Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am a colubrid guy and really into milk snakes but have always loved brazilian rainbows and want to get some soon. I've been spending some time on this forum lately admiring the beautiful snakes you guys have been posting and a question came to mind.

The brazilians that people are calling hypomelanistic seem to me to be lacking red pigmentation, not black. Why are people calling these brazilians hypomelanistic? To me, they look more anerythristic or hypoerythristic rather than hypomelanistic.

I appreciate your thoughts and look forward to getting some brazillians soon...

Dave
DNS Reptiles

In my opinion they should be called Hypo...Hypomelanistic means reduced Black, Most of the Hypo Brazilians I see are just that, the black rings and black pattern are just that reduced black.

Hypo next to a Normal
www.eastbayvivarium.com/gallery/snakesgallery/hypobaby16.jpg

If you do a search of Hypo Brazilian Rainbow, you can see how light the black is on the Hypos...I personally think its a good term to use for them...
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Executive Reptiles
Amanda Kingsbury & David Kendrick
www.executivereptiles.com

Here is a link to an Anery Brazilian, can you see the difference in a Hypo Vs. Anery?

Anery Brazilian Rainbow
www.easternindigo.com/subpageaneryrainbow.html
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Executive Reptiles
Amanda Kingsbury & David Kendrick
www.executivereptiles.com

Dave,

I tried to make that same argument when I first produced these animals. The way it was explained to me was that the hypomels are not lacking any "red" pigment. If you look at them you will see varying degrees of peach and orange. The reason normal brazilians appear so much more red is that the melanin adds a darkness to their overall coloration. I am already seeing variation within the "hypomelanistic" animals that I am producing. The variation seems to be similar to the range of orange, red and brown seen in normal brazilians. As more breeding is done with this species, more genes will be proven out. We might find that "hypomelanism" isn't really the correct term. Or, possibly more than one gene is involved. In this picture, you can see that there is definately a lack in the black pigmentation of the hypomelanistic animal. If this animal were a normal brazilian, he would probably be more orange than red.

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Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com

I agree with Mike,

In these “hypomelanistic” animals there is a reduction in black pigmentation, and an overall lightening of body coloration due to this. Among the hypo babies you will see a difference, just as you would with normal colored BRB's. Some are redder and others are more orange. I feel that there are many mis-named mutations out there (including Hypomelanistic Boa Constrictors), But I expect that this mutation in BRB’s is some sort of hypomelanism.

I will try to include a link to some comparison photos I took of SIBLING snakes (about 3 months of age). There is a more noticeable difference as the snakes reach 18 months of age (JUST AS WITH NORMAL BRB's).

http://rainbowboas.com/images/wi2004hypocomparison3months/

>>I agree with Mike,
>>
>>In these “hypomelanistic” animals there is a reduction in black pigmentation, and an overall lightening of body coloration due to this. Among the hypo babies you will see a difference, just as you would with normal colored BRB's. Some are redder and others are more orange. I feel that there are many mis-named mutations out there (including Hypomelanistic Boa Constrictors), But I expect that this mutation in BRB’s is some sort of hypomelanism.
>>
>>I will try to include a link to some comparison photos I took of SIBLING snakes (about 3 months of age). There is a more noticeable difference as the snakes reach 18 months of age (JUST AS WITH NORMAL BRB's).
>>
>>http://rainbowboas.com/images/wi2004hypocomparison3months/

Thanks for everyone's input. Its an interesting trait to work with. They sure are beautiful snakes.

Thanks,

Dave
DNS Reptiles