Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone! I'm new here on Kingsnake, but I used the awesome classifieds a couple years ago to get a bearded dragon.

Anyways, I went to my first reptile expo a few days ago and my friend fell in love with a milk snake with a certain coloration (a photo is attached). We asked the dealer what subspecies or morph it could be but he refused to tell us; all he said was that it was "one of a kind." It was very frustrating that he wouldn't say any specifics - a lot of the dealers were like that. I guess they didn't want anyone to look up the animal online and buy one from someone else. My friend really wanted to get this one because of its coloration but she wasn't able to purchase one at that time. So do any of you know what type of milk snake this could be, so that I can let her know for future reference? Thanks so much!

Looks to be a hypomelanistic pueblan milk snake. And a good looking one for sure.
-----
Mike
KingPin Reptiles
www.kingpinreptiles.com

I wouldn't have bought the snake if the seller wasn't up front about what the snake was. Though it does look like a hypo Pueblan, its snout looks more pointed than a Pueblan's and the seller's "one of a kind" remark implies to me that it's a cross of some sort. If this is the case, you will never know what your snake really is.

Tim

Third Eye

I agree that it might be a cross of some sort.. Very cool looking animal.... BUT, in my opinion buyers should walk away from any seller that refuses to disclose information on an animal... Unless of course they really do not know the info and are honest about that.. And, how can you go to the next to buy the same animal if this one was really "one of a kind"??

Just my opinion..

~ Mike Russo

It may not be pure, but you could probably get close to the same thing with a hypo oreo puelban, correct? Has anyone made one yet yet? I know oreo is a line bred trait, but isn't hypo still up for debate too? It would definitely make a cool looking snake.

These snakes are crosses. Notice the snout shape and white nice white bands. They are Pueblan x nelsons.

The pattern on your snake with all that black (gray) definitely is hypo Pueblan. The head and neck and body shape seems to suggest something else in there as well. Just a guess based on the look and the fact that the seller said what he said, and didn't say what he knew.

My guess is a hypo Pueblan - nelsoni cross. Awesome looking snake for sure!

-----
Mark

Thanks so much for the info! My friend just remembered that the dealer DID tell her it was a pueblan milk snake, but he didn't include any more information than that.

I agree, I refuse to purchase any animal without knowing as much as I can about it, so I'm glad my friend didn't buy it on impulse, even if it does have an interesting color/body shape. There's another expo in a few weeks at the same location and I'll be going again to get a gecko, so I'll see if the same dealer will be there so I can force more information out of him haha.

Here's a better picture of its head.

that we try our best to identify snakes in this case, and that we can be wrong too.

Notice that most here (me too) error on the side of saying that it is a man-made cross. But again, we are only guessing based on your post.
-----
Mark