Yeah, if there was an agreement for them to send out a very specific snake you picked out, and they sent you something else, that would really piss me off. But!, I will say that you got a very nice amel bi-colored tangerine there. And yes, there is a VERY substantial variation among amel Hondurans, as well as the other morphs and normals of the subspecies.



When they were first introduced into the hobby by "BHB Enterprises", the only amels available were tricolored phenotypes at $3,000 dollars(like 1995). These were typically red, very light butter-yellow, and white from the amel gene. As time progressed and more were bred, more and more of the tangerine influence was introduced into these tricolor albinos from more breeders that acquired these, and the rings(especially the middle triad ring) began to go from light butter-yellow, to a more peach color, then got even more intense orange-tangerine(as well as the red body rings). These more tangerine snakes where more in demand and fetched a higher price as well as they became the "latest thing" with the amel Hondos. And here we are today with any and ALL of these different phenotypes out there now. They are probably best categorized as tricolor, then intermediate (peach phase), tangerine, bicolored tangerine, and bicolored red phases.



Now if you like this other one you got instead, which would certainly be very understandable, You should keep it, and it looks great to me. It's all a personal preference. I would still tell this breeder/dealer that he/she really screwed up by sending you the WRONG snake that you agreed upon, but if you like it, which is very understandable, then tell the person they got very lucky that you are pleased with this one. Is it at least the right sex you wanted?



Here are a few different amel variations as well.......





~Doug






























































































































-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"





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