Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Anyone ever seen a specimen resembling the Piebald (?) mutation advertised on the Classifieds? That is incredible!! I have seen a few so-called Piebald (act. Calico) Monocleds but they don't hold a flame to this specimen. Are their any others out their that are similar? What about the Leucistics?

Howz about this?

This is a female malaysian spitter, it's not an albino, just pure white:

Looks like it has that grey patterning down the back.? Gorgeous though, have you produced anything from her?

It's unfortunately not my snake..

(Or should I say fortunately, given my experience with elapids )

This snake is owned by someone I know, this guy bred my first Aspidelaps l lubricus.

The animal is. as you noticed not pure white, there are some grey-silver flecks on the bach and there is a slight grey pattern on the hood.
The male looks the same, only a bit bigger.

The's bred this pair a few times now, and I've seen this years'babies, they are absolutely stunning! The babies are lighter colored than the parents, almost no grey scales on the back, but some have a silver colored hood marking.

By the way, this is not a leucistic line of animals, it's a normal Naja sputatrix color form from a distinct region

here one of the babies from an earlier clutch

Hello.
No I think it is not a N. sputatrix.It looks like the white colore form of Naja siamensis.(Black & White Thai Spitter )
A good friend of my is breeding them every year.
Regards Hans

That does not seem believable - due to their colouration, they would surely be preyed upon until extinction. We would have also seen alot more of these in the "trade" because they would surely be one of the most sought after Najas in existence. Mutations are generally a direct result of an animal inbreeding because it is confined within a certain geographic range - due to natural barriers (i.e. Mountains, rivers, etc.). I could be wrong (as I imagine you could) but it does not seem logicalthat these are "normal" animals. Anyone else have any info. regarding a normally occuring (mostly) white species??

Thre was once a very small population of patternless Pituophis m. mugitas in the silver springs area in Florida. individuals ran from light brownish dorsally to some that were bone white. some of these snakes were the ancestors of all the patternless pines you see on the market. They probably survived mostly because of the fossorial habits of the species. I do not know if this population still exists as Pines have declined radically her in Florida.
Frank

>>By the way, this is not a leucistic line of animals, it's a normal Naja sputatrix color form from a distinct region

Hi,

Just curious: where do these come from? No need for exact locality, but country/island would be interesting. There are some weird colour variations of N. sputatrix and N. sumatrana out there, but Ihave never seen anything like quite like this.

Cheers,

Wolfgang
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WW

WW Home

Do you feel they could be considered a "normal" coloration, WW?

>>Do you feel they could be considered a "normal" coloration, WW?

Not in Malaysia. Naja sumatrana (NOT sputatrix!) in northern Malaysia and southern Thailand arer usually yellow, soemtimes cream, but I have never seena silver-grey specimen. Axanthic is a term that does spring to mind, but I wouldn't want to make any inferences based on that. The piebald spitter in the classifieds looks like a N. siamensis with rather less black than usual, but not necessarily anything distinct genetically.

Cheers,

Wolfgang
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WW

WW Home

While in Singapore, we milked one silver/grey spitter that was somewhat similar. No locality for it since it was part of a custom's seizure. Neat animal though. However, it reinforced why I hate spitters when it set off my allergy through the aerosolised venom!! grrrrrrrr

Cheers
BGF
Venom & Toxin Database