Hognose Snakes

Christmas 2015 I bought the kids a western hognose snake each.  They were hatchling 1.1 (one male and one female) anaconda 100% het for albino. The anaconda part relates to the reduced pattern, which leaves a number of spots not dissimilar to those found on the actual anaconda (Eunectes murinus). The idea behind this purchase was a) to address the fact the kids wanted to keep snakes again b) help illustrate inheritance in action. 

You see each of these snakes carries two different genes that can affect the physical appearance of any offspring. The first gene relates to pattern - one copy equals reduced markings. Our animals have one copy. The presence of two copies equals no pattern at all. This is called incomplete dominance, where the normal and patternless characteristics are both present to some degree when both genes are present.

The other gene is straight forward albino. The two we purchased carry the gene but do not appear albino themselves. Only if they were mated would we see some of the offspring - those inheriting an albino gene from each parent - showing the characteristic lack of pigment and pink eyes. 

Both animals fed well throughout the year, although the female was a slower starter and this prevented her reaching breeding size. You generally want a female western hognose snake to be at least 200g before attempting to breed them. She finished 2016 just under that. 

Anyway I had the kids drawing punnet squares to understand the possible genotype combinations from this pairing. There are many! You could get albino anacondas, supercondas (patternless), albino supercondas, normal, standard albinos and of course carriers for any of these possibilities.

Not being content with just these genes to play with, we decided to purchase a couple of extreme red albinos. So how does one of these differ genetically from a normal albino? Well it is as simple as them being line bred to exaggerate the red pigment. Nothing more to it than that. They are still albinos, the inheritance is the same, but the dilution is limited and as a result we see some very pretty orange or red examples. 

Interestingly you can't guarantee extremely red animals by mating a high red male to a high red female. There will always be a number of offspring less red than the parents. This to the point that some of them can be a pale orange. 

The price of an albino hognose snake is dictated by the strength of their pigment. A typical albino - very pale - is the cheapest of all. A yellow albino is considered more desirable, an orange albino better still, a deep orange albino above the latter and so on. Eventually we arrive at the deepest red examples that command the highest prices. From bottom to top, at current prices, it is generally £80 - £250 for hatchlings. 

We were able to source an extreme red female (actually deep orange but her parents are both of that line) from Rob Pilley and an extreme red male (actually red) from Jelen Snakes in the Czech Republic. Ideally we wanted snakes from different lines to introduce genetic diversity. 

So our deep orange female will - perhaps in 2018 - be mated to the red male and in theory we will get a mixture of colours. It might even turn out that this pairing, for some reason, produces a lot of very red offspring. They both carry genes for deep pigment after all and outcrossing lines can only be a good thing in terms of variability. Time will tell! 

Of course it does seem a bit daft to buy or sell an extreme red that is not, well, red! I wrestled with that one for a while. You will get lots of people selling very standard looking albinos as extreme red and seemingly not getting the point. There are only a few breeders who are working with the genuine pure extreme red lines, but the animals are - as stated - just line bred albino hognose snakes. So it would make just as much sense for breeders to market some of the babies as extreme orange and some as extreme red. In other words what they look like! Especially when their stock don't actually stem from the original lines. 

Extreme red female (extreme orange to be fair but compare her with the normal albino below)

And below is a typical non-extreme red albino. The brightness and clarity of the extreme red female (further up) vs even the snake below is unmistakable. 

The point is that you are paying a premium for more attractive animals. Bright orange or red, the loveliest examples are chock full of pigment in a way most albinos are not. 

Personally I don't like the really red animals, unless they are female. The deep red males look a bit too much like corn snakes to me and lose that albino glow. I am aiming for offspring that are a sunny orange/red colour, but that is just my preference. Look at the picture below, that male has completely lost his albino shine. Has colours like a wild-type corn snake. 

Compare him to the male below. 

Personally I would say the orange/red animal is more attractive and to be honest I think a lot of the internet pics, including the one above, are modified. Most extreme red hoggies are not deep ruby red like that. 

To be honest I find the morph scene a bit ridiculous. Some crazy prices are asked for morphs just because they are new, look a bit different or carry multiple genes. The animal itself could be plain as day and somehow is commanding £2500. A good example is the 'ghost' western hognose (see pic below). It is an unassuming grey colour and in Europe they are asking 3000 euros. Are there actually people out there willing to pay such a high price? Like all other morphs the price will crash - be it steadily or rapidly - and getting that money back might prove difficult. 

Could the animal above ever be considered more attractive than the extreme albinos further up this post? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess. 

Rhacodactylus Leachianus - Breeding Success

Three years ago I wrote about our New Caledonian Giant Gecko (R.leachianus) breeding plans. Well I am pleased to say that last year on January 28th 2016 we were rewarded with two beautiful eggs. Two more followed around 6 weeks later, at which point we removed the male because Flossy was starting to look quite ragged and bony. She must have used a lot of energy producing the eggs and needed time to recover. Forest, our male, is a large dominant boy and it is pretty clear that he calls the shots and takes the lion's share of food when they are together. They get on very well - as evidenced by the breeding success - but female geckos will happily lay themselves to death if protective steps are not taken. 

She gained 20 grams in body weight after the separation and looked so much better for it. Starting July we placed them back together but no further eggs appeared and it was then time to begin cooling for winter. Last week, Feb 15th 2017, we were very happy to see two more eggs laid and this time we have immediately removed the male. A lot of literature advises that Rhacodactylus females can retain sperm for many months. Now we know she has been fertilised it doesn't seem sensible to leave her with him any longer. She has now eaten a full plate of food four days in a row, and much as she seems to get on with the big guy, it is clear that she feeds better in his absence. 

Our pair are quite young and we would like them to remain fit and healthy for years. At the moment half a year away from each other seems better for their long term prospects. The male is around 7 years old and the female 4. With this species - when keeping pairs together - it is very important to check on the animals regularly to ensure things don't turn sour. It is not unusual for breeding pairs to start fighting after years of calm and/or one animal to become excessively dominant over the other. 

The kids are thrilled whenever eggs arrive - though equally disappointed when the hatchlings leave - and we are hoping more of our animals will deliver the goods at some point during 2017. It provides a wonderful opportunity to revisit the topic of reproduction and genetics. We had some cracking babies arrive, three of them with lovely pink patches. A fourth baby was bigger than the others and a lovely silver/grey with light blue eyes. 

Our animals are pure Isle E (female) and pure Pine Island (male), but how could we ever know this is the case without collecting them in the wild ourselves? They certainly look like typical examples from those areas. All New Caledonian Giant Geckos are R.leachianus now (there is no R.l.henkeli) and a lot of the locale claims are nonsense. We breed for size and colour and this pairing has thus far been a resounding success. Two hatchlings went to the Czech Republic and two were sold within the UK. A lot of potential buyers were disappointed. With only two eggs in each clutch, availability of this species remains limited. The photo below is one of the grown on babies from clutch number one. The new owner sent me a pic recently. 

As I drove my youngest son to his football match on Sunday - down an outrageous country lane that was full of water, mud and rocks! - we talked about what this new crop of babies may look like, picturing the far away islands where their relatives still thrive.