Boaedon
Capensis
Identification of any house snake is currently quite
difficult as the taxonomy of this species has changed and latin names are
often different depending on something as simple as which country you are
in or how recent the information you have is.
We do not claim to be experts, far from it, however
we will document any relevant observations regarding our collection below
and where we can, will illustrate this with pictures.
One very important thing we have learned is that a
photograph is often a much better way to identify house snakes, especially
with regard to eye colour as their eyes are often constricted in bright
light making it difficult to see the pupil. We will attempt to demonstrate
this as we go along.
Wild Type ~ Hypomelanistic ~ T-
Albino
|
| Wild Type = Chocolate Brown with Black Pupils
Hypomelanistic = Rusty Orange Brown with
Black/Ruby Pupils
T- Albino = Yellow/Orange with Red
Pupils
Photo taken without
flash
|
|
|
Photo taken with
flash.
Notice how the eyes of the T- Albino "glare" to
a pale pink mirror effect due to the
flash.
The ruby eyes of the hypo appear red because of
the flash.
|
|
Close up macro photo taken with
flash.
This shows the eye colour of the three snakes
as they would be to the naked
eye. Top =
Red eyes of the T-
Albino
Middle = Black eyes of the Wild
Type
Bottom = Black eyes which are actually a deep
ruby of the Hypo.
It appears that the ruby eyes show more black
when the snake faces the camera and ruby when photographed from the
side. |
 |
Photo taken with flash from a distance and then
blown up to show the eye colour more clearly.
Top = Ruby eyes of the
Hypo
Middle = Black eyes of the Wild
Type
Bottom = Red eyes of the T- Albino with some
glare from the
flash |
 |
In this shot, taken without flash, we have
added a 4th snake which was purchased as a hypo but we suspect she
may be a T+ Albino. We hope to confirm this with breeding trials.
Top* = T+ Albino or Hypo
2nd* = Wild Type
3rd* = Hypo
Bottom* = T- Albino
*Based on the
position of the head on the photo |
 |
Close ups
Top Left = T- Albino
Bottom L = T+ Albino or Hypo
Top Right = Hypo
Bottom R = Wild Type
|
