San francisco garters?

[PINJOHN]

i suggested a recessive eastern because i was thinking that this paring would produce young that were visually san frans which is the object of the exercise, i am supposing that using infernalis would give a snake that visually represents something between the two which is not what you would want.
having said that my knowledge of genetics is woeful.

[ConcinusMan]

In theory it would make more sense to use Infernalis stock since that species is so nearly identical and from the same area??

It wouldn't make any sense to "strengthen" them by crossbreeding with any other subspecies. No matter what you do from that point on, they aren't SF garters anymore.

[Stefan-A]

In theory it would make more sense to use Infernalis stock since that species is so nearly identical and from the same area??

Appearance isn't everything. It wouldn't be any different from breeding them to any random T. sirtalis subspecies.

[Stefan-A]

It would be interesting to know how members see the future of the san fran,do you for instance foresee the developers winning and leaving no place for these stunning snakes?

The developers will win and the inbred captive population will create a demand for fresh material from an already declining wild population. Within the next 30-50 years it'll get the IUCN classification EW and then possibly EX, unless San Francisco gets teleported away and the former habitats are restored.

[jitami]

That's closer to what I was thinking, Stefan. The developers have already won if you want to put it that way. There's already too much development, too much urban sprawl, and too many people. I think our only hope for their survival in the 'wild' is if they adapt and expand their range... but without human assistance I really don't see this happening and with human assistance it would very likely be at the cost of another species struggling to survive.