Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone know the most common adult coloring of an albino Everglades Rat?

Except for the picture Terry posted, I've never personally seen one. I may be wrong but I don't think they are very common. Maybe someone out there is using a little Guttata blood to bring on an Albino but I'm not aware of any current projects. Any ideas for the "kid" Terry????

Alot of these have been bred and sold as "hypo"glades.This gene is much more apparent as hatchlings because of their ontongenic change.As adults they arent very different looking from other glades(VERY ORANGE) besides the striping becoming even less evident. They are not rare at all,they are just not all that different as adults.Some juveniles have some KILLER colors that never seem to show up in pics.And there is NO corn snake gene mixed in with them!! Jeff

that the "missing" color is the juvenile brown. Wouldn't that imply that adults retain that brown and its just covered up by the orange? That would explain the extra vivid adult colors. Very interesting... That's wha I like about you guys. I always learn something new here.

what about Whitesided Glades? I was just looking at mine and they sure look like they are simply Everglades that are missing both the juvie brown and orange colors. I wasn't around Rats back when these came out so I'm not really familiar with their background. On the surface though, they would fit the conventional idea of "albino" even closer.

Its defined as lacking melanin-the dark pigment that produces the browns and blacks.When I bought my glades they were sold to me as "hypos"and that is what the adults look like as the eye color varies little from the orange of the regular strain.But when I bred them and saw the babys I would say they are obviously albinos...but its not up to me to change the name,lol. Just because the juveniles lack the melanin doesnt stop the ontonogenic change from happening,they turn orange anyway!
Now with the ghost or whitesided glades something different is going on.The white sides are unlike albinos--more like piebaldim in that they are white and remain rather unchanged throughout its life.The orange is also replaced by YELLOW which makes this gene particularly difficult for me to understand. It has been proven the the whitesided gene in black rats is allelic and the color they exhibit also differs from that of normal blacks on the dorsal stripe....I think more work needs to be done to describe exactly why this gene acts as it does and how it relates to the chromataphores.Ya,if your not careful you just might learn ya sumptin today,lol.Jeff

Jeff,

You are dead on about some of this, but off in other places. There are two genes that can cause a lack of the black/brown pigment. There is also a gene that causes a lack of the yellow/orange pigment. The same rules that apply to corn snakes also apply to other rat snakes. I have included a link on corn snake genetics that might help you with some of this.

And you are right, you can learn a lot reading many of the posts.
Corn Snake Genetics

The previous poster(Mark) was talking about albinos which we accept classic albino to equal amelanism.That said,there is 1(!!) gene in glades rats--some call it "HYPO",some call it "albino"but it IS the same gene.Having bred them,and looking at the young,I would definately say they are amelanistic! I need no degree in mendelism to figure it out,lol.Jeff

I'll take a pic of an adult albino everglades I have tonight. They aren't much different than the normal. The one I have just looks a lot redder than my normal. He doesn't like his pic taken for some reason so bear with me. There is a true everglades albino gene. It doesn't have any guttata influence in it. I'll look back through my stuff, but I do believe it involves the Marcia Lincoln everglades bloodline. I'll post some more info tonight when I get home.

Terry Parks

I have 1.2 of different types of glades 1.1 hypos .1 glades both from the Love line that are really orange. The main difference I see is that the normal glades is darker red than the hypos but has faint lines. The hypos have no lines and have a brighter orange. I also have a w.c. that is closer to the hypos in the shade of orange but still has the faint stripes. I think that the stock you get has alot to do with it. The Love stock and the Lincoln stock being intertwind and probably the best. Though that could be just because that is the line I'm breeding.