Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm not certain whether any of you have seen the website of a German Drymarchon enthusiast named Jurgen Schulz-Stoppel, in case you haven’t, here’s the URL:

http://www.js-reptiles.de/engl/indigonattern.php

Take a moment to scroll down and look at the D. m erebennus and D. m rubidus he has pictured.
While I believe the D. m rubidus just tweaks by as such, possibly a D. m rubidus x D. m erebennus integrate, I feel as though the D. m erebennus is a total fraud.
I am certain Jurgen is innocent of any wrong doing, but I am afraid he may have been “taken” by some breeder, or dealer, lacking scrouples.
I am interested in hearing everyone else’s thoughts regarding the specimens pictured.

Best regards,

Jeff Snodgres

>>I'm not certain whether any of you have seen the website of a German Drymarchon enthusiast named Jurgen Schulz-Stoppel, in case you haven’t, here’s the URL:
>>
>>http://www.js-reptiles.de/engl/indigonattern.php
>>
>>Take a moment to scroll down and look at the D. m erebennus and D. m rubidus he has pictured.
>>While I believe the D. m rubidus just tweaks by as such, possibly a D. m rubidus x D. m erebennus integrate, I feel as though the D. m erebennus is a total fraud.
>>I am certain Jurgen is innocent of any wrong doing, but I am afraid he may have been “taken” by some breeder, or dealer, lacking scrouples.
>>I am interested in hearing everyone else’s thoughts regarding the specimens pictured.
>>
>>Best regards,
>>
>>Jeff Snodgres

Yeah, I've been to Jurgen's site. There are two photos of each of the subspecies. The left-hand photo of the "Texan" definitely looks intergradient with melanurus to me. The right hand photo is a little harder to discern, but looks Texan to me.

The rubidus also look intergradient to me, once again especially the left-hand photo. The lighting on the right hand one is sort of funky and makes it hard to see any detail. I also notice that he states that rubidus are "commonly" seen in the U.S. Apparently he's never tried to find them here.

Nice melanurus and unis, though.

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We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Jeff,

I was composing while OH "scooped" me.

What he said!

Regards,
Jeff Nichols

Jeff,

I believe the left rubidus pic looks very suspect. I would love to see some better pics of that animal. As the others stated, the left pic of the erebennus is a total hybrid. I have never seen a Tx indie, juvie or adult, with anything near that pattern. It looks like a unicolor cross to me. I'm guessing there is no new flow of genes from erebennus or couperi to Europe, so it seems that maybe some Euro breeders are secretly adding more genes to the pool. They're probably trying to avoid the problems like they have over there with the San Fran garter snake (the hundreds, maybe thousands over there originated from 3-4 specimens). However, by crossing, they are doing more harm than good to the species.

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Anthony Chodan

www.gradeareptiles.com