Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, went to the pet shop to pick up feeders today and low and behold they have what they are calling a Leucistic TX rat.
White snake, I held it, not too skittish considering it's young, it did rattle it's tail a little like my Cal. king but here is the weird thing. It had buggy eyes, dark iris'es and a RED pupil.
Now correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't Leucistic mean dark eyed and if not what kind of snake was this? It was only 30.00 but I thought I would talk to you kind folks first.
(Plus Doug has me leaning more toward a blizzard corn except no one can order me one.)
Thank you

Yes,.....That was a "pink-eyed" leucistic, it's a leucistic animal that is ALSO amelanistic(albino). So the ONLY difference you visually see in the already "white" snake(leucistic), is the pink eyes. Also, the leucistic gene in Texas Rats also carry an additional "hidden" "bug-eyed" trait that pops up and is expressed from time to time. I personally don't care for it, but many others don't seem to mind it. Inbreeding anything can make other additional traits rise to the "phenotypic" surface, even if they aren't something you can see visually,...e.g.....temperment, lack of vigor, organ problems, etc...

Also, the "bug-eyed" trait can range anywhere from very mild, to moderate, and even grotesquely extreme.

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

Doug, will you come snake hunting with me? lol
Thank you for being so patient.
I would say the bug eye was moderate but it was weird looking.
No one around here has heard of or can order a blizzard corn so I may just have to wait until the rep show coming to town the end of June.
Bt the way, I got the dimmers for the heat pads and it seems to be working.
thanks again

You're welcome!......

Yes, if you wait for another few months, you'll see a bunch of these available as all the breeders will have new offspring for sale at the shows, especially the bigger ones(Daytona, etc...)

I would wait and take my time too, this way you won't have to "settle" on something, but rather you'll get EXACTLY what you want, be it a leucistic, blizzard, or whatever else that might catch your eye.

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

I thought the pink eyed lucies(amel leucy) had red/pink iris's. From the original post it sounded to me like they meant that the iris was dark or normal colored and the pupil was red/pink. I do not know if that is normal in the leucy tx rat's but I know in BP's and Corns you can get ruby pupils with normal/dark iris's in some morphs. Specifically leucy BP's(one of the types) and in anery ultramel corns.

Just thought I would ask since I am not very familiar with tx rat's and the leucy gene in them.

Sean.
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1.1 BRB
1.1 Triple Het TPRS's
0.1 Silver TPRS
1.1 Amel Bloodred Corns
0.1 Abbott Okeetee Corn
0.1 Blizzard Bloodred Corn
1.1 Thayeri Kingsnakes
0.1 Reeve's Turtle
0.2 Amstaff's
1.0 Pudytat

That is correct, dark iris and red pupil and both eyes kind of bugged out.
The young woman at the pet shop said it came in marked "bug eyed TX rat" it is all white with no visable pattern. That's all I know. The eyes were really strange looking and not in a good way.
Raven's mom

Okay,....what I think you might have actually have seen at the pet store, was that the "bug-eyed" leucistic's ocular scale(eye cap) was enlarged enough so that you actually saw "beyond" the iris' diameter itself, and actually saw into the surrounding eye structure. So in essence, the dilated pink pupil under the low light conditions in the store was much bigger, thus filling most of the light colored iris so it "looked" as though the iris was indeed dark, .....I also think the pink eyes were probably a little darker than most too, this would also amplify the effect you saw........see what I mean here?

Normal Texas Rat's irises are dark pigmented with melanin(dark brown),and also have very dark pupils, while ALL leucistics irises are light colored and have dark pupils, as in the one pictured below. Also is a pic of a moderately "bug-eyed" individual to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. But keep in mind, the light is fairly bright, so his pupil is very constricted(small). It would be MUCH bigger in a low-light situation.

~Doug


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

Sean.
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1.1 BRB
1.1 Triple Het TPRS's
0.1 Silver TPRS
1.1 Amel Bloodred Corns
0.1 Abbott Okeetee Corn
0.1 Blizzard Bloodred Corn
1.1 Thayeri Kingsnakes
0.1 Reeve's Turtle
0.2 Amstaff's
1.0 Pudytat

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

Ya know what is REALLY strange, a few months ago, I thought I noticed a funny deep "ruby-red" coloration in the one that's somewhat bug-eyed, but thought maybe it just "seemed" that way. Well, the other night, I actually took it into some good light in my kitchen,.....and to my surprise, using a magnifying glass, confirmed that the snake actually has deep "ruby-red" pupils(not black), and normally light colored irises(typical in leucistics)......this is truly bizarre!, and I'm going to have to try to see what the deal is here on this, at this point, I'm sort of baffled by this, as all the other pink-eyed leucistics I've seen have typically light colored pink eyes AND irises. Cornsnakes for example, can also display different shades of pink/red eye color too, even clutchmates can display different degrees of coloration in their eyes, some might be light pink, while others display a vivid, much redder coloration.

I'll try to get some good macro shots of the leucistic's eyes soon that will hopefully better display the deep "ruby-red" eyes it has......hmmm,...........strange indeed!

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

Doug, where'd you get the white suboc? LOL!

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Todd Hughes

It certainly does resemble what a white suboc would look like, doesnt it!?..LOL!

Boy!,.......I certainly wish I DID have a leucistic suboc!,......WOW!!!!!, wouldn't THAT be something?????

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

Ok, I'll play what's that?
By the way I went back to make sure since this store is close to me. The iris is dark and the pupil is red.
If it was a red pupil and whitish iris it wouldn't look so strange but that combined with the eyes being bugged is really not pretty.

A "suboc" is a slang term for a Trans Pecos Ratsnake(Elaphe subocularis. They are also noted for having large eyes which they utilize for their nocturnal hunting habits.

BTW,....that's really weird about the leucistic at the pet shop with dark pupils, and pink eyes!,....it just goes to show that many times genetics doesn't like to follow the "rules"..LOL!

Thanks for letting us know about that strange one.

~Doug

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

Doug, has Bogerthophis been replaced? I typically don't follow the trends in nomenclature. Ravensmom, as doug said it is a slang term for a Trans Pecos rat snake, which usually have a bugeyed look due to their nocturnal foraging habits. Large eyes let in more light.

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Todd Hughes

Boy, do I feel stupid!,.....no, it's still Bogertophis,.....it was VERY late and I was burned-out!..LOL!

I hate when that happens!,....thanks for bringing that to my attention.

best regards, ~Doug

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

Just messin' with ya' Doug!
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Todd Hughes

And, here is one example of a amel-leucistic:

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Gregg
The Corn Snake Pit