Quote Originally Posted by Freakie_frog View Post
I have a theory about that head only pattern. See spiders exhibit a form of Leucism on their sides in the way of the white speckling. Pied is a known form of the leucisitic gene. When you combine the two forms of the Lucy gene the pied and spider work to create an almost pure white snake. Now only the head has color and I think its because the form of Leucism they exhibit is an incomplete form. when you combine the Lesser gene which is a Het Lucy at its core because the lesser creates a totally white snake the two forms of Leucism work to produce a totally white snake. Hope I didn't loose any one there.
That is probably more technically correct than my half-baked theory. Thanks for sharing.

What I had thought about (but not really convinced myself of) is that since both spider and pied are pattern morphs, it was possible that they were in some way interfering with each other. Which doesn't really explain why they end up almost entirely white, but since pieds already have some wierdness going on to cause the white spots... more wierdness of the patterns fighting with each other creates more white?

OK, I know it is weak. I said it was half-baked.