Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here are just a few belly shots. There are a few other patterns but they are in shed so I didint bother. We shall see what Will comes up with.
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Keith, That last one totally looks like the ventral pattern from the lighter Apalachicola Kings. Was this one a blotched or more of a striped looking offspring?

Thats the holdback male posted above. Yeah its weird these 2 guys here both have solid black bellies ??? It really makes me think that the Edisto's and these snakes are somehow showing some Ancestral Kingsnake pattern maybe ??? Apalachicola's are probably exhibiting the same thing but since they are on lighter sandy soil maybe the pattern stuck better and even lightened more via ontogenetic change. My guess is the Ancestral snakes that moved North adapted more to the enviroment and habitat i.e. Classic chain pattern. Its no secret that the further North you go the thinner the chains and crossbars get on Eastern Kings. One exception would be SE VA and NE NC ...whats different about those habitats I wonder that gives those Easterns fat bands ?Of course they all dont have fat bands but the from what I know they have a noticeable higher % of these wide banded Easterns, TonyD would better have knowledge on this than most here.
Maybe line breeding bought these hidden traits back out..again its all SPECULATION and you and I have have discussed it before. Another classic example of inbreeding bringing out aberrant patterns are the weird looking Outer Banks Kings that have hatched out...very similar to these and the Edsito's. Cool and exciting stuff I think !

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Do you have any B&W projects happining?