Caramel coloured Small-eyed Snake

[Colletts]

Came across this little beauty recently, Cryptophis nigrescens. Has anyone seen one similar?

We found this one about 500m down the road

 

[Gecko75]

looks to be albino, very unusual looking snake, never seen any small eyed like it, I have seen over 200 in the past few years but never anything like that. your small eyed snakes have broader heads then the ones we see down here, and your second snake you found really reminds me of a dunmalls snake. did you see much else out?

 

[Serpentes]

Wow, that's a rare find. You should write that discovery up for the journal Herpetofauna. I won't guess at its mutation, but it looks xanthic. With the eye pigmentation it does look albino though. Hopefully someone can shed more light one this one. There have been albino small eye snakes found previously, but less than a handful. Good one!

 

[waruikazi]

Nice find! How far North are you in QLD? Could it be a different species of Cryptophis?

If i had to guess some kind of morph i would say T+ albino.

 

[BROWNS]

looks albino but t+ not t-.Very interesting as the tongue looks pink however with the dark eyes is what makes me think the tyrosinaise positive type of albinism.Interestingly it appears to have red/pink pupils?

 

[krefft]

Here's an interesting Northern Small eyed snake that a friend rescued from a neighbours lounge room around Humpty Doo in 2009. Its not quite an albino as it has pigmented eyes but very spectacular never the less.

 

[Snake Catcher Victoria]

Never seen anything like it.

 

[girdheinz]

Wow, that's a rare find. You should write that discovery up for the journal Herpetofauna. I won't guess at its mutation, but it looks xanthic. With the eye pigmentation it does look albino though. Hopefully someone can shed more light one this one. There have been albino small eye snakes found previously, but less than a handful. Good one!

It's the 3rd albino small eye i now know off, one in Qld one in NSW (found by a member of AHS) andwherever this one was found.

Gird

 

[Colletts]

We didn't notice pink pupils, I think it has something to do with the camera but you never know..

Waruikazi, it was in the Townsville region. Steve Wilson confirmed it as a nigrescens.

Tell me more about this T+ albinism?

 

[waruikazi]

I'll get all tongue tied and get it wrong if i try and explain T+ so here check out page 18 of this web book Designer reptiles and amphibians - Google Books

Click on the first option of books if it give you the option.

 

[JasonL]

yeah, I think you find one albino small eyed for every 203843 normal ones you find.... I should find one any night now...

 

[BROWNS]

yeah, I think you find one albino small eyed for every 203843 normal ones you find.... I should find one any night now...

Not quite sure what you're getting at with that commentmif you're joking round or paying out on someone?

That small eye would be leucistic if the eyes were pigmented either black or blue and leucism is 16 times rarer than albinism.There's been a couple of leucistic animals caught and handed in to N Parks from the Townsville region and I'd take a god guess there's most likely someone with leucistic macs.Is it just a coincedence that a few very very rare animals have been found in the same general area,could it be caused by environmental factors or would it seem more likely the animals specifically the leucistic macs are directly related,a similar situation to the supposed 2 different albino Darwin bloodlines.

It's really a shame that Parks won't release the leucistic macs to someone credible and then introduced to the hobby.Then there'd be 2 different forms of albinos and leucistic macs which would create several morphs whilst still keeping them pure not outcrossing to stimmies etc

Whatever the small eye is it's certainly a mutation and a very nice looking animal.

 

[Gecko75]

I think Jason is saying he should find one any time now because he sees a lot of them, anyone who goes herping often somewhere in the range is likely to see at least 100 each year. I have found up to 10 on single days/nights.

 

[Sdaji]

It looks almost exactly the same as one I saw in SE QLD in 2007. Mine had normal eyes, and assuming yours does too, it's probably the same thing. I assume it's T+ albino. You wouldn't always notice a T+ albino snake, as you could easily just think it was a slightly light one, but with a snake which is pretty much black, the T+ version really stands out. Since they are such commonly seen snakes in many areas, it's not surprising if they pop up from time to time. Nice pictures, lucky find