Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all. I got this cali today, just wondering what morph you experts would classify it as?

Mel

Nice looking aberrant "lavender"!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

That's an awesome looking little snake.

Doug- Couldn't it also be a blue eyed blond? I can't tell the difference between the two.

Well, to tell you the truth, I'm not real familiar with the so-called "blue-eyed blonde" variant, but the deep ruby-red eyes, and the pastel coloration of the snake posted is a definite trait/phenotype of the "lavender" morph.

When you're referring to "blue-eyed", I assume you're talking about the irises..LOL.....because the snake in question DOES have blueish colored irises.......it seems to me, I've heard of this so-called "blue-eyed blonde" from others, but am not familiar with it as some others might be. Hopefully, someone else will chime in about this.

best regards, and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I believe that Tim Gebhart at Vivid Reptiles breeds blue-eyed blondes. Check out his website for pictures.

Thanks very much for all your replies I bought her as a lavender, but just wanted to check, as I have what I believe is a lav who's body colour identical to my regular albinos and this new little lady is a lot darker.

As for her eyes, that close up photo is pretty accurate with the colours. They are also a lot darker than my other lav's eyes, so I'm assuming they can vary in colour quite a bit.

Thanks again for your replies, hope you all have a great Christmas

Mel

I checked out the 6 pics that the Vivid Reptiles site has displayed, and they do seem to have some variation as to the eyes. Of course lighting can play a HUGE part in what one actually sees in a given photo. I can detect a funny blue cast in a couple, but still am not quite sure what to make of it. I take tons of snake photos, and without the right lighting, some of the pics of my "extreme" hypo Hondurans(which have deep ruby-red eyes) come out looking very dark as in a normal pupil.

So, no telling what the real deal is here. In any case, Your
Tyrosinase pos. animal is very cool looking whatever the phenotype!

Someone here should be able to offer some more details on this.

best regards, ~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I agree, I checked out their site and from their shots the colours of the snakes and they eyes in some cases did seem similar, some bore little or no resemblance to her. I know what you mean about photos being deceiving. Like I said that particular shot has pretty accurate with the colours, though I'll try and get more in the next few days once she's settled in.

Thanks for all your help

n/p
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I've found out that some others have this "blue-eyed blonde" on their site, and apparently it is indeed the iris that is blue. But!,.....the description just says that "as the snake ages, the iris becomes a deep midnight blue". But doesn't really say anything about what the iris "STARTS OUT" as!.

I did notice that your pic looked like the iris was a light blue,...so it's quite possible yours is also one of these,...hard to say, I never took notice as to what color the iris is on the other lavender phenotype. The ones I saw were going for $150 bucks if that helps to narrow things down any. But keep in mind, prices will vary drastically depending on where, and who you purchased them from.....Oh well! this might not have helped any at all, but I thought I'd post it for you anyway.

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Normals and hypos that is.

The cal king pictured is a product of breeding a Hypo (Great Valley Serpentarium Lavender) x a Ghost (Palomar).

Strange stuff indeed.

Kerby...

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Lonesome Valley Reptiles
www.lonesomevalleyreptiles.com
Specializing In California Kingsnakes

Blue eyes that is.

Kerby...

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Lonesome Valley Reptiles
www.lonesomevalleyreptiles.com
Specializing In California Kingsnakes

Kerby,......what's funny is,..you were exactly who
I had in mind to "chime in" in on this thing!..LOL knowing you work with these guys all the time....I've had a bunch of other different forms of Cal. King, but most of them were a long time ago, and I've been specializing in a lot of other species for quite some time now.

You clarified what I was thinking might be the deal on those, but wasn't sure enough to say as fact.

anyway, have a great Holiday Season buddy!

~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Very nice snake there Kerby

I have a few normals with blue irises too.

So how would I tell the difference between a hypo and lavender?

I already have a lav that I was sold as an albino (thanks to you guys here identifying it properly for me ) but that lav looks like a regular albino with the exception of its eyes. This particular new one was sold as lav but is completely different, even the pupil is a deeper red than my other lav. That's just why I was asking, incase it wasn't a lav (though it's wishful thinking on my part lol).

Breed 'em is about the only way to find out for sure if they are the same/different genes.

Kerby...
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Lonesome Valley Reptiles
www.lonesomevalleyreptiles.com
Specializing In California Kingsnakes

All these questions about what to do, what to expect, what, what, what. And the REAL true answers are right in front of them. All they have to do is ask the animals.

This goes for more then just genetics.

I find that my joy with reptiles is not from asking someone, or reading about them in someones book or post. The actual joy is seeing it with my own eyes. Its like christmas.

Good on you Kirby, you should use this answer more often. Cheers

I'd read some of that myself, a few sites saying the blue iris comes through with age, but like you mentioned didn't say anything about what the babies were like lol.

I got the new one from a friend's petshop and he had it marked as a lavender at £100 (though I didn't pay quite that price lol), a bit pricey for either a lav or a b.e.b, but since king morphs in the UK are extremely hard to come by I don't mind paying if I'm getting something different.

I'll have to breed it to my other lav to see what happens

Thanks again for all your help

Mel

It is hard to tell by looks alone sometimes without knowing the history....only time will tell on how compatable these hypo traits are.

The picture shows a Blue-eyed Blonde on the left and the weird cal king I produced a couple of years ago.

Kerby...

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Lonesome Valley Reptiles
www.lonesomevalleyreptiles.com
Specializing In California Kingsnakes