Hello fellow milkheads,
I figured I would post an update on these.
As many of you already know, successfully producing the first albino hypoerythristic sinaloans has been a personal goal of mine over the past few years. I have bred some of the finest albinos and hypoerythristics in the country and have raised up some equally nice double hets from those breedings. The offspring from these double hets can be normal looking possible double hets, hypoerythristics that are possible het albino, albinos possible het hypoerythristic and if lucky enough, 1 out of 16 will be the double recessive mutation. The animal should be a visual combination on the hypo-E and albino.
Well, after years of work, I officially produced the first albino hypoerythristic sinaloan earlier last week. I was certain that I had produced one in 2006 and two last year but non of those animals even compared to this. This season I produced 2 clutches from two different breedings of double hets (hypoerythristic X albino). Little did I know that I was in for a treat as the first animals emerged. I began with one clutch of 6 eggs and another of 8. Unfortunately, I lost two eggs to mold in the first clutch and 4 eggs to the second.
(Double Hets breeding earlier this season)
The first baby emerged, and I knew immediately that I finally had hatched out the albino hypoerythristic. The body rings were extremely light, peach in color and the triads were cream colored instead of the traditional yellow. The entire animal was very light, almost opalescence.
(Albino Hypoerythristic hatching on 10/20/08)
The second animal to emerge was a nice hypoerythristic and the third was a super beautiful albino. I was stunned as I walked into seeing the last one come out. Yes, another albino hypoerythristic! I couldn't believe that I actually got two out of only 4 eggs. I should have played the Texas lottery that day...LOL! The second clutch hatched revealing mostly possible double hets.
(Although both in shed, I took a quick picture for comparison of the second hypoerythristic albino along with the albino from the same clutch)
It's been a few days now and the babies are finishing up their first sheds. I took a few more pictures of the first albino hypoerythristic with another albino for more comparison.
(First outdoor image, 10/30/08)
(Second outdoor image, 10/30/08)
I've been asked by many what I plan on calling these. I felt it appropriate to call this new morph the 'albino pumpkin' in honoring my friend Pete Cragg, who first established and coined the hypoerythristics as 'pumpkin' sinaloans.
Now, if I could only breed the albino pumpkins into these....hum...the possibilities...
Thanks for looking.
Nathan Wells
