Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just wanted to repost some unanswered questions on the breeding of black rats. What is a good age? Length/weight? Brumate..yes/no? Any other special requirements? And for the genetics... My albinos came from an albinoXwhite phase cross... So why did they come out albino? Wouldn't they be het for both? Unless the mother was het albino. I am no good at black rat genetics. Here are pictures C/O the breeder. So do you think the mother is white phase or an incredibly light albino? Also, assuming the mother is white phase would breeding them together give me possible white phase? Thanks I know this is a lot.

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0.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1.0 Redtail "Kilo"
1.0 Ball Python "Wilson" (Castaway)
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"
0.0.1 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Onyx"

Hope this helps, as for age 2.5 years plus is best, I personally prefer 3 with my ratsnakes but they can breed at 2 normally. Not sure about exact weight, it depends on the length of the snake, but if they are longer than 5 foot and have good body condition (a strong muscular body, not lots of flabby fat under the skin) and they look healthy then they should be good to go, those comments mostly apply to females but make sure the male is healthy too! Brumate? I would say yes for black rats, and I tend to cool any NA ratsnakes for breeding, I find you get better breeding responses from them and a higher rate of fertility in the eggs.

At first by white phase I thought you meant leucistic but looking at that picture it is no leucy so I would say that it is some form of light coloured albino, a white phase albino if you like. I don't know the genetics of the mother so can only say that if you breed yours together you might produce some light coloured albinos but probably not exactly the same as the mother, I say this because I doubt that white phase albinos are a distinct morph, more likely just a mixing pot of albino lines, which would mean you can't get an animal that is distinctly het for that trait, if I am wrong hopefully someone on here will let us know.

There does seem to be a "white" albino phase...some call it Type II albino. However, I have still found that there seem to be 2 different "white" phases out there. One seems to be able to be proven out...not necessarily pure recessive, but I am working on figuring that out. As far as why you have a female that is so white, it may just be that particular individuals variation in color. You may also have two different types of amel as well or at the very least, influences of both in the white snake. Breed them and see what happens. That is the easiest way to determine what you have....or at least to start figuring out what you have. I have attached a pic of one type of "white" albino. Notice that there isn't much pink at all, not even around the head, like in yours. Hope this helps some.

Dewey