Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've raised a unique morph of Texas Indigo. She's about 5 yrs old now. Possibly a calico. I'll post pics this week. Are there any known color varieties or morphs around? Would love to see pics.

Morph is a 4 letter word around here.

Looks like it's not four letters for everyone. WOW, it's amaizing how someone coming on here for the first time can get such a rude remark when asking something so innocent. Someone's an unhappy individual.

I didn't mean to be rude. Let me explain. Morphs mean inbreeding, crossbreeding, and all kinds of mayhem.

Many of us would hate to see that happen to Indigos. It may be inevitable, but I still discourage it.

Please don't be discouraged from posting pics. And, btw, welcome to the forum.

Thanks,
Ed

>>Looks like it's not four letters for everyone. WOW, it's amaizing how someone coming on here for the first time can get such a rude remark when asking something so innocent. Someone's an unhappy individual.

I'd like to see pics.

Thanks,
Ed

>>I've raised a unique morph of Texas Indigo. She's about 5 yrs old now. Possibly a calico. I'll post pics this week. Are there any known color varieties or morphs around? Would love to see pics.

I'd like to see it too. There are some mottled rubidus around. Years ago LLoyd Lemke had the offspring of a "calico" type drymarchon. As long as it's a natural form, folks will generally enjoy it.... but be warned, this is a very purist group.

Doug T

>>I've raised a unique morph of Texas Indigo. She's about 5 yrs old now. Possibly a calico. I'll post pics this week. Are there any known color varieties or morphs around? Would love to see pics.

Please post some pics!

I've figured out how to upload photos but my image size is too big. Can I fix this??

PhotoBucket.com and upload you photos. They will size them down for you. Then at the bottom of the pic highlight "direct link" hit CTRL and C on your key board. Then go to Kingsnake and in your post hit CTRL and V. This should link us to your pics.

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn186/jv4man/IMG_4478.jpg
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn186/jv4man/IMG_4481.jpg

Hope this works.

I like that "calico" look. Its interesting to see that there is a least one gene out there that modifies the Texas Indigo's appearance. It reminds me of some of the patterns seen in Drymarchon from south of the border. One of the dirty little secrets of the Indigo world is that albinistic Eastern Indigos may have already popped up once before. Not in North America, but in the European gene pool.

I want to throw in my own 2-cents here. The rest of this post is my opinion only, and has no other meaning beyond that.

Like every other hobby, among snake people there are purists and there are tinkerers.

As a personal example, in addition to keeping snakes, I also collect guitars. I am currently in the middle of refurbishing a 1944 Epiphone Triumph. In its original condition it had collectible value, but was unplayable. When its done it will be a fully functional instrument, but will have lost its collectible value. To me, intrinsic value has more to do with playability than collectability. The car collecting world is similar - originality has its place, but so do custom hot rods.

I empathize with Mike's passion to keep "morphitis" out of Indigo Snakes. I would never think of refinishing a pristine 1958 Les Paul, or replacing the upholstery in a 1938 Packard.

On the other hand, where would the snake hobby be today without the plethora of breedable morphs? Not just Ball Pythons and Corn Snakes for that matter. The morphs and their breeders have taken snake-keeping into a viable industry. 30 years ago, who would have thought there would be Reptile Expos with dozens of vendors, hundreds of animals, and thousands of attendees?

I believe there is room in the hobby for both purists and tinkerers. Personally, I think Indigo's are wide open for someone who wants to get into the high-end morph business. Would Mike be upset? Probably. But then, why not do this? Polluting the gene pool? How can this happen in a gene pool that is severely limited to start with?

The genes for albinism, calico, etc. are out there. They wouldn't exist if they didn't have some function in nature. Purposely breeding snakes to express those genes is no different than what humans have been doing with dogs, cats, cows, horses and every other domestic animal for thousands of years.

Regards,

John D
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I am so not lesdysxic!

0.1 Creamsicle Cornsake
1.0 Bairds Ratsnake
0.1 Desert Kingsnake
1.1 Eastern Kingsnakes

The problem isn't just inbreeding, it is also about crossbreeding. A morph that pops up in one ssp. or sub will be crossed into another if past experience is any guide.

The resulting non-visual hybrids are a huge problem. Look at the world of kingsnakes where nobody can be sure just what the heck they have.