Sure Diego, and thanks for the compliment!.
These are known as Outer Banks kings(L.g.sticticeps)which are only derived from the Outer Banks islands and a few other immediate areas or Ocracoke, and Cape Hatteras Island, etc.. in Dare County, North Carolina. These have since been classified, then later un-classified as a uniguely seperate subspecies, and have been very problematic since their very first description over sixty years ago(Barbour and Engels).
It has been argued that these are possibly a natural intergrade of Eastern(L.g.g.) x floridana that could have occured LONG ago with environmental changes from a past "ice-age" when floridana's range was quite different than today(several hundred miles).
And on the other hand, they could also be nothing more than a very isolated variant of Eastern King(getula). Either way this is looked at, the bottom line is that they are EXTREMELY unique looking, and breeders of these have always strived to keep these "sticticeps" bloodlines true to form without other genetic involvement from other subspecies.
These are said to be the rarest natural form of getula, and command a very high price in the hobby as well. These are also mentioned in great detail with an entire chapter devoted to The Outer Banks Kingsnakes.
This form isn't even mentioned in many kingsnake books, as it isn't "technically" catagorized as a seperate full subspecies, and if it IS mentioned in some books, it is nothing more than a brief sentence or two, at the most one small paragraph.
In any case, what cannot be argued is that these guy's are VERY unique looking, and come from a very tiny natural population in the wild and have been protected for many years, and rightfully so in my opinion.
By the way, in Brian's book, these two individuals were said to have been produced by me in the caption, which is NOT the case at all. These were acquired from my friend Howie Sherman. Brian just assumed since they were tiny hatchlings, that I must have produced them.
To briefly sum this interesting form of kingsnake up, they are just plain cool!
~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"
