Reptile & Amphibian Forums

As I am not too familier with black rat snakes and varieties of leucistic black rat snakes....is it possible for a leutistic black rat snake to have red (pink) eyes? To me this would indicate a normal amelistic black rat...but I could easily be wrong. So, thought I would ask here were there are much more knowledgeable people in this area lurk.

If an albino was bred to a lucistic and the offspring were then bred together the offspring could produce a red eyed lucistic.
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"Life without risk is to merely exist."

Ahhh, ok, That does make sense..just wasn't sure if the traits were on the same locations genetically or independant of eachother. Thanks for letting me know. Have an opportunity to acquire one of these red eyed Leutistic black rat snakes and was curious if such a thing was possible.

I have a pink eyed leucistic texas rat and a blue eyed. they are sweet snakes, however don't pay more just because someone says it's a black rat and not a texas rat.

These are just snakes that resulted from a subspecies cross and are not pure black rats. Myself I would rather have a pissy texas rat that was pure than a possibly more docile mixed rat.

Not all all hybrids. I know Soderberg stock is pure and someone else's as well.
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0.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1.0 Ball Python "Wilson" (Castaway)
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"
0.0.1 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Onyx"

I aggree but many others would argue this point. I have talked to Don about his and he said as far as he knows they are pure but many say they aren't. I also have 1.1 albino and normal leucistic black rats and I lvoe them but as far as being more calm than a Texas.... mine are like crackheads! ALl my other black rats are pretty calm but those 2 are CRAZY! They don't bite, they just constantly try to get away from you and will if not careful. Anyway, there are others here with more knowledge of the whole black rat or Texas leucistic debate....
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"No I have never eaten snake!"
A quote I find myself using everytime someone finds out I have snakes.

Well, since my friend is giving it to me free, can't get much lower than that LOL. Once I have the snake, will post pictures for you all to see.

Wasn't aware there were hybrids out there that are called leutistic black rats. Only really looked up care information so I will have the cage setup and all that ready when the snake arrives. Not sure yet if my friend is going to include his setup or not. Other than the actual cage, i have all the items I need to get him set up. Heating pad, space on my rack, substrate and hides. Even have plenty of rats to feed him, though my friend has told me he has been feeding it 4 mice per meal so not sure how difficult it will be to convert the snake to rats, which I prefer to use as I breed my own feeders. However, if it won't take weaned rats (or smaller, if the snake isn't as big as an adult corn snake), can easily get appropriately sized mice till I can convert it over. Not sure if black rats are as finicky with food as ball pythons.

"Wasn't aware there were hybrids out there that are called leutistic black rats."

One small correction, these snakes are not hybrids. They are called intergrades. When you cross subspecies, such as a Black and a Yellow Rat, the offspring are called intergrades. If you cross a Corn Snake with a Black Rat, the offspring are hybrids because these snakes have parents that are not of the same species.

hybrid -- an offspring of two animals or plants of different races, breeds, varieties, species, or genera

Source: Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc. See www.dictionary.com

I know that "intergrade" is more commonly used for subspecies crosses than "hybrid" in herping circles. But according to the dictionary, "hybrid" is perfectly acceptable.

Here in the Midwest, "hybrid" corn refers to corn from crosses of inbred lines, which are more closely related than subspecies.

Paul Hollander

You are right but that is not the meaning of the term in the animal sciences. Intergrade is the more correct term to use.

"Hybrid—The offspring of the union of two distinct species." - Charles Darwin

A hybrid is the offspring of two parents that differ in one or more heritable characters. It may be at the subspecific,specific, or even the generic level, though the genetic difference between animals of different genera make hybridization unlikely.
Hybrid snakes at the subspecies level are called intergrades. They are common where the ranges of subspecies abut.

Source: Reptile and Amphibian Variants
Colors, Patterns, and Scales
H. Bernard Bechtel, M.D.
Page 96
I geuss you both are right :e