Albino alterna

[marisa]

I see that the only way to get an albino gray band at this point is to purchase Ruthveni hybrids.

So that brings up the question of what if one day a true albino, pure alterna pops up. Will it be nearly impossible to prove this since people have jumped the gun and "made" albinos using Ruthveni kingsnakes?

Marisa

[thunder]

it will still be provable thru costly genetic testing. and besides, if the discoverer was someone well known in the buisiness as an honest individual that does not promote hybrids (as many of the locality obsessed alterna breeders are) than i personally would have no problem believing it. the issue is, will it be marketable, now that "fakes" are already available? but truth be told, alterna are such gorgeous snakes to begin with i have no particular craving for the mutant version at this time.

[D J N]

I'd probably wait to see that hey prove out, plus I would never be able to afford one lol

[marisa]

I actually do not like the looks of the albino myself, but I am a bigger fan of the gray color in snakes.

Your bring up a good point though, if it's a reputable person it could be proven, then again the babies could go anywhere after they are sold and who knows which is which. It's kinda unfortuante but I guess since we have no pure albinos as of now, it still doesn't matter.

Marisa

[thunder]

thats why those of us who care about pure species (and subspecies. . . and locality) only purchase animals from reputable people who share our stance on honest representation and can provide appropriate evidence to support their claims. this is why when buying a mate for my BCO, i spent a long time shopping around, not because there werent a plethora of "argentines" for sale, but because it mattered to me to find an individual who could provide paperwork proving that the specimen at hand was the product of pure (and legal) bloodlines.

[enso]

Marisa,

You should check out Dan Johnson's website. (http://www.io.com/~danjohns/herp/index.html)
He has a few pure Alterna "morphs", no albinos though. Just anerys, hypos, and ghosts. :) Personally I think the current hybrid albino form is not that attractive. Plus it's a hybrid.

Jason

[marisa]

That page is just insane!

I love the hypo and ghost. totally amazing.

Marisa

[Linds]

Same problem is happening with Boa constrictors. People are too impatient to wait for true Bcc albinos to make their way in to the system (there is actually already one male), and are outcrossing them with albino Colombians. It's very unfortunate and creates a lot of problems down the road, same as when you begin crossbreeding anything. You really threaten the purity of both down the line. While buying from a reputable source, there is reputable and there is reputable. There are reputable breeders that nobody wouldn't question their ethics or husbandry, but they may aquire their stock from within the hobby, and anything within the hobby has had the opportunity to become accidentally misrepresented. You basically have to rely on people that have handpicked and have papered records of the snakes history to prove it's purity.