Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has the interest in L. t. andesiana faded? I have not heard much about them lately and have seen fewer animals being offered each year. Who is still working with them and does anyone have information on their history (lineage) in the US (i.e., how many locality specific lines are out there, and has importation stopped)?
Thanks
T

Well,.....yes, the interest has seemed to fade in them over the course of years since their first introduction into the hobby around the early 90's. Before that, they were basically unobtainable. They first went for big bucks, and I even paid $250 a piece for my hatchlings back in the mid 90's. A few years prior to that, a buddy of mine paid $400 for his subadult pure andesiana.

I never knew of any true locality specific lines though, but they were very genuine andesiana that had to have originate from the higher elevations of Colombia in the Andes mountains.

There decline in popularity has no doubt been that good phenotypic examples are simply not all that eye-popping to most folks, and only the people that lke to work with snakes that are exactly how they are SUPPOSED to be for the most part(like me and some others) are going to appreciate them more.

Also, since they have been produced in substantial numbers since then, they aren't as "rare" as they once were, so given all these factors, along with many hobbyist wanting snakes with more vivid colors/patterns, it;s pretty easy to understand how they might not be as popular as they once were. I still appreciate them, but no longer have mine. There are a good number of people that still work with them though, and I've recently seen ads offering them for sale just recently too. You just have to look around on some different stes, and you will definitely find some.

I am not real sure about the importation aspect from Colombia, but they don't need to be imported anyway since there are still at least a decent number being produced, even though I definitely agree, they aren't in quite the numbers they used to be.

Try to make SURE you know exactly what you are looking at too, and look closely at photos, as we all know that lots of snakes are cross composits of ssp. now days.....very sad actually..

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Yep, Doug nailed it.They pretty much got off the ground in the very early 90's by people like Steve Hammock and John Cherry etc....
They all are from a pretty tight gene pool from the Dalas Fort Worth Zoo.
I stil have a pair of adults and just produce a clutch a year.I always sale out each year but they don't exactly fly off the shelfs.

L8r Shannon

p.s. I am working with the tangerine phase and trying to improve the line by line breeding.

my male breeder.

female breeder.

one of there clutches.

Very nice real-deals there Shannon!..that orange is spectacular man!

I remember a dude named Brad Lichtenhan out of Austin, TX. and had some pretty orange "Inca's" for that time in the early-mid 90's. He was a vet, and a super guy, but we lost touch since way back then. I saw his name mentioned on fauna a while back, so I am going to drop him an email to see what he has been up to. He will flip when he finds out it is me..LOL!

Remember him?, he had some really nice stuff!, amel pits, andesiana, and many other nice animals when they were a big new deal and such.

Anyway, love those killer andesiana you posted!

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

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Yeah, I think he bought all my baby speckled kings last year and now lives back east or something.Like I was telling you the other day I lost about 6-7 years of old contacts and e-mails etc... with that hard drive melt down.Or I could just look back and tell for sure if it was him but that name rings a bell big time.

L8r Shannon

Hah Hah Brad! I had this love of Diamond/Carpet crosses back in the eraly to mid 90's. I had some really good examples had some stuff from Brad and Python Pete Kuhn was kind enough to sell me a female holdback from when he was getting his 75% Line off the ground

Memories, dude!

LOL!,....yeah, that is too funny man!. Brad and I were exchanging photo's and letters via old-school "snail-mail" like everybody had to in those days..LOL!

Gosh, the internet is gret on one hand, and not so great in other aspects, as we all know..LOL!

That's great you remember Brad too!

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

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Very nice Shannon, one of those species I have on my very short list of "what do I want next"... it would be an easy choice if it weren't for L.t.abnorma... just love those milks with heavy black tipping.

Gerry

Yep I hear that, good luck with finding Abnorma.

L8r