EasternDiamondbacks.Com

Today on July 16, 2009 something happened that made the years of patience worth it all. Tonight at 9:10 PM a Eastern Diamondback here at our facility gave birth to a clutch of babies. Now this normally is no unusual occurrence, but this group of neonates was different than all the others born here, or anywhere else in the world for that matter.

This group of neonates hold the key to the future generations of new and exciting morphs of the Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake. What makes these babies so unique? Well one was born “Snow”, and two were born “Axanthic”, several others were born as a aberrant pattern - partially patternless and also a granite like pattern. Those Granite looking neonates also exhibit a strange white area on the jowls of the snakes. They also have a solid white rattle.

The Snow Eastern Diamondback is the very first in existence. Albinos have been captive bred and found in the wild, but there has never been a Snow produced in captivity or discovered in the wild. That makes this little girl a one of a kind animal. A true rare gem.

The Axanthic snakes born here are the very first captive bred specimens of this gene. Two other Axanthic animals that I know of were wild collected and one is the sire of the animals that produced these little gems. That snake is still alive to my knowledge and in captivity in a breeding program also. The second was a wild collected specimen that exchanged hands several times, owned briefly by Bill Love and Gary Markely. That snake to my knowledge has passed away from old age, and never reproduced in captivity.

The abberant snakes in this litter are truely unique and hold pieces to a mysterious puzzle. Why do they exhibit such a strange pattern? Why are the rattles white instead of black? Why do they have white blotches along the jowls? Time will tell as they grow and mature into matriarchs of this truly amazing rattlesnake, the Eastern Diamondback.

I hope you enjoy these photos, they were taken within 1 hour of birth, and are not the best of quality, but as little disturbance to the neonates as possible while they are adjusting to life in this big world.  Being born a rattlesnake is just as tough as being born any other creature, you have to fight to stay alive and it is a exhausting feat. I will take more photos as they ready for ecdysis, and after the first skin shedding when their true colors will start emerging.

This is the first view I had of the event, mama with some neonates around the hide box. She stayed in the hide box all day today.

AXANTHIC next to a GRANITE and a normal patterned baby, note differences in coloration…

In this photo you can see a AXANTHIC laying along side the SNOW, and two ABERRANT GRANITE phases crawling near them.

The only SNOW born in this litter…

A ABERRANT GRANITE PHASE closer up to show pattern…

Head shot of the SNOW…

Another view of a AXANTHIC…

The Snow all curled up and looking very cute. What a beautiful snake.

Now some photos of the aberrant neonates. These have some unusual traits such as white buttons, and white blotching on the jowls and throat. They are also PARTIAL PATTERNLESS and GRANITE. The genetics they hold will be exciting to see when they mature and reproduce their own offspring…

Axanthic

A head shot of a normal patterned neonate…

Head shot of a Granite/Aberrant, note the coloration of the tongue, normally it is solid black.

Side view showing the patches of white, very unusual.