NEWS103
44
sometimesmelanin is still produced,but in
small quantities. In such caseswe speak of
albinoid or hypomelanic animals. The eye
color is thenalso light,oftenblue,butnever
red.Animals that lack thepigment xanthin,
required for yellow or red coloration for
example,are termedaxanthic.
If toomuchmelanin is produced then the
entire animal appears black; a notable
example of this is the Black Panther. Such
animalsare termedmelanicormelanistic.
Amutation involving loss of color doesn’t
have toaffect theentireanimal,but canbe
limited to individual partsof thebody.This
is termed a piebald pattern or partial
albinism.
It is important tobeaware that suchcolors
often do not breed true but may be
inherited by only some, if any, of the
offspring. These are termed “Hets” in the
hobby, an abbreviation for “heterozygous
specimens” which in turn means simply
that theydonotbreed true.
If youarenow filledwith thedesire tokeep
and breed these color forms of the Royal
Python, then your pet dealer can
undoubtedlyorderoneoranother form for
you fromawholesaler of his acquaintance,
for
example
Tropenparadies
in
Oberhausen,Fax+49-(0)208-665997.
Lexicon
Royal Python
Python regius translates simplyas“Royal Python”;
Pythonwas a serpent inancientmythology.
