Finally got my White Diamond!

[willdengler]

Finally found one for under $500. He has no yellow at all and baby blue eyes. Named him "Lestat" from the Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles.

Any advice for me, or things I should know about Leucistics???

[MarkS]

White diamonds are the Russo line of leucistics, they are one of my favorites. The hets are not as impressive as the lessers or mojaves are but I think they make the nicest white snakes.

[willdengler]

What's the difference between what I have, a het, lessor or mojave?

[Sauzo]

Nice snake. Grats.

[darkranger69]

nice baby. as tell above it s a super Russo. But would complete Marks s answer : i sold my 3 mojaves and kept my Het. Russo even if she doesn t fit to my breeding plan neither. Her colors are really great and don t fade while she is getting old. she is around 3 year old and i paired her with a lesser granite and a OD Fire spider. I have a shot at a Bel or OD combo... Mojave bels have a grey head and become yellow very early, you white diamond should aged better

[Reinz]

Pretty boy!

I love that name, LeStat, cool!

[MarkS]

What's the difference between what I have, a het, lessor or mojave?

The entire blue eyed Leucistic group is made up of various morphs which are all alleles of the Blue Eyed Leucistic trait. Vin Russo proved his line out back in 2002. http://www.cuttingedgeherp.com/ballpythons.html he was working with an animal that was very high yellow which he was calling Lemon balls. When bred together these lemon balls produced the blue eyed leucistics which vin named the 'white diamonds'. He later renamed the lemon balls het russo leucistics. I've also heard them refered to as het white diamonds.

Around the same time, various other breeders were working with imported animals that turned out to be codominant mutations each with their own distictive look. The Snake Keepers were working with their Mojave's, Ralph Davis was working with his Platinum and Phantom lines, Mark and Kim Bell were working with their Butter Balls and several other breeders were working with odd looking imported mutations that they were trying to prove out as well. Some of these lines were duplicates of mutations that other breeders were working with but many of them had their own distictive look which bred true. Mojaves look different than butters which look different than phantoms which look different than het white diamonds etc. BUT when bred together, they'll all produce Blue Eyed Leucistic snakes with various amounts of pattern and colors. Some pairings produce whiter looking snakes than others.

[willdengler]

Thanks everyone. Just learning about all these morphs