Genetic Purity within CBB Tricolored Lampropeltis.

I get the immpression that the lines of CBB Tricolor Lampropeltis are significantly contaminated from extensive hybridization. Is this an exaggeration, am I mistaken, or am I not?

I have a particularly strong interest in the tricolored kings and milks. At this point my interest goes mainly in the direction of building a collection of specimens rather than in breeding them. But, this emphasis could change depending on the genotype status of the available CBB population.

I very much appreciate receiving facts and viable speculations from those of you in the know.

Thanks.

There is a HUGE amount of hybridization in the milks in particular.

You really have to choose someone with a well known reputation for pure lines to be sure of what you're getting.

With some time and a diligent search you can find what you want, just be careful. There are still a lot of purists out there.

What in particular are you interested in?

Right now I am interested in all of them. I have an 05' L.p.pyro male. I do not like albinos, anerys, apricot, tangerine etc. I like the pure, original phenotypes of the tricolors and greybands. I have, since my "enlightenment", become concerned about what the genotypes of any of these animals would be.

So, Wes, tell me how to find the purists. I am thinking I might like to become one.

For buyers like me it would be a significant marketing tool for sellers to advertise themselves as being purists or to include "pure (genotypes)" in the text of their ads. Provided, of course, that they are honest. The reputation for a breeder of being an honest purist would be something to take pride in.

Ironically I come to this debate because I did purchase a hybrid. It was because I did not know better. I do like the snake and plan on keeping her. She is attractive in my eyes, that is why I bought her. But, my original intentions of breeding her have created an ethical dilemma for me.

Point, I am not a complete neophyte with regards to owning reptiles. It is just that I only began collecting SNAKES about a year ago. Still, I was too uninformed to recognize a hybrid when I saw one. This only points out to me how likely such a transaction is to occur. So, the argument that producing hybrids is no big deal as long as the breeder and seller are honest has been prooven false in my instance. Caveat: I AM NOT insinuating that the seller of my snake INTENDED to mislead me.

Let's just leave that whole hybred thing in its own threads.

If you frequent sites that sell the snakes you're interested in and note who has the best reputations, who has the snakes you'd most like to work with, then you can initiate contact with them and see who they would recommend to you if they cannot supply what you need.

And you can always post inquiries and pics here.

Hi Coyote,
I work with wild phenotypes almost exclusively. I have several localities of Graybands, pyro pyro, knoblochi, mexicana and ruthveni. On some of those I or my close friends collected the adults from the wild and some were purchased as cb babies from reputable breeders. On the Mexican stuff I don't have locality but they do look very much like wild phenotypes and to my knowledge are not crosses. I have done alot of research and found photographs of actual wild Mexican Lampropeltis and try to keep my bloodlines as close to that as I can, I do not even try to enhance the colors and patterns anymore than they already are in the wild.
I also have hypomelanistic and anerythristic Graybands which are completly tracable the original wild-caught hets and they are locality specific and not crossed.
You can email me at:
aaronherp "at" earthlink "dot" net

Aaron Mattson