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Crossbreeding in Nature
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by fissit on July 3, 2005
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I have heard stories of Snakes cross breeding , creating new dangerous variants that may look Like a harmless Black Racer and be as dangerous as a cottonmouth..Is this Likely or Possible in the Southeast USA?
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RE: Crossbreeding in Nature
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by Cro on July 3, 2005
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You might rarely have a venomous snake cross breeding with another venomous snake, like a copperhead crossing with a cottonmouth, but the resulting ofspring will still be a heavy bodied, narrow necked, wide headed snakes that has parts of the pattern of both, so they would still look like their venomous parents.
As far as a venomous snake like a cottonmouth crossing with a harmless snake like a black racer, and producing a venomous black racer looking snake, that is not going to happen. It is just like you said, a story or old wives tail.
JohnZ
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RE: Crossbreeding in Nature
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by agkistrodude on July 4, 2005
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I think the myth is that "pilot snakes"or black rat snakes will lead rattlesnakes to thier den for hibernation and then mate with them, creating a "super snake".But it is a myth.Not true. Marty
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RE: Crossbreeding in Nature
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by fizzbob7 on July 4, 2005
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copperheads are commonly called pilot snakes too, because they can be seen denning with rattlers
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RE: Crossbreeding in Nature
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by aussieherper on July 4, 2005
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here in australia there is afew stories like that. some people where under the impression that the coastal taipan and carpet pythons that inhabit the same range occasionally cross-bred to create very large nasty snakes(lol). this legend was fueled after a profesional snake showman was bitten by a harmless "carpet python" during a show and died a short time after. dont know how reliable this story is tho
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RE: Crossbreeding in Nature
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by Cro on July 4, 2005
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Tom: Your post about an Australian Reptile Collector caused me to remember a question I have posted here a couple of times, but have gotten no response to so far. About 20 years ago, there was an Australian made TV show that aired here in the states, called `In The Wild`, (not to be confused with a more resent series by the same name). Anyway, the fellow doing the show was named Harry Green if I remember right, I know his first name was Harry. Anyway, he was like a early Steve Erwin, and captured Australian snakes by putting his hat over them, then hand grabbing them behind the head. He also had a lot of natural history information on his show, about other wildlife. Well, the show stopped, and nobody here seems to remember it except me. He would probably be pushing 70 years old these days. I have always wondered what happened to him, and have been able to find nothing on the internet about him or the show.
Do you know anything about this show, or what ever happened to Mr. Green ? Best Regards JohnZ
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RE: Crossbreeding in Nature
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by fissit on July 4, 2005
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Actually it has been my observation over almost half a century that Venomous Snakes and harmless snakes rarely are seen in close proximity..But then we do have several large King Snakes in the area,,and a few Black racers well over six feet..dont think puny little Copperheads like the company..
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RE: Crossbreeding in Nature
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by Jarrah42 on August 17, 2015
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Hi! I'm an Australian so I remember Harry Butler (not Green) well....he was, as you describe, an early Steve Irwin...harry was a brilliant naturalist who introduced a lot of australian kids to their home. His career came to a very abrupt end in the late 80s when he was (probably) paid to back a huge and very controversial uranium mine in the middle of an indigenous owned and world heritage listed national park.....
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RE: Crossbreeding in Nature
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by atrox84 on October 13, 2015
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I don't remember all of the details, but years ago I heard an old wives tale that said that the neurotoxic properties posessed by most Mojave rattlesnakes (C. scutulatus) was derived by rattlesnakes hybridizing with cobras. Legend has it that years ago a truck (or maybe a train) carrying several cobras crashed in the deserts of southern California or maybe AZ. The cobras escaped and, obviously, they mated with the local rattlesnake population which produced an extremely hot and aggressive rattlesnake, C. scutulatus. Apparently this is also the cause of the Mojave's greenish hue. Because we all know that there are several species of green cobras. If you ask me, a perfectly logical theory to explain how the Mojave rattlesnake came to be. This is what we are dealing with folks.
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RE: Crossbreeding in Nature
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by CharlieO on October 13, 2015
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This does actually raise a question...In those few cases where we do see some naturally occurring hybrids (e.g Cottonmouth x Copperhead), is there reasonable predictability for the characteristics of hybrid's venom? Moreover, if one were to hybridize captive specimens that do not normally live in proximity (e.g. copperhead x cantil), would there be significantly less predictability?
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