Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I ran across this old price list of mine and was wondering what ever became of this undescribed milk snake that was being sold at an outrageous price.

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Nobody seems to work with them anymore. They're another case of an animal that has been lost to the winds of change in the hobby. Joe Forks posted some cool info on them a while back here on the Milk Forum. They were cool looking snakes, no doubt.
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-Cole

Yep, they've disappeared like so many other things over the years have. They were very interesting and gorgeous to say the least.

Jim Kane undescribed milk

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

"some are just born to troll and roll"

Thanks for that link, Doug. That's funny how it was known as Jim Kane's undescribed milk snake, but I guess that describes it best.
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Thanks, Cole. I'm surprised they just disappeared like that considering how much they were going for on that list. You'd think the price alone would suggest it was desirable to enough people to ensure it would be around a long time.
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of the snake I believe you're asking about... I asked about it a few months ago as well, shame it seems to have fallen by the wayside.

Gerry

Thanks, Gerry. That sure is a pretty snake. This is the first time I've seen the picture.
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I tried to track down someone who may have those but only found about 7 photos of them. I talked one guy who had taken 4 of the photos but he did not have any current information on them. See photo, does this look like the undescribed milksnake?

Looks like it. The price list says they have a higher RBR count than the Mexican milks. I'm just wondering if there is someone still out there working with them. Its not like its been 30 years and there are plenty of keepers that don't do the whole internet thing.
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There's a guy here in South Carolina that used to breed more milksnakes than anyone I know. If anyone would have had some of them he probably would have. I will try to check with him. I'm sure you guys know him, he is Doug Moody. I saw the first 2 albino nelsoni at his place when they were still quite small.

If you could find them, I'm sure there are some out there that would like to know.
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Ross,

Here's a link with some good info. in it. Follow the whole thread, especially Joe Fork's posts.

Jim Kane Milks

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_______________________

-Cole

Thanks for that, Cole. I read the whole thing. Seems like it was never really known if it was a cross, intergrade, or real. At least, not everyone agreed it was real I guess. Its a very interesting story all together. I always wondered thought that was an interesting add about the undescribed milk snake. I thought you guys might not have heard about it, but I should know better by now. You guys have everything down.
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Man I loved all of those old pricelists. I still have a few old ones myself. And look at those prices! What ever happened to Jim Kane?

Yeah, I like looking at them too. Its pretty neat to see how much has changed since the internet. Some of those price lists were free and some you had to pay for them. And I remember some charging a dollar a picture if they were to send you some. I caught the tail end of it, because I've seen price lists from the 70's and I believe the 60's as well. Kent VanSooy has some really old ones from back then. Now days you can build an entire website for free. All you need is your time and imagination.

It looks like Jim Kane is completely out of the business. His old domain comes up for sale now.
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Yeah Ross, I noticed that as well a very long time ago. I emailed Jim years ago, and he is totally into some other business aspect that has absolutely nothing to do with snakes. Now I can't remember what it was to save my life though.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

"some are just born to troll and roll"

For someone that was so into snakes, I'm surprised he didn't at least keep one pair of these undescribed milk snakes, but he probably had no idea they would just disappear out of the hobby like that.
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I know!,.......he didn't have any clue as to where any of them might be, or who might still have any of them at all. A total dead end as far as those snakes are concerned...........sad.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

"some are just born to troll and roll"

That's odd.
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When I first started looking around for those snakes, a year ago, year and a half perhaps I finally made contact with someone that seemed to have had them. Just managed to find the e-mail that provided some detail as to their fate, in part it reads...

That "Jim Kane undescribed milk" was an awesome animal. Jim Kane had
produced this many years ago and in the past few years I made an exhaustive
search trying to find them. There was much consternation about what they
really were. They originated from the southern part of the Mexican state
of Nuevo Leon. Some called them just a southern variant of annulata, some
called them dixoni (which they're not), and others called them a naturally
occurring annulata X dixoni intergrade. Jim Kane believed they were truly
a new, different subspecies. I had finally found an older male and then it finally died. Apparently there were problems with
these going into multiple sheds and then dying. The entire animal looked
like it had been lacquered, and the shed skins were really thin compared to
other milks. I was never able to find a female for it.

Couldn't decide from the wording if this individual had the last known male and I didn't pursue it further as it literally seemed to be a dead end.

Gerry

Interesting Gerry!,......

Yes, I happen to believe they are VERY likely an annulala x dixoni intergrade. The Southern Nuevo Leon area coincides with this as well in my opinion.

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

"some are just born to troll and roll"

I emailed a guy with the Tuscon Arizona Herp Society thinking some local guys out there might have some of those snakes. The strange thing was he had never even heard of Jim Kane. That too was a dead end.

Interesting. Thanks for posing that.
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His new business is .... undescribed.
The whereabouts of the milks ... undescribed.

You "described" it perfectly!..

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

"some are just born to troll and roll"

Last I heard was that Scott Ballard had the last one.David Terrocot (sp?) had the last known adult pair but he lost the female in brumation or something then Scot had purchased the loan male.That was a few years ago and I am not even sure Scott still has the male.

L8r Shannon

He lost that male some time ago as well.

Gerry

Geesh!,.sounds similar to the "cursed" mega hypos some have had!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

"some are just born to troll and roll"

That's interesting,......thanks man.

I'll have to ask him about that.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

"some are just born to troll and roll"

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