Albino Whitewater

ALBINO WHITEWATER  (Natural)

 

The Albino Whitewater was discovered on a rocky knoll above Whitewater Canyon on April 3, 1993 by Craig Harper, an avid snake enthusiast and backpacker who was hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail. It was brought to a Reptile meeting in Long Beach where Scott Selstad and Keith Carlson negotiated its purchase for a reported twelve thousand dollars.  This Adult male albino successfully bred eleven females shortly after its acquisition.  Unfortunately the albino male died two months later, but the "Selstad/Carlson" line was well on its way. Two years later a second wild specimen, a female, was collected by a hiker in the same general area.

In 1996 Randy Wright bred this newly discovered female to a heterozygous male derived from the first albino and the "Wright" line was established.           The discovery of this shockingly beautiful naturally occurring morph was viewed at the time as the Holy Grail to rosy enthusiasts everywhere. Cream colored interspaces replaced the normal light greyish-blue background, and vibrant orange dorsal and lateral jagged striping appeared where original copper color had been present. Eye color was variable but many specimens exhibited a light colored iris and a very dark red pupil. Selstad and Carlson marketed their line as the "Goldeneye" albino. The eye color later became a point of contention among breeders positioning for market share. Some expressed opinions that this might not be an albino at all, as most known examples of albino reptiles at the time had red eyes. This argument was fueled by the discovery in the fall of 1993 of an Albino Coastal rosy boa that in fact had red eyes.