Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm just wondering if any of you have any good pics of Snow kings? They do exist don't they? Or is "Snow" referred to in the class of L.Triangulum (milks)?

Snow Kingsnakes do exist.

Snow Cali Kings do not... the correct term is Blizzard.
Snow Eastern Kings do not
Snow Brooksi... I'm pretty sure they do? I don't follow this sub-species though

Snow, is when you breed 2 Double Hets, both het for albino and anerythristic(anery), together. There are Snow Milk Snakes, like in the Honduran Milk Snake. Blizzard, is when you breed 2 Double Hets, both het for albino and melanistic, together.

Mike
Michael's Place

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KingPin Reptiles Inc.
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Thanks for the VERY informative reply. Are there any pics of ANY type of Snow Kings that any of you may have? I'm really interested in these. Even "Blizzard" pics are appreciated.

They are pink as babies but turn white as adults.

Kerby...

I may have to get me some of those.

BTW I have a question. There was a melanistic cal king advertised on the classifieds. Can you tell me more about them and what locale and are they a bonafied melanistic? If so what is the difference between those and the chocolates I saw on MArk Bells table in Daytona Expo last year?

The melanistics are a color morph, just like the albinos. I'm not sure on the difference between melanistic and chocolate, because I don't know exactly what the chocolate phase is. Melanistic, the snakes are jet black. From what I can tell by viewing pics of cali kings labeled as "chocolate", they are just normal cali kings with brownish color bands.

There aren't too many pure melanistics on the market(I've been looking for some time now), and most of the ones on the market are het for albino.

The melanistics are found in the wild, in some areas more than others, not sure on what specific locales though.

Mike
Michael's Place

-----
Michael's Place has updated, better caresheets
KingPin Reptiles Inc.
Helmz777@aol.com
www.freewebs.com/mikesnake

Yes thank you but I know what melanistics are. I wanted to know if there are bonafied melanistics and if not what locale they are from.

I realize that the term melanistic is thrown around a lot but when I hear it I think of it as a reccessive trait and not a simple trait.

I got my Mendotas (1.2) from Bill Cobb in 2002. He got that trio from Tim Rainwater in the 1990's. They look very similar to the Davis Cal Kings, but different. I call them melanistics (see my definition below). Ask Hubbs, he was here yesterday and looked at them. Also, ask Hubbs what happened to him yesterday Anyways, when I breed Mendota x Mendota I get all Mendotas; males with an aberrant pattern and females with a banded pattern. Two years ago I bred a Mendota x Albino High White and produced aberrant high whites (double hets); Mendota x 50-50 and produced all 50-50's, no aberrancies, just banded; Mendota x Chocolate Banded and produced all Chocolate Banded. So my Mendotas are recessive. I also have (1.1) of the Davis Cal Kings from Rick Staub that I will be breeding for the first time next year, as well as breeding the Davis x Mendota. I believe it is the same gene. Rick has data of other locales where this gene has been found in California besides Davis and Mendota. You need to ask Rick Staub if he got 100% Davis from breeding Davis x Davis. I can tell ya next year.

Melanism = has a superabundance of black pigmentation obscures all other markings and the snake is black in color....wheras melanism varies in degree, with some snakes tending to be more melanistic than others. *RATTLER! A Natural History of rattlesnakes, Chris Mattison, 1996

It is a simple recessive gene. Is it melanistic? Hypermelanistic? Hypomelanistic?

I also bred my "Ghost", Palomar (from B.H.B.) to a Mendota this year. Anxious to see what I get? More double hets? LOL

Hope I didn't leave anything out, it's late, going to bed. Check back in the morning.

Kerby...

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They turn white as adults, but when taken out in sunlight you can see a faint pattern (yellow banding) on some of them.

Kerby...