Silverleaf 10-04-17e – SMR Archive

Show & _$ell

{product id=1797}

This 2016 female Silverleaf Kisatchie Ratsnake (aka: Silverleaf Slowinski’s Corn Snake) is currently 22″ long, eating frozen/thawed fuzzy mice. Males are available for $495.00 each. Her $525.00 price includes BTW, visit Travis Whisler’s booth at the upcoming Tinley Park NARBC Expo on October 6-8, 2017. There will be hatchling and yearling Silverleaf Kisatchies for sale there. ___________________________________________________________________________

DETAILS:

I have been marketing SILVERLEAF mutants of the species, Pantherophis slowinskii for Dr. Brad Lichtenhan Austin, Texas. This mutation is recessive to wild-type and still quite rare in the hobby, despite their discovery back in 2006, and subsequent limited market availability from then to now. The only other mutation of this species was discovered here at South Mountain Reptiles. It is an Anerythristic-type mutation, monochromatically expressing only melanin. I call them BLACK KISATCHIES because some people incorrectly infer that the Anerythristic gene mutation from corn snakes was infused into the Kisatchies via inter-species hybridization. Hence, this Anery-type mutation in Kisatchies is not allelic to Anery corn snakes. They were once called Dark-eyed Kisatchies, but their eyes are not actually dark, so I continue to use the original name I assigned, Black Kisatchie. It will be a few years before we can offer any of the Black Kisatchies, but that project is currently in progress. BTW, what is appealing about the Black Kisatchie mutants is that they do not retain or express carotenoid yellow like most corn snake Aneries do. Though it was done by some when they were first discovered, we have NEVER crossed corn snakes with Kisatchies. Kisatchies HET for the Silverleaf mutation are also available.

History of the species, Pantherophis slowinskii

The accepted hobby name, Kisatchie, was unofficially assigned to the newest Ratsnake species to be described in the United States, Panterophis slowinskii, reportedly because the “holotype” was collected near Kisatchie National Forest in Louisiana. This doesn’t mean that it was the first of its kind to be captured, because I was catching lots of these in 1971 in East Texas and Western Louisiana, incorrectly thinking that they were a notably brown version of Great Plains Ratsnakes (Pantherophis emoryi). The common name assigned when this species was described is Slowinski’s Corn Snake, but I personally don’t use that name because is contains the word CORN, and this is officially N O T a corn snake. In 2002, Frank T. Burbrink presented sufficient evidence to establish that this snake, Elaphe slowinskii (now, Pantherophis slowinskii), found between the natural ranges of Corn Snakes, Pantherophis guttatus and Great Plains Rat Snakes (aka: Emory’s Rat Snakes) was sufficiently dissimilar to those species, enough to warrant distinct species status. Surely this species originated from the ancient natural intergradation of Corn Snakes and Emory’s Rat Snakes?