Is this a Sinaloan milk?

[ChrisS]

This little guy was labeled as a Sinaloan milk at my lps but his yellows look too bright to me. Then again I've only seen adults, what do you guys think?

[West Coast Jungle]

Yes it is

[wilomn]

I don't think it is Sinaloan. My guess is it's a mutt.

[lmtrej]

I'd agree with wilomn, looks closer to nelsoni to me but certainly has mixed blood.

[brianm616]

it is a west mexican tricolored lampropeltis, that's for sure. sinaloan, it is not.

its red body ring (RBR) is way too high for either a sinaloan or nelson. sinaloae have, on average, 13 RBR - while nelsoni have 16 RBR. arcifera (jalisco milks) have 22 RBR, but are exceptionally rare in the trade.

from what i can see, this snake has at least a 25 RBR count. that is indicative of a Ruthven's King Snake (Lamproteltis ruthveni). Western ruthveni (tapalpa locale) have been confused with nelsons, jalisco, and others in the past. they're built like other west mexican tricolors, and will breed with any of the above if given the opportunity. they're great snakes. i have a 1.2 group of them.

if that snake is in your possession it would be awesome if you could post a throat pic. that way i could be a little more certain of the snakes ancestry.

either way, it's an awesome snake. but i'm a little biased, since i only keep west mexican tricolored lampropeltis