An extraordinary litter of Thamnophis radix – variety of rare colour morphs
Anke Dreier
In the world of terrarium keeping, and snake breeding in particular, it is not so much the exotic species that are fascinating, but often the colour variations that result from selective breeding and mating.
Thamnophis radix is popular because of its variability, but is still not as abundant as some other colour forms, such as Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis.
A litter with many different colour forms is a real highlight for breeders and enthusiasts.
I managed to achieve a particularly exciting litter this year (25 June).
Three years ago, I received 2.2 wild-coloured Thamnophis radix 100%het. black&white axanthic from Patrick sternberg. In retrospect, we both know that there is probably much more genetics in the animals than we thought. The mother is black&white axanthic and the father, as we now know, is a snow male. Patrick wasn’t quite sure which of his males was responsible for the babies. There were probably others to consider, as he had kept the animals together.
In addition, we have now determined through this litter that the female probably has one or two more genes than just black & white axanthic. This was also unknown before and has only now come to light through backcrossing.
In 2025, the animals were finally ready for me to breed them. I had been looking forward to axanthic animals for a very long time and was now eagerly awaiting the first offspring.
Until then, I did not know what genetic combination and genetic diversity these wild-coloured animals possessed.
On 1 June 2025, the first little Radix saw the light of day. A total of 20 animals
were born:
– wild-coloured
– erythristic
– Iowa albino
– Iowa erythristic (Iowa “red”?)
– Iowa “snow” (anerythristic & Iowa (T-) albino)
– anerythristic
– black & white axanthic
– Nebraska albino
– Nebraska “snow” (anerythristic & Nebraska (T+) albino)
– Avalanche (Iowa (T-) albino & black & white axanthic)
The little ones are developing splendidly and have been able to move out to various breeders and Thamnophis enthusiasts.
The following have stayed with me:
0.1 Avalanche
1.1 Axanthic
0.1 Nebraska snow
The last three wild-coloured girls are moving to Nice in beautiful southern France. Very enviable.