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Can anyone tell me a brief history about T albinos? I know there are Colombian, CA, and Argentine animals with this gene but did someone breed this gene from one group into the others or did each happen to develop the T gene independently? I'd love to get an idea of who did what when. Thank you.

The above was supposed to have a plus sign but I guess they don't come out here.

Tracy Barker and John or Amy Mack can give a more detailed history on the Colombian and Argentine T Positives, respectively. I *think* that the Colombians were imported and bought by the Barkers and that the Argentine line just randomly popped up in one of the Mack's litters (can you imagine how exciting that would be!), but again, I'm not really 100% sure about those lines. Our Nicaraguan T Positives were farm born babies that Ben Siegel brought into the country.

Each of the lines are completely separate and were not created by crossing the gene into different subspecies.

I hope this helped a little. We have more info on the Nicaraguan T Positive line on our website, and I'm sure you can read about the Colombians and Argentines on the Barker's and Mack's websites.

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Amanda Burke
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Burke Reptiles Website

>>Tracy Barker and John or Amy Mack can give a more detailed history on the Colombian and Argentine T Positives, respectively. I *think* that the Colombians were imported and bought by the Barkers and that the Argentine line just randomly popped up in one of the Mack's litters (can you imagine how exciting that would be!), but again, I'm not really 100% sure about those lines. Our Nicaraguan T Positives were farm born babies that Ben Siegel brought into the country.
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>>Each of the lines are completely separate and were not created by crossing the gene into different subspecies.
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>>I hope this helped a little. We have more info on the Nicaraguan T Positive line on our website, and I'm sure you can read about the Colombians and Argentines on the Barker's and Mack's websites.
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>>Amanda Burke
>>Email
>>Burke Reptiles Website
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E&C's Exotic House of Reptiles

There are actually quite a few forms of T positive Albinos out there. There are the Columbian Line, which was produced by a lady in TX who bred 2 normal PETS together and OUT popped some of the T positives. VPI bought the Babies and PROVED out the genetics to be Recessive. THEY ARE INCREDIBLE::::::

The T positive Line of Argentine Boa has been reproduced also by John Mack. Again, it was a Random Bloodline from 2 Argentine Boas that were "HETS". He has got that bloodline going very well, and they are INCREDIBLE adults. He even produce Motley T positive Albino ARGENTINES in 04. They are INCREDIBLE TO SEE.

The Nic T positive that Amanda brought up were Imports by Ben Seigle. I bought 2 Males, and the Burkes bought 2.1. So, we have the EXACT same Bloodline. This is an INCREDIBLE bloodline, and produces awesome hardy Babies. I was the first to produce Hets a 2 years ago, and the Burkes were the First to produce ACTUAL T positives last year!!!!! We are both actively working on putting that line into all the Central Morphs out there to make some KILLER Boas in the future. My Males have stayed Small, and they are INCREDIBLE to look at. I think my Favorite Boa alive (I guess it depends on the day) is their (Burke) Female which is a BIG Central. (Ask Amanda to Post a Pic of their Big female, UNREAL). I only get to look at little males, but I can't wait untill I can get some SIZE on a female T POSITIVE and be able to open the cage daily like the Burkes Can. Also, Amanda probably forgot to mention that there are a FEW other T positive Lines out there.

There have been 2 other people who have produced T positive CENTRAL AMERICANS. Actual "Local" is still undetermined, and they look quite a bit different from the Nicarguans that the Burkes and I are working with.

There have also been 3 other imports that have come in that are UNRELATED Central American Bloodline T positve. IT is quite amazing to see the diversity out there.

All T positives in Boas seem to be RECESSIVE!!!!

The Future is bright for ALL lines of T positives. All are VERY impressive if you ask me, and we are trying to aquire as many lines as possible because I just LOVE T positives.

Here is a Picture of the NIC T positive I am working with next to an Anerythristic Central American.

Hope this Helps. Jeremy Stone

I totally forgot about the Colombians being born randomly in Texas. I thought that I read awhile ago on the Barkers website about another one being imported? I don't know where I got that from.

I also didn't know of any other lines out there (CA or otherwise!). I've been kind of out of the loop this year because I've been so busy finishing up school so I guess I've missed out on a lot! lol I'd like to hear about the others!

I agree with you on the potential of the T positives combined with all the other Central morphs. It will put a whole different spin on everything else that already exists, so it's really exciting!

Our big T positive female is our favorite boa also! She's a good size for a Central, but as you can see from the picture below, she's way smaller than an adult Colombian. We were trying to stretch her out to show her length but I don't know what happened to the pictures where she actually was stretched completely out. Still, you can get the idea of her size. Since the picture with my Uncle and I holding her (which is two years old) she's added some girth, but she's stayed about the same length. The breeding picture is from last season. We're hoping for another litter from her in the next month or two...she's huge and looking really ready to burst, so I'm hoping for the best from her! Are you expecting any from your hets this year? Best of luck if you are!

Thanks,
Amanda
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Amanda Burke
Email
Burke Reptiles Website

Amanda,

When you show me that Snake, I KICK Myself in the TEETH for not taking her in the package I was offered!!!!!!! I was BROKE after buying the two males, so I really did not have the money, but I come to tears now because that snake is SOOOOOOOO INSANE!!!!! LOL

As far as litters, this year should be good. The Same Motley Central that gave us a litter of Motleys Het T positive Central is also about to Pop,(On breeding loan with Pete Kahl) I just got a very small litter here of True Hypo Nics to the T pos. There were 9 babies and only 3 of them were Hypos. This was the Same hypo Mom that gave birth last year. I am expecting a few more Just HET litters, but not large numbers. I'm just SHOCKED at how small I have been able to breed one female. (I don't want to bore you with this post about that female, but I should make a NEW post just on her and the size) VERY AMAZING!!!! Hopefully we will have a few other goodies too. I'm planning on making these Centrals a MAJOR part of my Boa Plans for the Future now after working with these Special CA morphs. The T pos being my favorite by FAR!!!!

I have found the Centrals to be MUCH easier to breed then the Columbians, but maybe it is just beginners luck. I have been breeding Columbians for over 17 years, but only really started doing centrals for the past 3, on a larger consistant level. So, maybe these 3 years are just LUCKY. Time will tell.

Here is a Picture of one of the Hypos that I produced that is Het T postive this year. You can see that she is a VERY POOR f1 Hypo, but still something special to me. I'm sure as I breed Hypo Het to Hypo het, I'll get some Much better Hypos and Hopefully Hypo T positive SUNGLOWS, and I'll just keep trying to get it better, but keep it PURE central. (I don't have a problem with doing some of the Hypos with Columbian Blood with the T pos, but I'll also try to keep some of the lines Clean with NICS too).......

It is Way late, and DANGIT Amanda, why did you have to post Pics of that BIG FEMALE??? That breeding Picture is DEFINATLEY going to be one of my Wallpapers for the week. WHAT AN AWESOME AWESOME SITE!!!!!!!!! It is going to be quite a while before I can at least do that!!!! DANGIT DANGIT DANGIT, I wish I would have gotten her. LOL Hinesite is 20/20!!!! You defintaley have done an AWESOME job with the Project with getting her to go, and then again!!!! Congrats!!!!

Here are pics of my litter Baby Hypo Nic. Since I don't know how to post Multiple Pics, I'll make links to a few more pics of the litter. When I saw the litter, I thought there were only 2 hypos. 1 was hiding in the Mulch, and another in the water dish. LOL!!!

Take Care, Jeremy

http://www.kingsnake.com/stone/other/tposhy05.JPG (You can see the one Hypo in the center, the others are hiding)

http://www.kingsnake.com/stone/other/tposshypo05.JPG (here is the one hiding in the water. Cute little thing. lol)

Amanda, The other T pos Centrals were produced by Freedom Breeder. They were actaully right across from your Booth last year in Daytona. They looked quite Different, but Definatley T positive!!!! They were on NERDS table. I'm sure you were soo busy with all those people staring at your goodies that you didn't have time to see them. I know your Dad did, because he and I were talking a little about them. He and I did share the same opinion about them. (LOL)

The other Central T postive line belongs to a fellow in Europe.

Jeremy

They look great! I think people always have an image of a Salmon in mind when we think Hypo, so the Nicaraguan Hypos are definitely different, but with a little refinement, I think they'll clean up really well! The T Positive Sunglows should be awesome! Also, good luck with the Motley hets... seeing pictures of the Mack's awesome T Positive Motley Argentine got me so excited about the T Positive Motley Nics because now I can imagine a little better how insane they'll look! lol

We also tried to concentrate more this year on breeding the T Positives into different morphs, so we won't have TOO many normal hets this season. Besides the Motley X T Positive, our other most exciting is a Blood X T Positive breeding. We have the female Blood on breeding loan from Derick Yagi...she's about 4 years old but still so small compared to Colombians. This is her first breeding and she's looking good. I wouldn't think she'll have that many because of her size but we're just hoping for a handful of healthy babies from her. I love each of those morphs all by themselves, so combined I think they'll be mindblowing! lol

Are you expecting any visual T Positives this year from any of the hets you produced? Seeing those baby T Positives at the bottom of the cage last year all poking their heads up like little blades of grass was such an awesome sight! I'm hoping we're as lucky this year with her litter. I hear you on the size thing...it is amazing how small some of the Nic females (and males!) can be to breed. After working with the Colombians, it's really shocking to see. We have some females that we didn't breed last year because even though they were 3 1/2 years old, they still looked so small. This year we could feel those females developing follicles even though they were still as little as last year, so we tried breeding them. They sure seem pregnant, so we'll see. But one thing is for sure...we definitely have to start changing our way of thinking when it comes to the Central Americans and get used to the fact that they just don't get as big as the Colombians! My dad and I realized that we'll be waiting to breed them until they're 20 if we think that some of them will ever be big snakes! lol The Nics are just a totally different world!

I didn't get a chance to see the T 's at NERD's table last year...I really didn't get to see anything last year because I was so busy! Naturally my dad got to, while I was stuck at the table working! lol This year, though, we're in the main room and I'm going to make sure I get to walk around at least once!

Anyway, good luck with everything else this season!
Amanda
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Amanda Burke
Email
Burke Reptiles Website

Thank you both for your explanations and those beautiful pics Amanda. Absolutely gorgeous animals!!!

Do not count on the so-called T-positive albinos being produced by the same mutant gene. There has been so little crossing, as far as I know, that nobody knows whether there is a single mutant or several independent mutants that produce similar, lighter than normal appearances. And unless there has been testing of the Sharp and Kahl line of albinos, we do not know whether they are T-negative or T-positive yet. As they seem to be independent mutant genes, at least one must be T-positive. Possibly both are T-positive. If you are thoroughly confused now, welcome to the club.

Paul Hollander

Yep Paul, you've definitely got me confused now. I'm not entirely sure what you mean but I've a feeling an explanation may make things worse lol.