Genetic Morph: VPI Snow Ball, Snow, VPI Snow
Status: Proven Simple Recessive from double het x double het
When: 2002
By Whom: Ralph Davis

The VPI Snow is the "1 in 16" result of breeding a pair of Double Het for VPI Snow together. DH for VPI snow are produced by breeding an Albino to an Axanthic of the VPI lineage. There are three lines of Axanthic as we know of ( 05 ). The "VPI line" is the line of Axanthic used to produce the 'VPI SNOW BALL".

I was the first ever to produce the long awaited VPI Snow Ball............and I was thrilled with the way it looked. As a baby it was barley patterned ( white on white ), what pattern you could see extended up from the belly and mid-way into the sides............the head and the top of the snake were pure white and patternless.

As a mature adult male, my VPI Snow has no visible pattern at all............there are a "very few" random yellow scales on the body. He looks like a "pink eyed LUCY".

Of the three proven lines of Snow......VPI, Jolliff and TSK..............In my opinion the VPI ranks first as far as the least amount of yellow and the purest white pattern ( white on white ), the TSK line second and last would be the Jolliff line ( looks like a very pale albino).

Working with double simple recessive mutations is such a roller coaster ride..........your odds are "1 in 16" to produce the "double homo"..........in this case...........The "SNOW". Ball Pythons lay relatively small clutches of eggs.............the average being six to eight eggs..............so "hitting" on a Snow Ball in six eggs is a real treat!!

Once you get your first male double homo ( double homo meaning that the Snow Ball is an Axanthic and it is an Albino ) the rest is pie!! Breeding a Snow to anything will automatically pass on both the albino and the axanthic trait to the offspirng...........so all the babies are "at least" DH for Snow.

Plug this into co-dom mutations or other DH's and your well on your way to TRIPLE and QUAD genetics!!

The reason why a Snow looks the way it does is simple............the Albino trait knocks out all dark pigment ( Albino kills the black and it turns brown to yellow ).............the Axanthic trait knocks out most of the yellow pigment ( yellow and brown )............so once these two genes "duke it out" the only color left is WHITE..............and that is what a Snow Ball is..........it's an "Albino Axanthic" or a "Axanthic Albino".............all I can say is it's BAD ASS!!............and I'm damn proud to be the first breeder to produce the BEST Snow Ball on the planet..........."The VPI Snow"

Note: A Snow can be produced several ways, breeding the following together or a variation - DH's, Albino het Axanthic, Axanthic het Albino.......

More pics of the VPI Snow can be seen on the "VPI Snow" page in the RDR Collection section.

Text by Ralph Davis