Is this a bad example or normal pattern?

[dr del]

Hi,


I've always had a soft spot for sinaloan milks but the only one I actually looked after was only a youngster.

The reason I mention this is I've found a shop with a large (ish)female for sale but the white bands on her have a lot more black than the one I had and, overall, she looks muddier somehow?

The picture belongs to the shop in question.

Click for picture.

If it turns out she is just not a good example then I wouldn't be interested in her as it was the purity of the colours that drew me to the species.

But if it is normal for them to turn this way as they age then it wouldn't bother me so much - in the future I would definately be interested in trying to breed these so quality matters a fair bit.

So what's the verdict?


dr del

[ev477]

I'm no expert, my sinaloan is just a baby still. I was thinking that it might just be a little chubby and showing some skin under the scales, but that really doesn't look like it's the case.

I'd say that it is an inheritable trait though. The only other thing I could think of if is its growth patterns or something that would affect it one way or another...

it does just look like the tips of all the scales have a little black in them, which is how mine looks. It might just be a normal trait for sinaloans.
Hope I helped?

[Bruce Whitehead]

I have two milks... and they are really black. I thought there was something actually interesting going on until I talked to a breeder local to me.

Basically he said... "this is why we like albinos so much"... alot of them muddy up as the age, they will get black in the white as well...

After these two... my next ones will be hypo albinos.

Bruce

My female got really dark really fast, and my male is a super duper ugly boy. Fortuneately he is very sweet.

[Bruce Whitehead]

Maybe not so clear... but chances are the snake will keep darkening...

bruce

[wilomn]

There are certain lines that tend to darken more than others. My sinaloans don't get dark at all, but they've got some apricot in them.

I think, and this is going back a way, when they were first importing them they were mixing sinaloans with conanti and smithi, both of which tend to get more black in their white bands.

There has been a lot of selective breeding here in the States to get the white as white as possible.

Craig Trumbower used to be big into sinaloans and had some pretty clean ones. I don't know if he still breeds or not but if you can find him he would be a good place to get clean babies.

I think Bryon Barczyk works with or used to work with them as well.

The one in the picture is not a particularly good example of what is available.

[JoMo]

@Dr Del,
I have a 3 yr old Sinaloan and it looks just like that one.
Recent pics:



playing in the yucca


@Loft Lizard,

Could your milks be Lampropeltis triangulum annulata instead of L.T.sinaloe (the ones Dr Del is asking for info) ? They are very similar, but the annulata gets almost totally black as it ages and the sinaloan doesn´t.

Here is an annulata (before "darkening")