Why do you assume they're hybrids? ... more ...

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Posted by patricia sherman on October 14, 2001 at 15:34:35:

In Reply to: Do I always start trouble? posted by Adam Block on October 13, 2001 at 06:51:06:

I'm intrigued by this discussion.

I don't have Baird's rat snakes (is that Elaphe o. bairdi?), and have no immediate plans to acquire any (I have E.o. obsoleta, E.o. rossalleni, and E.o. lindheimeri), but the apparently blanket dismissal of purebred albinos seems to me to be somewhat unfounded.

The fact is, that albinism is the most common form of genetic colour mutation found in nature, and it is found naturally in almost every species that exists, if not in every species. Albino variants are rarely found living wild, simply because the colour makes them more noticeable as prey, so they usually get devoured long before they ever grow up. Even if one survives to breeding age, its offspring from a normal-coloured mate will all be phenotypically normal. The only chance then of albino offspring being produced in the wild, is in the improbable event of two phenotypically normal carriers of the albino genotype mating to produce offspring that are in the ratio 1:2:1 normal:het:albino. Considering the rarity of the factor in the general population (my guess would be, probably less than one-tenth of one-percent), that is a highly improbable occurence.

It is only when humans selectively breed individuals to concentrate/refine the mutation, that it consistently occurs. Since the albino factor is recessive to ALL other colour factors, it will consistently breed true if two albinos are mated to each other.

If one is inbreeding, then one has a higher likelihood of reproducing any genetic abnormalities that the parent stock carry, not the least of which is albinism. A breeder of this North American species, living in Europe, would be far more likely to resort to inbreeding than a breeder in North America, by virtue of the fact that the European breeder has virtually no access to the w/c stock unless he pays exorbitently for their importation. To my mind, this leaves him in the position of being the MOST probable breeder to have this mutation crop up in his stock, rather than the least probable.

Just MPOV,
Patricia

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: I'm intrigued by this discussion. : I don't have Baird's rat snakes (is that Elaphe o. bairdi?), and have no immediate plans to acquire any (I have E.o. obsoleta, E.o. rossalleni, and E.o. lindheimeri), but the apparently blanket dismissal of purebred albinos seems to me to be somewhat unfounded. : The fact is, that albinism is the most common form of genetic colour mutation found in nature, and it is found naturally in almost every species that exists, if not in every species. Albino variants are rarely found living wild, simply because the colour makes them more noticeable as prey, so they usually get devoured long before they ever grow up. Even if one survives to breeding age, its offspring from a normal-coloured mate will all be phenotypically normal. The only chance then of albino offspring being produced in the wild, is in the improbable event of two phenotypically normal carriers of the albino genotype mating to produce offspring that are in the ratio 1:2:1 normal:het:albino. Considering the rarity of the factor in the general population (my guess would be, probably less than one-tenth of one-percent), that is a highly improbable occurence. : It is only when humans selectively breed individuals to concentrate/refine the mutation, that it consistently occurs. Since the albino factor is recessive to ALL other colour factors, it will consistently breed true if two albinos are mated to each other. : If one is inbreeding, then one has a higher likelihood of reproducing any genetic abnormalities that the parent stock carry, not the least of which is albinism. A breeder of this North American species, living in Europe, would be far more likely to resort to inbreeding than a breeder in North America, by virtue of the fact that the European breeder has virtually no access to the w/c stock unless he pays exorbitently for their importation. To my mind, this leaves him in the position of being the MOST probable breeder to have this mutation crop up in his stock, rather than the least probable. : Just MPOV, : Patricia

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