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I purchased an extreme hypo bairds that looks as though it was crossed with a an extreme hypo brooks king (the store owner said it was a hypo bairds king cross i am only assuming due to the coloration)... after about 4 months i noticed pastel white spots growing larger with each shed... is it possible this is a piebald as well? I have searched and never found a piebald gene for either snake (the genetics may have been wrong, but it is a very unique snake, and i didnt pay much for it so I am not worried i got ripped off...) Has anyone ever heard of this? the spots are not very large yet- perhaps the size of six scales by six scales, and there are about ten of them but they grow with every shed. This last shed all but confrimed that this is a definite genetic trait that is continuing grow. I will get pics when i can, but the snake looks like a metallic neon orange glowing brooks with the pattern of a yearling bairds down its back and now looks like he has literally bleached out scales down him as well. Any other explanation for this?

Sometimes scar tissue leaves off-colored spots on snakes. There's a Baja Ratsnake at the LA Zoo with white pied-like spots, caused by scarring.

Shannon Brown has (or had?) a Baird's with white spots. It might have been pied or it might have been scar tissue. I don't think it ever proved out pied babies so probably scar tissue is my guess.

I had an adult female suboc with orange and white spots.

I've never heard of a genetic pied morph that increases with each shed.

DR
Suboc.com

Here's Shannon's snake. My adult female suboc had a spot like this.

Suboc.com

i got one photo before camera died... its not all that clear but it is very apparent in person

I had a greenish rat with one white spot that covered about 5-7 scales and it was NOT scar tissue. He was a rescue animal from the road (was barely nicked by a car)and I thought of keeping him for a breeding project but decided it was better to let him go after he was healed up.

Sorry I usually lurk here... but I just gotta say, doesnt look like a bairds hybrid to me.. looks all king...I could be wrong though

Sarah
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FireDrake Exotics
www.FireAndLilac.com

Okay, scar tissue was a misleading term. It's more of a blemish, discoloration, pigmentation, whatever you want to call it. The scales are white in a random spot on the body, sometimes edged in orange (like Shannon's bairdi and one of my subocs), and it's usually less than probably 1/100th of the surface area, unlike the pied-sided, white-sided, or piebald traits.

Pied-sided coloration and piebaldism are different in that they're genetically heritable in other species.

I've never heard of these tiny, random, white patches of discoloration being heritable.

DR
Suboc.com

Thats possible, although i have never seen an injury on him aside from a light abbrasion on his belly from an escape attempt (he actually came back a day later i guess he knew it was feeding time he returned and was coiled next to a shirt of mine by his cage). Thanks for the insight I thought it was rather odd he may have gotten a light burn from wherever he was for that day there was a fridge in the garage that i keep all my snakes he may have spent a day next to the motor i know that can get hot. hes the happiest snake in the world though, so i dont think it bothered him much and he eats every chance he gets. Thanks again!

Yes, I have seen other snakes that have had whiteish scales, or patches that tend to get bigger with successive sheds, but those animals usually tend to be individual "freak" occurrences, and not genetically inheritable traits. In other words, don't hold your breath in hopes of producing more.

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