I actually saw that animal at the zoo. Also Barney T is a friend of mine and I still see him from time to time.



Also, another friend of mine told me of an undiscribed snake in that area that was between a king and a gopher. He tried to have it discribed, I do not know whatever became of it.



As mentioned, hybrids in nature are not common, but do occur on a very regular basis. There are many many many hybrid combinations that have been found. Then consider, we herpers only sample a very very very small percentage of snake populations.



Then consider, how many folks would know a hybrid from a normal, when the vast majority of people cannot even id any snake. Most herpers discount hybrids as just ODD really weird normals. When now we know that captive hybrids are also just odd really weird normals. There is no tag or sign on them that tells you they are hybrids, They just tend to look different then the rest of the population. And buddy, we see that all the time.



Also consider, that 90% or more, of all snake offspring, perish within a year. The survivors, must FIT in the ecosystem. By definition a hybrid has not proven to fit and in all but very rare cases be amoung the 90% of the failures. So its not that it is rare to occur, what is rare is that WE SEE it occur. We actually don't see to much of what occurs with reptiles.



Consider, millions upon millions of snakes are breeding and gravid RIGHT NOW IN NATURE. Yet that is rarely seen. I have observed and filmed several this year. How many here have seen copulation this year in nature? how many have seen it in captivity? How many snakes are in captivity compared to how many are all around us in nature?



You see, most of what we see in nature is under AC or on the road. Sad but true. Cheers

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