New Black and White Eastern Garter Morph Found!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jeff B]

So, you still validate the "common sense" comment knowing full well everyone including myself is and was not privy to the facts you just laid out! There are a lot of people who don't even know what a hybrid is and some cant even spell the word. Taking that into consideration I don't know how Eddie and you can generalize and refer to the intelligent question of recognizing hybrids in w/c's as being "common sense". Anyway, we all see things differently and I am done with this thread. Thanks for the explanation, those facts are relatively new to me and I'm sure other members and visitors to the page about how state location plays a role in hybridization? I think the original question can be answered when I "continue my reading" and research. No pun intended.

Albert it is probably a good idea to do your research and homework BEFORE going off on a thread like this. The term hybrid is used to describe a breeding of two different species of snakes that would never meet in the wild, hence would be done deliberately in captivity. The term intergrade is used to describe when two species or subspecies ranges overlap and occasionally would mix breed in the wild.
So, to use the term hybrid was a bit of a misnomer on your part, considering it was a wild caught, unless you are challenging the validity of the story behind how this snake arose from the wild, which i doubt was your intent.
The chance of it being an intergrade is also ZERO because there is not intergrade possibility in the range where this snake was found.
There are no two snake species or subspecies that would even have traits that would lend to the look of this snake and as Steve pointed out captive hybrids have shown to produce plain jane duds.
With all that background it is why I posted chance of hybrid=0 and for most in the hobby for years this seems like common sense.
Also, the extreme look of this snake lends me to believe that it is likely a genetic mutation where the pigments that produce colors other than black and white are repressed or defective at some stage of the biochemical pathway that produces them. What I don't know is if the white is up-regulated or is a new product resulting from mutation, or if it is just background that is always underneath the other colors. I suspect the first theory. It is likely this is a simple recessive mutation, because vast majority of garter morph mutations are.
All this is speculation at this point and will need to be proven out in subsequent years, so relax, be patient and enjoy the hobby.