Lavender vs albino cal kings

[vanderkm]

Does anyone have photos that compare the color between adult lavender and regular albino cal kings? I have seen plenty of the babies and they look very different, but have not seen adult comparison shots.

On the genetics of these - is the lavender a separate gene (like the T pos, T neg albionos in other species) so that when you breed a lavender to a regular albino would you get normals het for both? If that is the case, is anyone working with the double hets or know of someone who is? I am interested to know what they look like - whether one albino masks the other.

thanks,

mary v.

[gonesnakee]

Good question Mary & I should probably know the answer, but I don't DOH! I don't have any pics of my adults right now (for some reason LOL) but I'll have to snap some to send to you. I can tell you that the Lavenders don't keep the purple like you see it in the babies. It fades quite a bit after the first year or 2. They are still quite purple compared to a normal Albino (they appear real pinkish or white in comparison), but they are definitely at their best when they are babies before they start to fade. The biggest difference is the reg albinos have pink eyes whereas the lavenders have really dark ruby red eyes. Mark

[Classic]

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/509/1478DSC00449-med.JPG

[gonesnakee]

Here's a baby pic of last years Lavenders, Mark

<center><img src="http://members.shaw.ca/gonesnakee/LAV-CK-5.JPG"width="600">

[vanderkm]

Reason I am asking is that when we got this male (about 8 months old) people said he was likely a lavender, but I wasn't familiar enough with them to be sure of it. He was darker pinkish purple between the yellow bands but not as dark as the hatchling you posted Mark. I don't have any photos from then and he seems whiter now than I would expect from a lavender.

He is now almost 3 years olf and I wanted to breed him to our coastal female to determine if she was het albino - but got thinking that if he really is a lavender albino, the breeding might not tell me anything. Any opinion on whether he is a regular or lavender albino? Had to wake him up a bit for these photos and he wasn't impressed!

thanks,

mary v.

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/509/6304_Jan_2_Elvis_reduced.jpg

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/509/6304_Jan_2_Elvis_2_reduced.jpg

[Invictus]

Might just be my monitor, but that definitely looks like a lavender to me.

[gonesnakee]

Another point Mary is that there are 2 strains of lavenders out there. JR strain as mine are & ? strain. We need Vanan's input here LOL. The JR strain has the ruby red eyes, which yours doesn't, but it could very well be a Lavender of the other strain. I have seen snakes called Lavenders with the reg pink eyes before, but I don't know if thats the telltale of the other strain or what. My adults aren't a whole lot purpler than your snake pictured. As I stated before they are at their best as babies as the purple fades with the years. I'd guess yours is a really nice normal but like Ken said its hard to tell by pics sometimes. Other than the eye factor mine could be mistaken for reg albinos quite easily depending on the photos etc. also. Looks nice anyhow. Bother Vanan for some input & see what he thinks. Mark I.

[Katt]

Mark, when Vanan sees your post, I'm going to have to refit the door frames, so his head can fit through.

He's currently sick in bed, but I'll alert him to this post.

[vanderkm]

Thanks for the additional opinions - makes it even more confusing if there are several types of lavender.

Katt - sorry to hear Vanan is ill - look forward to his opinion,

mary v.

[Vanan]

*sniff* You rrrraaaaang?

Dunno why my name was brought up as I don't have the definitive answer to your question. :D But, this might help.

J.R. strain (http://mysite.verizon.net/lkrysko1/graphics/herps/lgc2.jpg)

J.D. strain (http://mysite.verizon.net/lkrysko1/graphics/herps/lgc3.jpg)

Both snakes seem to have rubyred eyes though. I haven't seen any lavender's in person either, so I can't tell you how to "eye" it. Seems to me that yours could either be a normal albino or a JD lavender albino. Only way to be sure, I guess, would be to prove it out. Which is the reason why I think breeders of morphs (especially uncommon ones) should make an attempt at keeping their stuff straight. Instead of us guessing everything. But then again s*** happens!


Good luck in figuring it out.

P.S. Seeing as you're in AB too, you don't think it could be one of Mark's babies all grown up? Just cos usually snakes don't travel far from where they've been produced. At least before the use of the internet for sales.

[vanderkm]

Thanks Vanan - the links to pictures were quite helpful. If those are adults the J.R. strain really looks like a hypo more than an albino. The one we have could be a J.D. -- it is pics like that one that made me worried I had a lavender rather than a regular - though the eyes do look darker than those on my snake. I think it is likely that he is just a regular albino. You are right - he could be from Mark given that he produces some here in Alberta. The one I have was a rescue - source unknown, but people in the local club with more experience than I have suggested it might be a lavender when we got it. I didn't think it looked dark enough - but I really hadn't seen many.

Mark - when you get a chance it would be great to see some pictures of your adults.

mary v.

[gonesnakee]

Hi all. hey Vanan you sicko I knew you would have some links. Mary it is definitely not one of mine. Mine bred for the first time in 2002 & some ****** killed them all by mistake. Heating incident the day they hatched (very crappy day). So this past year was the first ones I had make it successfully. I took a bunch of pics of the 2 YO female (couldn't get a decent one DOH!) & you can see by this pic that she has to be seen in person. I couldn't even get one that shows her eyes proper (they are not pink). Just about anyone that sees it will say reg albino, but I can guarantee that its a pic of a lavender. She was brought in from the US by a petstore orginally so who knows what strain. Anyhow she is pretty much as faded as she'll get (I hope) & looks pretty much the same as my adult breeders. Here she is anyhow. Mark
<center><img src="http://members.shaw.ca/gonesnakee/LAV F.JPG"width="600">

[vanderkm]

Thanks Mark - she is a big girl. I think I can see a difference between her and my male - can see the lavender tone more in the white areas and now that I look back at Classic's photo I can see it better there too. Also good to know that the lavender albinos were not here before this year - reduces the odds that our guy is a lav albino. It is great to get to see photos of some of these morphs though - cal kings are great snakes!

mary v.