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4 years ago I produced a silver 66% het albino female from a het albino x het albino (the male was 50% het VPI axanthic as well as pos het for Joliff axanthic). She browned out pretty good after her first shed and then just looked like a nice light colored normal. I held her back and bred her this year to a male albino I produced 2 years ago from the same het albino parents as her.

Well I hatched out another silver het albino but this one was much more silver than the mother was as a hatchling. I also produced this very light, almost entirely white albino. Well I figured after the first shed both the silver axanthic looking hatchling would brown out and the white albino would develop significantly more yellow coloring.

Well, this is what the two of them look like after their first shed and needless to say I'm confused as to why they didn't brown/yellow out more. I know there are lots of these silver looking albino hets hatching out now as well as snow looking albinos that end up looking normal after their first shed.

The other three hatchlings of the clutch are brown and black hets.

Anyone have any idea's?

Thanks,
Tom

I'm no expert, but that looks like a snow. The head is extremely white which is usually a pretty good indicator of being a snow. Plus the outline of the pattern resembles the same pattern as on my snows.

Either way congrats because those are some beauties.
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BPs are B-E-A-UTIFUL!!!!! www.daveypythons.com

There have been a lot of posts lately about het albinos and albinos that are hatching out as "axanthic" looking animals -- after a shed or two they will look like normal hets and albinos.

Congrats on the babies!
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Tosha
JET Pythons
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Herp Medicine does not equal a bottle of Baytril - Dr. Scott Stahl

Do all of the animals with the dominant type of short lived axanthic that apparently is in some albino lines brown out after the FIRST shed like the mom of these babies?

I guess either way another shed will tell better but I'm wondering if the original possible double het axanthic male hit on at least one of the strains and both of his children (the parents of these two) then hit on their 50% chance.

Problem is that even if the babies in this picture are an axanthic and a snow it still might be hard to be sure after 6 months (much less which axanthic line) but let us know what they look like after another shed or two please.

Yeah, I'm wondering why the silver look pops up randomly within the clutch? I mean I have 3 other hatchlings that are normal brown and black hets.

I hatched out a similar clutch last year from the same father that produced a white snake and two silver hets. In that clutch all of them colored up and looked like normal hets and a normal albino immediately after the first she. This year I fully expected the same but it seems they held onto the silver and white look much better than my clutch from last year. The difference is probably that this year I bred my male to a female that was a silver hatchling so maybe it refined things a little more.

I may try and breed the male white albino from this clutch to some axanthic stuff I have to see if it is compatable just in case.

Thanks,
Tom

It sure sounds to me like those babies that several have hatched in their albino projects that look axanthic until the first shed are due to a previously undescribed dominant type very quick fading axanthic gene. Maybe there is a lasting effect of nice high contrast adults when combined with albino? With it being most evident only before the first shed I could see why it hasn't been named and tracked.

So your male may have one copy of the dominant axanthic gene and you see it in roughly half of his offspring. But I bet this clutch is evidence that he also has one of the recessive axanthic genes that shows longer (after the first shed).

I heard this story from someone who said they knew of examples of sometimes visually being able to see het axanthics when they are first born. Could it be that these Axanthic looking hatchlings come out looking like Axanthics becuase they carry the gene's for Axanthic, and that the color fades after the first shed becuase they aren't axanthic, just het for it???

I have no idea, I find it fascinating though...I recently had the same things sort of happen, I bred a Cinnamon to a VPI Albino that is possible het Axanthic. We hatched out two Cinnamons in the clutch, with one of them that could have been a dead ringer for an Axanthic Cinnamon, but after its first shed it gained some color.

PreShed-

Post Shed, its the Hatchling on the left and Next to it is the siblings Cinnamon from the clutch

What I was told by someone was that in thier opinion, we proved our Albino to be het Axanthic, basically saying that if we where to breed that Cinnamon to an Axanthic we should produce axanthic Cinnamons....We will see, as we have a VPI Axanthic possible het Albino male to pair up with the two female Cinnamons from that clutch in the future.

Anyone ever heard of these "Axanthic" looking babies being called "markers" for het Axanthic?
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Amanda Kingsbury & David Kendrick

blushing ...the word faded has been used also....
I get a bunch of them all.....
noone pays a nickel more for them than normal amels and hets around here.....

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"Isn't that just special?"

Hey Jeff,

I was hoping you would chime in since you've mentioned before you've produced these silver hets.

My question is, when you say blushing does that mean the yellow from the albino will "bleed/fill in" the white areas as he ages? Or does it just remain a very light yellow and white?

Thanks,
Tom

mine ...yellow out pretty well......good and bad...some people like it....

they have like 3 different shades of yellow...but pretty much turn all kinds of shades and the white disapears...

...the used to be white areas will probably have really bright edges along them .....cool bright yellow....

....the faded hets stay better than the normal stuff.....try and get more money for them all....why not ...classifieds have all kinds of gimics and all....make a buck......here...I put them on table for wholesale and people still whine and cry and try and get them down...so we sell them to Ian and he marks them up alot...and he sells them...go figure....

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"Isn't that just special?"

I hear ya. Last year I sold a few of the silver hets for normal het price. That's cool that they yellow out as they age. I've always like the look of the adults that are basically yellow on yellow.

Yeah, Ian is good at that! haha

Take care,
Tom

I have been contemplating this subject for over a year. Last year I bred a het snow M to pos het axanthic F, got what is shown on the second photo. A year later he looks like the first photo (banded next to a normal) this year, same pairing got no axanthics, normally I would not think twice, just a browned out axanthic (vpi by the way) I think, or like to think he is axanthic, but his father was also het albino and with all this talk of axanthic looking het albino babies, I want to ask what you all think. Is he or isn't he, and yes he will be "proven" this year. The third photo is of his half sibs from this year, het snow to het snow, same father. He is better looking as a baby than his sister in the shot with the albino, and I know she is an axanthic. By the way, I have gotten both high contrast and very low contrast albinos from this father, we will have to see if the low contrast are also het axanthic.

The lighter one in your first pic looks like my silver het as an adult. She browned out but still has an overall lighter, gray/brown appearance.

It seems the silver hets are much lighter looking than VPI axanthics as hatchlings. I have both as well and the VPI axanthics are darker/deeper silver looking as hatchlings.

Good luck,
Tom

Thats what I mean, after all this talk, I am wondering if he is an axanthic, he did not brown out after the first shed, took him a year to get there but I am really looking forward to breeding him to see what happens. I think he is axanthic, that was what I was going for, het snow to pos het axanthic female but if he is not axanthic, I am looking forward to the albino babies he makes as I am breeding him to albinos, axanthics and hets for both this year to prove him out