Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know technically corn snakes are rat snakes but today I got my first offical "True" rat snake! Today I was at a very small expo at a wild life center and I was only planning on grabbing some supplys but I ended up getting drawn to these little rat snakes a vendor was selling. He had all 2008's and one of their parents(to show how some will look). They were American rat snake intergrades(Black X Yellow X Grey), and were 5th generation from a certain locale. The adult was very mellow! More laid back then most corns I've held and was pretty big to, in the 6ft range. Even the 08's for ale were pretty mellow compared to young corns. I ended up getting this little male who I think has a greenish rat snake look to him. Hes 34grams and 18.5" long. he is also het. balck rat albino and the vendor showed me one of his albino siblings that he was actually holding back. Although because it has albino genetics in it I'm guessing he bred an albino black rat into the line some where down the line. Would this make it not a true intergrade now or is it still an intergrade and can be labled as so? Thanks for the help. Enjoy!

No, it wouldn't. Homemade crossbreeds aren't intergrades. Intergrades are as much the product of natural selection as they are the result of geneflow following secondary contact. Intergrades breed true, and are a biological entity as much as any other geographic race or 'subspecies'. Breeding one 'subspecies' to another produces mutts, some of them resembling intergrades, but not quite the same. Breeding a Black to a Yellow Ratsnake does not produce Greenish Ratsnakes. Breeding a Yellow to a Grey Ratsnake does not produce Gulf Hammocks.