Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am a bit confused. I understand a hybino being an amelanistic animal that is also homozygous for hypomelanism. However, my impression is that you cannot see the hypo trait exhibited due to complete lack of black pigment caused by the amelanism. Am I wrong in this thinking, and can you actually tell a hybino from an amel??? I am sure this sounds uber newbie, but after reading some posts I get the impression you can see some sort of expression in the hybino morphs that make them distinct from regular amel.

Thanks
KevinM

You are correct in your thinking. There is no way to visually determine if a Honduran is a Hybino or an Albino.

Tim

Third Eye

Thanks Tim. Thats what I thought, but wasnt quite 100% sure if I was missing something LOL!!

KevinM

That is why you have to know exactly what combination of correct genetics made it, and then if that combination only allows for them to be "possible" hybino's, they have to be proven-out later when they can breed as Terry Dunham and I posted about below.

Yes, that is correct Kevin, the hypomelanism is "masked" by the amelanism, and therefore, you cannot tell visually at all if they are hybino or not.

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

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

You see I learned something new. So what is the big deal over Hybinos? Is it just so you can produce multiple morphs in a clutch?
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

Really just for the additional genetics to produce different morph combinations. It definitely ain't because they look any different, just that they have that much more going on genetic-wise for convenient breeding combinations, etc..

That sort of thing helps a guy cut down on the different animals needed for stuff too, which counts for alot in my opinion.

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

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

n/p
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

I also want to ad something to this.
I think in proving out "possible hybinos" you need to do more than one breeding.
A couple years ago I had a male that was amel and 66% possible hybino but was at least a het.Well, I bred him to a hypo female and got 9 good egs.All 9 hatched out hypos.I also bred him to a het hypo and 5 out of 7 hatched out hypo.I chalked him up as a positive hybino.I sold him a year later to Don Shores and the first breeding he had from him was to a hypo and out of 9 eggs he got 7 hypos and two normals (actually hets but wild type looking).

So, I would say ypu need a real good sample before you call it a hybino.

L8r

Shannon, at first I was like "WTF"?? Then I realized what you were getting at. An amel het. hypo is not a hybino, just an amel het. hypo LOL!! Got it. I would think the all hypos from a poss. hybino to hypo would have proved it, but I see your point for the need of further confirmation.

I was scratching my head too Kev. I get it now!
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

Yeah, I hear ya on that man!. It's tough to pin down just how many offspring are needed under certain circumstances to prove these out sometimes beyond the shadow of a doubt..LOL!

Bet Don was like.....HUH????..WTF!!!

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

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

LOL Shannon, you should have played the lottery. I just did the math and the odds of that happening, its only 1/500,000. You are one lucky man!

Vinny
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“There is a grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that whilst this planet has gone on cycling according to the fixed laws of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.” -C. Darwin, 1859

Natural Selection Reptiles

>>LOL Shannon, you should have played the lottery. I just did the math and the odds of that happening, its only 1/500,000. You are one lucky man!
>>
there's another possibility too, though i know it's one shannon and don know about so no doubt eliminated in this case.

But for other instances, it's the chance of two of the babies having been fertilized by retained sperm. There are enough instances of snakes producing a year or two after they last bred, to prove that's quite within the realm of possibility. That's why--a tip we all need to remember--it's so important to retain some "virgin" stock (virgin for given morphs, at a minimum) that can be useful in so many different test breedings.

We talk occasionally about "inexplicable" outcomes. Of course there are explanations for them.