H. B. (Bern) Bechtel tested albinos in several species of snake. Rat snakes, corn snakes, and at least one other. For what it's worth, the amelanistic mutant in corn snakes is tyrosinase negative. But as far as I know, no boa or python albino has been tested for tyrosinase activity.

In my opinion, calling so many different mutant genes "T-positive" makes as much sense as calling every animal that is not a dog a cat. That would lump horses and mice into the "cat" category.

The pro geneticists give each mutant a unique name. In my opinion, each boa mutant should have a unique name. That would avoid arguments as to whether a mutant is hypomelanistic or T-positive albino. And eventually the biochemists with tell us exactly what the mutants are doing.

By the way, the evidence that I have seen indicates that paradigm boas have a Sharp albino mutant gene paired with a boawoman caramel mutant gene. There is precedent for this scenario in the black rat snake (tyrosinase positive albino and another mutant), in the corn snake (amelanistic and ultra), and a variety of other species of animals.

Paul Hollander

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