Just out of curiosity (albino?)

Srmcclure

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so I was looking at pictures of tortoises online because, well, their cute! And I saw a few pictures of various types of tortoise that were albino. Now, aestheticly i think they are beautiful because i think any difference is beautiful really, and I know some people breed specifically to try and get that, which I'm not a huge fan of, but what I was really wondering was have any of our breeders on here had any albino babies and if so, have you noticed health differences or slight variations in care since they have the lighter skin? I know it messes with them blending in, I was just curious on what you all thought or have experienced just out of curiosity since I've seen a few photos of them now.

I'm not planning on getting another tortoise, this question is out of pure curiosity lol. Im really interested to hear what your experiences were and or thoughts! Link anyone you think would have some interesting info on this topic! I love to learn about all these babies! Thanks guys!!b75b4873df1401f22999fa88d12854ce.jpg
 
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Toddrickfl1

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I know most of the albino animals suffer from terrible eyesight.
 

Srmcclure

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I know dogs that have the light blue/white eyes typically either have hearing and/or vision issues because of the genes that allows that color
 

Maggie3fan

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I know dogs that have the light blue/white eyes typically either have hearing and/or vision issues because of the genes that allows that color
I'm pretty sure I'm talking about pure white cats with red eyes...deaf...or at least that's what I have believed for a whole lotta years
 

Srmcclure

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That I'm not sure of, I just know about the dogs because I had one and they did tests. I'm not sure with actual albinos
 

ArmadilloPup

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A lack of pigment is what results in a true albino, partial pigment w/ no pink eyes is called leucism.

Being white doesn't necessarily mean anything is wrong with an animal. The issue with medical conditions in white animals is often attributed to a condition known as the "lethal white" gene. The correct use of the lethal white term is in horses, and it comes with a lot of issues (such as gastrointestinal) that leads to the horse's death. But similar awful medical conditions are well-known with white dogs born from merle parents, white guinea pigs and rodents with only coloration on their head, and ferrets. It is fascinating stuff!

I don't know much about albinism genes in sulcatas (or "hypo"), but I do know that they are really expensive!
 

Kapidolo Farms

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I tend to not decompose cats that way, I like them all, or the odd one once in awhile does not like me are what I find about cats to be the fun thing. I'm not much of a 'morph' person no matter. I'd have a caracal or serval if not living in California, you know, a bit more wild than a tabby.
 

Maggie3fan

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A lack of pigment is what results in a true albino, partial pigment w/ no pink eyes is called leucism.

Being white doesn't necessarily mean anything is wrong with an animal. The issue with medical conditions in white animals is often attributed to a condition known as the "lethal white" gene. The correct use of the lethal white term is in horses, and it comes with a lot of issues (such as gastrointestinal) that leads to the horse's death. But similar awful medical conditions are well-known with white dogs born from merle parents, white guinea pigs and rodents with only coloration on their head, and ferrets. It is fascinating stuff!

I don't know much about albinism genes in sulcatas (or "hypo"), but I do know that they are really expensive!
Wow...super interesting thx...
 

Maggie3fan

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I tend to not decompose cats that way, I like them all, or the odd one once in awhile does not like me are what I find about cats to be the fun thing. I'm not much of a 'morph' person no matter. I'd have a caracal or serval if not living in California, you know, a bit more wild than a tabby.

Kinda in the same but different way...I love Sulcata...had numerous...have 2 now. Mine are pets...one is Big Sam...normal...the other is Knobby...who was found walking the downtown streets of Portland Oregon. The finder lives here in Corvallis...100 miles away...so he brought the tortoise here and gave him to the local wildlife rescue...they called me and the rest...is history. Knobby is badly pyramided, he weighed abt 3 lbs when I got him 2 years ago...his lower jaw protrudes and is broken in half a bit...sorta. There just is nuthin right about the way he looks...but he is so much of a tortoise...he's outgoing, funny, nosy, busy, and just fun. Big Sam is a good easy care tortoise...but he is blah...
oh hell...I sure got off the subject of albino, and on to a comment about how we each percieve the same thing, in different ways. Sorry...
oh, and William...if you really ever do want a cat...get a Mainecoon...omg! Now there's a CAT...I have Simon...a 35 lb long haired tuxedo...he's like having a Beagle with smaller poop...He can stand on his back feet and reach the kitchen counter...he goes to a knock on the door and then will arch his back and growl at the visitor....funny and affectionate...ok...I'll go post somewhere else now...
 

COmtnLady

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I was going to say that it’s only with white cats with blue eyes, not specifically albino, but that might not be the case?View attachment 295896


I've had four white cats over the years. None were albino, none had blue eyes, all were deaf.

One came to me as a kitten, the rest in varying stages of the first few years of life. The first one just loved to walk across my sewing table and intentionally knock the box of pins off to watch the silver things bounce around on the floor. He couldn't hear the crash, so didn't scare or startle; he'd just tip his head sideways a bit and study the pins. He never went near the loose ones, so it wasn't dangerous for him, but it was annoying for me to clean up, so I learned to keep them in a closed drawer quite quickly. The white cats I raised from a young age had long healthy lives and died of old age related things. The only one I had that had health problems had had a poor start (read that: idiot for a first owner who didn't care for her right and got tired of her too late for anyone else to "fix" the problems she was causing the critter). White cats are neat, unless you wear a lot of Navy Blue clothing.



One thing not cat-related ~

In the early 1980s I raised hamsters commercially. These were pet grade, not laboratory grade or for science. At one point we bought three albinos to cross with the regular stock to see just what sorts of colours we might possibly have and want to encourage.

Every single albino (the original three and the few offspring that were albino) was nasty. I thought the first three might have been so violent and mean because they'd been mistreated or something, but even the ones born at our "hamster ranch", that were "hand-raised", treated kindly, fed well, etc., were hyper-vigilant, would bite at the drop of a hat, and had sort of psychotic personalities. Its normal for a bored hamster to try to chew through the bars of its cage, but the albinos would rush at the bars (like they were trying to attack you as you walked by), or get frantic while chewing on the bars.

The aggressiveness could possibly be a positive survival mechanism. Their fellows with colouring could blend into their surroundings better and not get eaten by predators, while the albinos would show up even when trying to hide in shadows under a plant or rock. Maybe attack mode is beneficial in the wild, but it sure isn't in a pet. Because its a recessive gene that causes the colour aberration of albinos (among other things), and a recessive gene can "hide" behind a dominant one, we ended up having a small percentage of offspring that were beautiful colours to look at, but had the nasty albino personalities - and they were generally less robust.

Just saying, be careful about a critter that's an albino.

.
 

EllieMay

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A lack of pigment is what results in a true albino, partial pigment w/ no pink eyes is called leucism.

Being white doesn't necessarily mean anything is wrong with an animal. The issue with medical conditions in white animals is often attributed to a condition known as the "lethal white" gene. The correct use of the lethal white term is in horses, and it comes with a lot of issues (such as gastrointestinal) that leads to the horse's death. But similar awful medical conditions are well-known with white dogs born from merle parents, white guinea pigs and rodents with only coloration on their head, and ferrets. It is fascinating stuff!

I don't know much about albinism genes in sulcatas (or "hypo"), but I do know that they are really expensive!
I never knew this!
I had a white mare once.. She was my favorite horse and to this day still the best I’ve ever owned temperament wise......but she had some kind of medical issue EVERY YEAR! she ultimately passed at only 16 years of age;-(.... I have had many other horses and still do that have never been sick a day in their lives!
 

Srmcclure

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I've had four white cats over the years. None were albino, none had blue eyes, all were deaf.

One came to me as a kitten, the rest in varying stages of the first few years of life. The first one just loved to walk across my sewing table and intentionally knock the box of pins off to watch the silver things bounce around on the floor. He couldn't hear the crash, so didn't scare or startle; he'd just tip his head sideways a bit and study the pins. He never went near the loose ones, so it wasn't dangerous for him, but it was annoying for me to clean up, so I learned to keep them in a closed drawer quite quickly. The white cats I raised from a young age had long healthy lives and died of old age related things. The only one I had that had health problems had had a poor start (read that: idiot for a first owner who didn't care for her right and got tired of her too late for anyone else to "fix" the problems she was causing the critter). White cats are neat, unless you wear a lot of Navy Blue clothing.



One thing not cat-related ~

In the early 1980s I raised hamsters commercially. These were pet grade, not laboratory grade or for science. At one point we bought three albinos to cross with the regular stock to see just what sorts of colours we might possibly have and want to encourage.

Every single albino (the original three and the few offspring that were albino) was nasty. I thought the first three might have been so violent and mean because they'd been mistreated or something, but even the ones born at our "hamster ranch", that were "hand-raised", treated kindly, fed well, etc., were hyper-vigilant, would bite at the drop of a hat, and had sort of psychotic personalities. Its normal for a bored hamster to try to chew through the bars of its cage, but the albinos would rush at the bars (like they were trying to attack you as you walked by), or get frantic while chewing on the bars.

The aggressiveness could possibly be a positive survival mechanism. Their fellows with colouring could blend into their surroundings better and not get eaten by predators, while the albinos would show up even when trying to hide in shadows under a plant or rock. Maybe attack mode is beneficial in the wild, but it sure isn't in a pet. Because its a recessive gene that causes the colour aberration of albinos (among other things), and a recessive gene can "hide" behind a dominant one, we ended up having a small percentage of offspring that were beautiful colours to look at, but had the nasty albino personalities - and they were generally less robust.

Just saying, be careful about a critter that's an albino.

.
That kind of makes since though because wild albino animals do stick out like a sore thumb and usually don't make it too long due to predators... i had a rat that was albino, and she was really sweet, but rats are crazy smart. Maybe she realized she gets more treats and etc of she behaves...

My dog that I had with the white eyes gene had lots of issues too. Not only could he not see well and have hearing issues, he also wasn't all there in the head... i loved him to death, but he was definitely off. I always wondered if it was connected to his gene makeup since it was already wonky.

I was just curious with tortoises because they are usually really mild mannered in comparison to some other animals and i wondered how the skin might react do to the sun that they need... they are really expensive, but nothing is listed about anything different about them other than aesthetics... now, the ppl selling them weren't the greatest either so if there is a difference i wouldn't trust them to disclose it anyway.
 
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