Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm just wondering what everyones opinion is regarding what constitutes a "Blairs" or "Alterna" phase. Or an "intermediate" phase for that matter. Like how much orange or how many alternates etc...

What constitutes a alterna phase to me is a GBK that has either narrow bands of orange are pin stripers. Any pin striper from highway 277 or a hueco would be my example of a alterna. Speaking of which, I have never seen a blairs phase animal from the hueco mountains. Alterna phase animals seem to be more common in the western parts of alternas range.

A blairs phase animal is a GBK that has bigger bands of orange on their body. Everyone knows the classic example of a blairs phase animal (Langtry) so there is no need to even discuess further. Every region is going to have alterna phase and blairs phase animals.

I have heard some refer to that "in between" area you are interested in as "alterna morphs" . These are from Sanderson.

Coach,

Those are some nice East Sandersons!!!!

I might a the "match"...what do you think?

I think that you can send her to my doorstep fedex overnight, lol. I would consider her an alterna phase animal.

Hi Stu, what locality is that? I WANT one just like that.

Its from North Sanderson. Hopefully she will produce nice babies this year. Keep in touch!

I will definitely do so.

Stu,

Please get a hold of me or tell me how to get in contact with you

Email me through this page.

ST

Hey Stu,

I just sent you a message to your inbox.

What would you call this?

A nice looking snake. lol
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Steve W.

I would call it a Blairs phase snake. It looks like it is a more western looking alterna. I am just saying as a general rule.

I'll be contrary, and call that an alterna phase, due to the thin "alternate" bands between the broad bands.
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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

Boas, Pythons, Colubrids, Tortoises and Turtles

I would consider it a Blair's because the primary bands are definately wide as well as having orange in every one. But I would say "Blair's with alternates" if I was conversing. For me the orange is just too wide to call it an "alterna with orange."
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www.hcu-tx.org/

I agree with Aaron.Take away the alternates and its a pretty standard blairs.Very cool to have the alternates in there though.Reminds me of a few gaps I have seen.Very cool.
L8r Shannon

p.s. thats one of the things I like so much about sanderson is all the morphs clash together there and you never know what you are going to find.

IMHO Sanderson and the Gap are very similar to each other. It's like they're both "east meets west" but Sanderson is a little more eastish and Gap a little more westish. They both produce ones with that silver-gray wash on the head. I haven't seen that very much in either west or east. One big difference is that Sanderson's are a heck of alot easier to see than Gaps.
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www.hcu-tx.org/

Would this be called an "alterna" phase?

Wow, that looks just like this one that I saw last year out there.about 9 miles east of Sanderson.She was in full blue and I thought it was kinda weird.

L8r Shannon

Ya...very unusual to find one out in the blue! Nice snake!

Haha I just posted about how I rarely use the term intermediate and then you go and post one. I would most likely call this one an intermediate due to the primary bands being neither narrow nor wide.

I could also see myself calling it an alterna too because I think the overall appearance is a bit closer to that of an alterna than it is to that of a Blair's. The reasons being 1) Band width is fairly narrow, especially towards the ventral surface. 2) The nuchal area is pretty broken up. 3) It has very little red.

Now if those primary bands stayed as wide toward the ventral surface as they are at the top of the dorsal surface I think I might call it a "narrow banded Blair's."

As far as breeding goes I would probably try to pair it with something in the alterna phase spectrum if possible. I think pairing it to a Blair's phase would probably result in offspring with more dirty of red. Ultimately I like them all so I wouldn't hesitate to breed it with a Blair's if that was all I had or if that was closer in locality.
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www.hcu-tx.org/

Technically speaking I think an alterna phase has narrow black primary bands with alternating narrower broken bands or spots on a light to dark gray backround. Just as important as alternates is that there is no red anywhere on the snake.

A Blair's phase has wide red bands with black borders and a light to dark gray backround. Often the black borders have a secondary white border on the outside edge(between the black and the gray). There are no alternates.

An intermediate is anything in between. True Blair's phases are common. True alterna phases(ie no red at all) are actually relatively rare because most specimens have at least some red even if it's just in the nuchal. So technically speaking most of the specimens we refer to as alterna phase should probably be called intermediate.

In my everyday useage I hardly ever use the term "intermediate". If the primary bands are narrow I call it an alterna and if the primary bands are wide I call it a Blair's. For example if it's got narrow primaries with little red wedges and some alternates I call it an alterna. If it's got narrow primaries(with or without red) and no alternates I still call it an alterna but I usually say "alterna with no alternates". If it's got wide red and some alternates I call it a "Blair's with alternates". I will occasionally use the term intermediate when the primary bands are in between, neither narrow nor wide. So I guess for me it mostly depends on the width of the primaries and not so much on the presence/lack of red, or the presence/lack of alternates.

With the advent of the internet it seems to not matter as much what you call them because you can usually get or send a photo.
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www.hcu-tx.org/

So many different opinions! Sure is fun to ponder! I like Aaron's description or at least I tend to agree with his explanation. There are typical "blairs" phase with wide saddles and orange at one end of the spectrum then at the other end narrow bands with alternate spots or bands and little to no orange. Then there is everything in between! What fun!

>>

VERY NICE!
I like that one!
Bob B
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R.Bichlers Colubrids
http://www.webspawner.com/users/rbichler/index.html

n/p

What I find when I am not finding Dark Blairs Phases.

So, If you come check me out wherever I am and I haven't seen a blairs, I have probably seen an Alterna... and if your semi cool I'll show it to you.

Steven
Alterna 3Leet Crew

LOL.

PS you spelled 3leet wrong. It should be 3lite, unless all the cool kids are spelling it your way now? Now use it in a sentence: A fleet of elite hunters found a bunch of neat alterna.

BTW what is a bunch of alterna called? IE a gaggle of geese, a pride of lions, a (what?) of alterna?
A writhe of alterna?
And...
A hiss of bullsnakes?
A squirm of ringnecks?
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www.hcu-tx.org/

A slither of snakes.....
Alterni...
Alternus...
Alternuses...

Ah yes, that sounds right. Thank you.
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www.hcu-tx.org/