Posted by:
Dwight Good
at Sat Jan 22 19:52:04 2005 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Dwight Good ]
>>>The existence of Rusty Ratsnakes in nature is another matter entirely. You say that if a genetic trait inherits codominantly, than it should not be rare in nature. Talk about bull butter...
Actually you should re-read my post. I merely posed a question, "If its a codominant trait then why is it rare in the wild?" I know very little about codominant traits as they apply to colubrid snakes. Do you have any literary references that you could point me to? (Please no links or citations to pigeon, horse, or minature donkey morphs as I'm not interested in those) I would love to read literary works on the subject of colubrid codominant genetics if you have any. However I have been in the reptile trade long enough to know there are plenty of bull[bleep]ters out there, so please no references to Joe Blow's Trunkslammer Reptile Barn or the like.
Actually, if the phenotype gets selected against, the codominant modus of inheritance may stop it from ever getting common. In fact, a recessive trait would have a much better chance of getting abundant in a genepool since its heterozygous carriers have as much chances of survival as any normal snake.
We are talking about rusty rat snakes here, a phenotype that would hardly be selected against in the wild. IMHO, rusty rats aren't that abnormally colored to the point that it would affect their survival in the wild (my opinion, I have no factual evidence to support this.)
BTW, can you provide references to any published info in regards to the origins of the rusty rat snake? I'd love to read more about them (LOL).
>>I have read the Bechtel article, but I don't see how it contradicts with the Rusty Ratsnake theory.
I was merely pointing out the fact that they have been crossed (black x texas) since the introduction of the leucistic animals to herpetoculture. Some people here may not be aware of the extensive crossing that has gone on over the years and may be fooled by some of these breeders that sell rusty rats and leucistic black rats as pure. Bottom line is people can believe what they want to believe. If they want to pay 4 or 5 times more for a pure (LOL) leucistic black rat snake then that is their right. Its their money after all. I personally will never buy, sell, or otherwise work with leucistic black rat snakes or rusty rat snakes based on my research on these morphs.
Dwight Good
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RE: Bull butter - Dwight Good, Sat Jan 22 19:52:04 2005