Reptile & Amphibian Forums

if there isn't one already here somewhere on the kingsnake site. If there is, I can't locate it. (Maybe "glossary" would be more accurate than dictionary.)

I know a lot of the common terminology, but since I'm not a breeder I often get thrown off by some of the technical or "slang" terms (e.g. leucistic, amelanistic, anerythristic, het, hypo, pyro, etc.)

So if there's a handy resource around somewhere with this info, I would much appreciate it if someone could direct me there. If not, do any of the experts out there want to take a shot at putting one together?

Thanks, michaelb

You hit the nail on the head when you used the word "slang". We couldn't include these terms in a glossary because we could never agree on them. These terms refer to the physical appearance (phenotype) and not any provable genetic makeup (genotype). We call a snake that has a lack of yellow pigment "axanthic" which means that they have an absence of xanthin or xanthophores. However in brooksi kingsnakes this morph also shows a lack of red pigment. Some people call them anerythristic and some call axanthic. In reference to a brooksi these terms mean the same thing but scientifically they mean something totally different. In addition, there are at least two maybe three differnt morphs called axanthic in brooksi and they are not compatible. Meaning that if you breed one to another the babies come out normal carrying the gene for both types. These are scientific terms that are being used very unscientifically. We know what the result of certain breedings will be but have no real genetic evidence of what is happening. However we usually know whatv someone is referring to when they use these terms so they are at least partially functional. I guess what I'm saying is that if we did have this glossary it would have to give a different difinition (and most likely a picture) for every differnt species that this term is used for. My best advise is if you are wondering what an axanthic brooksi looks like, ask someone for a picture on one of these forums.
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Actually, Michael, I have been working on just such a document for some time now. I am nearing completion with it, but have no idea how to get it on the forum where people can access it. It explains all of the commonly used terms, abbreviations, notations, slang, specific and sub-specific references, etc. that I know of. It is a relatively large document, several pages long. If someone has an idea how to put it up on the forum so that it is accessible, I'm all ears....

Excellent! Perhaps the moderator(s) of this forum will see your post and get back to you with a plan for setting up a link to it somewhere here on the kingsnake.com page.

I'm sure there will be disagreement on the exact definitions of some of the terms, especially the slang words. But if it's done properly, the definitions can point out those cases where usage is sometimes inconsistent, or may vary depending on the species or the group using them, or whatever.

Oldherper - one suggestion would be to run a draft of your glossary by several colleagues for comments, before posting it in final form. Not necessarily a rigorous scientific review process, but enough to smooth out any potential conflicts in definitions.

MichaelB

Definitely. I wouldn't put something out without having it reviewed by two or three other people first.

Care Sheets/FAQs/Features sounds like a good place to have it posted.