I came in on this thread very late, and to be honest, didn't have the time or brain-power to fully read each and every post. I was glad to read that someone mentioned the photo galleries available. I particularly like Rich's since he does show some variations seen in particular morphs. But I also like the idea of a book...but not to show standards or the perfect example. Instead, a book that just shows the great variations that are seen in all the morphs. Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder and everyone has their own preferences, IF they know all that is available to them.
As an example...a co-worker of my husband wanted to buy a corn snake to add to his small collection. He already had a snow and an Okeetee but wanted something different, but not that expensive. He came over one evening to look at what I had available, which wasn't too many...a few amels, some aneryths, a ghost and some normal zigzags. He looked over the hatchlings and said that nothing really struck his fancy. As we were about to leave my herp room, he started glancing at some of my adult breeders in their tanks. He stopped, pointed, and said with enthusiasm..."What is that?!" My response..."An aneryth." "But it isn't black?" "No, it's one of my light brown variations. He started out dark like the hatchlings you just saw, but lightened up as he got older." Needless to say, that color was just what he was looking for, the aneryth hatchlings were that particular male's offspring, I picked out one that I thought would get lighter, and, 2 years later, my husband's co-worker is still thanking me for the beautiful brown aneryth I added to his collection.
And personally, I never really cared for lavenders and didn't want one, that is, until I saw a pic of a lavender with lots of pink/peach on Rich's site. THAT variation of lavender is, in my opinion, very beautiful, and I now have one, as well as 3 hypo het lavs and a normal het lav. 5 new snakes in my collection, all from Rich, that wouldn't have been there had I not seen that one pic. And the 3 hypo het lavs have turned me onto the hypo morph, another first for me as well. Their appeal "made" me buy 2 hypo het ambers from Rich, and I'm seriously considering getting some crimsons this year from Rich as well. That's quite a few sales to one person on a small budget due to one little picture. Put a book in front of me and I'll either have to buy some of every morph I currently don't have or care for or shoot myself. My vote...NO BOOK, THE WHOLE IDEA STINKS, FORGET I EVER SAW THIS THREAD OR POSTED A RESPONSE..."Dear, lock up the guns or hide my credit cards."
