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I have seen the blueish ones[ referred to Anerys by a few?] and the much moreso white ones. Both are nice. This question is most relative to the Lavender Snow Brooksi which I think is a knockout. I am wondering, how much of a difference in a project like that will each type of Axanthic make? It seems more obvious that a Lavender Albino would create different appearances than a regular Albino when bred to other morphs but what about the Axanthics? From what I have heard the blueish ones lose that coloration as adults....but I am wondering if anyone has tried breeding Axanthics of both types to the same snake of a different morph and got different result? Any input is appreciated, I want to pick one up ASAP. Thanks Tom

Hi Tom,

I'll try to explain this as I see it. The New England "strain" has very thin crossbars and thin windows on the sides. These are very clean looking animals in my opinion. Some will keep the blue color as adults and some will turn out silverish-blue.

The Lemke "strain" has wider crossbars and windows. My animals continue to produce some of the widest windows I've seen on any brooksi......some as wide as 7 scales. These too can be blue or silver as adults. I've bred a N.E. to a Lemke this year, so we shall see in about 6 weeks.

I also bred a Lemke to a snow. I've seen two types of snows and both were from the same clutch. One had the typical white coloration of what you would consider a normal white and lavender snow. The other was very opalescent over the white pattern. I have two clutches of snows incubating now, so I'm crossing my fingers for a good hatch. I hope this helps.

Pictured is an adult Lemke male I produced in 1997. The pic was taken just a couple of weeks ago..........you can see they don't lose the blue as adults.

Brandon Osborne

I am still confused as to why "strain" and "Line" are used interchangably? That got me into some hot water a couple years back. What should the proper terminology be?
Correct me if I am wrong but does Walter of Top Choice reptiles have yet a completely different gene of axanthic brooksi? I am not sure if he or Osborne or possibly someone else originated it but does it not have a drap light brownish tinge and has been crossed into the lemke and New England line coming out dbl hets?
Opinions?

Oh, BTW ...Walter looks mad in this picture so don't piss him off!

I couldn't tell you which is proper terminology. I just go by what I'm told and what I know. I believe Walter used an axanthic Florida king in his projects. It is totally different than the axanthic/anerythristic brooksi. Alot darker and no blue at all.

Brandon Osborne

.... absolutley correct. What Rainer is refering to was a Axanthic FLORIDA and not a Brooks, however there is two different Axanthic traits out there in the Brooks Kings. One, which has that Purple/Bluish marking coloration on a Black ground and one that has a White marking coloration on a black ground.

The Purple/Bluish one seem to have a sheen appearence as well, where the White has a dull appearence.

I since have gotten rid of most of my Brooks - Lavender Snow, Lavender Albino, Axanthic Brooks AND Florida to pursue the White-Sided projects.

What I have now is a small, but nice group which consits of:

1.1 Adults White-Sided
1.1 Adults Het Axanthic/poss. het White-Sided
0.1 Yealring Axanthic/poss. het White-Sided

Walter
P.S. Rainer, I look that way in the pic. because I was having a bad hair day !!! LOL

Are you going to make it to the Northshore Reptile Show this year?

Walter

well I would but my wife is gravid and we are going to have one big pinky around June 20th.

Hey Congrats man !!! What about Daytona??

Walter

I will be set up at Daytona. I will be hanging with Rany Wright and Rick Trenny. Just visited Randy last week in Cali. Man has he got an awesome collection.
I will see you there, awwwight!

The first time I saw a blue/purple Brooksi it was labeled Anery? Since then the majority of people tell me they feel that is incorrect and that those are Axanthics. I am paranoid about these snakes to begin with seeing there's a whole issue of Floridana and Brooksi being the same, or different depending on who you talk to. I also have a pair of Deppei Deppei which has the same conflict. I have heard them called Pines, Gophers and Bull snakes! So please tell me. If you are striving to work with Brooksi, would breeding it to a Floridana sort of ruin its um.............. I guess the word I am looking for is purity? I have not seen a real purple one in 3 years. The one I saw up close was in a pet store in South FL. I won't mention the name because quite frankly the owner was...a word I can't say on this forum!I love all the Brooksi, normals and morphs. However I find snakes on the classifieds and websites that look cool, but I want to attempt to purchase nothing but Brooksi, and stay away from the Floridana.....or is it no big deal to mix both? Opinions are appreciated thanks Tom

I'm sure I'll catch hell for this but.....I call a brooksi a brooksi. Some will argue that it's just a florida king, which technically it is, but they look different than the snakes that most people lable as florida kings. The overall pattern and coloration is totally different. IMO. Most floridana have a different feel to them too. The scales have a beaded feel to them, where as the brooksi feel more smooth. I know it sounds funny, but that's just something I'v noticed. As far as the purple kings go, you are right on the money with axanthic brooksi. Some say blue and some say purple. I say blueish-purple.

I don't think we can call them anery or axanthic seperately. I think the two terms are too similar to seperate with brooksi. My het hatchlings have a ton of red on them....even the WHITE hatchlings that aren't axanthic. IMO, they are both axanthic and anery. Lloyd Lemke called them anery, along with most others that kept them a few years ago. Some from the East Coast called them axanthic and the battle still rages. Both terms are still used by many breeders from different parts of the U.S. I started calling them axanthic because of a couple of very stubborn guys on this forum. lol. I still say both. I hope that helps a little. Sorry to ramble.

Brandon Osborne

Pictured: White phase adult female. CBB 1994

I concur with Brandon on this debate. I met Dr. Bechtel in person who wrote the bible on recessive color mutations and people who read his book started the whole misunderstanding to begin with. He says the same on this topic.
Rainer