Posted by:
DMong
at Fri May 27 23:41:46 2011 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by DMong ]
I TOTALLY agree with that. That is what I have been saying about alot of types of snakes for many years. What people call things, or think something is, and what is actually responsible for many of these "looks" can be two VERY different things altogether. Fact is without an "L-dopa" laboratory test, alot of this t-plus/hypo/lavender thing is pure speculation.
But I will say that everything has to be called SOMETHING at some point, it can't be simply referred to as "it" on the label..LOL!. Whether or not some of these names and terms are accurate however is a different story. When would extreme hypomelanism become t-plus?, and how much tyrosine has to be synthesized to be just typical hypomelanism?. Then there are many different degrees of hypomelanism alone as well, hell all animals with dark pigment are "t-positive" anyway, but the term is used in snakes when that is basically all that is present, and it cannot properly convert the other precursor chemical/enzymes into melanin, or the cells lack these other things that will allow the tyrosine to convert into melanin, or simply totally block them from being converted, who the heck knows. THEN you can have all SORTS of different types of different amounts of this that can mix that might only allow a tiny bit to be processed(lavender?), or a more moderate amount(maybe a t-plus, but still converts into SOME melanin), or more allowed into the melanocyte(maybe as in the chocolate-looking t-plus morph being the newly-discovered nelsoni from France), or the very dark purplish/brown "lavender" speckled kings. Just too many unknowns with what is at work, and what it really is that causes many of these looks. Then of course there's the extremely silvery/platinum gray "extreme" hypo Hondo's as well. Nobody really knows what is going on there either except for the fact it "seems" to be allelic with, and a form of hypomelanism, but who knows there either.
Most people in this hobby don't bother much about studying what causes what in the pigment cells(cromatophores) anyway, and that is a big reason why there are so many mislabeled morphs in the hobby. Many mutant phenotypes will never be known exactly what is responsible for causing a certain look either, there are just too many variables to get a handle on in a few of these. But if more people knew more about the proper terms and what certain colors certain chromatophores are responsible for producing, it would at least be a good bit better than it is.
Heck, I remember a guy had some yellow rats at a show back in 1996, and they were solid light gray with the typical dark longitudinal striping. The only part of the animal that had even a hint of any yellow was the snout and a a bit on the chin and throat. He had these labeled as anerythristics because I am sure he figured they had the same color scheme as the anerythristic cornsnakes that were already established in the hobby. Even back then just as soon as I saw these, I knew they were actually appropriately termed hypoxanthic yellow rats (greatly reduced yellow pigment...xanthine). Can't be anerythristic if the animal normally has zero red pigment(erythrines) in it's color scheme to begin with, now can it?..LOL!
Anery floridana are another questionable term too. You have to know it didn't have any red to begin with in it's natural original form first. Some floridana have lots of red, while others have absolutely zero red when hatched, and are still quite normal. I think it is probably just a different type of axanthism than the other BHB. N.E., Lemke, lines, etc.., but I guess it being distinguished from the rest isn't bad though, as the plainer darker brown and white ones can remain being called anery's and the other more bluish/purple lines that speckle up far more be termed axanthics.
Anyway, todays confusing list goes on and on and on........
~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing" 
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RE: Well,..... - DMong, Fri May 27 23:41:46 2011