Red versus Blue

[mikm]

Hans you have some gorgeous snakes !!! The Red Spot with the 'red' all the way through the next is awesome ... Hard to single out any one animal though ... wow

all the best,
marian

[Snaky]

Thank you marian

[ssssnakeluvr]

I had a real nice male florida blue...real deep blue too....he passed away after coming out of hibernation year before last... here's a pic of him.

[mikm]

wow so sorry to hear (see) that Don ... That guy was 'similis' blue ... was that out of Scott's stock ?? Just curious ..

[ssssnakeluvr]

No....was out of a litter of florida blues I got from guy in New York several years ago. I have the sister...not as blue....

[abcat1993]

Is that one of those random mutation things or is that actually genetic? I wouldn't mind his babies.

[ssssnakeluvr]

I believe its genetic...florida blues have varying amounts of blue....

[drache]

I always thought it strange that the pattern of the T. similis actually looks more like a sirtalis pattern, than that of the Florida blue, which is a sitalis sub-species. To me the pattern of the Florida blue looks a lot more like a checker pattern

[KITKAT]

I always thought it strange that the pattern of the T. similis actually looks more like a sirtalis pattern, than that of the Florida blue, which is a sitalis sub-species. To me the pattern of the Florida blue looks a lot more like a checker pattern

Actually, T sirtalis similis is a subspecies of sirtalis, and T sirtalis "Florida Blue" is a morph.

[drache]

Actually, T sirtalis similis is a subspecies of sirtalis, and T sirtalis "Florida Blue" is a morph.

thanks for elucidating that
I'm still a little confused and I guess I've never thought too much about morphs. Now I realize that I'm not clear exactly what a morph is. I thought that was just an appearance thing. If an entire population is the same kind of morph, wouldn't that make it a sub species?
Apparently there are populations of both in the wild. So what defines one as a morph and the other as a subspecies?