Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a couple milksnakes and i dont know if they are Sinaloans or Nelsons. I know that i should be able to tell them apart after i bought them but i am thinking that there is no real way to tell. if so the places i got them could of mislabeled them. Let me know if you see a difference.

Those are three different snake. i forgot to mention that. Plus the one in the middle is bigger by about half.

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Richard
AKA
"spent change"

they look more nelsoni than siniloan but its really hard to say.99.9 percent of them in th hobby are a mixture of both.

Shannon

Well, although they are great looking snakes, none of them are really what I would call taxonomic "textbook" examples of either. I CAN tell you though which each one BEST represents, and what they would be sold as by many breeders. Sinaloans have 10-16 red body rings(from neck to cloaca)Nelson's have 13-18 RBR

* pic #1....Sinaloan with some nelsoni lineage(15 RBR = high band count)----but has more even width black rings that don't tend to taper dorsally a whole lot in comparison. fair as far as most hobby examples go, has a fairly long first RBR, typical of sinaloae, but can see some nelsoni lineage.

* pic #2 nelsoni(17 RBR = good high count)---and has much narrower red rings, as well as the thicker black bands tapering much more abrubtly dorsally(arching pattern)couple black bands come close to touching one another......fairly good example of nelsoni

* pic #3 nelsoni(looks again like 17 RBR = high count)---again, thicker black rings that taper somewhat dorsally, narrower red rings than would bee in sinaloae, and darker obliteration of back pigment towards tip of tail, somewhat more common in nelsoni. Can see some sinaloan lineage as well.

Also, look to see if the #2 pic nelsoni has a broken first black ring underneath the throat that resembles a wide notch. That is another genetic phenotype of some good examples of nelsoni, sometin=mes there will be a VERY thin line, just connecting the black ring together.

Overall, I like the #2 pic nelsoni best for it's purer looking lineage.

Anyway, this is only my opinion, but a rather good one,,LOL!

Here is a KILLER picture for you to see of a stunning example of nelsoni. These are hardly EVER seen in the hobby. You will see a big difference in the banding of this dude, as well as some other characteristics, including the wide notch in the first body ring underneath the throat(not visible)

hope this helps some.

~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I'd call them "mostly nelsoni" because, if I were looking for that classic sinaloan look, I wouldn't see it in those snakes.
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Mark