Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I had a chance to photograph this WC dixoni last weekend at a facility in Mexico. Pretty snake -

I didn't get the locality data, but it is a wc locality snake.
-----
Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

they are so awesome.Some day maybe just maybeeeeeeeeee.

Shannon

beautiful shots of one sweet milk,chris,first of all.....but back to my point-i know of the current laws re:mexican specimens entering the states-but,esp. considering all the fascination with keeping and breeding tricolors,how that subspecies slipped thru the cracks is a real bummer,you'd think there'd be some floating around out there in the collection of a breeder or two.....i guess there could be one or two somewhere,and i know of other subsp. i could say the same about but those guys are essentially unavailable and it's sort of mindblowing.makes me wonder how easily it could happen to other species that are very rare in the wild,and represented more prominently only in captivity.
-----
"with head raised regally,and gazing at me with lidless eyes,he seemed to question with flicks of his long forked tongue my right to trespass on his territory" Carl Kauffeld

any idea whether there's much captive breeding of these(or any other central american milks hard to procure north of the border e.g. gaigae,arcifera,micropholis,etc.) going on south of the border?
-----
"with head raised regally,and gazing at me with lidless eyes,he seemed to question with flicks of his long forked tongue my right to trespass on his territory" Carl Kauffeld

I think the same could be said for the big southern ssp, like blanchardi, polyzona, and oligozona. They are widespread and quite common snakes, but are poorly represented in US collections.

Most of the Mexican taxa that are well represented in US collections derive from a few zoo specimens that were brought out legally and bred. This would apply to sinaloae and campbelli, for example (and most of the L. mexicana as well).

Unfortunately, I think it is just a matter of time until the "coveted" Mexican species make it into the US pet trade. Some may come in legally through zoos, etc., but I suspect others will be smuggled into the US. And once they get into US collections, they are easily "laundered" within the hobby.

As for your second question, I don't think of gaigeae as being uncommon in the US. They are probably getting up there as the fourth or fifth most commonly bred subspecies.

I really don't know how much herp breeding goes on in Mexico. This animal was in a University collection. I suspect many people in Mexico don't have the discretionary income our hobby requires.
-----
Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Chris,

Is that yellow typical of this sub?

Pretty snake.

Looks like campbelli x annulata ...but with yellow insead of white.

I think so. I (like most people) have only ever seen a couple of photos of this subspecies.
This snake was very yellow. The general body morph was unlike cambelli or annulata, which are the only nearby subspecies.
-----
Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

That snake looks just like a Tangerine annulata except for:

1) the yellow band expansion is lateral, rether than dorsal.
2) the neck band is too broad.
3) all the black bands too broad and red bands too narrow.
3) the triad count is greater than annulata.
That's just my opinion.
Isn't the dixoni range just south of annulata (N.E. Mexico)?