toDAY’s SNAKE of the DAY (Mon. April 1, 2013)
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Comments: She has superior pattern, color and size, but the reason for the low price on this female is possibly nothing you will detect (if you buy her). She has been everything we seek in a SMR corn, but when I was photographing her for this feature, she was a maniac. She continually struck at me. Since I don’t detect signs of an impending shed, she could have turned to THE DARK SIDE and is now going to be aggressive toward humans. I’ve honestly never seen that happen, but just in case she is less than cordial from this point on, I’m pricing her to be worth having. ToDAY, she is much better, but I’m wondering with all the smells in this building being so different from the building in which she grew up, perhaps she’s reacting to alien smells. Shrug? Regardless, she is not guaranteed to be human-friendly, even though I suspect her attitude yesterDAY was temporary.
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Dominant (wild-type) + Selective Variation
Morph Type: Selective Variation of wild-type
Arguably the most famous example of a corn snake morph named for its geographic origins, the Okeetee is also considered to be the most beautiful non-mutant corn snake in the species. First popularized by Carl Kauffeld in at least two books describing his field discoveries of this beautiful and robust race of corn snake on or near the Okeetee Hunt Club in South Carolina, Okeetees have since been selectively bred for extremely bright and saturated colors. When we say locality Okeetee, we are referring to animals whose genetic origins can be traced to the Jasper County, South Carolina region. There is nothing magic about the Hunt Club that makes only animals in that area outstanding looking. Corns in other states of the Corn Snake’s range can be just as beautiful, but proportionally speaking, the corns from this region are arguably more beautiful than corns found in most other regions. Okeetees that have been selectively bred for appearance and consequently satisfy a visual hobby standard are sometimes called Okeetee morphs, but more often are called simply Okeetee corns.
Okeetees (in the hobby) are a premier example of the promotion of polygenic traits through selective breeding. By breeding together specimens with desired characteristics, through generational selection of pairing only the ones with superior target features, it doesn’t take long to render stunning examples of the morph – without the aid of gene mutations. Please, do not attempt to hunt for Okeetee corns on private property. The Okeetee Hunt Club in South Carolina expressly forbids trespassing, and it is possible to be legally prosecuted, if caught on their land without express written permission.
