# Albinos?



## Logie_Bear (Aug 23, 2011)

So, I was trolling on Kingsnake today at work to kill time and in the tegu classifieds there is someone looking for het Albino blues. Having never seen an albino tegu before (nor knowing they existed), I googled it and found just a few pictures. Not very many at all tho!

Just looking for info on them out of sheer curiousity. Is it only the Blues that have a proven albino line and just HOW rare are they? If anyone here actually owns one I'd love to see more pics. They sure are pretty little things.


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## kellen.watkins (Aug 23, 2011)

Yes only blues carry the albino trait, which really kinda awkward considering the limited bloodline of blues.


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## Strange_Evil (Aug 23, 2011)

Albinos or Snow tegu's are very real. There was a thread a long while back and it got pretty heated up around this topic of "Albino" tegu's, not sure of the specifics. But if i find it i will share the link.


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## tora (Aug 23, 2011)

It's because it's not fair to breed a reptile, that needs to bask to thrive, sensitive to light. I couldn't even imagine how much my life would suck if I were albino, and I don't even like the sun. So you have people who think it's cruel, and the people who say you can't prove the animal is suffering so it's alright. That's all it was.


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## JohnMatthew (Aug 23, 2011)

Unless something has changed recently all the blues in the US are directly descendant from 6 babies(in all likelihood from the same clutch) that were imported some years ago. Because the founding stock was only these few animals people wanting to produce "pure" blues have had no choice but to inbreed with no outcrossing options unless they want to make blue/red/b&w combos. Then pops up the albino, a recessive trait, which unfortunately means even more inbreeding to get those alleles to match up in order to create more albinos..


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## chelvis (Aug 23, 2011)

This is Ally a female albino i had back in 2007. She had issues seeing but otherwise was healthy. I ended up not really wanting to breed for albinos (Bosco is a het so there was a good likly hood of some albino tegus). She found a great home with someone who had just lost thier albino and wanted another one as a pet. Her and Bosco did not get along, she was super defensive and he was very relax but on edge with her around.


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## kellen.watkins (Aug 23, 2011)

He's adorable, I personally believe its cruel to breed albino gu's, so I'm curious, if there was only 6 or 7 blues imported wouldn't that mean they are all possibly het for albino, I could be wrong I'm not the best with genetics


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## herpgirl2510 (Aug 24, 2011)

I am curious about the cruelty involved? There is a few adult alino water monitors at NERD in Nh and the were basking fine? I have no opinion because I don't know anything about it. Does it make them more sensitive to light?


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## kellen.watkins (Aug 24, 2011)

Albinos, absolutely, if you ever met a person who is albino they can tell you, there may be no issue, im not a tegu lol its my general belief that its cruel and i would never wanna breed but to those who want to im not gonna badger them not too


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## Strange_Evil (Aug 24, 2011)

herpgirl2510 said:


> I am curious about the cruelty involved? There is a few adult alino water monitors at NERD in Nh and the were basking fine? I have no opinion because I don't know anything about it. Does it make them more sensitive to light?



Yes it's said they are more light sensitive and some believe they are blind or have horrible sight. 



> These defects are found in animals from birth or from hatching. However animals with Albinism also have no melanin or color pigmentation in the eye that would protect the eye from bright light, as found with (UVB) this too causes more problems with an animal dealing with being an albino.
> 
> The lack of skin pigmentation makes the animal more susceptible to sunburn and skin cancers. Because individuals with albinism have skin that partially or entirely lacks the dark pigment melanin, which helps protect the skin from ultraviolet radiation, their skin can burn more easily from overexposure.


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## kellen.watkins (Aug 24, 2011)

well said, the skin i know for a fact tans to defend itself from UV, hence why its beleived (by evolution) the farther humans moved from the equator the more the skin pigmintation lightened (to be able to absorb UV as there is less) i watch a lot of discovery channel lol


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## chelvis (Aug 24, 2011)

Blue tegus did come from 6 animals (related or not unknown) but other reptile projcts have started from much less. Even with large animals. Albinoism is a recessive trait that is seen in even well breed populations (ie those with no or very low enbreeding). 

As for crul or for breeding and keeping them, that is up to the individual. Some would say keeping an UV needing animal inside and in captivity is crul because lighting can not be properly replicated, some say what ever for a buck. With my albino i did find some sight issues - this could also been at fault by her last owner providing the wrong kind of UV, coil UVB bulb have been known to cuase blindness in healthy animals. As you can see in the pics, she had no problem basking. The UVB lights we use (even megaray) are not as strong as outside UVB so it would make scense that in captivity the lower UV could help raise an albino successfully. I am basing that off of wave lenghts of the UV and the amount associated with skin cancer in humans - which one would think are more suseptable then a reptile becuase our skin layer is much thinner and weaker than a reptile.


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## Strange_Evil (Aug 24, 2011)

chelvis said:


> Blue tegus did come from 6 animals (related or not unknown) but other reptile projcts have started from much less. Even with large animals. Albinoism is a recessive trait that is seen in even well breed populations (ie those with no or very low enbreeding).
> 
> As for crul or for breeding and keeping them, that is up to the individual. Some would say keeping an UV needing animal inside and in captivity is crul because lighting can not be properly replicated, some say what ever for a buck. With my albino i did find some sight issues - this could also been at fault by her last owner providing the wrong kind of UV, coil UVB bulb have been known to cuase blindness in healthy animals. As you can see in the pics, she had no problem basking. The UVB lights we use (even megaray) are not as strong as outside UVB so it would make scense that in captivity the lower UV could help raise an albino successfully. I am basing that off of wave lenghts of the UV and the amount associated with skin cancer in humans - which one would think are more suseptable then a reptile becuase our skin layer is much thinner and weaker than a reptile.



Agreed! To add, an albino tegu wouldn't last very long in the wild. Bad sight. And its colors would make it easy game for any hungry predator.


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## JohnMatthew (Aug 24, 2011)

chelvis said:


> Blue tegus did come from 6 animals (related or not unknown) but other reptile projcts have started from much less. Even with large animals. Albinoism is a recessive trait that is seen in even well breed populations (ie those with no or very low enbreeding).



Sure albinism shows up in larger gene pool populations but my statement that it was unfortunate refers to a mutation that promotes line breeding to reproduce(at least in its early generations) showing up in an already heavily inbred reptile. The fact that they require UVB to thrive just makes it even more of a tragedy in my eyes. 

As to the 6 original animals, they were from the same source(same shipment) and all hatchlings so the general belief is that they were clutch-mates captured for export. I think DNA testing is long overdue to finally prove this one way or another. Sadly, it doesn't really make a difference in this business. Who is going to stop producing blues, albinos or "snows" just because someone else thinks it isn't right? As long as there is a demand there will be a supply. I actually like blues and their overall look, I just wish the gene pool was a bit bigger.


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## Logie_Bear (Aug 24, 2011)

Thats so weird, I had no idea that there were so few blues! So... no ones ever seen a wild blue tegu? Just that one shipment? 

And I hadn't even thought about UV with albino reptiles. And, chelvis you're probably right about the eyesight. I had a friend in highschool that was albino (and his sister, crazy!) and they have HORRIBLE eyesight. Severe stigmitism that glasses cang fix and they can only see things right in front of them.


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## Rhetoric (Aug 24, 2011)

Interesting thread, I learned a bit from you guys. I think there was another thread on here or thetegu about albino tegus and the pros and cons. I'll see if I can find it... I know in that thread the eyesight was mentioned.

http://www.tegutalk.com/showthread.php?tid=2777#axzz1VzFcJeHE
and this one is more recent, from last year.
http://www.tegutalk.com/showthread.php?tid=1057#axzz1VzFcJeHE


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## chelvis (Aug 24, 2011)

DNA testing would not prove much unless you typed the breed (this cause speices the blue tegu). It is very expensive to do the testing that is needed. Because blue and black and whites could have a very simliar DNA profile, typing them would be timly and costly. They have a hard enough time with dogs, let alone reptiles. 

They have seen "blue" tegus in the wild. Most famous would be a tegu with a blue hue and black rub eatting a rattle snake.


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## herpgirl2510 (Aug 26, 2011)

So does an albino need more uvb than a regular to thrive?


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## kellen.watkins (Aug 26, 2011)

I would imagine they would need the same amount but absorb it a lot easier


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## herpgirl2510 (Aug 26, 2011)

So what is cruel about it? Are they more sensitive to indoor uvb or is it something that happens when you try to breed to get more albinos?


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## chelvis (Aug 29, 2011)

Herpgirl2510 - If they were outdoors there is a good chance that they could get sun burned much like a human, they are also thought to be more sensitive to light than a regular tegu. So its thought that might need special UV to make sure to not damage skin or eyes which most owners do not provided.


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