>>Heck, nigrita is very likely a mere melanistic form of >splendida anyway,

And holbrooki is just a slightly more speckled splendida. What deserves subspecific designation then?

I used to be really into south AZ kings. I spent a lot of time down there looking for them and kept a few. My general rule for breeding them was I bred animals that looked like each other, regardless of their particular locality. I was looking for a particular phenotype, not a locality bloodline. I wanted clean narrow yellow banded snakes with no speckling on the sides like a "classic" Yuma king. The whiter the bands, the better.

I stopped breeding them a long time ago when I found out everyone else thought they were just ugly cal kings.

Chris
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas