I appreciate that most hobby milksnakes are hybrids to a greater or lesser degree but is there really any difference in splotched mutation nelsoni vs sinaloae?
I have a T+ ‘nelsoni’ group and am looking to add a splotched animal. I can easily find splotched ‘sinaloae’ but not Nelsoni. With the current state of hobby Triangulum is adding this animal to my group a cardinal sin or simply semantics at this point?
Visually I cannot tell the difference between the splotched Nelson’s and the splotched Sinaloans I have seen.
All help welcome. Cheers.
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I have nothing against hybrids or intergrade animals having made jungle corns myself. The only possible issue I could see with your situation is that both sins and Nelsons look quite similar especially if you are getting splotched or not the “normal bands” and even if you are completely honest about the parentage to potential customers, someone could easily pass the offspring off as pure Nelsons or sin. Which isn’t really your problem, but could effect someone else’s breeding program.
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My question I guess is how do I know if the nelsoni I buy are anywhere close or if they are sinaloae? Did the splotched mutation arise independantly in both subspecies or is it much like the albino?
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Ok I understand. I don’t know if both species developed the mutation separately or if it was introduced by one to the other? I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case, given albino and other genes in other snakes that were introduced through hybrid blood. Maybe @t_h_wyman could give you a definitive answer?
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Unfortunately I do not know much about the milk snake group and the history behind their mutations. If I had to put money down, I would strongly suspect that the Splotched mutation was “imported” from one species into the other in the same way corns have a bunch of mutations “imported” into them from other species/genera
I will ask around with some of my friends though and seek clarification
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I would lean towards what both you and @t_h_wyman suspect. Even if that is the case, I would think that you or any other breeder in the hobby would want to try to stay in the same species(even if mixed at some point) as much as possible unless you’re going for a purposeful hybrid? I do appreciate the fact that you may not come across the splotched Nelson’s as easy as sins though. Tough call, good luck with whichever way you choose to go!
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Via a keen milk snake enthusiast I have since discovered that the Splotched mutation arose naturally in sinaloae and was mixed into nelsoni. The amel mutation arose in nelsoni as did T+.
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Forwarded to me from a friend of mine that is more versed in milks, this give a bit more history behind it
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@t_h_wyman I also saw this from Aaron. Thank you for sharing.
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Good to know. I had a question about this, saw this thread- and lo and behold- the answer. 
