Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Im just getting into hondos and really like the extreme's. I was wondering if it would be possible to have an all silver hondo. If so how would one go about making one? Any info would be great.

Assuming by silver you are referring to what would normally be black but on an extreme appears silvery grey, I would guess it is possible…but unlikely.

It would be the same as having a Honduran that was totally black, but if it were an extreme it would appear as the silvery grey color. Since many people selectively breed to reduce the pattern it is not likely such a heavily tipped out animal is in the works.

You could have a very reduced pattern Ghost which would appear almost all light grey, which you would be more likely to find.

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"The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think. Oh by the way, which ones pink?"

I would have to agree with the other poster 100% on this as well. While it sounds good in theory, the actual characteristics of the gene itself is to GREATLY reduce melanin within the animals pigment cells, and this is also very often accompanied with an extreme reduction in ring pattern as well. So it is basically an oxymoron for this to be able to take place.

This extreme hypo individual I produced this year is displaying probably the widest light silver/gray banding that I have seen thus far. The trait itself just doesn't allow them to become real wide. But many people(including me) would like to selectively breed for this wider silver band affect.

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Black Milk X Extreme?

then that puppy would be all silver!

Just kidding Doug!

I just couldn't resist...I know someone else was thinking it!

HA!!!!

-Rusty

Not possible. The nature of the hondurans natural coloration would not allow an all silver animal even if hypo or extreme hypomelanism and anerytherism (sp?)were factored into the genetics.

Milksnakes cousins, kingsnakes, have alot more options in the colors you may be interested. The "extreme" gene is colored fairly closely(if not exactly)like the Lavender albino gene. I would suggest going onto the kingsnake forum and inquiring about patternless Lavender Albino California Kings. And for those following my Hondo jokes.....you can always dip one in chrome plating and hang a couple trebles off the back! Kidding of course!

Hello,
As others have pointed out, what you propose would be difficult since most extreme hypos also have a reduced pattern and tipping. However, it is possible to have heavy tipping on a hypo Honduran... check the photo gallery link below. Silver tipping has obscured most of the yellow bands, making it look almost like a polyzona. I wonder if the tipping was present when the snake was a hatchling, or whether it filled in as the snake matured. There has been some discussion about what a hypo gaigeae would look like... whether it's possible for the red pigmentation to be obscured by silver as it usually would be by black... but to my knowledge, no one has ever actually attempted to produce one. Not only would a lot of "hybrids" (intergrades) be created in the process, but it would cast doubt on the origin of any hypo gene that might randomly appear in pure gaigeae in the future.

If you don't have your heart set on a Honduran, and just want a cool looking silver snake, Baird's ratsnakes might be worth looking into.

Nate
Terry Dunham's Hypo Honduran

Terry M's I forget exactly how to spell his last name...but he purchased the Mega line stuff from Jeff Alloway a few years ago, which Don S. has now.

I'm not sure if Don S. has that snake you pictured or not...who ever has it...I think it's killer!!!

I actually saw it for sale and told Terry M. to buy it...because I think it has something weird going on...a dark extreme hypo thing.

Terry M. obtained it from Adam W. from Selective Origins.

Hope this helps clear things up.

-Rusty

Ah, I saw the user name "terrysxtreme" and for some reason associated that with Terry Dunham... of course now that I think about it, his user name is "rtdunham". Thanks for pointing that out. There is definitely something different going on with that snake, and it would be interesting to hear what it looked like as a hatchling, and what its offspring look like. Hopefully Terry or Don will chime in...

Nate

That would be really cool.To bad it probably won't happen.
L8r Shannon

I feel it is possible to line breed an extreme with large bands that would be normally black pigment.

It just so happens that the Extreme Hypo gene is linked with the Hypo Pattern gene...but I believe they "could be" mutually exclusive.

I think Tim from Thirdeye is already working on a dark anery...so it wouldn't take too many generations to line breed the trait into what Tim is already working on.

http://www.thirdeyeherp.com/darkanery.jpg

I've seen other dark extremes that could work towards this proposed Honduran morph. I think Joe E. was also working on this too.

Just my take on things,
Rusty

Tim's animal was also the first thing that came to my mind as well, but I would bet a dollar to a dime that the extreme gene would reduce the amount of dark pattern there as well, maybe not drastically, but pretty substantially. It is certainly possible to get wider bands than we see in them now with further selective breeding, but a solid silver snake just ain't possible in my opinion, but weirder things have happened before..LOL!

For one thing, if a snake was ALL black(or even silver for the sake of argument), it wouldn't be a Honduran, it would be someone's mutt creation like introducing it into nigra, etc...

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

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

What about going with something like this hondo that is already mostly black? Again im just getting into the morphs and how they work so i might be way off here. Just a thought

This could possibly happen here and there in the future with aberrant(anomaly) animals like the one you pictured if the extreme gene was introduced into it, but the thing is most of these aberrants aren't very predictably produced at ALL, and the very few that are(one or two bloodlines so far)have all sorts of bizarre, random patterning to them, and not necessarily real black at all. Also, I still have to wonder about how much any dark patterning would tend to be reduced even further by the dynamics of the extreme gene itself. This is all stuff that NOBODY knows yet, so only time will tell with any of this. But there will no doubt be be some very surprising things being produced in the future with the extreme gene being introduced into other traits, there just hasn't been enough time yet.

I would love to introduce the extreme gene into these aberrant hypos too!

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com