I recently acquired a pair of Thayeri kings. However, when looking at them I just can't shake the feeling that they may have been mislabeled. Is there a fool proof way to tell the species on Lampropeltis mexicana thayeri?
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Need help with Lampropeltis ID
TraceH
Dec 13, 2004 10:54 PM
Replies (2)
kingaz
Dec 14, 2004 07:24 PM
Could you post a picture of them? Thayeri come in three distinct phases and an infinite number of colors. This is why they are also known as the variable kingsnake. Garstka(1982?) dropped all of the mexicana subspecies due to the fact that there was so much intergradation between them. The old sub-species names (l.m. greeri, l.m. thayeri, and l.m. mexicana) are now mostly used by hobbyists to distinguish between what are now considered different pattern/color phases of the same animal, lampropeltis mexicana.
stphnchlmrs
Dec 19, 2004 07:49 PM
I'd like to see pics too. There really isn't any scientific validity to subspecies within L. mexicana, though. The terminology is useful for describing different color and pattern phases, but that's it. Any two "variable" kingsnakes can theoretically produce a wide variety of appearances in their offspring. That's why they're my favorite snakes to breed. You never know what you're going to get.
