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a few months ago i purchased this king from a store notorious for selling miss-matched reptiles. this was sold to me as a high red blotch, which i knew the colors didnt match so i jumped on the deal, its always good for me, but sad for unknowing customers. it does have simalarities to the blotch but the colors dont fit of course, and i cannot find any morph it fits either, so could someone please help so i can pair it up?
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ill try again to get the pics to post sorry
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To me it looks like a light phase Florida speckled king.I'm not an expert.jenni/

thanks jenni im gonna start looking into that one here is another pic, sorry my camera sucks...i added the link on here just incase the pic dont upload again thanks

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It's a definite man-made intergrade cross of the getula complex. It is likely a floridana x goini/meansi, and possibly even some Eastern getula in there too, just know telling for absolute sure. Without knowing the exact parental lineage history of what produced it, you will never know with any real certainty. It also looks to be displaying the double homozygous "ghost" mutation as well.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

thank you, any suggestions what i should pair it with? im having a hard time probing it, as it has the typical king attitude, but to look at the tail i think its female?

Well, to be honest, I wouldn't breed it with anything since I don't agree with crossing species, or subspecies. It's because when they are bred, they go on to dilute the integrity of other genuine types in the hobby that so many have worked hard to keep as authentic as possible, so I can't give you any real suggestions there.

Breeding it to a genuine form of subspecies like floridana, or goini will only produce more undescernible crosses that are questionable and hard to identify. And any offspring those offspring will ever have will do the same as well, and so on.

See, when snakes are crossed to closely related types like floridana, goini and getula, the offspring are eventually sold later down the line as what they tend to best represent, not necessarily what they actually are. It really doesn't matter how honestly they are represented in the beginning, it's just how it realistically works. Now since you don't even know what the precise genetic composition is on it, what would you even sell them as?

See, this is what I mean, all you can call them is getula crosses, that's it!. I'm not trying to be nasty about it, but in my opinion it isn't the right thing to do to knowingly make more unknown crosses. But that doesn't seem to discourage many from doing just that.

Anyway, asking me what to cross something with will never get much of a cheering section answer..LOL!. Lots of people like me because of this, and lots of people hate me because of this, but after working with countless snakes for several decades, and noticing where this hobby is going, this is what I FIRMLY believe in..

cheers, ~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

I like you, Doug. And you are right on the money. ~~Greg~~

Thanks Greg!

Yes, as you can well enough imagine, I get into so many nasty mud-slings about this issue it is ridiculous..LOL!

I'm very glad that you and many others I know are on the same side of this issue my friend. I believe in this so whole-heartedly, I simply cannot waiver my views on it...

later bro!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

Doug, I agree with your stance and admire your willingness to defend species purity. Wouldn't think of trying to discourage you but, man, the genie left the bottle on this issue a few decades ago. No putting it back now. Heck, I remember when a certain Zoo published about crossing Black/Northern Pines. It wasn't just privates who started this down hill slide, not to imply you've ever stated it was. People will do what they want with their snakes. What's reasonable to one keeper is rediculous to another. We've all heard the "dog" comparison before. Snakes are there; likely more hybrid hatchlings every year now than pure ones. Just makes documented "pure" line/locale hatchlings more valuable each year, at least to those who desire this type animal. Most keepers don't. Kudos to both is the way I see things. Large numbers makes the hobby stronger. Be selective, buy what you want from those you trust, and enjoy what you work with.

Oh, I totally agree with everything you stated. None of them can ever be taken back, and yes, the "genie" was released long ago. But making more certainly won't help matters any. That is how I look at it.

You are right, at the rate the hobby is going in more recent years, there will be more crosses, both on purpose AND from not knowing any better, or knowing how to identify what they have than ever before. And genuine types of snakes will certainly become more sought after and less common.

I do have to ignore lots of what I see going on around me, but sometimes I still have to voice the good reasons not to do it. As you said though, NOBODY can really stop anyone from doing what they want to do anyway. But if I can ever change just a few opinions on the issue from them reading and really understanding some of the posts regarding it, then it is all good and at least helped some, even if it is a very tiny bit.

In any case though, asking me of ALL people what to cross something with will surely get a response from me, no matter what..LOL!..

cheers, ~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

If you are not exactly sure what it is to begin with, why would you even want to pair it up? What fun would it be to breed snakes that you do not even know what they are?

Not being negative at all with you, please understand, I truly am not. It is just that if you really do not know what the snake is you are breeding, how are you going to label the babies? And how would you even know WHAT to pair it up to begin with?

DMONG said some good points to consider, and I agree. I would keep this snake as a pet, and then, if you really are wanting to breed, buy a pair of snakes that you know 100% what they truly are. That way, there is no confusion for you or anyone in the future that may buy a baby from you.

Take care!
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Genesis 1:1

ummmmm thanks for all of this??? my intent was to never hybridize all of man kind, all i wanted to know if it was a specific morph so i could pair it up, kings arent my area....but i agree totally that snakes should remain with their own kind....i didnt mean to stir up so much [bleep]...but thanks

We realize you weren't intentionally out to hybridize all known snakes in the world. But the simple fact is, all the crossed babies you might be contemplating to produce and then SELL, will DEFINITELY affect many countless snakes by the folds as THOSE are bred to whatever else down the line. It is a huge "domino affect" we are talking about that will ALWAYS affect countless hundreds of snakes in the hobby when your entire clutch are BRED to more snakes, then sold, and the cycle is repeated over and over again. See what we mean?

The sad thing about this is, many people in the snake hobby now could care less about any of this, and are only interested in seeing any type of snake head pop out of the egg.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

It may be a "Blaze Phase" Goini or a Goini X Floridana hard to tell from the pic