Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is there a set color for middorsal strip on for a given ssp's of milk?

What comes to mind first for me is that all striped BM's I've seen, perhaps half a dozen, all have red as the middorsal color.

Most of the other ssp's I've seen have black. A few of those other ssp's have had red but all those examples were from ssp's known to be "tainted".

I've looked for days before making this post trying to find a picture I saw on the net once of what I'm certain was an Andean... the only striped example of that ssp's I've seen... it had a white middorsal strip.

So for you guys and gals with experience... is there a set color for middorsal stripes on a given pure ssp's of milk?

Gerry

Since this page is no longer linked to from his site's front page, it's hard to find if you don't remember exactly how he misspelled "Gaigae", but maybe this is what you were looking for. Some of Burnsy's Miramar locality black milks have an odd dorsal stripe on their necks... sort of a sideways black/orange-yellow/black triad, which you can see in the third and fourth pictures here. The resemblance to an "Inca" Andean in the first and second pictures is kind of interesting... aberrant black milks from the San Antonio Zoo line have a different look, both as juveniles and adults.
Lampropeltis triangulum gaigeae Costa Rica (Miramar)

Think you understood the question just fine... as far as you have observed either red or black middorsal (the strip running down the spine)

Wish I could find the picture of what I thought was a striped Andean... it was not Inca phase.... oh well, I'll find it again sometime.

Thanks again

Gerry