Quote Originally Posted by ConcinnusMan View Post
Is there no other option for producing eastern snows than to use melanistic? Seems to me that is why eastern snows are so "dirty" - using melanistic that is. It's pretty apparent from the pattern on the eastern snows that the melanistic side is responsible for their dirty look.

I'm just curious how you are thinking that using a florida blue albino will make them any cleaner?

The snow easterns that are currently in the hobby look the way they do because they are Schuett albino....the Schuett albino does not totally lack melanin.. and melanistic does everything it can to increase it.... put those two together and BAM you have some very confused pigment cells. in fact some of the schuetts, like my female are so dark they look more like what you'd call a hypo. I don't like calling them snows myself... I call them dirty snows. I heard that in Europe they call them cappuccinos. That's a pretty perfect description. for a cleaner looking "snow" all one must do is breed a different type of albino into the melanistics. Or breed a melanin-lacking albino into an anerythristic morph. Either way, you are going to get what everyone refers to as "snows". I'd put money on that any day. Since the florida strain lacks melanin completely.. it's going to wash out all the dirtiness that the current snows have. No matter how dark black a snake would be normally, if they are a type of albino that completely negates production of any melanin... they will be a cleaner... more "classic" example of snow. The only real exception to this, is of course, the random paradox. In daytona this past year I got to see some paradox albino checkered garters that breed true... a few pop out in every clutch. I could have had the pair for $300! But they were kind of ugly... they looked like albino checkereds with scale rot... They are even named "Moldy Checkereds". Ranks right up there with bloody rash corn snakes.