Eclipse/Partial eclipse.. morph or not?

C5Chris · 12-17-12, 11:35 AM

So I've had my BRB for approximately a year and a half, and I believe him to be about 2 years old. I noticed when he was younger that he had definitely had more visible crescents. As he had grown and shed, I've noticed his occeli disapearing more and more. I've suspected him of being an eclipse/partial eclipse but it was really noticeable after his last shed which was last week.

Hes still got some of his crescents left nearer his head but most of the circles are blacked out fully or 90% blacked out. After reading a couple of breeders pages it seemed like the Eclipse phase was still uncertain as to whether or not its a "true" morph.

Looking back at some of my earlier photos of his Dio he had quite noticeably more visible crescents (even than from what I remember).

Has this been proven out yet or is this just something that happens as the snakes age?

I doubt it helps much but at the time I bought him he was definitely the standout in the clutch.. a little darker (browner) and had more irridescence than all the others. I choose him specifically for the irridescence he had.

Unfortunately my phone is a little finicky right now so I can't upload any pictures to show his transition but will try to in the next couple of days

dinosaurdammit · 12-17-12, 01:00 PM

some snakes seem to fade out or even gradually change colors. IICR there is a type of python morph that starts albino and ends up like a weird greenish color- kinda like a booger. We should call them booger pythons. My boa with every shed gets more and more orange. Which is weird. Some of him gets a lighter tan while the rest of him gets orange. I think it just depends on the snake or maybe the morph.

C5Chris · 12-17-12, 02:42 PM

Ok not the best photos, I apologise for the crappy quality.

You can kind of see what Im talking about here.. some are completely blacked out, others have like one spec of white/yellow left to them. Compared to what he originally looked like when i first got him.

Snakesitter · 12-17-12, 04:05 PM

He definitely qualifies as partial eclipse animal. The ones that are not eclipses all have very thin crescents.

As for eclipse being a morph...no, it has not yet been proven. I'm betting its polygenetic, which makes it much harder to test. It may also be just a line-bred trait; no one is sure yet.

C5Chris · 12-17-12, 05:33 PM

Thanks for the info Clif.

I'm not 100% on breeding terminology, so could you explain what "line trait" means exactly? I did see it mentioned on a couple websites when refering to the eclipse/partial eclipse.

Snakesitter · 12-17-12, 06:22 PM

The term is used rather loosely, I think. But in my eyes, "line bred" means a trait crops up from specific bloodlines, especially pairings within them.

C5Chris · 12-17-12, 11:43 PM

Oh ok thats kind of what I was thinking, thanks for the insite!

**millertime89** · 12-19-12, 10:47 AM

my money is on polygenetic

Snakesitter · 12-19-12, 04:15 PM

I'm with you in that betting pool. ;-)

C5Chris · 12-19-12, 04:18 PM

So that pretty much means theres multiple genes contributing to it? And you wouldn't necessarily be able to breed for that morph unless you knew the combination of genes required to make it?

I don't really have much knowledge of breeding or genetics for that matter but definitely find it an interesting subject.

Snakesitter · 12-20-12, 03:30 PM

Yes, it means multiple genes; no, you would not need to know for sure the exact genes -- educated guesses with similarly-patterned animals always preceeds a genetic discovery anyway.