Yes that is what catches my eye when I see them. I am sure nature has a purpose for this! 
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The theory I’ve heard put forth is that keeled scales help animals blend in better with rocky and/or dusty areas, since their scales don’t reflect sunlight the way smooth, glossy scales do.
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Thank you Jennifer! I knew nature had something to do with this!
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Not at all likely the case for these specific snakes, but I know that several desert species have keeled scales because it helps them collect dew or water droplets to lick off themselves to stay hydrated!
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Interesting! I hadn’t heard that, but it makes sense.
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I forget the name, but there’s a funny little desert lizard that uses its keeled scales to soak its legs in puddles and wick it up to its mouth to drink, that way it can keep its head up scanning for danger while drinking
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Just bought this female palmetto! The seller saod she might also be a hypo too! And then shes also ph for amel, caramel, lavender, motley, hypo and cinder! Once shes grown shell be paired to an amel palmetto with the same ph! Alough im not quite sure on a name yet for her. And her little head stamp reminds me of a heart!
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Beautiful snake! Can’t wait for those babies! Heart or Lady Cupid would be cute names 
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Summer from Summer’s Snakes posted a whole slew of beautiful bull snake hatchlings on MM this weekend. Well, you can guess how that turned out….
Should be here Wednesday!
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Nice Palmetto! So tiny.
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Well you are if not before an official member of the “can’t have too many snakes” club! Welcome aboard! 
Edit to add: pictures as usual request!!! 
Edit to add: I try not to browse but I did the same thing as you. A week from this Wednesday……. 
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Haha, that “browsing” will get after ya!
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That’s a big 10-4 good buddy!
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Very nice additions. More snakes = more interesting creatures to love, right? 
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That’s a big 10-4 good buddy! 
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Busy day here but she made it! This little female axanthic bull is from Summer’s Snakes. She is 66% het hypo stillwater and will be part of my hypo stillwater/miami axanthic ghost project. I have a male hypo stillwater het miami axanthic, a female stillwater hypo 66% het miami axanthic, and now the female miami axanthic 66% het miami axanthic.
Originally she was just supposed to be a “back up” incase my other female doesn’t prove het for axanthic, but I’m excited to see if she produces a different look with the same male. I also plan to pair her with her with my male red influenced hypo stillwater at some point to at least create some double hets and get axanthic in that blood line.
Anyway, I am thinking about calling her Catrina for the La Catrina from the Mexican Day of the Dead celebration. The pattern and head stamp kind of reminds me of a skull/skeleton so that feels like it fits.
Her she is. She’s tiny. It’s hard to believe bull snakes start out this small.
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Oh congrats on the newbie! She is lovely and worth the wait! Her head stamp is definitely unique and I can kinda see the skull and crossbones. And yeah so tiny but she will not stay that way! Your project sounds exciting! It will be interesting to see what her temperament turns out to be!
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She was squirmy but well behaved during unboxing. We’ll see how she is in a few days once she’s settled in.
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Nifty pickup! Congratulations on your new girl, @eorr53.
This kind of thing always fascinates me. She may very well produce a different look, even though the simplistic version of the genetics is the same. I had a clutch this season that was the opposite of that, one female paired with a different male from her 2022 mate. Similar genetics, technically several of the same morph as last time but there is a noticeable degree of variation. Interesting to do.
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I think the animal’s normal phenotype plays a big role in how they will appear when certain recessive or dominant genes are added to the mix. A good example of this is hypomelanism in bull snakes. The trumbower hypo gene is highly variable and I think that is because it acts like an overlay on top of the animals normal phenotype.
What I mean by normal phenotype is what the animal would look like as a normal/wild type. Animals of the same species can vary greatly over a wide, and sometimes very small, geographic range. Bull snakes from the northern part of their range tend to be very dark with lots of melanin. The farther south you go, the lighter they get and in some areas more red.
When you add a recessive or dominant gene to the mix, it’s interacting with those other genes that determine the animals normal look so you get a varied phenotype within animals expressing the same visual mutation.
Something I find interesting is that a few breeders I’ve spoken with say that they get better results color/pattern wise with homozygous offspring from het to het or homo to het pairings, as opposed to homo to homo to pairings.
Not sure if I explained that clearly at all, but it makes sense in my head!
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