Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all-

My disclaimer up front is that I have little experience with Rainbows and I'm looking for the input and opinions of all those with more experience than me.

So here's the situation:

I recently imported a bunch of captive bred snakes from David Fabius in Uruguay- Mussurana, Baron's Racers, and a few other odds and ends. Part of the shipment was a reverse trio of Argentine Rainbows. David purchased the whole litter from another breeder down there. These three snakes were siblings in that litter, with the rest of the litter being normal looking.

This snake is what we're calling a "Chocolate Phase". I understand there have been others like it in the pet trade in the past.

This snake looks to be lacking the orange/red pigment and would seem to me to be Anery. Opinions??

The third snake is more normal looking, but according to David, still looked to be more "anery" than the rest of the normals in the litter.

Any way you cut it, there is something genetically funky going on here. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks!

John Michels
www.blackpearlreptiles.com

I have seen all three of these snakes in person. To me they look like they do have somthing going on exspecially the "chocolate". It would be a great project to hold on to and see what happens. Jeff or dave should be all over this!!

Hi John,

First of all, welcome to the forum.

I only have one Argentinian RB, so I am no expert. (I think
Jeff is the only forum regular who has experience with Argentinians.)

My ARB is pretty close to the one in your second picture. I'm not sure there is anything that unusual about it, since it also looks like the litter mates of the one I bought. From Jeff's website, it says that ARB's vary in color somewhat.

The first one you showed is really neat!

Any idea what the parents of your snakes looked like? Or what
the "normal" litter mates looked like?

Thanks for sharing, nice to see some more Argentinians!! Here are some pics of mine.

Thanks,
Ed

>>Hey all-
>>
>>My disclaimer up front is that I have little experience with Rainbows and I'm looking for the input and opinions of all those with more experience than me.
>>
>>So here's the situation:
>>
>>I recently imported a bunch of captive bred snakes from David Fabius in Uruguay- Mussurana, Baron's Racers, and a few other odds and ends. Part of the shipment was a reverse trio of Argentine Rainbows. David purchased the whole litter from another breeder down there. These three snakes were siblings in that litter, with the rest of the litter being normal looking.
>>
>>This snake is what we're calling a "Chocolate Phase". I understand there have been others like it in the pet trade in the past.
>>
>>
>>
>>This snake looks to be lacking the orange/red pigment and would seem to me to be Anery. Opinions??
>>
>>
>>
>>The third snake is more normal looking, but according to David, still looked to be more "anery" than the rest of the normals in the litter.
>>
>>
>>
>>Any way you cut it, there is something genetically funky going on here. Any input would be appreciated.
>>
>>Thanks!
>>
>>John Michels
>>www.blackpearlreptiles.com

I had a chocolate phase ARB many years ago. At the time I did not know what it was. It was imported as an adult and looked somewhat like your first PIC though darker. I suspect yours will darken as it matures.
I will post up some PICs of normal Argentinians. First six PICs are from this year.

Now some 2007 PICs

These are 2006 PICs.

2006 Babies from same litter the smaller one is a half size twin.

This one is a 2005 baby Campina Grande rather than an Argentinian

2004 ARB pics

These are old PICs of my chocolate phase ARB. He was obtained newly imported with several normal looking ARBs by Hogtown Herps in Gainesville FL around 1993 and I traded a couple CB baby BRBs for him. I think he died around 2001 or 2002. He and a normal looking male courted a couple different females here in the 1990s but judging by the normal look of the babies the other male probably fathered them.