Reptile & Amphibian Forums

WHAT SHOULD THE BELLY SCALE COUNT OF A THAYERI BE AND WHAT IS THE BELLY SCALE COUNT OF A GREERI, ALSO ANY OTHER TIPS FOR TELLING THEM APART?

THANKS
ADAM

The ventral scale count for Thayeri is between 190 and 211. Greeri is nearly the same so that would not be a good way to distinguish them apart.
The best way is to post a picture or send one by email to me or others working with Mexicana ssp. snakes.
Mostly all Greeri have various shades of grey as the ground color. Their is usually a nuchal marking that widens away from the head. Saddles are "football" shaped and are of various amounts of red to no red at all in some specimens.
A thayeri's ground color can be grey, but today most of them have a buckskin (tanish grey) color to them. Orange, yellow, white, milksnake phases also exist. These are the most variable kingsnakes there are. Out of one clutch you can have all of the above offspring. Saddles are usually always red, some are split with the ground color or with lighter shades of the saddle coloration itself.
John Lassiter

Here is a picture of a Greeri

This is a buckskin ground colored Thayeri.
John Lassiter

This is an example of variability of thayeri. Note that none look Greeri and do not have a grey ground color.
John Lassiter