Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was at petco yesterday...thats where i get my mice and rats. I was looking at the snakes while i was waiting and i did a double take...I saw in the ball cage a white and greyish ball...very very different then your normal coloration. The salesperson said they were selling him at half price because he looked diffrent and they thought he wouldn't sell..I took him for $25. Its hard to tell in the pic..he has NO yellow at all.. A LOT of white and the "brown" is more grey than brown. I am going to keep him and breed him next year or the following year to hopefully prove him out...if not it doesn't matter..he is still very awesome to see in person. i will try to get a better pic tomorrow...didn't want to disturb him...just in case you dont know which one im talking about..its the one going into his hide log....compre his colors to the female at the water bowl. Hope to hear comments

Axanthics don't have any browns or yellows. That's what it means to be axanthic. To "lack xanthins". That snake has a TON of brown and yellow.

I swear...it has NO YELLOW at all..and the part that is SUPPOSE to be "brown" is grey. You sure you aren't looking at the one in the water bowl?!

according to that pic i see tons of yellow.
-----
*John*

Thanx for the replies...

I understand your frustration. No one will really be able to tell because they are not in your house to see him. I know the look you are describing. I have a partial banded 0.1 that looks just like yours, no yellow, and no brown, but I know shes not a axanthic. If she is, I got a HELLOFA deal.$19.99 tax
the only way you'll find out for sure is if you buy a 100% Het. for Axanthic 0.1 and breed them, if you hatch some axanthics out then bam ! you gotit! Glad your happy though with your snake. thats all that matters-Casey

There are several lines of axanthics and not all are compatable. So even breeding it to an axanthic wouldn't prove it out, unless you got mates from all the different lines.

I wasn't aware of the incompatibility of the Axanthic lines. I deeply apologize.
What would be the cause of incompatiblity?

Genetics! Different non compatable genes causing a similar color morph. A good example of this is represented in albino boas. If you breed a Sharp strain albino to a Kahl Strain albino, you won't get any albinos! Just a bunch of normal looking boas het for both.I have heard that some caramel albino balls are not compatable with others but I have not been able to confirm this yet.

I hadn't heard of any incompatible caramel albino lines. Please post any available details.

The reason, I assume, that the lines are incompatible is because the genes/alleles that encode for (or NOT encode) for xanthins to be produced, are on different loci. That is, if 2 alleles need to be paired up to express an axanthic animal, if the alleles are on different locations of the DNA strand, they will not line up, thus proving incompatible.
-----

Thanks for the explanation. I am getting a 66% Het. for T Albino 1.0 ,and the incompatibility thing scares me. I just want to hatch out a caramel! Im going to get a female from the same breeder so I guess I don't have to worry too much.-Thanks again.

sorry......looks normal.........

for $25.....if it eats and lives.....it's all good......

........

You should really quarantine that snake--especially if you bought it from PetCo. Even if you had bought it from a reputable source, I'd say to quarantine it, but in this case, you really need to keep it away from your other animals for a few months. As to whether it's axanthic, take some other pics for us. Also, even if it appears to be axanthic, that doesn't mean that it will be genetically reproducible.

Jake

I did seperate them...forgot about where I did buy him at...I usually dont buy snakes from there seeing i usually see poor kept animals that are usually starving or bad shed problems..anyways..thanx for all the replies..i figured it was just a low colored animal, but he does look really neat...For some reason my digital camera doesn't do a good job...I will be getting another pic on here soon..closer and compared to my other one! Thanks guys for your feedback!

I think people's expectations have changed a bit regarding axanthics. If you look at the pictures of axanthics in "The Ball Python Manual" you can see some light browns & beiges. The book was copyrighted in 1995. Now people seem to expect silver-gray and black. Since you've already exposed this animal to your other, post a better picture of the 2 together, check them both for mites, thoroughly clean your cage and contents. Then separate them at least until you get a fecal exam, see a healthy shed cycle and know the animal is feeding well . I may have an animal similar to yours and honestly I hope it is simply an individual with very low yellow rather than a true axanthic recessive trait. If this low yellow can be passed directly to offspring, it could be better to work into any project than the 1-in-16 odds of a double-het approach. Good luck with him/her.
Paul

A friend of mine on the forum has one similar to yours and the other person in this thread. No yellow, just chocolate brown and white. To me, axanthic is black and white, no yellow/brown. The low yellow is neat, though. I have a high yellow, and putting the two together they look like completely different animals, but both are "normal" BP's.
-----
1.1 Ball Python 0.0.1 corn snake 1.0 Bearded Dragon
0.0.2 fish 1.2 cats 3.1 kids 1.0 husband and now...
0.0.1 Pink Zebra Beauty Tarantula

At the age of the animal in question, IT WOULD BE GREY AND BLACK IF IT WERE AXANTHIC!!!

ITS NORMAL.

Why not try line breeding the low yellow (everyone agrees) trait. If crossed with a "high yellow" (low brown?) some of the offspring could look even more axanthic (both low in yellow and low in brown). Just pick the most axanthic looking ones for the next generation. I'm interested in getting around the 1-in-16 odds of a double-het recessive trait. The desire to work with morphs seems to have overshadowed the tried-and-trued practice of line breeding. We won't know until we try it. Maybe my copy of "The Ball Python Manual" came off the press wrong, but the individual "axanthic" pictured with the "high gold" certainly does not appear to be mature and in my copy, shows plenty of beige.
Paul

very normal, that is typical brown colouring that needs yellow pigment in it.

Here is a closer pic of him (tail shot) head shot is a normal colored girl....Let me know..I am sure he is Normal, but I like him either way!