breeding gophersnake subspecies

I have some albino San Diego gophersnakes.I was wondering if I could breed them with other subspecies of gophersnakes, specificaly Pacific gophersnakes, and get viable results. The differences between the two seem very small, mostly scales at midbody, dorsal blotches, etc. (As reported in Stebbins field guide) Any input on this?

yes, you can breed different subspecies

Yes you can breed them , but I see no reason why. Hybrids are an interesting topic, but only for discussion. Anyways you would probably have a hard time selling any offspring, most people prefer pure strains of Pituophis. If you are really curious as to what they would look like, there are areas of natural integration where the 2 ranges overlap. You can use your Stebbins guide to find those areas.


Good luck, Casey

the crossing of subspecies is not a hybridization issue. It is an intergrade, and in many cases it occurs naturally (as noted in the above post). Many people do like "pure" locality gophers...but (and this is my favorite part about this discussion) who is to say that the founding stock is pure? there is really no issue with breeding different locale gophers, as long as the offspring are marketed as intergrades or generic gophers. If one were to label them as San Diegos because one parent was, and they shared features...that would be inappropriate.

Originally Posted by hhmoore

there is really no issue with breeding different locale gophers, as long as the offspring are marketed as intergrades or generic gophers.

Would this also be true if I bred a Cape and a Baja gopher together?

I am very sorry, I didn't realize I wrote hybrid. I own some natural interdrades , I'm still not sure what they are. They come from an area where three subspecies are thought to come together ( annectens, deserticola,and catenifer) . They are absolutely beautiful, with an extremely high amount of yellow, but as you mentioned they are really nothing but " pretty " generic gopher snakes. I am not even sure if I'll breed them because I could be stuck with a clutch or 2 of generics to try and sell. As for the question of pure strains, one may never really know if what they have are pure. There are so many possibilities when snakes are bought. You have to trust the person who bred them, the one their stock came from, and so on. As we all know not everyone has perfect ethics and morals, all we can hope for is all around honesty. I guess the point of my last post is why create generics when he allready has albino S.D. gophers, unless he is lacking a mate I see no reason in the urge to cross the two subspecies.
Casey

Karen, vertebralis and bimaris do integrade in the wild, but like hhmoore said it would be unethical to market them as anything but a cape and baja cross.

Casey

casey - i agree with everything you said in that post. To add just a bit to your response to how you know founding stock is "pure" - I brought that up because, as we have already acknowledged, intergrades occur naturally. if that WC San Diego wasn't pure to begin with, the offspring aren't truly "pure" either.
Honestly, I'm not really involved with the Pituophis market...I have a couple of bulls that I will likely breed in the spring. My initial response (obviously) was based strictly on the question of whether the breeding could be viable.

Harald, very good point. Best of luck to you and those bulls this spring.

Take care, Casey