Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Being a lover of alterna, as all of you are, I have often wondered about the determinations of how the colors of alterna develop from babies to adults, if any?? In other words, is there any way to tell at all, if you examine closely all colors of a baby alterna, either how dark or how light the gray coloring can or will develop????

For instance, if one is trying to pick out a grayband and desires the gray to be darker as an adult, are their certain aspects and characteristics to look for?

Same with the instance if someone is wanting to pick out a grayband but would wish the gray to be lighter. Any certain aspects to look for??

Is there areas either on the head or belly to be looking for? What about the general black tipping??

Is there any instances of colors being difference between males and females????

Are certain localites completely consistent with certain colors and patterns????

In the nineties, when I purchased my first pair of graybands, the cleaner blairs, which was a male, became brighter gray, while the female became darker, as they matured into adults.

My Sanderson locality male blairs was a medium gray as a baby, but the gray became darker as he got older.

My 277 pictured below is an extremely dark adult with bright orange. I purchased him as an adult, so at times, I have often wondered what he looked like as a baby.

My generic blairs below, I purchased as a 2005 yearling, and he looks the exact same as he did when I purchased him 5 years ago:

So, as I love to learn all about what I have and alterna are among the most fascinating animals the good Lord ever created, I would love to hear from all of those with any and all experience, whose input I would greatly value, about this subject of characteristics of determing outcome of coloration, if any, in regards to alterna. I would find it fascinating to hear about your experiences.

Thanks and appreciate any info.

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Genesis 1:1

I look at the amount of tipping and whether the scales are two-tone or monotone. I also look at the tails since I heard that with rosy boas dark colors show up fist in the tail.

Take that with a grain of salt though because to tell the truth I haven't bought a baby grayband in quite a while. Nowadays I pretty much have what I have and if I hold anything back I usually tend not to care much whether it darkens or lightens. I do pay a little bit of attention to color but mostly I'm trying to keep the pattern of the adults and not let my locality stock morph into something completely different than the originals. To that end a broad spectrum of colors usually works but I usually don't want to be producing 7 banded Blair's or mega triple alternate alternas unless that's what the wild caughts looked like. I do have some extreme stuff but it's not my main focus.
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www.hcu-tx.org/

Thanks Aaron!! That really is insightful! I appreciate your input my friend.
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Genesis 1:1

You're welcome. Here's a 277 I found in '98. Her babies usually get lighter as they get older.

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www.hcu-tx.org/

That snake is killer! Very nice!! Thanks for sharing!
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Genesis 1:1