Ming, the Texas Rat snake

Thought you might like to see this, and can you tell me if anyone else has another snake like him. This is Ming. He is a Leucistic Texas rat snake, and we have never seen another one apart from in books. He is not albino, as his eyes are grey, not pink. Is this a rare Morph?

leucistic texas rat snakes are not uncommon snakes in the American pet trade; elsewhere in the world they are probably not as common...they are the most available leucistic snake on the market...some other leucistic morphs can be found among black rat snakes, pine snakes and ball pythons...

Thanks Chris for the reply

Here in the U.K the reptile trade is very different to the U.S. I see on U.S sites Venomous snakes and Crocodilians are offered for sale regulally, while over here it is against the law to own any of these animals without extensive licensing, and in many counties it is banned outright. Many Morphs such as the leucistics are very rare in the U.K, and Morphs of royal Pythons such as the Spider Morphs can fetch prices as high as £15,000 each.

Unfortunatly, that is the of our love for these animals

No problem, Nick...

Sometimes too much of a good thing isn't such a good thing...I live in Pennsylvania, where you can pretty much keep anything without a permit...At one of the local shows in Pennsylvania recently a 16 year old bought a viper (can't remember exacts) with his parents present...gets it home...and of course gets bit..got pretty sick (and probably real scared!)...Last I heard the parents were suing the breeder, saying he did not state the animal was venomous and that he sold it to a minor

Dont feel bad about the royal morphs, they are just as expensive here in the states...and speaking of leucistics, het leucistic royals, known as "fireballs", were going for $38,000 in Daytona Florida this year

Good luck with your Leucy rat, that's a sweet lookin' snake, bud...

What is the Ball Python, and Corn Snake trade like, in the UK?

The corn snake and Ball python trade is good in the U.K, I have two corns and one adult ball python. The difficutly is trying to find places that sell them.

Most pet stores in the U.K do not sellreptiles, as they are seen as very complicated, difficult to look after and not good pets. Alos there are a number of very militant Animal rights groups in this countrythat have been known to attack stores selling reptiles, as well as a movement within the U.K to Ban the keeping of reptiles altogether.

My young corn snake (appox 12 inches in length when we got him) costme £70, (roughly $130) and my adult Ball python cost £120 ( about $230)I dont know of this seems expensive compared to prices in the U.S

Te other difficulty is finding places that sell frozen mice. Live feeding is illegal in the U.K and most pet supply stores will not sell frozen mice for fear of attacks by animal rights groups. This is a shame as it harms the hobby and makes it very tough on thiose of us that keep reptiles properly nd do so to try and educate other people about them. My kids are stars at school, as thay have all done very highly regarded reports into reptiles for school projects.

$130 in American money for a corn snake? Is it a normal, or is it a morph of some kind. You can find them here, all different color morphs, for 30-50.
$230 is about the market price for adult Ball Pythons, if they are female. If they are male, they usually sell for around $50.
What kind of Ball Python mutations can you purchase in the UK. Do you have Albinos, or Axanthics, Piebalds...?
To help with your mice problem, you can buy them alive, put them into a plastic bag, and give them a firm whack on the counter.
Leave them is a freezer over night, and then you have yourself frozen mice.

Thats $130 for a normal corn snake! All reptiles are vastly more expensive in the U.K, but in the case of corn snakes, it is starting t drop as breeders start to produce more youngsters. Unfortunatly the U.K has very few native reptiles, and our resident snake species are all protected by law, so there are very few if any in captivity ( I think we only have 4 native species anyway)
All corn snake morphs are availiable in the U.K, but the prioces go up even higher, I have seen Ghost corns go for up to £200 ( $380) over here

As for Ball Pythons ( or Royals as they are refered to here) we can get all the morphs, but many are extremely rare. I have seen adverts for Piebalds and Spider Morphs but they command prices up to £15-17,000 ($25-30,000) which is a shame as I would love a piebald Royal!

As for mice, we find the easiest thing to do is mail order them . we buy six months supply at a time, and stuff the freezer's bottom shelf.

Wow, the prices are very different.
Over here, Piebald Royals or Balls go for $5,000-$10,000. Spides can be found at around $4,000. I'd love them too, but that is still pretty steep.
$380 for a Ghost Corn Snake!!!??? I'm buying 4 Corn Snakes soon, all 4 for $100. 2 Of them are ghost, the other 2 I havent picked out yet.
I order frozen mice as well. It is much cheaper than buying them from pet stores. Atleast here anyways.

If only it were that cheap over here!


My dream snake is a Green tree python, but I have to lay out about £700 for the snake alone let alone all the equpment, I think that is the equivelant of $1300. Is that about normal in the states?