Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know that a central plains milksnake is a cross between an eastern and a scarlet so my question is will milk snakes breed with all members of the king snake family. Probably a dumb question but I am curious.

I meant coastal plains milksnake. Sorry

There are a lot of folks that don't agree that a "coastal plains" milk is a result of breeding between Eastern milk and Scarlet King. Just Saying.

All milk snakes are the same species. In the wild subspecies of milks sometimes intergrade (red milks with easterns, Nelson's with Sinaloans, etc.). Breeding a milk to a king would be crossing species, or hybridizing. Can it be done? Probably, but most people like their snakes "pure," so there's not much motivation to make hybrids

Tim

Third Eye

Thanks. Was just curious. I have read the arguments over the coastal plains milk snake also. Guess that debate will go on.

The short answer is "yes". However, under normal, natural circunstances, the answer is "no". All members of a species (all milksnakes are currently recognized as one species) will preferentially breed with members of their own species. Under captive conditions, some of the natural parameters that keep species separate are removed, and members of different species (i.e. California King and a Pueblan Milk) can be tricked into mating with one another. While it's likely that milks could breed with all members of tribe Lampropeltini (includes the genera Lampropeltis, Pantherophis [Elaphe], Pituophis, etc.) which have the same number of chromosomes, it's unlikely they could reproduce with all members of the family Colubridae (King snakes, ratssnakes, garter snakes, egg-eating snakes, etc.).

Hope this helps more than it muddles the waters...
-Cole

To add to what Tim and Cole have already mentioned,....temporalis(Coastan Plains) could very likely have originated from a natural intergrade of triangulum x elapsoides, but since the natural ranges of these animals are so isolated and distinct, along with other data that suggests they do not trade geneflow from other triangulum in their areas, is very suggestive that they have been their own "entity" in these small isolated pockets for some time,...some even suggest from previous "ice-age" from thousands of years ago.

This is very similar to the geographic dynamics of the Outer Banks Kingsnake(sticticeps) that is thought to be a relict intergrade from long ago that has been contained on the very isolated chain of Islands in the Hatterras/Okracoke area of North Carolina from past climatic events from 10,000 years ago.

As far as crossbreeding,......a definite "NO-NO" in my opinion for many reasons!

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