Okay, I am totally stoked! While my friend Tom Stevens was out of town on vacation I kept an eye on his snakes, including several clutches of eggs that were due to hatch. While checking the eggs one day I was blown away by what I found: a bold, orange patternless hatchling. This snake is special. It is the result of a cross between two lines of Florida kingsnake, the blaze Apalachicola (goini) and hypo South Florida (brooksi) kingsnakes. However most of these crosses result in highly variable blotched, spotted or striped offspring (as in the first picture). This snake has no pattern. It appears to be displaying both the hypo and blaze traits, giving it a deep orange color.
Now here's where I get really excited: this snake will be in my collection very soon!
As soon as Tom got home I told him I wanted that snake and we worked out a price for the new hatchling patternless and the yearling female pictured above.
With any luck I should be able to breed them in two years and see what comes out.
Check out Tom's website for some sweet king snakes, milk snakes and Pituophis species.
Thanks, Tom, for the awesome snakes and for the use of the above picture.
Tasha informed me that she intends to steal your new snake the next time we visit. I would install locks on the cage if I were you.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new specimen.
Maybe I'll train Titus to attack intruders.
ReplyDelete