Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have posted pics of this male I caught two years ago in the past. He bred successfully with two locality normal females, and I have two clutches due to hatch in less than two weeks. His stripes have turned a powder black color over the last year. His dorsal squares remain a pinkish color. No matter how you look at his eyes at any angle under any kind of lighting the pupils are black. The dark stripes are also evident on his shed skins. This is not typical for amels OR hypos from what I have been told. He was caught here in Northeastern South Carolina which is an intergrade zone for obsoleta and quadrivitatta. I have not seen either here in over twenty years of herping. Looking forward to hets and hoping the trait proves out in 2010. Wish my photos were sharper.

Jim

Very interesting snake. Will you be keeping all of the offspring, or parting with a few? Looking forward to seeing picture of the hatchlings.

Take care,
Jeff Port

Wow!,....that animal is just INSANE!

From the black pupils you mentioned, and the greatly reduced melanin in the REST of the snake,..body, blotching, and longitudinal stripes, while still retaining some yellow as would be expected for a "greenish" variant,....it has to be a form of "extreme" hypo. Not ALL hypo animals leave clear shed skins, just a certain few of the better known types in the hobby.

Your animal SCREAMS extreme hypo if you ask me.....that's really all it CAN be......and a KILLER example at that!

Oops!,..one other even MORE bizarre possibility is that it could also be a double mutation,....looking at it, it could also be a hypoxanthic(greatly reduced yellow) Yellow Rat, that is ALSO hypomelanistic!

Genetics really is bizarre sometimes,....I wonder why the eyes aren't reduced to a deep red as displayed in extreme hypo Hondurans, Hypo Lavender corns, certain ghost animals, etc...
there's really no explanation, or reason, because nature makes it's own set of rules to go by whenever it decides to do so(shrug). I think that's the main reason I find genetics interesting, because of all the non-predictable anomolies that can and do arise,.......just like YOUR animal!......in my opinion, that is one awesome serpent!

~Doug

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

This is a KILLER ghost corn a good friend of mine owns,...this thing is just STUNNING!....again, the deep "ruby-red" eyes to go along with the other extreme types of hypomelanism just as in the other pics I posted.

~Doug

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

Doug, I looked at it and thought t albino right off the bat? what do you think?

L8r Shannon

Shannon,...Yeah, that's what I first thought it probably was too when he posted pics of it a good while back, and it still could VERY well be just that, a t-pos albino. That's what I suggested to him that might possibly explain the dark eyes. He says that the pupils are difinitely BLACK, no matter what light or angle they're looked at. Now as you well know, genetics certainlt breaks rules with weird anomolies all the time that don't make real sense to us.

I don't really know for absolute what to make of it, If it is either a t-pos albino, OR an "extreme" type of hypo of some sort, it would normally reduce the melanin within the pupil as well,....that's the crazy part! at least on most animals we're used to seeing.....I asked if he was SURE the pupils weren't deep deep red, and he said no,...black!

I must admit, the "caramel" coloration of those longitudinal stripes and the blotches are very typical of the presence of tyrosinase, as I'm sure you would agree. And it most likely is the more I think about it.

Whatever one it actually is, it's VERY unique, and very likely, the only one known in existence.

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

I believe this is the first picture of the snake taken in '06 not long after I caught him. I didn't even have a camera then! A flash was used in the taking of this photo which is why the eyes have a reddish color. I used no alterations to try and touch up the photo. I am posting this to show how much his markings and coloration have changed. I'm not saying what he is. I really don't know. I'm just happy to have found him and even happier to have bred him successfully. I should have pips within a week. The two females he bred with were caught within 200 yards from where he came from one year later. (Could I be so lucky that one of them is het?!?) I kept them through last summer and brumated them, so I know he is the sire. I've caught and kept snakes as pets for forty years, but I have never bred any. I'm loving this new aspect of my hobby! Thanks for the input.

Jim

Wow!,.....I guess the flash really washed out the stripes and blotches on this older pic you posted, it doesn't look like the same animal, or did the pattern become a little more visible as it aged more?. I say this because I certainly know that different lighting situations on a snake can make them look completely different on any given shot,...I see it a lot myself with shots I've taken of many different snakes as well.

In any case, I'd really like to see what the pair produces. I'd certainly expect normal looking wild-type offspring though,...but strange things can happen as you know. That would be simply unbelievable if you were fortunate enough for him to have bred with a het for his trait that you caught in the same location!..LOL!

In any case, best of luck with those future projects with him, and lets see what he produces.

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

Very very interesting. I'd like to see pics of the hatchlings (even though they'll probably be "normals".