Nelson’s Milksnake
Lampropeltis polyzona nelsoni
French / Deem Line
In the Summer of 2021 I purchased a pair of Nelsoni from Tom Green which were sold to me as animals that were imported from France and had lineage tracing to Jalisco, Mexico. Those animals were imported by Joe Switalski at JS Reptiles and came from La Ferme des Reptiles in France. Joe had told Tom that La Ferme claimed they were Jalisco locality animals. I purchased the adult pair and bred them in 2022. Of the 7 eggs, 3 were T- albino and 4 were normal (66% possible het T- Albino). This would make my adult pair 100% het albino animals, but also casts some doubt on the validity of the Jalisco lineage.
The babies and adults in my opinion strongly resemble pure Nelsoni and don’t resemble the Nelson x Sinaloan crosses that plague the hobby. The band count, facial patterning, and color is correct for Nelsoni and key out as Nelsoni per Williams book in 1988.
Most of the pure Nelsoni I’m aware of, originated in France, where they haven’t been crossed into Sinaloans. Further discussions with the owner of La Ferme des Reptiles in France, indicated that the adults I have been breeding were never crossed into Sinaloans or any other Milksnake subspecies.
In 2023 I bred them again and had 5 eggs total. Of the 5 eggs 3 66% possible hets and 2 T- Albinos were produced. This clutch again all keyed out as Nelsoni per Williams, with some animals exhibiting band counts and degrees of black I have not seen in the hobby previously.
Of course, we cannot definitively prove the purity of any snakes in the hobby without nonexistent DNA testing, but I am confident that this line is as pure as you can get in the hobby with a few exceptions.
French / Deem Line T- Albinos
In the Summer of 2021 I purchased a pair of Nelsoni from Tom Green which were sold to me as animals that were imported from France and had lineage tracing to Jalisco, Mexico. Those animals were imported by Joe Switalski at JS Reptiles and came from La Ferme des Reptiles in France. Joe had told Tom that La Ferme claimed they were Jalisco locality animals. I purchased the adult pair and bred them in 2022. Of the 7 eggs, 3 were T- albino and 4 were normal (66% possible het T- Albino). This would make my adult pair 100% het albino animals, but also casts some doubt on the validity of the Jalisco lineage.
The babies and adults in my opinion strongly resemble pure Nelsoni and don’t resemble the Nelson x Sinaloan crosses that plague the hobby. The band count, facial patterning, and color is correct for Nelsoni and key out as Nelsoni per Williams book in 1988. Most of the pure Nelsoni I’m aware of, originated in France, where they haven’t been crossed into Sinaloans. Further discussions with the owner of La Ferme des Reptiles in France, indicated that the adults I have been breeding were never crossed into Sinaloans or any other Milksnake subspecies.
In 2023 I bred them again and had 5 eggs total. Of the 5 eggs 3 66% possible hets and 2 T- Albinos were produced. This clutch again all keyed out as Nelsoni per Williams, with some animals exhibiting band counts and degrees of black I have not seen in the hobby previously. Of course, we cannot definitively prove the purity of any snakes in the hobby without nonexistent DNA testing, but I am confident that this line is as pure as you can get in the hobby with a few exceptions.