Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We bought a baby snake back in September at a reptile expo. She was described as a blizzard. She had a pale hint of pink to her. As time has gone by, she's become more noticably pink with white patterns. Judging by the pictues on line and in books I would have called her more of a bubblegum snow. We LOVE this snake so the bottom line is that we don't mind too much, but my daughter and I were curious what the chances that this really is a blizzard are... I know that a lot of morphs look different when they are small and grow into their full colors later. I think we should have bought from a breeder instead so we would know more about her heritage, but we were really nervous about having a snake shipped. I know that they survive, but it doesn't seem kind. My daughter would like to breed her eventually, but I'm less keen on that idea.

A blizzard is genetically almost the same as a snow. A snow is an albino (amel) combined with anery "A". A blizzard is an albino (amel) with anery "B". This being true they do look similar, so low end blizzard, like the ones bought from pet stores do look like snows (no offense, just most stuff I sell to pet store is the stuff I don't want my name or bloodline attached to). A good blizzard with be almost solid pink with almost unnoticable white markings. A definate tell tale sign that the snake is a snow is if it starts to develop yellow on the underside of its neck and head. A blizzard will not do this.

Anery A will yellow (not always though) Anery B will not yellow.

A pic would help.

tom

xtremeherps@yahoo.com

Blizzards and Anery B's WILL yellow along their necks... but it's not as common as it is with Anery A's and snows. Furthermore, some Anery A's will not develop yellow either.

Blizzards are 'patternless' at first glance, but if you look hard enough at any blizzard, you can see faint lines of pattern. If your snake has a remotely strong pattern, then it's likely a snow. Blizzard hatchlings tend to look more like little pink worm-snakes, colorwise.
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"You keep WHAT in your freezer?"
"Mice. And rats. If that bothers you, I can call them 'cows' instead."

I stand corrected. You are correct.

tom

I had one blizzard that looked amost as highly patterned as a snow.He was sent to me by one of the big three in 2001.I don't know if he lost the pattern as he grew becauce I got rid of him.One adult I have here has a ton of yellow on the underside,but thats already been adressed.

My 02 bleepnco blizzard...practically NO pattern at all...almost perfectly all white. As far breeding...make sure you do ALL your homework...LOTS of responsibilities and personally I think its a pain in the butt unless you have an established relationship with someone you know that can take your excess hatchlings. Otherwise, MY philosophy anymore is to simply buy the morph(s) you want and leave the breeding up to those that are willing to handle all the problem feeders, excess hatchlings, disfigured hatchlings, etc etc. For me, the most exciting part of breeding is what I like to call the 'Jurassic Park' phenomena...simply watching the snakes hatch from the eggs. After that comes alot of work....just my 2 cents...don't be mad

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BAHUMBUG

Sounds like you have a snow corn rather than a blizzard. Here is a photo of a yearling blizzard with lots of color. I've never seen them with pink pattern, only yellow (but that doesn't mean that pink blizzards don't exist!)

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Ronda Van Winkle
Northwest Herpetoculture

Nice snake Rhonda. I Have always liked the ones with the yellow.

Don G.
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Hi, my name is Don and I am a colubrid addict!
My posts are just my opinion or what works for me.
Thanks for letting me share.