ALBINO BURMS

[JAYGIB9]

I love albino Burms and plan to get one before too much longer but there's a few things I'd like to know first. Does anybody know if albino critters are Hemophiliacs(blood clotting disorder)?????? Somebody told me albinos are all Hemo's and I'm not quite sure I believe it. Also are albinos all partially or badly blind? And last but not least, do albino Burms grow to the same size as regular phase or does something in the albinism cause them to be smaller???
I'd be grateful for all information anybody could give me.
Thanks much and I love RTB.net
Justin Gibson
[addsig]

[JuliusSqueezer]

I've never heard anything about them suffering from Hemophilia

Yes they usually go at least partially blind due to lack of pigment in the iris that protects from damage from bright light especially sunlight. Many go totally blind before it's over...They are also prone to skin conditions. I have seen albinos have places where their skin just bursts open for no apparent reason. This is fairly rare and usually with larger snakes.

Do they get as big? Usually not....not because of anything in the genetics that stunts growth. They just usually have severe health problems. All of the burm morphs are having problems surviving to adulthood. They were overly inbred in the beginning and are suffering the consequences. Amelanism (albinism) is what I consider a genetic flaw....not a cool morph.
[addsig]

	Morph A morph is a color or pattern variation that is proven to be genetic. Common morphs include albino, anerythristic, gentically striped, Hypomelanistic, and many others. Morphs also include combinations of simple traits such as "Sunglow" which is Albino and Hypomelanistic. These traits may be recessive traits, co-dominant traits, dominant traits, or created through selective breeding (ie Pastel).

[najaboy]

Just to clarify on Burmese Disease, it's not a genetic flaw and is not a result of inbreeding. On the contrary, it is spread via contact with infected snakes, and founder stock is equally susceptible to it. Also prone to BD are African rocksand bloods.
[addsig]

	Bearded Dragon Bearded Dragon is the common name for any agamid lizard in the genus Pogona.

[skadiwolf]

okay, well, i have a question...does the inbreeding and the genetic morphs make those particular snakes less resistant to Burm Disease? weaker health, etc?

i have heard that is no cure for BD but have also heard that some snakes with recurring incidents of RI's possibly have some internal parasites. is it possible to mistaken BD for an internal parasite infection? would the treatment given for the RI necessarily take care of the parasites? it would seem not to if it can be a recurring issue.

anyone have any information on this? thanks.

[img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
[addsig]

	Bearded Dragon Bearded Dragon is the common name for any agamid lizard in the genus Pogona.

	Morph A morph is a color or pattern variation that is proven to be genetic. Common morphs include albino, anerythristic, gentically striped, Hypomelanistic, and many others. Morphs also include combinations of simple traits such as "Sunglow" which is Albino and Hypomelanistic. These traits may be recessive traits, co-dominant traits, dominant traits, or created through selective breeding (ie Pastel).

[najaboy]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font class="pn-sub">Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT class="pn-sub"><BLOCKQUOTE>okay, well, i have a question...does the inbreeding and the genetic morphs make those particular snakes less resistant to Burm Disease? weaker health, etc? </BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>
Founder stock (wild-caught) is equally as prone to BD as morphs. A decade ago, it seemed otherwise, but you have to take into consideration the sheer numbers we were dealing with at that time. In the early-to-mid nineties, Burm morphs were the &quot;big thing&quot;. It seemed that everyone and their brother was working with them. It wasn't uncommon at swaps to see tables covered with nothing but Burms.

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font class="pn-sub">Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT class="pn-sub"><BLOCKQUOTE>i have heard that is no cure for BD but have also heard that some snakes with recurring incidents of RI's possibly have some internal parasites. is it possible to mistaken BD for an internal parasite infection? would the treatment given for the RI necessarily take care of the parasites? it would seem not to if it can be a recurring issue </BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>
The one thing common to snakes infected with BD is that their RI's are caused by Pseudomonas bacteria. Other pathogens are generally not present. Indeed, there are most certainly snakes out there that experience bouts of chronic pneumonia due to viral and fungal causes that have been misdiagnosed as BD.

[addsig]

	Bearded Dragon Bearded Dragon is the common name for any agamid lizard in the genus Pogona.

	Morph A morph is a color or pattern variation that is proven to be genetic. Common morphs include albino, anerythristic, gentically striped, Hypomelanistic, and many others. Morphs also include combinations of simple traits such as "Sunglow" which is Albino and Hypomelanistic. These traits may be recessive traits, co-dominant traits, dominant traits, or created through selective breeding (ie Pastel).

[Flood]

Regardless of everythiong that an albino burm may be prone to, I still beleive that more than anything, their health and wellbeing depend more on the person who is keeping them. I have had my female albino burm for a bit more than a year, she is nearing 8 ft, and has never been in any less than perfect health(aside from when she was at the pet store).

More than anything though. I would tend to think that it is most important to know that YOU are ready to handle a burm, and if you already have one, that you can handle two and so on. I personally could care less whatanyone says, I firmly believe that the care you give is the deciding factor on what health your snake is in. Just so we know this is no kind of arrogant bias, I have had snakes die, some for reasons I couldn't help, and some becaus I had made a wrong decision(which obviously I felt was right at the time).

Anyways, it depends more on the keeper than the snake. A friend of mine managed to tame a severely neglected female afr. rock that I even had problems with, and now, she is 9 ft and kitten tame.
[addsig]