Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just wanted to share some pics I took while watering my brumating snakes. This is my striped Hypo Brooksi from Don Shores originally. She is holding on to some orange coloration and is nearly 4 feet long.
John Lassiter

Here is the big male the striped hypo will be breeding to this year. He is about 5 1/2 feet in length. After brumation I will weigh and measure them all.
John Lassiter

This is my female albino Floridana. She will breed with the male in the next post.
John Lassiter

Here is the male amel..
John Lassiter

Brooksi.....Floridana. It is hard to call these Floridana, I am so used to using Brooksi for them all.
This is my Axanthic male. I have a pair of these the female remarkably is in shed right now.
John Lassiter

Love those Brooksi, I can't seem to call them Floridana either....stuck in the habit of it. So far 4 of my snakes shed during brumation. I am guessing the mild winter we're having may contribute something but even if it was cold I still wouldn't be shocked. I would like it to stay cold til the 2nd weekend in Feb and then get back to the 60 degree range. If my snakes seem totally awake and active I will bring them to the snake room before March first, but I like to keep em cool as long as I can. I had a female Corn shed in mid Feb last year and when she was warmed up she took forever to breed and shed. It drove me nuts! Do you count the mid Feb shed as she is ready to be introduced to a male allready? I waited a while, she stayed opaque for an eternity. Put my horny male in and he had his way with her. She did not shed again til her pre egg lay shed. You just never know what to think with the shed during brumation..... Tom Stevens

Tom
My temps never got above 58 degrees in the hibernation box. I am thinking of Feb. 14 as my warm up date. They have been a constant temp since Thanksgiving so they should be good and ready by the middle of Feb. I am feeding her first to and letting a male meet her soon after.
John Lassiter

Does this male look like an amelanistic FLoridanae? It doesn't seem to have the "chainlike pattern" as the female. I see much better speckling on him as well. I just want some opinions. I am working on the background of these two.
What do you guys think?
John Lassiter

looks like it may have some fla in it,ill go out on a limb to say that that animal is not a fl. kingsnake It has chain markings not saying in any way that it is an eastern either. i believe ive read you are going to breed them idont think it to be fair to release them to the public as Fl. kingsnakes as i have received in 02 a pair labeled Lav.Brooks @85 a piece and turned out to be mutts ,tim ricks has a line i believe to be the real mc coy and Rainer could steer you in the right direction sorry to be a critic i THINK they are mislabeled.Chris....

So Chris,
You think that what I have is an Eastern/Floridanae cross? Wouldn't that be a man made Goini?
Thanks for the insight Chris.
Does anyone else think these Amel Floridanae look like they have Eastern blood in them?
-John Lassiter-

They don't look like the Ricks strain or the Lemke strain.

Who did you get them from? Do you know the history?

Just trying to help.

I am not saying that the Ricks or Lemke line is pure. Just that they are more widely accepted as pure.

my guess is no eastern influence i said i saw a "chain pattern"upon a second review i would guess Cal influence. and have a hard time seeing Florida markings.and not critisizing you because ive seen your snakes posted b4 and they all look healthy ,nourished and happy.L8r Chris the animal posted is a W/C South Florida Kingsnake

....of amelanistic or lavender Florida kings? I would like to see some for comparison.
You may be right Chris. I did buy these on impulse without doing a lot of research on them. I also thank you as I am pretty new to Brooksi but have always enjoyed them.
If these are crossed with something then the offspring will be sold and labelled as crosses. I am all for honesty.
Thanks,
John Lassiter

heres mine from john cherry, i sure thought(still do)that she is pure floridana, i will ask john the next time i see him
,,,,,,,,,thomas

thats a nice one Thomas,that has no questionable pattern descrepancies but who has the answer where did the lav albino originate? btw i just posted a pic of mine i got from Tim at Daytona this year.Chris

Rainer, if you remember this summer when I told you some TX breeders had some odd looking Amel Brooksi.....it is just a guess but those hatchlings looked as if they just may be a baby version of the Amel John posted. I wanted to buy one but since no one at the show could figure out exactly what they were the breeder chose to hold onto all of them. I am going to email them, and John I will let you know what they say asap. The snakes those people had should have some size to them now and may even be changing as far as that odd color already. I will let you know Tom Stevens

Rainer,
I got the pair from A friend of mine that runs the local petshop. He got them from a John Rhoads. I know John and he got most of his Brooksi from Don Shores, but I will have to get in touch with him and find out.
I will let you know. Do you think they have an Eastern influence? Do they look like an Eastern / Brooksi cross?
Thanks,
John Lassiter

Over the years I have had an interest in brooksi morphs I have been to dozens of shows a year looking at brooksi...

There are a lot of (and I mean A LOT) of crosses out there. I have seen thousands of them. Some crosses are better than others. Some look like the real deal. If you go to the Tampa show you will find many locale residents of Florida breed lavender florida kings. A lot of the breders set up at that show have them. Most look like the ones you have. "Others" look better.

As far as what its crossed with is anyones guess.

I don't think there is a true bonafied amel morph out there. Just some that look like the "real deal" and have been accepted into the hobby as as pure.

Thanks Rainer,
Only the female has that chainlike pattern. I am going to breed them and see what comes of them. I really did not think they looked like they were crossed with anything until Chris mentioned something. I will remember to post some pics of offspring this summer.
Thanks all for the help,
John Lassiter

this is a tim ricks lav albino,shows a truer pattern &color than the mutts i bought in 02

Very nice Chris.
I wonder where the red and orange pigments are on my snakes. I know adult Brooksi usually lose their coloration, but mine look almost Hybino??
John Lassiter

by definition: how can you see reduced black(hypo) if the animal is lacking all black(albino)?.Chris ps get the milksnake police on the phone "oh NO Mr Bill" . have a hectic,Chris

I know there's some double het for Hypo x Albino floating around out there but to date I don't think anyone has produced a Hybino. In comparison to Hondos the project has been ongoing for years and it is just not so easy to determine what a Hybino actually looks like. I would guess in Brooksi it will be a super clean glossy/shiny Albino? Tom Stevens

those hypos often have really distorted patterns. I think

Tim had some brooksi coined GLOSSY and i think it was the Lav line or the snows.......Chris

I think he coined the name "glossy" for a type of snow he produces.

Rainer I think you are right. I remember seeing a picture of his with a glossy snow next to a regular snow.
John Lassiter

Hi Tom,I don't know what the appearance of hybinos will be at this time.In 2005 I will be breeding my double hets.They are lavender albino X hypo,and lavender snow X hypo.I am curious to see if either of these two X's produce a new color morph.Tim Ricks

My money says YES. Due to the potenitally large clutches Brooksi can lay. I am really hoping something new pops up, the morph the merrier....Tom Stevens hey Tim the Axanthic I posted at the top of the page is one of yours, she's big eh???

If a snake is showing a double homozygous trait as hypomelanistic (reduced area or lack of black pigment) and Amelanistic (lacking black pigment) then the area that originally would have been black would be reduced in size also that area will be white due to the amelanistic trait. Smaller white areas in the same location that larger black areas used to be. This would be Hybino or Sunglow as in Corns/Pits.
And........... I don't know exactly what the "Amel" looking snake is just yet. I was just speculating.
John Lassiter