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Progression Thread - Alpha the Palmetto

Dragonling

Dragonling

Doesn't do "casual"
So I've been hesitant to start a thread on this guy, since he is a bit underweight after some missed feedings due to the threat of bad weather and a regurge. He was likely somewhat maintenance fed prior to arriving at Mystic Exotics, and I've heard rumors about leucism in some rat snakes being associated with increased metabolisms. He's starting to gain weight again, and is ALWAYS looking for food lately. Even though he is over 30g, I'm keeping him on peach fuzzies until he fills out a bit more, but I've been keeping him to a fairly aggressive 4-day schedule. I have high hopes I'll be able to get him to 100g+ by spring, but I don't know if he'll be quite ready for the ladies then.

Here was his arrival photo in the PNW. You can see he looks a bit thin there too.

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More recent pics:

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Here he was begging for food lol:

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He's beautiful.

By noting his weight you've headed off any comments on it at the pass. Anyone who follows you know you provide top notch snake care so not to worry! He's underweight but no more so than my Mandy was when I got her the end of April. Now she's definitely not underweight to the point that I only fed her one 15 gram mouse this time!
 
He is so pretty! I am glad he is with you now, I'm sure you will be able to get his weight up to par. Such a sweet little face :)
 
Thanks guys! I'm going to push him a tiny bit harder now, with a small peach fuzzy and a pinky until he's a bit bigger to take fuzzies. It'll be slow going I think, but he'll get there.

I snapped a few crappy shots in the morning light today, partly so I could enter the daily photo contest on Colubrid Crazy on facebook. I figure if you can't post an indigo, post a palmetto?

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Lol, funny you mention my other dream snake, an Eastern Indigo. Hope you win the contest. Your pics are beautiful.
 
If only his nose hadn't been dirty lol. Silly boy seems fairly active at night, so perhaps that's also part of the problem...he burns too many calories! Last night I got him to take a reptilink mini that had been thoroughly scented. He sat with it in his mouth for a minute like, "What the heck am I eating??" but instinct took over and he swallowed. I rewarded his efforts with a large pinky, which he eagerly snatched from the tongs. "THAT'S what I was waiting for!"
 
Lol. So cute. Glad he's enjoying his food.

Congrats on the photo contest over on FB. I entered and then voted for you, lol!
 
Got a few quick hypermacro shots. Not very spectacular, but nothing you'll probably see anywhere else.

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Not sure what's up with the black markings on his eyes...some palmettos have black and even red markings on their irises, but apparently they don't necessarily start out with them. He had solid blue eyes when he was littler.

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Album for HD versions: http://imgur.com/a/vpM6V
 
So I may have stumbled upon a possible answer for the weird black pigment in his eyes...this is a mouthful: primary pupillary margin cyst of the iris pigment epithelium. I would probably need an ultrasound biomicroscopy to be sure (I can just hear my vet saying, "...You want a what now?"), but it's likely benign.

Here's the fun part, with some wild speculation! This sort of neuroepithelial cyst involves the ciliary body. Notice the location of these dark patches on Alpha's eyes happen to also be right over the part of the iris that is frequently dark in amels and other light-eyed morphs, you know...the black spot newbies freak out over thinking it's a mite or other parasite. Many people have theorized this dark spot is caused by a thick portion of the ciliary body. Coincidence?
 
Very interesting. Yeah that is a mouthful! It's an interesting hypothesis about a relation to the dark spots in amels.
 
I read a case report this morning about a man with primary iris cysts in both eyes that looked a lot like what Alpha has going on.

"A great majority of primary iris cysts, particularly those which arise from the iris pigment epithelial layer, are stationary lesions which rarely progress or cause visual complications and hence do not require any treatment."

Unfortunately it seems to also be congenital, so if that is the cause we'll see if he passes it on to his offspring. :/ What an oddity. I examined the palmettos Travis had at Tinley and found no trace of black spotting in their eyes. I swear I've seen another with it though, but I can't for the life of me remember where.
 
It may be a spontaneous mutation. You won't know if it can be passed on until you breed him. Hopefully it doesn't pop up again and is nothing in the great scheme of things. He's still a beautiful little snake.
 
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