Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, so I lured you on a false premise however, I AM going to post my little theory in the next week or so. Most of you have heard that I have a theory on this that has been quite accurate in picking the hets from the non-hets in litters with possible het offspring. I have decided it is time, and I am, perhaps naively so, hoping that there will not be many people that use this information to sell possible hets and hets. But then, there are plenty of people who have and will continue to do that anyhow. So I figured I would sit down and write it up.

So before I do post my own little theory, how about we get you folks to talk it up a bit. What do you think might be a "marker" of the het for Albino animals? By the way, the several people that already know my theory, no fair posting that information just yet, OK? Let's see what other folks may have observed.

I suspect that animals which are het for albino have a small letter A on their bellies, close to the vent. : )
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2.1.0 Kidletts
0.0.1 Ball Pyhton (Rex)
0.0.1 Okeetee Corn (Maizey)
0.1.0 BCI (Ruby)
0.1.0 Cat (Ginger)
1.0.0 Pughuahua (Ranger)

>>I suspect that animals which are het for albino have a small letter A on their bellies, close to the vent. : )

I see the "marker" as being yellowish base coloration and spekeling between the saddles.

I have two boas that are possible hets and they both have scales and portions of scales with pigment missing. Here is a pic of one of my females and if you look below the saddle to the right you will notice what I am talking about. They both have more than one and it looks as if someone dripped white paint on them. That's my theory.....or it could also be piebaldism...LOL

That one good marker I have seen more often than not is the presence of randomly distributed white scales lacking the normal coloration for that area of the body. Hopefully this is the case with my salmon arabesque poss het alb from teh Burke's. I will attempt to prove him out with my coral female this year. Keeping my fingers crossed on that one.

Joe

I'm not sure..
I have one 100% het albino and the only thing that stands out about her is the amount of speckling she has, but then again.. i've seen some pretty dirty normals. I actually just bought a breeding age virgin possible het... now I must know... what do i look for in her? lol.

This is a pic of my definate het.

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0.1 Het Albino
1.0 DH-Sunglow
1.0 TH-Moonglow

what the marker is, and actually was able to come to the same conclusion that Jeff has on my own before he confided in me what his theory was, and as requested, I will not divulge the theory until Jeff makes his thoughts public. BUT, I will give you a hint

You would not be able to see the marker in any of the photos posted so far, your looking in the wrong area, its also not speckling, and none of the theories so far posted are even close yet.

Well... I don't know the trick and never spent the time really looking at my het to see if there was something 'special' about him.
Does the marker have to do with something in the eyes?
I've never noticed any 'white scales' on my het. He is very heavily speckeled tho! He was proven out in 2003.



-april

Keep thinking, this is getting warmer....

eye color. I can't remember where I heard that, but that's my guess.

By the way.. a little hint, sort of. The marker is FAR more obvious in babies. Once they hit 3' or more, it is much less reliable. I have gotten all the babies that I have been able to observe and prove out as hets. So 100% so far on identifying babies. That is no fewer than 12 individuals. My record with larger, that is 6' or longer animals, is 9 correct and 2 unconfirmed yet or likely wrong. Those are pretty good odds. One of the non-het animals I had hoped was a het, just had a huge litter born about two weeks ago. She was one of the two I had gotten incorrect. I was only able to check her after I had raised her up to about 5'. Now at just about 10' she was enormous and she was bred by a Sunglow male. The litter consisted of no Sunglows or Albinos. Tell me I wasn't depressed. Very disappointed indeed.

I've taken out all my hets and non hets to try to figrue this thing out...yet i remain dumbfounded.

Does this theory apply to all boa constricotrs and BCI morphs? How long do you plan to keep us in suspense!!??

I think I found it... but jeff pick up the phone so I can ask you and make sure its right before I post.

Steve

All Boas including Hypos. Having the entire litter is really really helpful though. That is not what everyone probably wants to here but it true.

naw couldn't be forget it.

Alex

... the ball python forum! get ready for the "is this a het albino?" posts ha!

Im really curious about the marker ::suspence::

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Mike Fourquet
Cloaca Herps

Do you mean that someone has speculated as to a "marker" for hets in Ball Pythons too? I would not be surprised if the exact same thing would work. Now there is a hint for you...

So is there a presumed or "known" marker for Ball Python hets?

Piebald Ball Pythons although from what we have seen and what we have discussed with other breeders, this is not always 100%. In Piebald Ball Pythons, the 100% hets. usually have thick stripes down either side of the belly. This is known as the het. Pied marker.

We have never heard of a het. Piebald with the marker not prove out to be a het. On the other hand though, just because it doesn't have the marker, does not necessarily mean that the animal is not a het. There have been hets. proven out that did not have the thick striping on the belly.

So, there has never been a het. with the striping that did NOT prove out yet there have been hets. without the striping that DID prove out.

Hope that makes sense. If anyone has experienced or heard of otherwise, please correct me...

Thanks,
Celia
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Celia Chien
Celia Chien Photography

www.ExoticsByNature.com

www.BoaConstrictorMorphs.com
www.BallPythonMorphs.com
www.CornSnakeMorphs.com

but have not tried to prove it true.

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Vince Pramuk

...now Im gonna be pacing the floor in front of my computer until you spill the beans.....and I had my week all planned out!!LOL

Cant wait to hear what you have to say....

Ive been looking at some pics of mine and afew others known hets and known "non hets"

in the eyes... the only thing I have noticed so far.. is that they all have a faded ring of color around their pupil.

in the non hets.. this seems to be thinner whereas the known hets pupil band seems wider

just a guess
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www.acboas.com

The marks above the eyes, that look like clown eyelashes.
Jeff poined out a baby male arabesque, I posted pics of on his forum years ago that was a 66% poss het. He said he'd bet any takers $100 he was a het. I was happy about it, and he proved to be a het albino last season..

I was also at a show and a woman said all of her hets had marks that look like eye makeup on thier faces, A different perspective is always interesting..

But thats what I came up with from the pics I had posted and the fact he was arabesque so it couldn't be the pattern. And Jeff had dropped some hint about them being "pretty" if i remember correctly..

Can't wait to hear it jeff I have been wondering for years..
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Ed Lilley, www.constrictorsnw.com
www.reptileinsider.com

on Jeffs site.. these are the exact pics i posted right after I got this guy..

Something to speculate on in the meanwhile anyway..
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Ed Lilley, www.constrictorsnw.com
www.reptileinsider.com

Dangit,
Now i wanna post my possible het that'll (hopefully) prove out this season. Only problem is I don't get him til next week and the only picture I have his eyes are covered by a rat... The suspense is killing me jeff!
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0.1 Het Albino
1.0 DH-Sunglow
1.0 TH-Moonglow

It is very easy to SEE.....

I can see it too.

I wonder if we're both looking at the same thing. LOL.

Are you talking about my arabesque pic? This is like salt in a wound...LOL... I am taking my poss hets off the market untill I hear what it is might have to keep the females with the markers..
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Ed Lilley, www.constrictorsnw.com
www.reptileinsider.com

I think I've got it! The lighter color at the top half of the eyeball is repeated around the lower edge on hets, but on non-hets, the bottom (darker) color is solid all the way down to the scales.

Is that it Jeff?
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2.1.0 Kidletts
0.0.1 Ball Pyhton (Rex)
0.0.1 Okeetee Corn (Maizey)
0.1.0 BCI (Ruby)
0.1.0 Cat (Ginger)
1.0.0 Pughuahua (Ranger)

I phoned jeff and that was my theory. Where the bottom half of the eye is not solid. I thought that was it too but he said that not HIS marker. It could be a marker but its not the one he's talking about.

Steve

Aw, crap. I was psyched becaue both my hets look like that.
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2.1.0 Kidletts
0.0.1 Ball Pyhton (Rex)
0.0.1 Okeetee Corn (Maizey)
0.1.0 BCI (Ruby)
0.1.0 Cat (Ginger)
1.0.0 Pughuahua (Ranger)

well I was so sure it was the marker that I had to phone jeff and ask... but I ended up being teased and ended up with more questions then answers. It was nice that jeff took 10 minutes and actually was pretty cool about everything... other then the teasing. lol

Steve

Right....or maybe? So you think you can tell????? LOL

This is the phrase Jeff used in that old post about the poss het Arab.Now I am not in anyway in the "KNOW" about this but I have spent countless hours over the past 9 months or so looking at hets and possible hets,and this is my conclusion.The hets have maybeline eyes because it looks like someone dipped thier finger in make-up and touched or brushed it on their head just above the eyes(sort of looks like eyebrows).Typically a much darker color than the rest of the head,thus it really stands out in a group.If I am correct whats the prize Jeff?

After looking at my het's,it seems like they all have a black dot under there eye's.That is the only thing I could find the same.Can't wait to find out!!!
Mike and Tracy

OK, so he said, "Maybeline!SP! Eyes!"

Now Maybeline is pretty self explanitory. Eyes is also self explanitory, BUT...... Mascara isn't the only thing Maybeline makes for the eyes.

What does the SP! mean?? I think it still has something to do with the eyes, but I'm not sure he was refering to the black marks on the head.

Could it mean "silver pigment?" Could it mean "Super Pretty?" Could it mean something else or nothing at all?

I think I'll wait for Jeff to let us in on the secret.

I lost sleep over this last night! Spill the beans, man.
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2.1.0 Kidletts
0.0.1 Ball Pyhton (Rex)
0.0.1 Okeetee Corn (Maizey)
0.1.0 BCI (Ruby)
0.1.0 Cat (Ginger)
1.0.0 Pughuahua (Ranger)

I wasnt sure how to spell Maybeline the SP is there for that reason only.It was never a part of Jeffs statement.Jeff said in his theory all the hets had "Maybeline eyes"which led me to believe that one he thought their eyes were prettier than non hets,or they had some sort of make-up look around the eyes somewhere.Jeff also stated he felt this to be reliable in young Boas only if I remember correctly.Please understand that I am not quoting Jeff verbatum as that post was a long time ago.Sorry for any confusion.JOHN

For actually DOING THE BREEDING to find out! *lol* Jeff likes to create a buzz,and while I understand the presumed importance of a reliable "marker method" of identification for "possible hets",and that it may have given him the impression it worked,I honestly do not think there is any outward physical guarantee of heterozygousity (for this type of amelanism.)that could be considered "fool proof",but like anyone else,I'd love to hear it,and it would be fun to play with such a theory.recently Jeff posted on his forum the results of a breeding loan involving a "poss. het" female,bred to a Sunglow,based on the results,I would say that either his marker method is flawed,and is STILL just a best guess,OR the statistical odds were WAY south of "best case scenario",either way genetic calculations are still subject to surprise changes without notice...that's the one guarantee that is irrefutable in my experience,and is the only thing I would chisle in stone.
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EMAIL quit editing my signature!

These are 2 of our 100% het albinos. I'm thinking, not just a dark spot under the eye but an actual line like mark? I dunno...?? When are you gonna tell us?

Jennifer
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Insane Canes, LLC
Shawn & Jennifer
954-696-7596 10-9 EST
www.InsaneCane.com
Kingsnake@InsaneCane.com

I can't see what I would look for in either of those pictures. The thing I would look for lessens as they mature. Boas change as they grow. What I look for can mainly be seen in babies. I can see this "marker" in only one of my adult 100% proven hets.

Of course, what I look for may not be what someone else would look for. My theory hasn't been proven to be helpful in choosing hets yet. I have 2 more years before my female possible hets mature. Then I'll find out if it worked for me.

BTW I didn't keep any males. I'm using an adult Albino male to try and prove out my females.