Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I picked up a pair of balls from a friend at Daytona last year. He's not into balls, said they came from a friend of his who assumed them to be normal. But the female began to get lighter with each shed. My friend nor his friend had any idea what was going on. This female's sibling brother is a normal-looking coloration.

Anyone have anything like this? A breeder who visited recently thought it could be a vanilla. I don't have a vanilla to compare it to and all vanillas that I have seen advertised here on KS don't look near as white as this female. She is a striking black and white with patches of the brown coloration here and there.

Thanks for any leads!
Susan Sentman
SSNAKES

More pics of this girl...

Yes, I thought that at first too. But IMGs get darker with age and they are hatched out nearly black and white. Ralph Davis has one he calls "Dirty Joe". He says he was hatched out a pure black and white but then he got "dirty". There is a similarity,
but this snake gets whiter with each shed.

Thanks for your comments.

It's an anomaly really. We have two similar balls, a male and a female. The male we have was imported back in 94. So far none have proven genetic. Some times a BP will just change in one shed some will do it over a few. Nothing is known about them yet.

IMG? Not sure really what they should be called. Most people refer to them as IMG's. Maybe its some type of snake vitiligo? Some are temporary and some, as our male is, appear to be permanent? Does yours feel normal or is it soft like an Albino? Ours feels different like an Albino does.

Thanks for the information. Yours do look similar. Guess I'll have to wait until she's big enough next year to breed. Then we'll see if she throws anything interesting.

Its almost axanthic-like very cool!

Thank you!

Yes, she is very cool looking, very striking with the stark contrast of black and white. With the patches of brown, she looks like she has retained shed in places!