Quote:
Originally Posted by Socratic Monologue
Here's the photo in the article (other outlets note that USGS took the pic).
That looks like a hybrid, IMO. I don't know abnorma well (and given how uncommon they are in captivity, it would be odd that that would be the first feral milksnake found in FL), but that brown banding is unusual.
Pretty lame (and just ignorant) that the article calls the snake "invasive". One loose pet is 'feral', a bunch are 'introduced' or 'non-native', and only after the species has become detrimental to the local flora and fauna is it 'invasive'.
Also lame is the assumption that it was "released" rather than "escaped".
The article is all over the web now, but when a person can track down the original release it is cathartic to unload on the original author.
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With that unusual coloration, I would think that milk snake enthusiasts would be all over it trying to get it for their breeding trials. Which pretty much would rule out an intentional release. And what are the odds that an unusual color variant like that would have made it's way to the Everglades, much less be a beach head soldier for an invasion?
For that matter if it was an escapee, I would think someone would recognize that snake as coming from whoever might be working with that line. Honestly, I have never seen a central american milk snake with that coloration. I have seen a fair share of eastern milks being brown, but have never seen any such coloration in any members of the neotropical lines that I can recall. Closest I can think of would be a variation of an anerythristic Honduran or derivative.
At least not in my limited experience with milksnakes, anyway. I have had a few species over the years and studied the variants a bit, but that is about it.