Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here is a photo of the only sibling I have left.
(I've posted these photos plus one more below but I still don't seem to have figured out the proper Forum posting protocol)

I have also included a photo of both of them together along with a photo of the belly of the sibling.

Again, these came from a wild caught gravid female that dropped 7 eggs about a week after I got my hands on her. She died about a week or two later.

The mother was caught in West Central FL about 2 yrs ago.

hmm... looks like a bloodred....interesting... is there a possibility that the female was an escapee?? was it near homes??

~kin
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~Sober Serpents~
www.freewebs.com/soberserpents
Corns, Creamsicles, A Black Rat, Thayeri, Cal Kings, A Jungle Corn(Just A Pet), A Ball Python, A Bearded dragon, Leopard Geckos, Green Anoles, a Snapping turtle, and a white cheeked mud turtle

Looks like a Mole king or prairie king cross.

Why did the mom, and other brother die though?

Those have motley written all over them. The belly pattern is DEAD-ON. Cool. That split between the markings is what we call a reverse stripe. In other words, the absence of dorsal markings forms the opposite of a pattern stripe. We've been seeing this in Emory's rats (close corn cousins) for many years. Many are found in South Texas like this. I've never seen it in a corn. What a find. I actually hope they're motley now. Obviously, the reverse stripe part of this "mutation" is variable. Some will have much of it, while others will have little or none.

Don
South Mountain Reptiles

What I am worried about now..is if it will survive long enough to be bred...as its weird pattern sibling has died as did the mother...though figuring out why several offspring died and the mother..will be a good idea, to see if its something that can be prevented..
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PHLdyPayne

The death of the mother may have been related to stress, being taken from the wild and placed in captivity while gravid may be more stressful than she could handle. That's purely speculatory of course.

I hope he makes it to breeding too, I would love to see the outcomes of the breeding trials Don suggested, and the results of breeding to a locality female.
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