Black Axanthic?

[toadhall]

It might be a scam, it might be stolen or it might be a really expensive snake that got dumped. I used to have a beautiful purebred Siberian husky that came from the animal shelter in Mississippi. Fritz was a wonderful dog, I kept him until he passed from old age.

[properroyals]

I say have at it! You’ve analyzed the risk, are comfortable with it, and even graciously acknowledged you’re rolling dice. I’m interested in seeing how it comes out.

Good (safe) luck! I also agree, there are deals to be found. They take a certain risk tolerance and persistence from the buyer.

Have fun!

[nathan_e]

Whether if it’s a reputable breeder or not most good breeders dont just lower price drastically if they cant sell within a window that they want or is convenient for them. A good breeder will hold their price for the most part unless they feel like striking a deal that is good for both them and the buyer. But as far as if it’s a black axanthic I wouldn’t risk it and I also would not recommend paying cash because if it does not prove out then there is zero chance to get anything back but if you have a documented payment to this person then you are more likely to be able to get it back.

[toadhall]

Did you get the snake?

[tactical_morphs]

I think you need some pictures in nature light. And as everyone here stated 500 is laughable for a breeder female black axanthic. Would definitely pass that. Here is picture of a actual 1900g breeder black axanthic

[nathan_e]

What would you say would be a going price for one that is the same size as yours? Also from pictures that this person provided would you say that the one they thought about buying is indeed a black axanthic?

[tactical_morphs]

I wouldnt let her go for less than 3k. This is an Axanthic line so there will be quality variations. I have been following black ax since 2009 and I can tell you I know the 2 breeders that had blk ax genetic stripes so without more info I cant really say yes or no

[jconway2208]

Here is my breeder male black axanthic if it helps.

[trails_ahead]

Update time!
I did wind up getting her, she was in blue so I wanted to wait till she shed before trying to get decent pictures. She shed yesterday, ate today (she went from asleep to rat murderer of the year in under a second, no problem eater here!) and I’ll take her out and get some pictures Wednesday. Even when in shed she was deep black and a beautiful dark chocolate brown.
She looks very similar to the pics of the other black axanthics, which is a good sign though certainly no guarentee.
She does have a number of old small nicks and dings, apparently the initial owners had her cohabbed with another snake and the seller suspects they were at least initially being fed live. Despite this she seems to be in excellent health and is an absolute sweetheart.
I am going to do some research and see if I can find her breeder, and potentially try to find a het male (after confirming she is in fact a female) to try proving her out next year. But honestly, even if her genetics remain a mystery I think she’ll make a really beautiful and friendly pet so I don’t anticipate having any regrets.

[jrc_retics]

Very cool! I don’t know if I would have gambled on that, but that’s awesome you took a chance and used your head with weighing the risks before you purchased.
Here is an idea tho. If you’re going to go for a het male, I would get a visual male. Then when you do breed them, at least that would leave you with 100% het offspring. And if she is black axanthic, that would leave no doubt in your mind, because sometimes a het won’t prove out so it’s still a gamble.
If she doesn’t prove out, you can holdback the females and pair them to the original visual male and make some black axanthics.
That’s the steps I would take to try to prove her, because I do support you that you went for it. Not many people would have and if you get lucky, you got a steal of a deal.
Definitely try to find the breeder who produced her. Like Deb said not many work with black axanthics, and it would make it pretty easy to narrow down if she is once you find out that information.

[kcs_royal_pythons]

I apprentice under Hudson Valley Herpetological, who works with Black Axanthics. Here is a picture of one of our breeders. Excuse the mess, I was cleaning.
The rest were deep in shed, so I don’t have pictures of them sadly. Also, a pic of our 2020 clutch of Black Axanthics!

[ashleyraeanne]

My question is, why do we call them black axanthic? They are brown when born and can still be brown as adults, so they aren’t axanthic. I would say a form of melanism that takes time for all of the melanin to develop. Not unlike how it works in humans. I guess it was just something someone called it even though it doesn’t make sense? Much like HRA.

[kcs_royal_pythons]

The picture of the hatchlings has bad lighting. They are silver and black as babies. I’ll try to get more pictures when I visit again. They are not brown in person, when grown they are a deep grey/black color, not brown.

[ashleyraeanne]

All animals I have seen even in good lighting have brown to them. It just doesn’t make sense that any form of axanthism would make them darken as they age.

@t_h_wyman is there anyway to know for sure if it is a true form of axanthism, or some form of melanism? Or are we just stuck guessing?

[t_h_wyman]

@ashleyraeanne

is there anyway to know for sure if it is a true form of axanthism, or some form of melanism?

If you want to get technical, there are not true Axanthic animals in the hobby, they are all more properly hypoxanthic.

I do not have a ton of free time at the moment to go into one of my “lecture mode” posts (up to the gulls at work) but the short version is that yellow pigments are still produced at some low-level in all of these morphs. This is most evident when paired against an Albino as the combo will develop a yellow flush over time.

When I get a bit more free time I will try to come back and explain better

[trails_ahead]

Here she is. I did the best I could with the photos, my simultaneous snake-wrangling and photo-taking skills need a little work. In person the browns are a little richer than the photos show but they do capture the lightening toward the spine and the white flecking around the alien heads and up the sides.

[ashleyraeanne]

I would say it is just a dark normal. The pictures made her seem a lot darker. Not black axanthic to me. Seems like you got scammed.

[chesterhf]

I also second dark normal, the original pics from the ad look darkened somehow or were taken in weird lighting

[nathan_e]

I thought maybe there was a slim chance since she did honestly seem fairly dark in the picture but yeah not a black axanthic at all.

[ashleyraeanne]

I wouldn’t have gotten it once I seen it in person like that.