Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've seen photos of some stunning looking snakes, both Rosy Boas and Kenyan Sand Boas, referred to as calicos. I know that many of you may have some proprietary projects ongoing, so I'm not asking you to give up all your secrets...unless you want to :^) I have a couple of questions for those of you who are "in the know" if you don't mind.

First, can someone tell me what exactly the term "calico" means and does the term mean the same thing when it is applied to different species (Rosys, Kenyans, Balls, etc.)? It looks to me like the common characteristic is a random distribution of dark pigment leading to a patchwork pattern of light and dark patches interwoven with patterns from other pigments. Is this the general idea?

Both the general lack of information on the web on the subject and the fact that I haven't seen any calico phenotypes yet for sale tell me that the calico trait is probably not yet well understood genetically. Is this true? Any insight would be great.

Thanks,
Steve

Ask Warren Treacher
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Mark Huntley
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Jeff Holloway (of Holloway Herps) has a calico kenyan. You can see it on his webpage:

Holloway Herps

There are several things at the genetic level that can cause the 'calico' phenotype. Some of these can be inheritable while others are not. I'm not a geneticist so hopefully someone else will chime in. If not, shoot me an e-mail.

-Chris
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Christopher E. Smith
Contact
Captive Bred Herps
Wildlife Research & Consulting Services, LLC

Cat clones were produced which had calico markings while the cell host cat did not. Apparently, environmental factors can produce calico markings on unborn cats.

Really interesting if it turns out environmental factors play a role. That might explain the difficulty in trying to reliably reproduce the characteristic...

Totally off subject, but have you seen the glow-in-the-dark cats being produced for HIV and FIV research :^) You can Google them.

There are glow in the dark snakes too (I'll try to find a photo)....

Glowing animals

Reference Paper

PDF 1

-Chris
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Christopher E. Smith
Contact
Captive Bred Herps
Wildlife Research & Consulting Services, LLC

Thanks Chris. Very cool. Yes, if you find a glowing snakes photo, please share.

Steve

I cannot find a photo but there is already a US patent out for transgenic snakes (which would include fluorescent snakes).

Patent No.: US 7,663,019 B2
Date of Patent: Feb. 16,2010

-Chris
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Christopher E. Smith
Contact
Captive Bred Herps
Wildlife Research & Consulting Services, LLC

Darn. There goes another million dollar opportunity... :^)

Steve

Thanks Chris. Really interesting. Its funny how a trait that we consider to be rare and beautiful in our animals would probably be considered a disorder or disease in humans. The fact that the Calico trait seems not to be well understood makes it even more challenging and desireable.

Steve