Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I've always been a fan of the big black snakes and recently I've heard that people are now working with morphs of lodingi but I havent been able to find much in the way of info or pics. I'm interested to know if anyone is working with morphs of lodingi and what morphs are available. Thanks for the info.

Pied (piebald) is the only true morph and there are only a few people working with it, but you can find pics of them. Here's a link to one that was posted recently here:

http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1840720,1840720

Other than pied, there are natually occuring integrades with mugitus (Florida/Southern Pines) sometimes referred to as Cocoa Pines...but I really hate them and think a pure black pine looks the best. Also, you can never be sure if people just choose to hybridize them with another Pit in captivity just to try to make a buck.

I don't think any morph or integrade can beat a pure black pine.

Here's a couple pics of my pair when they were hatchlings from John Shmitt of Suncoast Herpetological which orignated from John Ginter's stock (some of the best Pits in existence):

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Take care,

Alex Pepper

CBB '07 1.1 Aspidites ramsayi--Woma Pythons (Don Hamper/Rare Earth Stock)
CBB '08 1.1 Bothrochilus boa--Bismarck Ringed Pythons (Tom Keogan Line High Contrast)
CBB '07 1.0 Heterodon simus--High Red Southern Hognose Snake (Tom Pinson Line Red)
CBB '07 1.1 Pituophis catenifer sayi--Marathon, Texas Out-crossed Stillwater Hypomelanistic Bull Snakes
CBB '08 1.1 Pituophis melanoleucus lodingi--Black Pine Snakes (John Ginter Stock)
CBB '06 & '08 1.1 Eublepharis macularius--Blazing Blizzard & Reverse Stripe Tangerine Albino Leopard Geckos "Blaze" & "Angie"
CBB '02 0.1 Hemitheconyx caudicinctus--Stiped African Fat-tailed Gecko "Smeagol"
CBB '03 0.1 Canis domesticus--Cocker Spaniel "Cupcake"
CBB '99 0.1 Canis domesticus--Yellow Labrador Retriever "Freckles"

Happy Herping!

Totaly agree with you Alex, black pines need to be as black as possible.

Thanks for the info. I was curious because I had been told that there was an albino and wanted to see what it looked like.
I agree that the "cocoa" are very ugly and would never hybridize my black pines!
I prefer completely black snakes too. I dont know why some people like them when they're brown.

Gratefully, the "morph craze" has not hit black pines. You cannot improve upon the normal black snake, IMO. Those pie-bald black pines look like bleach on a crow! Many of the morphs which are so popular in the kingsnakes, for example, look like raw chicken (to me).