Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I purchased the Albino water snake male you all saw on the classifieds. Although not what I was expecting to see cause it looks a bit different in person this little guy is undeniably COOOOLLL!!!! The oranges and reds that stripe this guy appear to glow with the cage light on. Its all set on a purpleish background best compared to the purple retics. As for cost, at this stage in their development the price was a steal. This little guy is the foundation of my entire Albino watersnake project and will pay for itself many times over. PLus it gives me a front seat on the future morphs such as snows etc..... I got pics, but I don't have them posted on the web. I'll see what I can do.

Heres a pic

heres another.

OMG MORE PICS!!!!!!!!!!!! THats FRICKING AMAZING... Can I have it ?
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0.0.1 Chrysemys picta picta (Eastern Painted Turtle)
0.0.1 Teliqua gigas (Indonesian Blue Tongue Skink)
0.2.0 Eublepharis macularius (Leopard Geckos)
0.0.1 Nerodia sipedon (Northern Water Snake)
0.0.2 Rhacodactylus ciliatus (Crested Geckos)
0.0.1 Python regius (Ball Python)
?.?.? Assorted goldfish, minnows and guppies
1.0.0 Ferret
1.1.0 Cats
1.0.0 Aussie Cattle Dog/ Border Collie Mix

Thanks. I'll try to get more pics as soon as I buy more batteries for my camera. He really is cool huh? I love it. It will be a nice addition to my future projects list wich includes albino retics albino tiger retics, albino super tiger retics, albino plains garters, xmas albino garters, snow garters, and albino red ear sliders to name a few. I'm maybe 2 to 3 years from going full scale, but when I do, LOOK OUT!!! ALl I'm going to be doing is morphs. I am a morph freak. I have wanted an albino watersnake since I saw pics when I was a kid. Now I have the offspring off the actual snake I first saw in the pics. Amazing how the world turns huh. Take care all

Ill take it off your hands for the 2/3 years
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0.0.1 Chrysemys picta picta (Eastern Painted Turtle)
0.0.1 Teliqua gigas (Indonesian Blue Tongue Skink)
0.2.0 Eublepharis macularius (Leopard Geckos)
0.0.1 Nerodia sipedon (Northern Water Snake)
0.0.2 Rhacodactylus ciliatus (Crested Geckos)
0.0.1 Python regius (Ball Python)
?.?.? Assorted goldfish, minnows and guppies
1.0.0 Ferret
1.1.0 Cats
1.0.0 Aussie Cattle Dog/ Border Collie Mix

LOl. Sure! why not? lol. You can count on them being available soon. I may have hets next year. I'll keep everyone posted as time goes on. I've seen to many people buy some of the coolest morphs out there and then they are never seen again. NOt this time. Take care

Amels are not my cup of tea but glad to see that morphs are sparking some interest in watersnake husbandry. Hope it does well for you and I'd love to see pics of it as it grows.
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Pierson Hill

Herpetology and Herpetoculture

Thanks so much. I have taking a couple I am going to upload for you to see. I'll take better ones soon, but I wanted to post someting for you now. go to the photo gallery and search for albino water snake. Hope you like te pics. I find it interesting that it really does seem to change it's darkness. I'm not saying wow, look at some amazing color changing snake but since I took pics I noticed the color change comparing pics. As far as my experience I have never seen a snake change color even when sick or dieing. Best I can compare it to like when an anole gets sick or stresses it gets really dark. I'll swear to god this snake was darker then dark when he arrived wich actually made me question Ben about the difference from pics I saw. After a week and finally feeding the color just started brightening, you can't see it happeneing or anything but you know dam well that snake was way darker yestarday. Maybe I'm crazy. LOL Take care.

LOL...it will pay for itself many times over...Just to let you know, you aren't the first to say this. I don't exactly know what the demand for an albino Nerodia is, but I still think most people won't give them the time of day. There are a couple of people that have posted here in the past about having albino Nerodia and starting up breeding projects. Never really heard back from them...
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Andy Maddox
AIM: thekingofproduct
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

"Some things will never change. They just stand there looking backwards. Half-unconsious from the pain. They may seem rearranged. In the backwater swirling. There is something that'll never change-The Meat Puppets"

well, everyones entitled to their own opinion although "LOLing" at someone about something you obviously know nothing about is rather rude. First let me say alot of people say alot of things especially things they supposedly have and what they are going to do with it. And you are correct, where are they now? Probably making up stories on some other forum to impress people like you. DId they ever have pics of their animals? Let me ask you, have you ever seen an albino watersnake for sale? Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, no. I highly doubt it. Ever wonder where these people got these animals they claim to have? I guess they are all beyond lucky and found them right? LOL!!! I have one. I can prove it. I can understand your attitude though cause everyone said te same about retics, burms, boas, balls, gophers/pines/bulls, kings, rats, and even garters. It's been said about them all and look who's smiling today. The fact is, no one paid much attention to garters either and everyone said the same thing about "oh, it's just a garter, who's gonna pay that for that,haha" meanwhile years later the idiot who did is selling hundreds of those snakes to people like you for hundreds of dollars a piece. "LOL" all you like, cause I'm gonna...all the way to the bank. (and no everyone, I don't think this thing is going to make me ric or something, but the people that know how these things work and grow will agree that the price paid for this snake is nothing compared to the money the snake will return. Rarity causes interest, rarity sell. For the ones that aren't sold to the true watersnake fans thier are plenty of rarity fans to give them homes. It's an undeniable fact people not only want what they can't have, but they want what other people can't have. "look what I got and you can't get" ya know. Oh well, I guess we'll just wait and see who was right. Take care.

Pictures of a wildcaught amelanistic Blotched Watersnake (Nerodia erythrogaster transversa) and a wildcaught amelanistic Diamondback Watersnake (Nerodia rhombifer) have been posted here in the past few years. Amelanistic Nerodia sipedon are well known and they have even been kept and bred in the past. Where are these animals or their offspring today? No one knows. You would be very surprised how little interest there is out there for watersnakes, even colorful morphs.

That said, I wish you all the luck with your breeding project and hope these amel N. fasciata can finally turn more people on to keeping watersnakes.
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Pierson Hill

Herpetology and Herpetoculture

Thanks for your kind words. And yes I am aware of those animals. I am also aware that 99% of morphs are wild caught but it isn't a common thing or at least not as common as the number of people who claim they have them. I am also aware that far to many morphs of any reptile found end up with people who are not true breeders and only have it as a cool pet. No different than a person who pays $2000 for a dog and then gets it fixed. That is my thought on what happens to most and why we never see the young. As for interest, if you check the gallery you will see there is already a post asking where I got it as they want one for their collection. That's one person in what, 4 days unadvertised? Even if I only had 2 people interested each of them showing off their new snake get another 2 people interested causing the snowball effect wich put the garters where they are now. When they were first offered people laughed at the price saying they don't even want a regular garter for normal price let alone the expensive morph. In only takes a few to start it out and then it will just grow on it's own. As I said, there are many people, myself included that get these animals just because they are morphed regardless of what species it is. There is not an animal out there that will not have plenty off eager buyers for the simple fact that it's an albino, species unimportant. And I gotta say, anyone who wouldn't want a watersnake or laughs about the thought of having one has obviously never had a baby watersnake in a nice set up and raised it to adulthood. These snakes are some of the coolest snakes around when setup for display in an enclose that lets them act natural. PLus alot of people automaticlly think "watersnake, goldfish, that's a pain." Fact is these guys turn over to frozen thawed mice the same as garters and with such a more substantial and rich diet they turn into quite impressive creatures. However people see it now is not how it will be seen in a few years as with every other morph that appears. All of a sudden, BANG, they got there own following. Let me ask something, has anyone here honestly ever seen and albino watersnake for sale besides this guy I got? 99% of you will say no. That's the only reason it seems no one would be interested. BUt the ads aren't there not because of no interest, but cause of no specimens. Anyways, I don't want to argue with anyone and again I am not claiming this is going to be the next albino retic. I am saying a new era in waternake enthusiast has begun. That's all I am going to say on the subject of interest. Every fresh project has it's doubters, pesimist and ill wishers. A million people laughed at bob clark and his albino burmese plan and now he hasn't worked a day since 1986. And he made that happen when there was no reptiles mags and the only fellow herper most people knew was there friend down the street. Now we have millions and can share with all like we do here. A simple numbers game. It would be damn near impossible for me not to make back my money many times over. Take care and again, thanks for the well wishes.

Couple of things. First of all, I have talked with people about purchasing offspring of WC albino Nerodia. Second of all, I have seen them for sale before. Third...don't compare a burmese python to a water snake. I guarantee you that comparison is a bit far fetched. We don't have burms in our backyards, pools, and local creeks (or at least not in the majority of the country). And you say that many people will buy these albino Nerodia simply because they are albino. It works against you too. Many people WON'T buy them as well simply because they ARE Nerodia. But best of luck to you. Just want to make sure you know that they are Nerodia and for that reason most people will simply turn up their noses to them.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: thekingofproduct
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

"Some things will never change. They just stand there looking backwards. Half-unconsious from the pain. They may seem rearranged. In the backwater swirling. There is something that'll never change-The Meat Puppets"

Alls I'll say to that is I never compared them to burms, I've represented them as they are and at the proper level with garters, and to each his own. Only time will tell, right my friend? I'll reserve a baby for you. LOL! Kidding man. You're welcome to your opinion. All I can say is Nothing ventured, Nothing gained. By the way everybody, my watersnake has already switched over to f/t pinkies and is growing quick. I'll update you all with new pics soon.

oh, I forgot to write titles and keywors on the pics I posted. I just did so you can search for albino water snake in the photo gallery to see them all.

"Albino watersnake" is awfully vague. There are nine species of Nerodia with 24 subspecies and not many people now the difference between them. you are probably going to want people to know what they're looking at in your pictures. Do you even know what subspecies it is?
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Pierson Hill

Herpetology and Herpetoculture

You are correct, thanks for pointing that out. Yes, it's "Nerodia fasciata fasciata." A Banded water snake.

I stated this snkae was from the albino in the Garter snake and Water snake manual. It was believed to be and is not a definate and in fact I believe it wrong. I believe they are 2 diffent subspecies as the one in the book is a Florida water snake and mine is a Banded water snake.