Besides all the good points made by everyone, let's get back to the original question. We must not forget these two snakes just recently were described as different subspecies (10-15 yrs ago), so they actually "were" the same snake. Their ranges over-lap and naturally occurring intergrades happen all the time. Not only have they changed the "Elaphe" designation, but there even talks of including a third subspecies (slowinskii), which people thought were ordinary corn snakes. Obviously don't mislead anyone (customers or others) about what a snake truly is and don't release intergrade/hybrid snakes in to the wild, and let's all enjoy what nature gives us.

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