Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I saw a pair of Ratsnakes from China in a pet store. The owner didn't know what they were. They looked like Trans- pecos, both of them Were albino , totaly pink no faint pattern marks. Not much of a discription excetp they look alot like Trans pecos.
Anyone have an idea ?

If it was in a pet store it may not be an asian ratsnake. China imports large quantities of herps from the U.S. (probably the biggest importer of turtles from the states). They do re-export some of them so it is very possible you have a u.s. rat there. IF it is in fact a re-export and they were babies and had the ratsnake heads with no pattern then they were possibly leucistic tx rats or blizzard corns. Most babies will have a pinkish hue to them. If there was no pattern my first guess would be leucistic tx rat.

Thanks they could very well be. I will find out for sure. The owners friend will know. I'll let you know when I find out. I didn't even consider that they could be reimports.

Don
You are right, they are leucitic tx rats.

Dinodon, sorry for my late response. In regard to your previous, now buried, reply:

Hi shane I'm not very good with the computer, making a web page would be very difficult I would have to recrute some help.

I was doing some '' reserch'' on the Trimerersurus okiavensis to find out how closely related it was to the Taiwan Trim mucrosguamatus. This was a while back I'n not sure where I read it but according to the article the TW Trim has started invading Okinawa. Do you know anything about this ?

As far as the website, if you can send me photos of the snakes (with credit to the photographer(s)), as well as informational text for each species, then I should be able to make a unique yahoo geocities website in a few hours. I'd be happy to do that, as it would be a great websource for all to see. The real work is just the content; making the webpage isn't that difficult. Shoot me an email if you want to do something like that.

In regard to the Trimeresurus, T.elegans is considered a viable exotic on the southern part of Okinawa; the Taiwan Beauty [Elaphe]taeniura friesei also has localized populations (I've not heard of mucrosquamatus there). I'm not too familiar with the taxonomy of the various "Trimeresurus," but I beleive "T.okinavensis" is more widely considered to be in the genus Ovophis (thin-shelled eggs, hatch in 1 - 2 days)..........they certainly bear striking similarities.

Here's a scanned pic of a small Hime Habu (Ovophis okinavensis)from the northern end of Okinawa:

I have better pics of a large snake, but they're on my camcorder and I don't have the accessories to transfer them at this time. Just for good measure, here's a baby Trimeresurus flavoviridis:

Shane

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Lifelist

Sorry Shane I missed this, Thanks for the pics. I love the Okinawa Habu, sure is mean looking.