll get a picture once she's done shedding and feels ok.

thanks
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0.1 Thayeri (hybrid?)
0.3 Cats - Cupcake, Smokey, Thelma
0.0.1 African Dwarf Frog - Kikia)
1.0.3 Tropical Fish

The Lampropeltis Mexicana group includes the following,
L. m. mexicana (Mex Mex or San Luis Potosi Kingsnake)
L. m. thayeri (Variable or Nuevo Leon Kingsnake)
L. m. greeri (Durango Mt. Kingsnake or Greer's Kingsnake)

Kingsnakes that were once in this group were,
Lampropeltis Alterna (Grey Banded Kingsnakes blairs and alternas)
Lampropeltis Ruthveni (Queretaro Kingsnake or Ruthven's Kingsnake)
You can Search for pics of each to see the differences in appearances.....

I am old school and think they are all Mexicana kingsnakes, not the same species but sub species of L. Mexicana........i think taxonomist will eventually seperate them all, along with all of the other likely new finds in Mexico.

Hope this helps,
John Lassiter

n/m

Is that a recent pic John? She appears gravid in the pic, or is that just good livin
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Vichris

Vichris Variables

Just good living in the pic....She is gravid now........That pic was prior to brumation......
John Lassiter

Thanks Tony....That is my reduced black female that popped out of my Vivid line in 2002.......
She is not gravid in that pic but is right now....She has hooked up with my Stahl yellow headed male three times now......
John Lassiter

My pic is not even close to your's (very nice!) but this one could be her sister. I really like the thinner saddles on your female. Heck, I like them all. Mine also has some Vivid but is a mix.

Your female is Very Nice!

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Rick
Never Enough
Reptiles

Thanks Rick,
That one is awesome!.......I really like the thinner saddles on Leonis phase thayeri too......I hope eventually produce some yellow thin banded thayeri....I think those would be real nice looking.
John Lassiter

Well in the old days greeri was often described as a greenish-gray snake with DIAMOND shaped, black bordered red blotches and a simple black head blotch. San Luis Potosis as dark to light gray with SQUARISH, black bordered burgendy, red or orange blotches and a tri-lobed, black bordered red head blotch. Thayeri was often descrided as having three phases, Leonis gray to brownish (buckskin) with NARROW red to orange black bordered blotches and a variable blotched or smeared head pattern, Milksnake with wide burgendy or red RINGS with narrow white to gray black bordered rings and Melanistic, solid black.
There was also intermediate phases between Leonis and buckskin but they supposedly were not very common in the original wild stock.
The orange phases we see nowdays are the result of enhancing the buckskin Leonis phase through selective breeding.
Those are just the basic most common color phases around in the early days. There was also thayeri with the gray or white parts that was tinted with yellow or green and those have also been greatly enhanced through captive breeding, although the greenish seems to have actually been breed out of most thayeri.

Though with few remaining animals I'm trying to get the green back. It was well represented in my old coloney.

I sold this one to a local friend. He's turning a pea green. He's a male so I would not have held him back, but I'm begining to get a little jealous because of the way he's turning out.

Jonel Lopez has the most awesome green thayeri I've ever seen. I'd love to see a recent pics of that little gem.

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Vichris

Vichris Variables

Yea, I like that one Jonel has also. Like to see a current photo too.......mike

Chris' Colubrids

Thanks! So they aren't from different regions? What I'm mostly getting at I guess is should I treat them all the same, since right now I'm going by what people say about Thayeris to take care of what I think is a Greeri, or a partial greeri at least. Are they pretty much all the same thing, just with unique colors/phases; or are they really all different?
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-Danielle

0.1 lampropeltis mexicana ???? - Arella
0.3 Cats - Cupcake, Smokey, Thelma
0.0.1 African Dwarf Frog - Kikia
1.0.3 Tropical Fish

Danielle,

All of the mexicana subspecies are from Mexico but different regions. As far as the care of them goes most Kingsnakes of any kind require about the same care. Thats why you won't find alot of care sheets specifically for greeri, or thayeri, or even most of the more popular subspecies like desert kingsnakes or prairie kingsnakes.

Here's what you should provide, a warm place, a cool place, a hiding place, and a wet place (water). Alot of people use carefresh, aspen shavings, pine shavings, reptical, or even newpaper, for bedding. Thats a choice you have to make.

I would use some sort of under the tank heater on one side of your housing. I like to use a large coolwhip type bowl and cut out a 1.5-2 inch hole in the middle of the lid. That way they can't tip the water over. The rest of the set up is up to you.

E-mail me or most any of us if you have other specific questions.

Congrats on your 1st kingsnake.

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Vichris

Vichris Variables

Thanks for the reassurance, in the beginning she hid mostly under the heat lamp (which is generally in the low 80's - high 70's) for the first three days or so, but later she starting coming out and I'd find her hiding in places away from it too. That made me think that it might not be warm enough for her, she's moving around more now though.

She's doing great now though, she's been here a total of 4 days and has already shed (her eyes were blue when she came in the mail, she shed in about 5 or so pieces but finished within the hour so I didn't worry) and has eaten her first frozen pinky mouse. I'm very proud of her, lol. I always used to think that posting pictures of your snakes eating was wierd, until I fed Arella today. It's quite exhilerating to see.

I knew I'd really like her, but I've fallen in love with her so quickly, it lets me easily see how everyone here is so enthusiastic about their snakes. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to breed someday too, just probably not with Arella unless I can confirm what she really is.
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-Danielle

0.1 lampropeltis mexicana ???? - Arella
0.3 Cats - Cupcake, Smokey, Thelma
0.0.1 African Dwarf Frog - Kikia
1.0.3 Tropical Fish