In my last post, I mentioned that I have a new Stuart’s milk snake. The Florida dealer who sold it stated that their adults were field collected from Nicaragua. They have been in business for over 30 years and I have no reason to doubt them - but I still wondered if a Guatemalan specimen had found itself into a prior shipment of snakes from Nicaraguan.

Stuart’s milksnakes usually have the inverted “V” shape for the white line that runs across their noses.
Mine, however, has a straight line and the inverted “V” is replaced with a vertical, black line separating white spaces. That straight, white line is more common with many Guatemalan specimens so I did more research. (Yes, I know that individuals can vary in appearance, for every subspecies & region.)

I further researched Milksnake species nearby to Nicaragua. I like to see how color & markings differs form each geographic region. I’m also aware of the new nomenclature and the move to update the prior 24 subspecies to the currently suggested 7 subspecies.

I researched for Central American” specimens:
Lampropeltis Triangulum Hondurensis (these alone seem to have the Tangerine phase)
Lampropeltis Triangulum Polyzona (these seem to be bi-colored & dark as adults)
Lampropeltis Triangulum Abnorma
Lampropeltis Triangulum Oligozona
Lampropeltis Triangulum Stuarti

Online photos show that milk snakes from Yucatan and the Atlantic coast seem to have orange or gold bands, rather than red bands. In Pacific coastal & low mountain regions, however, most milk snakes seem to have similar colors & traits, tending to be more dark red bands rather than golden or orange.

I’d like to hear from experienced importers or keepers who specifically have experience with Abnorma, Oligozona & Stuarti specimens. Are species or regional traits generally consistent, or have you seen a wide variety of banding & markings even among the same species or region?

1.0 Lampropeltis triangulum stuarti
1.0 Elaphe climacophora (Kunashir Island blue)
1.0 Lampropeltis getula california (San Diego Striped)
1.0 Lampropeltis getula nigrita

1.0 Cuora flavomarginata
1.0 Rhinoclemmys pulcherrima pulcherrima

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