garter/water snakes hybrid possiblities?

[Mike Spencer]

I believe you actually could breed Thamnophis with Nerodia. They're both very closely related live bearing snakes. And as someone mentioned that they can't because they're different genus...people breed Lampropeltis with Elaphe, Lampropeltis with Pituophis, etc. There was a wild Lampropeltis getula californiae X Pituophis catenifer catenifer found in California in 2005. I believe they are just as far apart as Thamnophis and Nerodia...

Now, I definitely don't condone the mixing of them, I just believe that is possible.

[bsol]

Man you went deep in the forum to find this old post!!!
It doesnt make any difference how close or far the wild Lampropeltis getula californiae X Pituophis catenifer catenifer mix found in California are related. Just like it doesnt make a difference how great the Thamnophis and Nerodia are apart. Its been outlined that the odds are not in favor of positive results.

[Brewster320]

I agree with it being possible. The woma python has been crossed with the ball python several times and its amazing not only that they are from different genera but the woma has no heat pits and looks more colubrid than python. Also the black rat snake has been crossed with the twainese beauty snake, these two snakes are seperated by millions of years of evolution compared to the only several thousand years water snakes and garters have been seperated. The odds for these two crosses were also incredibly unlikely yet they have been proven. This I think makes the likely hood of a water x garter snake much more likely.