I wish I knew of any publications regarding the origin of rusty / leucistic Black Ratsnakes, but like I said before I was only telling what I've been told by some other well known ratsnake breeders. I'm not really into name dropping, but it wasn't Joe Blow's Trunkslammer Reptile Barn (good one, haha).



The reason I asked for published articles is because I have heard quite a few different stories as to the origins of the rusty rats, both online and at reptile shows across the United States. Chicago IL, St. Louis MO, Indianapolis IN, Evansville IN, Columbus OH, Cincinnati OH, Shelbyville KY, Oak Grove KY, Birmingham AL, Columbia SC, Raleigh NC, Orlando FL, Tampa FL, Daytona Beach FL, I've been to all of them many times in the past 10 years and talked to quite a few vendors. The stories vary from vendor to vendor. *shrug* doesn't really matter to me, my mind is already made up as to the 'purity' of leucistic black rat snakes. No sense beating a dead horse any longer.. lol (I think I've said this before but still beat the horse from time to time)



Codominant genes propably are quite common in snakes, it's just that the mutant genes that we as reptile breeders focus on almost always turn out to be recessive. The codominant modus of inheritance of the rusty coloration is well know, another well known example of a codominant gene is the (heterozygous) 'Tiger' and the (homozygous) 'Super Tiger' Reticulate Python.



Its funny when someone brings up codominant genes, the topic always turns to boas, pythons, pigeons, donkeys, etc. Can't recall many actual colubrid codominant discussions.



You know what? Let's just breed a leucistic Texas Ratsnake to a leucistic Black Ratsnake, and see what happens.



I don't think that would prove much, as all the offspring would be leucistic. Breed a normal black rat snake to a leucistic TX rat snake, raise up the F1 generation, and then breed them to each other. Wonder how many 'rusty' black rats will pop up? LOL.



By the way, should you ever come to Europe, can you take some of these excellent Brindle Black Ratsnakes with you?



Sorry but I seriously doubt I will ever come to Europe. Below is a picture of a nice brindle.



dg

[ Show Entire Thread ]