Bad Match Breeding

[ssssnakeluvr]

Although, wouldn't that make melanistics and stuff defects too?

melanism isn't necessarily a defect, its a bit advantageous due to being able to absorb sunlight faster and warm the snake up quicker

[Stefan-A]

melanism isn't necessarily a defect, its a bit advantageous due to being able to absorb sunlight faster and warm the snake up quicker

On the other hand, birds spot melanistic individuals easier, so it's both a drawback and an advantage.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Yeah...
It's weird. Its, with everything, "the morph". Most common. People who know nothing about that stuff know what an albino is. Yet, it's a defect. Seems weird.

Although, wouldn't that make melanistics and stuff defects too?

I wouldn't consider melanism a defect, wild populations of melanistic animals exist and thrive. Not the case with amels! But melanism is a genetic mutation, just as albinism is. I Personally prefer normal animals to albinos... Albino animals are not as pretty IMO. Albinos cant see as well either because light coming in from all sides of their head with no melanin to block and regulate it will not allOw the eyes to function as they should

[RedSidedSPR]

[QUOTE=aSnakeLovinBabe;I Personally prefer normal animals to albinos... Albino animals are not as pretty IMO. Albinos cant see as well either because light coming in from all sides of their head with no melanin to block and regulate it will not allOw the eyes to function as they should[/QUOTE]

Me too. I never really plan on getting one. I've always found them somewhat... unattractive... I mean, theyre cool, heck it's a garter snake, you can't not like it. But when I'm flipping through morphs, I see albino/snow, I think "eh... Next!"

[RedSidedSPR]

Not as easily as albinos. I can't imagine an albino lives very long in the wild..

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Not as easily as albinos. I can't imagine an albino lives very long in the wild..

A lot of them don't and majority found are young still, but adult animals of albino, leucistic, white sided and more have all been found.

[d_virginiana]

Might make them easier for birds to spot, but there's also plenty of snake species that are black so I wouldn't think it'd make too much of a difference...

[Stefan-A]

Might make them easier for birds to spot, but there's also plenty of snake species that are black so I wouldn't think it'd make too much of a difference...

Yeah. Usually venomous snakes, burrowing snakes and snakes that are too big for most raptors. And despite the "advantage", most species aren't black.

[infernalis]

Believe it or not, black is an excellent camouflage, heck most Thamnophis have huge amounts of black as the top side colour.

Sight depends on reflected light, black absorbs light.

[Stefan-A]

Believe it or not, black is an excellent camouflage, heck most Thamnophis have huge amounts of black as the top side colour.

Sight depends on reflected light, black absorbs light.

It's actually not camouflage at all. Hence the stripe. And the other patterns.

Whatever the eye sees, it's the brain that interprets what it sees. A perfectly black object may technically be invisible in that it reflects no light, but the brain has no problem finding it.