Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all you wise folks, I need help --

I had not intended to buy any more snakes this year, but I am falling under the spell of rainbow lust again. I have a chance to go see about 40 babies in person before I commit to a specific purchase, but I want to get advice from y'all to help me choose better. I know that it's very hard to capture accurate rainbow colors in pics, and also that rainbows change a lot as they grow -- which is why I want your advice. Please give me some input!

I like very bright colors, bold outlines, and white crescents. If I can get the pics to post, you'll see pics of the parents and my two top choices below. You'll notice that my current choices are very different from each other. One of the babies is much more orange right now, but the other has a good light color, bold outlines, and white crescents. Taking into account the problems with photo inaccuracy and changes during growth, which would you choose? Which considerations are more important when choosing babies? Oh, and yes -- one of the dams appears to be hypomelanistic -- but I don't plan to breed, so I don't especially care about hets....

905:

965:

dam of 905:

dam of 965:

sire of both babies:

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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)
0.3 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari)
2.6 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

905 is stunning!! IMO the clear choice for color.

965 kinda looks Anerythristic, lack of red, white crescents etc. I have a couple of Aneries and although I do like them because they are different, they do not have the bright color I do love.

And I'm really impressed....

1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

How long did it take to sex all those other critters?
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count (05/26/2009):
36.51 BRB
29.42 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

>>905 is stunning!! IMO the clear choice for color.
>>
>>965 kinda looks Anerythristic, lack of red, white crescents etc. I have a couple of Aneries and although I do like them because they are different, they do not have the bright color I do love.

Thanks for the input, Dave. You don't think that 965 is going to color up more with age? I haven't asked their birthdates, but I'm assuming that 965 is younger than 905. I don't have a good handle yet on how to judge the potential for change during maturation, so I apreciate any advice you can give me.

Dang, I may end up having to buy both of them......

>>1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters
>>
>>How long did it take to sex all those other critters?

When your count gets that high, you go by average sex ratios.....
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)
0.3 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari)
2.6 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

I like 905 better though the other one is interesting itself. However it may end up looking more like 'dad' than the mother once it ages.
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PHLdyPayne

First off, nobody is 100% in judging lil BRB's future color. I've seen typically......
Stunner at birth grow into a stunning adult.
Average at birth grow into a average adult.
Dull at birth grow into a dull adult.

I've also seen.....
Stunner at birth grow into a average or dull adult.
Average at birth grow into a stunning or dull adult.
Dull at birth grow into a average adult. (ever saw a dull one turn into a stunner)

With that said, I don't see 965 growing into a stunning brightly colored adult. Color and pattern in the pic is quite crisp indicating to me it's already had a shed (or more). I do think it's interesting and different, will likely be a different and unique adult but what exactly it will look like I cannot say.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count (05/26/2009):
36.51 BRB
29.42 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Thanks Dave, that's exactly the sort of thing I need to know.

Being the idiot I am, I've asked the breeder how much he would charge me to buy BOTH snakes.

I'll let you know what I end up with. Once I see all the babies in person, I may choose something completely different!
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)
0.3 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari)
2.6 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

Hey again --

I went ahead and put deposits on both of my first choices. Once I see em in person, I may jump ship and bring home something completely different!

Also -- it turns out that the pic of 965 (the pale one) is actually more than 6 months old -- so it will be interesting to see what he looks like now!
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)
0.3 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari)
2.6 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

I think it's worth noting that the lighting is different between those two pics; the bedding looks darker and richer in color in the first one, and it appears to be the same bedding, which should therefore be the same color. The difference in lighting, exposure, or post-processing is definitely contributing somewhat to the first snake's "better" color.

I suspect that first pic may have had its brightness & contrast, or possibly its color saturation, fiddled with a bit. Note that I'm not claiming any ill intent on the part of the seller; it's just that it's a noticeable difference in the photos - for all I know, they were adjusting it in order to try to capture the snake's color as accurately as possible.
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0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko - Tigger
0.1 Crested Gecko - Pooh-Bear

Hey there --

I agree that the lighting is different in the two pics, and we all know how much that can affect appearance with animals like these. However, I don't think it's likely that the color was actually messed with much, since the white objects are still white.

I'll be seeing these guys in person on the 14th. I'll let y'all know what I think after meeting them -- and if I can find my darned camera, I'll post comparison pics!
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)
0.3 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari)
2.6 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

It is possible to adjust colors in one area while leaving other areas untouched in photos using programs like photoshop. Its called masking... however since you are going to be visiting the breeder in person, you will be able to see the true colors of the babies anyway.

I don't think there are too many legilimate and honest breeders who try and trick people into buying animals that look better in photos to say, online buyers. Some sites I have noticed just state photos are not true representatives of actual animals currently available (ie they take a few pictures of a couple babies from one litter and use it to represent all 20 animals of that litter or even completely different litters) Some breeders don't have the time to take individual pictures of all their babies, especially larger breeders, and update their websites accordingly. Interestingly enough not all breeders are all that website savvy, having friends or a professional build their site, or using the easy to use 'web builder' features on hosting sites, which basically produce a nice but general looking site which may or may not be easy to update regularly, or have limited space. (Though I personally think anybody trying to sell a product online using a personal website, should at least pay the small fee to remove unwanted ads...most webhosting can be had for under a $100 a year. If you are going to have advertising on your site, you might as well have companies pay you for putting their ads on their site (income from this is usually based on frequency of 'clicks' on the banner ad, or as it is done here at kingsnake.com, businesses can pay a yearly or monthly fee to have their banner ad placed on the site...the more prominent and big the banner ad is, the more cost to the advertiser. Income from this sort of advertising can easily offset the cost of paying a web host for space. The 'free' sites put ads on your page and they get all the benefit from having the ads there (and some of these ads may have little to nothing to do with the content of your site...and its always possible you may end up with porn or similar ads displaying on your site) and these ads are where the free webhosting company wants them to be.

Sorry for the long sidetrack...
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PHLdyPayne

personaly i would go with 905 that color seems to be quite nice