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A beautiful lavender albino femal just became a member of our family. Being completely new to snakes, I have been trying to do some research. What I have noticed, is that most images are coming up as striped or banded. She doesn't really have any markings. Maybe a slight stripndown her back, but it doesn't really appear yellow, more just a darker pink/purple shade. Is this unusual?

>>A beautiful lavender albino femal just became a member of our family. Being completely new to snakes, I have been trying to do some research. What I have noticed, is that most images are coming up as striped or banded. She doesn't really have any markings. Maybe a slight stripndown her back, but it doesn't really appear yellow, more just a darker pink/purple shade. Is this unusual?

A lavender albino female WHAT?
California King?
Striped or Banded leads me to believe you are talking about a calking......Lavender Albino Calkings are not that rare at all any more......Nice snakes though......Post a pic when you can.
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

Sounds like he's talking about a purple passion, John.
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>>Sounds like he's talking about a purple passion, John.
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Maybe.....if so, somewhat rare in the hobby as of right now......
Need picture to be sure........
Most Purple Passions have somewhat of a faint pattern........
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

Most Purple Passions have somewhat of a faint pattern........
I think that's what he is describing as a pin stripe that is pinkish purple. If it was a normal striped Cal king, it would be yellow or white. It doesn't sound like a lavender of any other ssp. Yeah, I'd be nice to see a photo.
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Sounds like you have a Cal king expressing two different recessive traits, hypermelanism (aka conjucta morph) and lavender. This combination is known as Purple passion. They are not nearly as common as the normal striped and banded lavenders. Here's a photo of a conjucta morph, which is a hypermelanistic morph from Southern Baja California. The stripe on these kings is very dark compared to the normal striped Cal kings. In this photo, the flash makes the stripe look a lot lighter than it really is. So basically your snake is a conjucta morph in lavender.

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Ross....I just checked out your website for the first time and I am kicking myself in the butt for not doing it earlier....LOL

Killer pics and stories to boot......I commend you on the work put into it........
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

Thanks so much, John! I really appreciate that.
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Ross, I agree the morph could possibly be what you guys are describing, but the snake you just posted is a "nitida" phase that are indigenous to the southern Baja peninsula(Baja sur).

The conjucta are the hyper-melanistic thin-banded form further to the north of the Baja peninsula(Baja norte) that can also have a broken banded pattern as well.

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

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

You're right, Doug. I still get those two names mixed up after all these years. lol
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That's okay buddy, I knew it was just a simple overlook there..

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

serpentinespecialties.webs.com