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Hognose owners?

Chip

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒ&
I'm buying an unrelated pair of albino westerns this week. I've worked with the species, but this will be my first plunge into morphs. I know Nanci and some others have these animals in their collection, I'm curious about what combination's are out there/on the horizon. I've only seen red, checkered, anaconda and a few others. I'll post these guys up when I get them. In the meantime, I'd love to fantasize about the possibilities this species holds.
 
Congrats on your future ownership of some albino hoggies! They are truly great snakes and definitely one of our favorites. As far as morphs go, there's actually quite a few recessive traits out there including the only known co-dominant one, the anaconda. Here's all the basic color morphs I know of off the top of my head:

Albino
Red Albino
T+ Albino / Toffeebelly (new)
Anaconda (co-dom het for patternless)
Axanthic / Anerythristic
Hypomelanistic
Green Hypomelanistic
Leucistic
Patternless (super form of anaconda)
Pink Pastel

Now, when you get into selective breeding these basic color morphs, then you get some very unique animals:

Albino + Hypo = Hybino
Albino + Axanthic = Snow (only 4 known in the world atm)
Hypo + Axanthic = Ghost
Anaconda + Anaconda = Patternless
? + ? = Caramel (BHB created these but won't disclose the genetics)

And we haven't touched on all the different varieties of normals: greens, reds, blondes, tiger stripes, etc....

Of course you can imagine all the different things you can do with the patternless and quite a few people bought anacondas for the first time this year to get started on some of these patternless color morph projects.

I'm not even sure if anybody has even done anything with mixing the Pink Pastels or not although I'd find a hard time thinking nobody hasn't.

There's obviously quite a few different morph projects that you'll see coming out within the next few years. These are very exciting times for western hoggies!!!

zeus-01.jpg

Zeus - Our axanthic male
 
Well, that sums it up! I have only ever owned Eastern and Tri-color. A couple times I've come close to buying a normal Western, but what I really want is a morph and they are way too rich for me! I sure love the anacondas I saw at Daytona.
 
T+ Albino / Toffeebelly (new)

Do you mean "new" European line hypo? If so, I wouldn't call that a new morph until it is tested against the Hypo gene. It might be different, but it looks almost exactly the same. That tells me they should TEST it before calling it a new morph. I've been told that it has not been tested yet, but you know how stories change.....lol.

Leucistic

Technically, these aren't supposed to be available thanks the Colorado LEO and the Lacey Act. :(


Green Hypomelanistic

That's one I have a problem with. To date, these are called hypo by some people, but it has never been shown to be anything more than a light colored natural variation of a NORMAL morph. Currently, I think it is a mistake to list these in a group of known sinlge point source mutations. I think the "hypo" is tacked on to make green MONEY and not green snakes with a simple recessive mutation resulting in a predictable amount of melanin reduction.....lol.

You also left out "Lavender" - if it is proven to be a simple recessive mutation conclusively.


Now, when you get into selective breeding these basic color morphs, then you get some very unique animals:

Albino + Hypo = Hybino
Albino + Axanthic = Snow (only 4 known in the world atm)

You left out Pink Pastel Albino = Hypo. A couple of those have been produced already. I've heard of more snows than 4 being produced, but they are (without a doubt) still VERY rare. The "Hybino" or "Sunglows" may not actually exist yet, either. I've seen a few for sale, and they look just like albinos. When questioned, the people just call them hybinos because the normals were so light. They don't have KNOWN hypos producing albinos. Period. Personally, I haven't seen much work with the Hypo and albino gene in combination, but there are a lot of PPA and hypo crossed animals out there. The double homozygous are very, very rare, though.

....and don't forget the "piebald" hognose that doesn't exist....even though hets were sold for thousands of dollars a decade or so ago...to a bunch of big name breeders......lol.
 
i have a red male 08...i love them! I am so getting another hopefully an sub/adult female. they are wonderful!
 
I've been thinking of getting a hognose, but I am completely ignorant about their care and feeding. It has only been a very passing thought. That picture is pushing me towards doing more research.
 
I got to seem them and they were awesome...wish there was a way to get them back into circulation.

Yeah and me both, bud. Man, those were hot!

I'm just wondering why? Pardon my momentary "noob"-ness...

The legal story is that the original one was collected and sold illegally (Colorado Origin). Colorado heard about it, called up the feds (USFWS), and made a raid on the guy a few years later. If the first one is illegal, all offspring are therefor illegal. Offspring 100X removed would still be illegal. The Lacey Act of 1900 (federal) says it is illegal if the animals are "knowingly or unknowingly" illegally collected and sold across state lines.

Long story short, feds knocked on his door, took the snakes and his receipts. They then went to ALL of his customers and took them...down the line until they supposedly got every offspring - no matter how removed - from that original "illegally" collected visual. They released a notice saying whenever one popped up again, they'd run DNA tests and start all over if it was kin to the first one batch.

They seemed to have missed a few possible hets (if the "rumors" are correct, but the guys I knew with them were too scared to keep them. The gene MAY be out there, and LUCK will make it resurface.....but Colorado may just make a new batch of arrests when it does happen.

Most people weren't cited in the first round. They were told "relinquish the animals and your receipts or we WILL press charges." Colorado spent a LOT of money on this. Even LARGE snake breeders (names I won't mention due to OTHER things that went on) just gave up and said "Cheap loss to avoid further trouble." They were out the money spent, of course.

The reason they said it was illegal was that he supposedly collected it from the wild (where they are protected), but he later claimed it was legal because they were captive hatched and he never transported a WC across state lines. I'm not sure what really happened or if CH animals are considered private property that can be sold in Colorado or not.

This is NOT the first time this has happened, and there are other snakes Colorado could do this with RIGHT now (mainly one "popular" lineage of Intermontane ratsnakes), but I suspect they will not until they see big money involved again. Ratsnakes are cheap. The leucistic hognose was high dollar. :)

KJ
 
Thanks for clearing that up. I still have to wonder why it's preferable to go after expensive species than cheap (if the agencies aren't reselling them)? Also it seems if those things had been in circulation any time at all, there are more in collections out there. But I can't even find an image on Google, so who knows.
 
Thanks for clearing that up. I still have to wonder why it's preferable to go after expensive species than cheap (if the agencies aren't reselling them)? Also it seems if those things had been in circulation any time at all, there are more in collections out there. But I can't even find an image on Google, so who knows.

Because they confiscate more money and goods from someone who can spend $5k on snakes than from someone that can only spend $50 on snakes.....lol. It's the feds. They don't go after what is fair - they don't go after equal enforcement of the laws. They go after what looks best in a newspaper article! The articles back then talked about the feds busting up a SMUGGLING RING of snakes worth A COUPLE OF THOUSAND DOLLARS EACH. That read better than the feds confiscating 20 CB ratsnakes that people had for pets for themselves and their kids...... No joke. I suspect that 90+% of the animals that Leucistic gene was ultimately bred into were legal snakes, but they made it sound like a smuggling ring wourth beacoup money.

As far as the image goes, this happened a little less than 10 years ago. I remember people pulling the stuff soon after they got a visit from the feds. I'm surprised you found no images, but I'm not REAL surprised. I know very few people were walking around with digital cameras back then. They were still a little new and expensive.

Jeff - did you snap an image of one in person?
 
Look at it like drugs, if you want to promote your crime fighting organization, are you going to run stories in the paper and on the news about busting the high school kid with a joint or busting the "questionable family" with 300 lbs of weed? Same concept, its just not worth the government's effort to purse the "little guy."
 
Look at it like drugs, if you want to promote your crime fighting organization, are you going to run stories in the paper and on the news about busting the high school kid with a joint or busting the "questionable family" with 300 lbs of weed? Same concept, its just not worth the government's effort to purse the "little guy."

I know during a similar raid one rather prominent herp had his camera - with images of his wife in the shower - "disappear" never to be returned.....lol. This has nothing to do with drugs or snakes, but it is funny and makes the government thugs look even more despicable than they already looked......lol.
 
What is sad is what did they did w/ all of the ones the confiscated, did they destroy them? If so that says a lot about our govt and their greed!!!! Excuse my ignorance if I am way off here, just what goes through my head.
 
What is sad is what did they did w/ all of the ones the confiscated, did they destroy them? If so that says a lot about our govt and their greed!!!! Excuse my ignorance if I am way off here, just what goes through my head.

I suspect a lot of them died on purpose OR on accident, but the rumor has it that many went into zoos. I haven't heard anything lately, so who knows? :(
 
They could never survive in the wild, and zoos aren't interested in morphs (usually). Seems Fish and Wildlife would auction them off or something.
 
Seems Fish and Wildlife would auction them off or something.

Yeah, it SEEMS like there would be a way to take a public resource (such as an illegally collected snake) and make it private property through some form of "sell" to reimburse the public for it becoming a privately owned item....like with deer in many states. HOWEVER, you assume Colorado wanted to allow these to become private property. I personally believe they did it to make a point....that they OWN the wildlife and not the people (as it should be). Well, it worked. I won't TOUCH an animal that even has a hint of being from illegally collected Colorado stock animals. Not even a hint. heck, a good friend wanted me to take possession of some of those ratsnakes for a day or two until they were passed off to a another friend. I refused. i won't even let them on my property even though I wouldn't own them!

I guess Colorado succeeded in making their point, eh? LOL.
 
Well, in time they are bound to pop up in private collections. I wonder what action the state would take then? And if there were any hets floating around from that original animal's progeny, I'd venture that a breeder might not even be aware. Of course, there could well be dozens of them in private collections by now.
 
Do you mean "new" European line hypo? If so, I wouldn't call that a new morph until it is tested against the Hypo gene. It might be different, but it looks almost exactly the same. That tells me they should TEST it before calling it a new morph. I've been told that it has not been tested yet, but you know how stories change.....lol.

Yes, the "new" European line is what I was referring to. Actually, I do agree with you about the hype surrounding it and that there's still some work to be done to verify what exactly it is. If what I've read to be true however, Raimo Huhn has been working with these and has at least F3 or higher offspring that exhibit the trait. So, it's been tested but not sure what against. Some are now wanting to call it a paradox because the hatchlings show black speckling. This I find a big stretch, especially since it may shed off that coloration after a few sheds which nobody is yet sure of it it will or not.

Technically, these aren't supposed to be available thanks the Colorado LEO and the Lacey Act. :(

Well, it doesn't matter the legality of them considering I was just naming known recessive morphs ;) But yes, it's a shame how all of that went down. I was told the specific lengthy story by one of the big name breeders who got caught up in all of that. And this was someone who had enough money to throw at a lawyer to try and fight the system and still lost.

That's one I have a problem with. To date, these are called hypo by some people, but it has never been shown to be anything more than a light colored natural variation of a NORMAL morph. Currently, I think it is a mistake to list these in a group of known sinlge point source mutations. I think the "hypo" is tacked on to make green MONEY and not green snakes with a simple recessive mutation resulting in a predictable amount of melanin reduction.....lol.

Well, honestly, that's another one I am suspicious of. But, if the belly is lacking melanin (like the Hypos) and the offspring can exhibit the trait, then it's obviously something and I wouldn't have a problem so much with the name Green Hypo. I really need to discuss this with Chad as he seems to be the one selling these.

You also left out "Lavender" - if it is proven to be a simple recessive mutation conclusively.

Yes, I did accidentally leave that one out. That's why I said
I know of off the top of my head.
I knew I was likely going to forget one or two at 1am :p And if anybody hasn't seen pictures of the Lavenders, they are truly a beautiful snake.

You left out Pink Pastel Albino = Hypo. A couple of those have been produced already.

I didn't leave it out per se as I could have easily spent a ton of time putting forth every type of combination possible. I only listed combo's that I basically knew were already produced or in the works. Because I haven't heard or seen anything about any type of Pink Pastel, I said this
I'm not even sure if anybody has even done anything with mixing the Pink Pastels or not although I'd find a hard time thinking nobody hasn't.
I would be interested in seeing some pics of the ones you seem to know about though, I would be curious how different they are to a typical Lazik hypo if you are saying these are also called hypos.

I've heard of more snows than 4 being produced, but they are (without a doubt) still VERY rare.

Well, again, I said
only 4 known in the world atm
meaning only 2 people have made it publicly know that they own some, Brian Barczyk and Vin Russo (who both produced 2 each). I don't doubt that there's a possibility that there might be someone else out there that produced some, but unless that someone comes forth and can prove it, 4 is all that is currently known.

The "Hybino" or "Sunglows" may not actually exist yet, either. I've seen a few for sale, and they look just like albinos.

I have to agree. Based on the pictures (and photography can be a tricky and misleading thing) the supposed "hybinos" I've seen didn't look really any different than a pale albino. But that is at least the claim of the breeder ( I'm sure it is the same one you know of although I cannot currently recall their name), that their hybino is the product of a double het albino/hypo pairing. They do try and sell their hybino at least once a year on ks.

there are a lot of PPA and hypo crossed animals out there. The double homozygous are very, very rare, though.

Are you talking about the Lazik line of PPA/Hypo? I've always been curious about why his line was of double recessive genetics since he doesn't mention on his site whether he himself was trying to create a PPA x Hypo line or not.

Do you have, or know of any pictures of such an animal? Again, I would love to see what one of these would look like as it's something I haven't yet come across.

....and don't forget the "piebald" hognose that doesn't exist....even though hets were sold for thousands of dollars a decade or so ago...to a bunch of big name breeders......lol.

Well, there's a lot of unscrupulous people out there in the world. It's just a shame that people value money over integrity and the respect of others. And there's definitely a few unsavory individuals in this trade to help keep one on his toes.
 
Well, in time they are bound to pop up in private collections. I wonder what action the state would take then? And if there were any hets floating around from that original animal's progeny, I'd venture that a breeder might not even be aware. Of course, there could well be dozens of them in private collections by now.

From my understanding of one breeder I talked to extensively at Daytona about this is there were a few leucistics that made it overseas. Whether these were homo or het that were originally exported,I am unclear. But according to him, while not common, there are a few leucistics in Europe. He claims that a buddy of his was currently in the works in negotiating a deal in importing some over. Again, I am unsure whether these were homos or hets they were talking about in regards to importing.

I would assume that the legality of these supposed European leucistics would be a huge gray area considering that I'm sure these would now be somewhat genetically outcrossed enough along with them being produced overseas which would make it difficult for the state to prove it's case.

I guess I really need to contact that gentleman and touch base on how that negotiation is going ;)
 
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