As Mike pointed out, these are crosses between black,yellow, and everglades rats. The original 'blotchless' animal was typical looking yellow/glades rat from south Florida. Click here for more info.



In addition, here is a quote from the 1996 Blue Chameleon Ventures (now CornUtopia) price list:



"BLOTCHLESS RATS Elaphe obsoleta ssp. A recessive trait discovered here in Everglades Rats in which the animals never have dorsal blotches, even as hatchlings! We developed this strain just to see what it looks like, especially as an albino..... Non-Albinos.....40.00 Albinos......... 55.00"



In 1997, Kathy changed the name of this cultivar from "Blotchless Rats" to Xanadu Rats.



Then on the 1998 CornUtopia price list is the following quote:



"WHATCHAMACALL'EM RATS Elaphe obsoleta ssp - A recessive trait discovered here in our Rat snake colony in which the animals never have dorsal blotches, even as hatchlings! We're playing with crossing this strain just to see what it looks like in different variations, including as an albino. Formerly called 'Blotchless Rats' and 'Xanadu Rats' on old lists, we renamed them a bit more creatively again this year to see if we can finally find one that inspires more interest. Kathy says they're really neat, but Bill can't think of a descriptive word to accurately convey his particular enthusiasm for the project. Must see to appreciate!

Albino specimens are .......... 75.00 Non-albinos are ..... 35.00



Subsequently, in 1999 CornUtopia renamed the morph again, to simply 'Striped Rats.'



This should give everyone a good idea as to the origins of this cultivar and how it has evolved over the years. I think its safe to say that Kathy and Bill Love are the ones we owe our gratitude for making these animals available in the pet trade. The albinos are beautiful! However, since they have stopped working with them (AFAIK) these animals will (have?) become increasingly harder to find, albinos and normals.



Here are some photos from my personal collection, although I am no longer working with the 'blotchless' strain. The animal pictured below is a normal phase blotchless animal I produced a few years ago:







As the normals mature, they begin to look like regular Everglades rats. The plain grey hatchling color intensifies into a bright orange. Here is an adult female:







In addition to my pics above, Travis G posted a photo of one of his normal blotchless animals in this post in the forum archives.



Hope this helps,
-----
Dwight Good

http://www.kingsnake.com/obsoleta

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