Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anyone ever tried this? Pictures?
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"Never wrestle a pig"

I believe it has been done because I seem to remember reading about some fake Louisiana Pines on the Pine/Gopher/Bull forum a few years ago that were discovered to be that cross.

Now I am a "purist" since I like locality specific snakes the best but I am certainly not against hybrids for people who enjoy them. However I think this is the sort of hybrid one should consider very carefully before creating. Louisiana Pines are very rare, both in the wild and in captivity so using one to make a hybrid would be pulling from a very limited genepool. Also that particular hybrid would probably be very similar to a pure Luoisiana Pine and if they fell into the wrong hands could end up tainting a considerable chunk of what little genetic material exists in captivity. I'm not gonna say don't do it but I just think you should be fully informed of the situation with Louisiana Pines before you do. I would much rather see a Louisiana Pine be hybridized with something a bit less confusing, like a Ratsnake or a kingsnake(if that's even possible possible), than with another bull, pine or gopher. Plus I don't think a Louisiana X Bull would look very different from a pure version of either, hence not very interesting. But that's just my opinion, of course looks are in the eye of the beholder and all.
So yeah, there should be some pics somewhere on the bull/pine/gopher forums.
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www.hcu-tx.org/

I agree with Aaron here.
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Pituophis c. annectans
Senticolis t. intermedia
Rhinechis scalaris
Elaphe bairdi
Lampropeltis zonata
Lampropeltis t. campbelli
Lampropeltis m. thayeri

Thank you for your most elaborate and insightful reply, Aaron.

I guess this means chances are I'd probably end up with something which isn't quite what I had in mind, anyway. Right?

I'm a bit puzzled here, though. Why has such an underwhelming cross been done so many times? What's the incentive?
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"Never wrestle a pig"

I'm more of a kingsnake guy, I just learned from occasionally reading the bull/pine/gopher forum. My understanding is that this cross has not been done alot, rather one person did it because he only had one Louisiana Pine and wanted to pass the offspring off as pure Louisiana Pines so as to get more money out of the babies. Normal bullsnakes sell for about $50 each, more or less, depending on color, size, temperment, etc. but pure Louisiana Pines sell for like $400 each.
So supposedly this one guy did the cross and sold several babies to other people as pure Louisiana's and these other people in turn bred them and unkowingly sold the babies to more people. Eventually somebody discovered the truth and now any Louisiana of unkown origin is not trusted. I guess there is only one or two bloodlines that are accepted as pure and if you can't trace your animals back to those then they are pretty much considered defacto crosses.
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www.hcu-tx.org/