Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know...it's not the gray band forum....but I'm curious to see how many here also keep L.alterna.
I used to crave those great Blair's phase (at $400.+ ea!) and I do have some now but I find myself leaning more toward the alterna phase these days..I love the black and gray w/no red at all and the speckleds..
How 'bout you?
I'm always undecided I guess...and coincidentally, I breed my male alterna phase to a nice Blair's and get some that look like this guy...

Sort of a mix, huh? I also get some Blair's of course and one or two more "alterna" looking.
Remember when they were high dollar snakes?? No more.
I am sure "locality pure" L.alterna still command a good $$, but when I can't "give 'em away" for $40. it makes me think of when I could not afford to have these beauties and sigh...
I am looking (sort of) to find GB that have red where most times it is orange(ish) and some highly speckled ones too for my collection..any help?
:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

www.crimsonking.funtigo.com

i also keep alterna as well, as they are my second fave behind pits.
That is a very pretty snake you have there! I love the intermediate orange bands!
When I first got back in the hobby, I did commonly see babies for $125 on up. Now, they are a lot cheaper and I do see what you are saying. My first pair was $150 total, and this was back in 1996.
As far as red banded ones, I have seen some in the past, but dark red banded ones seem to be less prevalent as the orange ones. Recently, I saw some nice speckled ones, River Road I think, from Vivid Reptiles on their available page.
Here is my only non-locale blairs, but also, maybe my favorite one I have.

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Genesis 1:1

these are 05 GBK produced by mexicanamak (mike k). they are generic and for generics they dont come much better than
this IMO. their parents were dark and they were bred to carry on that trait

Adam

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4.5 THAYERI
1.2 SPLENDIDA
1.3 ALTERNA
0.0.1 HOLD BACK RUNT ALBINO CORN
0.1.1 PYXIE FROG
0.0.1 MEXICAN RED KNEE
1.0 CHILEAN ROSE HAIR

Those are so smokin!! Wow!
Yeah, for me, generic or locale, it doesn't matter, they all are special.
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Genesis 1:1

i really love the looks of those dark ones they are very awesome
i have never seen dark background colored ones
adam
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hybrid breeders association
1.0 snow corns
1.0 albino corns
1.1 sinacorns
1.0 striped ghost corns
1.1 kenyan sand boas
1.1 mbk
1.3 ghost corns
0.1 bloodred
0.1 striped albino corn
0.1 childrens python
0.1 albino nelsons
0.1 anery motley
0.1 albino banded cal king
0.1 normal corn het hypo,anery
1.0 jurassic milk
1.0 blizzard leo gecko
0.2 normal leo geckos
1.0 3 lined mud turtle

thanks man, they really are something special, they get darker and darker with each shed and their orange doesnt have a spec of dark on any scale, they should be ready to go in two years, so i will see what happens doing dark to dark and dark to light, should be interesting, thanks again for the compliment

adam

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4.5 THAYERI
1.2 SPLENDIDA
1.3 ALTERNA
0.0.1 HOLD BACK RUNT ALBINO CORN
0.1.1 PYXIE FROG
0.0.1 MEXICAN RED KNEE
1.0 CHILEAN ROSE HAIR

I agree!!,......those are VERY nice looking "Gray-bands" !!,.......also, keep in mind, the term "generic" only means that the bloodline doesn't come from a specific locale,or is simply unknown,and has nothing to do whatsoever with the looks......they could be the dullest, or the most "eye-popping" specimens in the world........best regards,................Doug
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Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!

The majority of my collection is locality alterna.. Years ago I only wanted blairs phase but i have branched out....

3 pix...

here are some of my blairs...

some of my 2006 blairs hatchlings - pre shed

some alterna...

Sorry about all the posts.. I never learned how to post more than 3 pix at a time.

The bottom 2 are in shed..

Mike, you are killing me here with all these amazing alterna!
I gotta take some more pics of some of mine.
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Genesis 1:1

If you ever want to sell any put me on the list

is their a solid red and grey no black outline blairs phase out there? i would snap one up in a heart beat. i just love the blairs phase but have shyed away due to everyone saying the hatchlings are so hard to start on rodents and that lots o' tricks are needed....is this true?
adam
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hybrid breeders association
1.0 snow corns
1.0 albino corns
1.1 sinacorns
1.0 striped ghost corns
1.1 kenyan sand boas
1.1 mbk
1.3 ghost corns
0.1 bloodred
0.1 striped albino corn
0.1 childrens python
0.1 albino nelsons
0.1 anery motley
0.1 albino banded cal king
0.1 normal corn het hypo,anery
1.0 jurassic milk
1.0 blizzard leo gecko
0.2 normal leo geckos
1.0 3 lined mud turtle

Beautiful alterna you have Mark. I only have one in my collection at the present time. An 05 River Road locality male from Vivid reptiles. Many of these River Rd alterna from vivid have various amounts of speckling.

Steve

Well, I don't have a single gray band in my collection. Blairs really aren't my thing, but if I saw an alterna that was gray, with absolutely no orange, I may not be able to pass it up.

Mark, check out the new guys' post on the gbk forum and the dark animal, WOW! some red but very unique! I have one of Mike's blairs, he is sleeping for a few weeks. Hope to acquire some w.c. animals with Zee this year.
Todd Hughes

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just a leeeetle while longer.... Can't wait to THCORE again,lol!
How's it going, bro?
Zee
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"I am an expert on everything, but I know so little and have so much to learn!" -Carsten "Zee" Zoldy-

The z-man lives!!! Yeth! FIRE!!!! Things are getting back to normal today with a leetle sunshine after a week of cold and rain. I hear out west had lots of precip so it shouls be just like the year we thcored!!! When are you due back stateside and where are the herp pics from over yonder! Keep well and see ya soon!
Todd Hughes

Here's a few of mine... These are a couple of the ones that were WC in West Texas in 05'. Sorry folks, but I just love the reds n' oranges...

Zee

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"I am an expert on everything, but I know so little and have so much to learn!" -Carsten "Zee" Zoldy-

DISCERN shakes his head...a tear forms in his eye...( sigh ).." that is just not fair..."

LOL!

Those are AWESOME! Thank you for sharing!
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Genesis 1:1

Yes, I have seen a few. But those Fat-tailed scorpions are far more common. They are pretty big AND pretty venemous as well. Also found several Uromastyx out here. Here's a pic of one: Note the scratches near my watch on my wrist. That's where his tail got me, lol! Quite unusual to find one away from its' burrow, but there IS a lot of construction going on around here. He was unfortunate to have his home near Kuwait city....

Zee

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"I am an expert on everything, but I know so little and have so much to learn!" -Carsten "Zee" Zoldy-

the scratches look pretty light... looks like you got lucky... I learned the hard way not to piss with a full grown uromastyx that had never been handled after I'd drank a few beers... it took 2 hours to stop the bleeding... can't believe that I didn't end up with a massive scar outta that one... my poor hands lol...

That one was just a little one, compared to some of the others that I've found ut here. One that I found back in 03' was over 2.5 foot long. He truly was a monster for his species!

Zee
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"I am an expert on everything, but I know so little and have so much to learn!" -Carsten "Zee" Zoldy-