Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The most under rated white snake in the hobby has to be the Blizzard Sonoran. Dont you think? Tom Stevens

That is one of the nicest I have seen. I recently bought me some ingredients to try and produce some. I can only hope they turn out as nice as the one pictured.

John Cherry
Cherryville Farms
Cherryville Farms - Reptiles

Thanks John. I think working with these is so much fun since the 4 morphs are possible in any clutch of Envy stock Sonorans[unless you breed two of the same morph??]. When they start slitting the eggs and you get a peek at what's about to pop its head out it is really a rush. Good sized babies too, and all of them are so nice it is hard to pick a keeper. I now have all 4 in my collection. I just see the White Ball pythons, and Corns, and even the Lucy Rats getting so much more attention than these....and have no idea why this magnificent snake would get so little attention. These are really killer. Good luck with yours. Tom Stevens

Sonoran gophersnakes have always been wonderful captives for me and those I know who have kept them. Somehow I'm glad though that these animals aren't mass-produced like the corns. Great color morph for a great snake.

Tom,
As you know last year I bred a pair of hybinos from Dave Weymouth but from Envy line. The results of the 8 eggs were 6 hybinos and 2 blizzards. So breeding the same morphs can produce something other than what the visual morph is that produced the egg. I have to agree with you the blizzard sonoran is my goal and I should get there with relative ease.

This year I'm breeding a hybino male to two triple hets and a triple het male to the same two triple het females and a hybino female. I should get them all....fingers crossed. Last year I was deployed to hurricane katrina and my sonoran eggs spoiled while away. I think the flies did them in but all eight were full term in the egg.....

Murphy was not on my side last year so I'm due. I've heard that breeding a triple het to a morph produces better odds for healthy, full term hatchlings. What is your experience and what are you breeding in terms of sonoran pairings this summer.

Take care,
Russ

P.S. I sold alot but I'm not getting out completely

Hi Russ, glad to see you're still in the game. As of now I only have my 1.1 breeders, the Ghost male and Hybino female. The thing is last year she double clutched...which was something I was not even aware was possible? I think I had a total of 18 babies......and I have a few left but I am trying to hold onto a female Blizzard and that awesome male Hypo I had when I sold you yours. The color on that guy is really something else now. Most people tend to think breeding a line bred morph to a het from another snake, means the odds are in your favor that you're offspring should be toughend up a bit. I believe this too, however if I saw any problems from adding the new snake to the mix....I would stick with the line and just keep working with the initial stock I had. If you look at it this way, that the Envy line must already have a few lines within it for them to produce so many morphs, that must mean in a sense it has already been outcrossed a few times,know what I mean? Someone at some time for example had to start crossing the lines....Hypo, Albino, Axanthic/Ghost, to get the first Blizzards. Now all the morphs are easy to produce...almost too easy LOL. The one thing that is a little annoying, yet understandable when it comes to snakes,....and things NOT working out when you have a clutch of babies you feel may not be 100% healthy is not many of us try to breed the same 2 snakes under the same conditions the next year. We switch mates or mess with husbandry. We make it harder to pin down the problem so we get no answer as to why we actually had any problems. I know you do Thayeri[killer ones I might ad]. For me...this snake was a let down. I tried to breed a pair for a few years and got slugs 3 years in a row. Since I do so well with everything else I gave them to a friend who does well with them, and I hope he tries to breed the pair this year instead of matching up the pair with new mates. He does things very different...and I'd be happy to know it was me who botched the breeding plan and not that the snakes were defective or whatever. I am just the typeof person who worries very little over inbreeding, if it is inbreeding it is usually obvious....as your adults may not even seem normal. Other things could be incubation problems,,,,I had someone influence me to think of things in nature. He made me realize if theres a good environment for say Gophers with a lot of places for snakes to live they probably do not go far. The find places to mature and then most likely breed over and over again with thier relatives. If you make Daytona this year and you want earful mention this when I have a few cold ones in me,,,,I will talk til you can't take it anymore LOL Take it easy Russ
Tom Stevens