Reptile & Amphibian Forums

At the petstore, I saw two cal kings I was interested in getting. One was a striped albino and the other was labeled as lavender. However, the one labeled as lavender had very dark red eyes. It was banded and had a much darker lavender. Would that mean it was actually a lavender albino?

What causes the lavender to be darker? Is it different strain of albinism or does the lavender darken with age?

I'm just a little confused. I ended up buying the striped albino since it had a nice light purple hue to it. I think it might have been the store lighting though, because after I got home, it was more pink than purple. I would like to go back and purchase the lavender as well.
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chickabowwow

A similar question was asked just last week. There are actually 3 strains of albino in cal kings.

1. Amelanistic. Pink skin tone as hatchlings, changing into white as the animal grows. This albino also has red/pink eyes.

2. and 3. JR and JD strains of Lavender Amelanistic. Since I can't remember which is which, I'll describe each color individually.

The first strain, is a dark purple and yellow as hatchlings. This usually fades into a pale purple or purplish-gray as adults age.

The second strain of lavender is more of a pink/lavender as babies. These are the ones that usually hold onto the pink color as adults.

Both strains of Lavender exibit dark ruby eye color, but neither are compatible with each other, or with the regular amel. When either of the 3 strains are bred with the other, all normal offsrping should hatch as double hets.

I hope this helped. If I'm wrong about any of the info stated, please feel free to educate me once again. This is all info I remember from the past. Things may have changed by now.

Brandon Osborne

Thanks for the reply. Are all three forms of amelanism T ?
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chickabowwow

that picture in your post... what is it? A black lab puppy?

- Peter