Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay, I know in ball pythons, ghost and hypo are the same. In boas they are not, I have a hypo (salmon) and know the diff between the two. I'm not very familiar with the genetic color variations in rats and corns.

I purchased a 'hypo yellow rat' at Daytona. I think I bought it from BHB but I'm not sure or I'd ask them.

I see the beautiful 'hypo everglades rat' in the pics below. Those are glowing orange beauties. Today, on a website I saw what they called a 'ghost everglades rat'. It looks just like my little guy.

Mine is pale cream yellow with faint grey stripes.

So what's the difference between ghost and hypo in ratsnakes? I'm happy if mine is just 'a light colored yellow ratsnake' LOL! But would kinda really like to know.

Thanks for your input and education.

Amy C.

There will always be a certain amount of confusion in some of the terms that are used in herpetoculture, because not everyone applies the same standards to the genetics that comprise certain mutations. Some call things a certain name because it "resembles" another snake on the market that has already had a particular name coined to it.

Typically in colubrid genetics, a "ghost" is comprised of two different recessive genes, one being hypomelanism(reduced dark pigment..melanin), and the other being anerythrism(complete lack of red pigmentation)which the erythrophores are responsible for producing. These two traits combined give an animal a muted, subdued coloration, thus the term "ghost".

A "hypo"..(hypomelanistic) animal expressing reduced dark pigment, looks a bit cleaner, and somewhat more vibrant due to the other underlying colors of the animal not having as much melanin to "muddy" up the color scheme. and normally dark lines or rings become much lighter as well. In extreme cases of hypomelanism, the eyes can even be a ruby-red coloration because the dark pigment has been so drastically reduced.

Now if you are talking about the animal on the site that where acquired from Quade of Gulf Coast reptiles, and is also known as a white-sided, or ghost Everglades, that is totally different than most other typical ghost animals, because it is a weird pattern anomaly, as WELL as a color mutation of varying degrees. This is probably more of a hypoxanthism, which is a reduction of the yellow/orange pigment, rather than anerythrism(lack of red), but because it is faded and subdued nontheless, it was coined "ghost" as well.

For example, a "ghost" corn, or "ghost" Honduran milk both are a combination of anerythrism, and hypomelanism that gives the animal a faded ghostly appearance.

I suspect yours is probably one of these hypoxanthic animals too. If you could post a pic, that would be great.

hope this helps out some.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

Thank you, Doug. That is a great explanation.
Extremely helpful. I'll try to get a picture of him outside this weekend.

Amy C

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

Here is my little pretty boy!

Very cool snake!,.......

I can't see the tongue, but the irises don't look real orange either, but that could also be from the mutant gene influence.

Now if the tongue is red, it is an Everglades Ratsnake(rossalleni). If the tongue is black, it is a Yellow Ratsnake(quadrivittata).

It certainly has the muted color and sides of the exact same ones I was refering to earlier too.

Also, after thinking about this a bit, since Everglades have a fair composition of red combined with the yellow to make the orange pigment, and seeing as how the belly of yours is also more of a whitish color instead of orange as it would be in an Everglades, it could very well be a form of anerythrism involved there, or even a combination of anery and hypoxanthism(lack of yellow pigment). The word "xanthos" is greek for yellow, thus the term "axanthic" is used for animals that display reduced amounts of yellow, and "xanthic" animals have an over-abundance of yellow pigment.

That is very interesting!. So see what color it's tongue actually is, and this will tell you exactly which subspecies it is.

thanks for posting the photo's!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

.........since these certainly must be the very same line of animal, they were out-crossed to more Everglades Rats anyway, and these have the indicative red tongues too.

The name "Ghost" or "whitesided" Everglades are used interchangeably for these animals by the way.

I would tend to agree they are actually basically Everglades too, even though the original animal was found around Alva Florida which is basically a known intergrade zone, but the fact that it has been bred to more subsequent generations of Everglades puts the "glades" influence much higher pecentage-wise anyway.

best regards, ~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

Oh, that one looks just like him. How old is yours?

His tongue is red. I just checked.

So he's probably a white-sided? I wondered about that, but he has those speckles. I never had a white-sided snake before, so thought the sides would be pure white.

Amy C.

That isn't my animal, that is from this site I'll give you the link to. It talks about the very same things I mentioned as well prior to me finding this site.

Yes, yours is a "white-sided", aka "ghost" whichever you prefer, they are known by both names.

They can be fairly variable too, just like many other traits and/or individuals.

In any case, this helps you understand a little more about them and their origin.

good luck with those,...those are very interesting animals indeed!

here's the link

~Doug

ghost/white-sided Everglades Ratsnake

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

Thank you!

Don't know how that happened....oh well..LOL!

ghost/white-sided Everglades Ratsnake

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

>> "thus the term "axanthic" is used for animals that display reduced amounts of yellow, and "xanthic" animals have an over-abundance of yellow pigment.

I meant "axanthic" is the total "LACK" of yellow, not reduction of it. A reduction of yellow is typically termed "hypoxanthic".

Also, "xanthic"(over-yellow) animals can also be called "hyperxanthic" as well interchangeably. But this doesn't pertain to what yours exhibits, so I don't mean to be confusing you here, just trying to explain all the differences..LOL!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"