Jungle corn scale counts... is it really a jungle or a corn that just looks like a jungle?
Does anyone know what to look for in scale counts to try and determine if a hatchling corn snake is really a corn snake or if it is in fact a jungle corn that was sold and stated to be a corn having no jungle corn influence? For all intents and purposes the snake looks like a corn, but with each shed the coloring is leaning more and more heavily into what I have seen in many jungle corns of about the same age.
I'm still working on count averages but generally speaking the pattern I am seeing from the sample areas I counted last night on a fresh shed (before my eyes started crossing) is : 23-25 anterior, 25-23 midbody, and 21-19 anterior to the vent. I am also seeing about 238 ventral and about 66 subcaudal.
Anal plate I am having a hard time determining. Looking at the snake itself I think it's a single plate. The pigment is naturally divided where the plate would theoretically divide so I can't really tell if it's a divided plate or if I am seeing the illusion of division in a single plate due to the pigment. I had already cut the shed skin in half to spread it out to start counting scales before I thought to check the anal plate scale there first.
Is there anything else I should be looking for that could help?

