As far as I know, there has only been one Leucistic Texas Rat found in the wild since before people started breeding them like crazy. The leucistic Black Rat was also found after leucistic Texas Rats were common in the pet trade. While I am not saying that any of the later finds were natural morphs caused by a single gene mutation, I think that one has to look hard at any such find.

The leucistic trait seems to be a single gene recessive trait. It also seems to influence the "bug eyed" phenotype. Dr. Bechtel noted this in his 1985 paper "Genetics of color mutations in the snake, Elaphe obsoleta" that he co-authored with his wife.

Since for many, not all Black Rats are the same species, abd you are buying a "white sanke". save your money and get a Texas Rat from a quality breeder. I keep WT Texas Rats myself, and I think they are wonderful animals.

Best of lock to you in finding your perfect snake.

Rick

[ Hide Replies ]

• Leucistics - insane_racing618, Fri Jan 9 21:10:53 2009
• RE: Leucistics - Redmoon, Sat Jan 10 08:49:06 2009
• RE: Leucistics - Elaphefan, Sat Jan 10 18:38:37 2009