I found an albino.

[guidofatherof5]

Beautiful.

[EasternGirl]

Well...I would imagine that the reaction to light for an albino snake would be similar to that of a person who is albino....the snake would hide from the light because he is reacting to the sensitivity of his skin and eyes.

[Jeff B]

I took this from Jeff B. website. Hope it helps.
Garter Snake Morph

Albinos generally have a complete lack of melanin, yet still can produce xanthin and erythrin, which is why they will still have varying amounts of reds, yellows, and orange. That is why the combination of erythristic morph types with albino has enormous appeal and designer morph potential. The reptile world often classifies albinism into two main types of albinos: Tyrosinase positive (T+) and Tyrosinase negative (T-). Tyrosinase is an enzyme that is involved in one of the first steps to melanin production, it converts the amino acid tyrosine into the compound dopaquinone. Ablino snakes are often lumped into one of the two groups T+ or T- based on the idea that the T+ albinos have a darker more caramel/purple look, however this is a guess at best and a gross oversimplification of what causes the different albinos in snakes, due to a lack of knowledge and research being done at the biochemical and genetic level of snakes, and/or public knowledge of such studies. Having many different possibilities or mechanisms that can cause albinism is the reason that even though two types of albinos in a species may or may not be genetically compatible, so when 2 albinos from different parentage are crossed might not produce albinos but rather double hets for the two different albino types. For example it is well know that the Iowa albino and Nebraska albino types in the plains garter are not compatible, and recently it was discovered that the Bluegrass albino and Shuett albino in the eastern garter are not compatible.

Jeez, looks like I need to review and update my website. I see some spelling errors and run on sentences that do not read well.
Very cool looking snake that was found, and I would agree that it looks T+. What species is it? I would have no idea with the snakes out west since I have not seen them in the wild no even kept them.

[ConcinusMan]

I still say the head looks too weird to be a northwestern garter snake. I've had a lot of babies, and I've seen a lot of adults. I, personally, think that it's a western terrestrial (thamnophis elegans). They can have the same pattern around here. I had an elegans baby maybe 6 years ago... It looked like that snake without the albinism.

Here is my girl... Attachment 5085 She is on the left Pretty cute right??

That comes back to what I was saying before. That pattern is typical, or at least, not unusual at all for wanderings in WA, and the color does look like T+ albino wanderings I've seen on the web. They are reported and photographed fairly regularly whereas a T+ albino northwestern has never been reported.

Jeff, there are only two possible conclusions found in Kent, WA. It is either a wandering or it is the first T+ northwestern ever reported (not likely) It's obviously not a Puget, which also is found in Kent, and as far as I know, no albino pugets have ever been reported.

Probably a wandering.

the snake would hide from the light because he is reacting to the sensitivity of his skin and eyes.

Or at least, the eyes. I have to agree. I think the behavior is due to albinism causing sensitivity. I think it just hurts their eyes, or blinds them temporarily. My Amy seemed to see OK in low light. In daylight, he acted as though he was blind and that seemed to frighten him.

[EasternGirl]

Again...the weird thing...and this may be of interest to you Richard...is that my snow, Possum seems to like light...whereas my albino checkered, Hermes, reacts like most albinos....he hides from it and acts as though it bothers his eyes. I am wondering why it doesn't bother Possum. Now, of course...I am not shining UV light in Possum's eyes or taking him out into direct sunlight...but Hermes will hide from most light if it is too bright. Possum seems to like a certain amount of light...he seems to require it in order to be active.

[ConcinusMan]

Possum and two of his siblings didn't seem to be bothered by it when I had them either and they could see very well even in bright light. They still seemed to spend more time being active after lights out, but even wild normals tend to become crepuscular in late summer or very warm weather. Perhaps being bothered or blinded by it just happens with more frequency in albinos, rather than being the rule.

[chris-uk]

Binky (albino checkered) is happy in daylight and after her viv lights have gone off. I don't really see any increase in behaviour after lights off, but being in the living room her viv still gets light from the room lights when we're still in there.
In my experience there's no difference between the times our albino and normal checkereds are active.

[frostyftw]

Sorry everyone for not giving an update.
My home computer is not working at the moment.

The albino has not started eating.
I'm doing everything I can to get it to eat but I haven't had any luck, so far.
Does anyone know any tricks or new foods I can try?
So far, Tilapia, Worms, and Thawed Mice have been used without luck.

[Invisible Snake]

Is it possible the snake is about to shed? You should try live guppies, garter snakes love them.

[guidofatherof5]

Have you tried earthworms. The small pale looking worms found in the topsoil?