What subspecies of milk snake is this?

[maddyem]

So this is my milk snake Draco, I am unsure of his age but I got him less than a year ago when he was about a foot long. I'm really curious as to what kind he is, I've done some research but I don't feel comfortable trusting the internet. He drinks a lot of water and burrows in his bedding, if that could say anything to his natural habitat. Two of the pictures I included do show his underside- however helpful that may be. Thank you!!

 

[dieselfan]

Looks like a nelsons. However it's almost impossible to know for sure without lineage info from the breeder

 

[brianm616]

Looks to be a standard Sinaloan/Nelson's cross.

 

[Herpetology 88]

Definitely not a cross as one user stated. Looks to be a Nelson's milk snake, as the initial reply said.

 

[brianm616]

Nope. Nelson's have an open neck ring. Sinaloans have a closed neck ring. It's ok though, people have been mixing the two subspecies for 20 years. Some now look more like either parent subspecies.

 

[Herpetology 88]

Alright, thanks. I have never heard of neck ring patterns being used to distinguish snakes, so I suppose I learned something.

 

[Herpetology 88]

Well, distinguish milk and king snakes at least.

 

[brianm616]

It's just one of a few ways to identify specimens found in the wild, but this is mostly academic nowadays since there is no longer any pure lines of nelsoni in the hobby and three (albeit one is somewhat questionable) lines of sinaloae in the hobby.

 

[Herpetology 88]

Interesting to know.

 

[Pituophis_]

Nope. Nelson's have an open neck ring. Sinaloans have a closed neck ring. It's ok though, people have been mixing the two subspecies for 20 years. Some now look more like either parent subspecies.

Was told Cosala milks sometimes will have an open neck ring.

 

[brianm616]

yeah, by aaron bayer. it's not a hard rule, but it is a pretty standard way to tell and doesn't mean that thing isn't a sinaloan/nelson cross.

just accept that you have a hobby snake and take good care of it while it's in your possession.

 

[Pituophis_]

To clarify, that wasn't mine. That was a cosala from someone else

Sent from my 2PQ93 using Tapatalk