albinos?????????????????????

[hey_im_sam]

heh!!
for those of you that haven't seen it, a visit to www.jaguarpython.com would be a good idea!

 

[Guest]

I could be wrong but I always thought amelanism was a complete lack of melanin, hypomelanism a deficiency, and albinism a complete lack of pigmentation.

 

[roadkill5000]

isnt there one of those hypomelamathingys that the animal is 100% black
ive heard of this before and it was refered to as hypomelanistic but what yous have been saying indicates hypomelanistic to have something to do with patterns and lighter colours :? .
any ideas :?:

 

[hey_im_sam]

i think there's something called melanistic which may be all black. at least that's what it would be called, because thats what it means heh.

i thought albinism was lack of dark pigment because albino animals i've seen still have patterning of some description. my thought on the amelanism was that in a book i've seen that photo of the bhp referred to as amelanistic. if anyone knows for sure it'd be good to hear

 

[roadkill5000]

thanks sam that actually rings a bell the photo that it came with the info was a shingleback but they are mostly black anyway

 

[saikrett]

i recon albino's look so cool.
i got to play with 2 albino blue tongues when i was doing work experience at Gosford Reptile park.
someone up there was telling me that sometimes albino's aren't as heathy as some of the others from the same clutch

 

[almaron]

Albino = total lack of melanin
Hypomelanistic = reduced levels of melanin (to various degrees)
Hypermelanistic = increased levels of melanin (to various degrees)

All these traits effect the melanin layer of coloring on snake, thus an albino is not necessarily an all white snake. There are other pigments responsible for the various patterns on snakes. Most albino snakes that normally have patterns are the classic white with yellow patterning. If a snake normally has no pattern, it just depends on what pigments are responsible for their normal color.