>>I am seeing a more Texas rat shaped head on some of these guys down my way and the more promenant eye bulge the further south you go with these guys. Not freakishly so but they do have a more bulging eye thing going on and a longer, more slender snout than, say the G.P.R.'s from midwest Texas. Darker in color, the midwest and upper Texas samples seem to have a prairie rattler type patterning and an almost greenish tint in them. Or do I just need stronger glasses?! LOL! All in all I think they go lighter to darker the further south you go and I have seen a couple of partial stripers in others w.c. collections from down my ways as well.
>> Todd Hughes


Todd, I agree. That's one of the things that has attracted me to the South Texas meahllmorum. They do have a different shaped head, more triangular, more elongated, imo. They also have a different body size and shape, and color/pattern. Toby and I both have three yr old females bt 400 and 500 grams. They are still growing at a fast rate, are extremely strong, and shaped more like a ratsnake than emoryi or guttatus, imo. I agree about the eyes too. The coloring is variable, depending on conditions, I think. My Brazos Island male was very light to start and is now darkening some. The female was very dark and is now lightening some. But they are not greenish, like the emoryi. They seem to be more brown/grey. Meahllmorum has blotches that tend towards splitting and in the more westerly pops this is often seen as partial striping from what I've seen. The reverse-striped morph has been offered as a mutation at one time, but I believe it's quite variable and not a true mutation, but we'll see in the future.

Terry


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