"I had purchased a sub-adult female "Louisiana Pine" a few years ago hoping to breed it. But as time passed I am starting to question whether or not it is in fact a pure Louisiana Pine. I refuse to breed it until I know for sure, and I know the two ways to know is either get one from the source or a reliable breeder or to do genetic work. So I was wondering if anyone knows anything about the genetic work and how I could go about having it done? Thanks.
-Strickland"

As far as genetic research goes I think you would be wasting your time. It's expensive, yes, but more difficult it would be to find a source of pure genetic information to use as a control. Along with this comes many other complications that I feel are probably not good for discussion here. I think it's just too over the top for basic hobbyist-level desires. Of course, if you have the money and the resources to get suitable DNA material to use as comparison material then by all means dive right in.
An alternative is what I have been doing, and that is investigative research...basically talking to a lot of people and gathering as much information as possible and then trying to painstakingly sort it all out in the end. Let me show you some examples:

These are two LA pines (ruthveni) that I purchased along with another male from Scott J. Michaels, DVM. Through some simple research I was able to follow the lineage through Scott back to Eric Richter, and then back to the Vandeventer-Young line of founding animals from the 1980s. Thus, I believe that this female (top photo), and her brother (bottom photo) are pure ruthveni. While Vandeventer and Young will not release location-of-capture data on any of their animals, we have accepted and taken at face-value in the hobby that their line is pure and untainted. Therefore I have no reason to believe that my animals are not pure.
2009 FEMALE ruthveni from the Vandevaeter-Young line bred by Eric Richter, brokered by Scott J. Michaels.

2009 MALE ruthveni from same lineage.


The above snakes were rather simple cases. The following female was not quite as easy, but it shows what some persistence and patience will result in. Through the efforts of my investigation, and the help of close friends like Bob Fengya and Tom Agosta I was able to acquire this 2008 female just today. You can see that she looks a little different and like in all pine snakes this is normal and to be expected. They are not all cut from one cookie-cutter mold. Genetically speaking, she is the cream of the crop and she is an outstanding addition to my genetic-diversity- driven program.
2008 FEMALE ruthveni. Lineage is as follows: Wild Bienville Parish x Vandeventer-Young father bred to a Vandeventer-Young x Kane mother = WCBPxVY X VYxKane with superior genetics.



This is only the tip of the iceberg. You can take it as far as you want to go with genetics and never have to pay a dime on tests and such. In the near future I will be making a more informative post, in my own thread, on my research. Don't lose any hope and remember that if you do have a hybrid it's ok--as a pet. And nothing is wrong with that!
Enjoy your snakes!!
Cheers,
--Brian
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--Brian Scott

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