Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm not trying to upset the purist but I have a couple questions regarding mixing the subspecies. i know that where range maps overlap the subspecies do mix so I am not being too outrageous.

I have a female desert kingsnake (L. g. splendida) and just to see I introduced her to my male mexican black kingsnake (L. g. nigra) they hit it off right away and had a 4 hr copulation. now from what I have read you are suppose to re-introduce them a couple days later to insure you get a good clutch, I had also read that the more males that lock with the female the better chances. so today I introduce my male 50-50 california kingsnake (L. g. californiae) and again a positive lock going on 3 hrs right now...
OK so thats what has happened so far.. so my questions are what percent of the clutch will look like who? will the patterns mix or with there be distinct traits?
IF I chose to get rid of any of the offspring they will be clearly identified as intergrades and not pure subspecies.

Since many believe nigrita to be nothing more than melanistic splendida I bet you get all Splendida phenotypes. Some may be a little dark. When you breed those babies together I believe you will get some melanistics.....

I have a buddy doing the same "test" with some offspring from wild caught Tucson, AZ getula.......One wild specimen was a nigrita phenotype and the other was a desert king phenotype. Some of the offspring looked like californiae as well.....As Tucson is an area where all three subspecies converge.

Reintroduce until she goes into the blue again.....then set up a nesting area and wait for eggs....all the while feeding her...feed her smaller prey items if she refuses normal sized meals......
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

And....since you locked her up with a california king who knows which one fertilized the eggs...could possibly be both, but there is no way of knowing.....
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...