Is there any visual difference between Amel and White phase RETICS?? All the pics of the white phase and Amel look the same to me. Am I missing somthing???
Edited on September 8, 2009 at 14:17:12 by PHGinger.
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Visual difference between Amel & White??
MikeinLA
Sep 08, 2009 10:43 AM
Replies (2)
zach_whitman
Sep 10, 2009 08:04 PM
Yes you are missing something.
AMEL means amelanistic (literally without black pigment). The term is pretty much synonymous with the word albino. Making melanin in the skin is a reaction with several intermediate pigments. In retics there are several different variations of the "albino" gene that show different stages of those pigments. So a white is an amel, but so are purples and lavs or whatever the other two are called.
quasimoto
Sep 14, 2009 10:18 PM
Something else to know is that they are two different strains of albino that are genetically incompatible with each other. white, lavender, and purple phase albino retics are all one strain of albino, and the amels are a different strain that only produces albinos that look like "white phase" snakes. But if you bred an amel to a white, lavender or purple phase you would get a normal retic het for both the amel and other strain. There is a website, I think prehistoric pets that probably explains it a little better then i just did LOL. Hope it helps though.
