Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Amel diurnal, I am curious if anyone has heard of an Amel that was caught as an adult or sub-adult. It seems to me that the retina would be damaged in short order and there would be a blind snake cruising about.

"I am curious if anyone has heard of an Amel that was caught as an adult or sub-adult. It seems to me that the retina would be damaged in short order and there would be a blind snake cruising about."

when i was a young lad, our herpetology class was poking around the willamette valley in oregon and we came upon an amelanistic pacific gopher snake, P.catenifer (melanoleucus at that time). this was not fully grown, but certainly an adult. we weren't allowed to collect on field trips and back then no one dreamed of the future of herpetoculture.

also there are pretty famous photos of "snow" an eastern diamondback that bill love photographed and i think tried to breed. i don't remember the story very well, but i think it was caught as an adult.

the melanin behind the retina acts more to absorb extra light that has passed through the photoreceptive layer, than to protect the retina. without the melanin, some of the light bounces back onto the photorecetors at odd angles and diffuses the original image. i would think that the snake would have a hard time getting a reasonable image of its prey and predators.

matt

I would imagine the odds are stacked against any amel and to see one as an adult in the wild would be truly remarkable.

Would an Amel Indigo have a pattern like a juvinal but yellow on white. I assume that the melinin in skin fills in with normals but the underlieng pattern would be unafected in Albino.