Sonoma County infernalis

[chris-uk]

And I thought I was the philistine who had looked at the photo and thought... "nice infernalis, but what's so special about Sonoma County?", and "how can Bushsnake be so certain that no other infernalis line has originated from Sonoma County?".

So, what makes Sonoma County special, as opposed to this just being a beautiful infernalis?

[BLUESIRTALIS]

It's not that it's more special, but that it's a different locale so it adds more diversity to infernalis. If you look at the marin county infernalis available in the pet trade they are mostly black and red with a bluish belly and dorsal and if you look at this girl she has like a faded out brown color as well. I love the way this girl looks and hope to work with some in the future, but i love how vivid the blue is on the marin counties too!

[chris-uk]

Thanks, she's a beautiful snake and I'd love to have one with that sort of colouration. I wasn't sure what made Sonama County worthy of mention, but if it's about having fresh, beautiful blood I understand.

[BUSHSNAKE]

And I've herped first-hand, populations of them that vary a lot and find ones that don't look exactly like anything shown in the hobby/pet trade. Then walk a few feet and I could easily find one that looks exactly like yours or anyone elses. Then, a few feet away I could find one that looks nothing like yours or any others from that county.

You could show me any infernalis from any county, or anywhere in the pet trade and I could go herping in one spot, in one county and show you a snake that looks exactly like what you got, or nothing like any you see online.

You could show me a "neon blue" infernalis, then show me the one you got there and tell me they came from the same spot and I would believe it because I've seen that kind of variation in one place before.

Then low and behold, I go herping for concinnus and pickeringi and encounter the same thing. Yes, there is some geographical differences in morphology but in some places, the varied morphology is the rule rather than an exception.

I wouldn't doubt it one bit if you told me that snake came from coastal Del Norte or Humbolt Co. I could probably find one there that looks exactly like it, and also one that looks nothing like it.

the male i had with this girl looked more like a Marin County so yeah i understand varability, you know this. The reason i posted her is because she has the typical Sonoma County LOOK...thats what makes her different. If someone wants a Sonoma County infernalis it is because of how they typically look...they tend to have more red as they age. A Marin County doesnt get more red with age. Thats what attracted me to the Sonoma County infernalis.
It would be very easy to sell a Marin County as a Sonoma County and vice versa but that would be ignorant!!

[BLUESIRTALIS]

I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE SOME LIKE THIS!

[BUSHSNAKE]

i like how that one has a yellow dorsal and blue laterals, shes awesome

[BLUESIRTALIS]

I also like how the black isn't really black but bluish so she looks like she glows. If you look on the website it says she is from santa clara county. I would like to know if the majority of them in that area look that nice.

[BUSHSNAKE]

shes gravid thats why shes glowing
When i find garters in populations they generally have a similar look with varability, doesnt mean they all look the same. Im sure infernalis are the same way.

[BLUESIRTALIS]

Well they do say that pregnancy makes you glow.

shes gravid thats why shes glowing
when i find garters in populations they generally have a similar look with varability, doesnt mean they all look the same. Im sure infernalis are the same way.

[ConcinusMan]

I would like to know if the majority of them in that area look that nice.

I would say probably not. Remember that people tend to post pics of the exceptionally pretty ones. Same goes for pugets. This can cause a skewed impression of what is actually out there in the field. I pretty much would find just a few that were stunnning and "glowed" like that but certain areas of course do have more of them than other areas. I never really got into keeping them when I was herping for them. They were so damn wild and ferocious biters when caught that it never occurred to me to keep any LoL