Old Shop – Page 132 – SMR Archive

Motley 103012s

#123012

Motley Corn from Salmon Snow Motley parentage

Male

d.o.h. 2011

35″ long on December 29, 2012

Motley (no aka)
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Recessive

Morph Type: Single Recessive Mutation

Most Commonly Used Name: Motley

Eye Color: Black pupil & body ground colored iris

The first description of this corn snake pattern mutation was published by the late Dr. H. Bernard Bechtel in the 1980s. His breeding trials demonstrated the heritability of this mutation to be simple recessive. The distinguishing feature of those is belly checkering. Good Motleys have an orderly and contiguous pattern of spots down the dorsum that represent spaces in what appears to be a continuous, wide stripe of color running from the neck tail-ward. The size, shape, location, organization, and number of circular pattern interruptions on the back define the grade of individuals, but until recently, the one pattern distinction we could rely upon was that of having no checkers on their belly. Lately, we’re seeing Motleys with some black checkering, but it’s random and sparse. I suspect that one DAY we’ll see Motleys with quite a bit of belly checkering. In fact, certain genetic compounds of Motley have somewhat reliable belly markings (i.e. Sunglow Motley and Lavender Motley).

What to expect:

Thankfully, there is little change (if any) in the markings from hatchling to adult, but one characteristic impossible not to notice is that of diffusion of pattern and color throughout maturity. This essentially does change the pattern appearance, and it certainly does have interesting impacts on color compounds of Motley. Not unlike the “Diffused” mutation (aka: Bloodred) that diffuses color and pattern, Motleys virtually always enhance any other color or pattern mutation with which they have genetic union. Do not expect contiguous and orderly dorsal patterning, as Motleys with the best patterns are still in a minority in this morph. BTW, they are rare, but some non-mutant corns have dorsal pattern that is very similar to Motleys, but still a dependable distinguishing feature is the belly. If a Motley-looking corn has a busily checkered belly, it should not be a Motley mutant.

Important Note:
These images are not renderings of the actual animals being offered, (except for uniquely offered snakes found in the SURPLUS section of this web site). We do not provide pictures of individual hatchling snakes for sale, nor do we recommend that you ever choose a new pet based on an image of its neonatal form. Corns change so dramatically from hatchling to adult, they will NEVER have the same colors or contrasts throughout maturity. While most of the snakes we produce will mature to resemble the featured adult image(s) on our web site, unlike manufactured products that are respectively clones of each other, the nature of polygenic variation results in each animal being similar but not identical to others of its morph. The snake we select for you may not mature to be identical to the pictured examples, but will be chosen based on our experience of observing which neonates will mature to properly represent their respective morph. We take this responsibility very seriously, and therefore publish the guarantee that we will exchange your SMR snake if it does not mature to be like our advertised examples.

Okeetee13

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Okeetee (no aka)
Most Commonly Used Name: Okeetee
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Dominant (wild-type) + Selective Variation
Morph Type: Selective Variation of wild-type

Eye Color: Black pupil & body ground colored iris

Arguably the most famous example of a corn snake morph named for its geographic origins, the Okeeteeis 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 outnumber those that have inferior color and pattern. 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 Okeeteecorns.

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.

What to expect:

Oddly, most of the best Okeetees we produce are the least beautiful – as hatchlings. If you tossed a good Okeetee in a bucket of hatchling common corns, you’d likely not identify it until after several months of maturity. Neonates should show bold black blotch margins, but until one or two sheds, the bright ground colors are not obvious. By that time, blotch colors are beginning to show, and adult Okeetees should have clean (low color freckling) ground and blotch color zones, separated by noticeably broad, black borders. Most of the spectacular examples of this morph are so good, they are sold by other names in the hobby – and are consequently more expensive (i.e. Extreme Okeetees, Buckskin Okeetees, Banded Okeetees). Another notable feature of this morph is its robust size and feeding vigor. Okeetees (which CAN have orange on their bellies – but is relatively rare at this time) have the most spectacular black and white checkered bellies, compared to other wild-type corns.

Do not expect any hatchling/neonate Okeetee to look anything like the adults. This picture shows an adult female Extreme Okeetee with several of her newly hatched babies (no, she was not present when they hatched in the incubator). This adult looked exactly like the babies shown in this image when she was their size.

Important Note:
These images are not renderings of the actual animals being offered, (except for uniquely offered snakes found in the SURPLUS section of this web site). We do not provide pictures of individual hatchling snakes for sale, nor do we recommend that you ever choose a new pet based on an image of its neonatal form. Corns change so dramatically from hatchling to adult, they will NEVER have the same colors or contrasts throughout maturity.While most of the snakes we produce will mature to resemble the featured adult image(s) on our web site, unlike manufactured products that are respectively clones of each other, the nature of polygenic variation results in each animal being similar but not identical to others of its morph. The snake we select for you may not mature to be identical to the pictured examples, but will be chosen based on our experience of observing which neonates will mature to properly represent their respective morph. We take this responsibility very seriously, and therefore publish the guarantee that we will exchange your SMR snake if it does not mature to be like our advertised examples.

Samantha

Samantha;

When you select this product, don’t forget to select MALE for the gender. We’re out of females at this time.

Diffused13

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Diffused (aka: bloodred – see details below)
Note: Expect DIFFUSED and BLOODRED to be used synonymously
Most Commonly mis-used Name: Bloodred See details below
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Recessive
Morph Type: Single Recessive Mutation

Eye Color: Black pupil & body ground colored iris

If you expected to see beautifully diffused corns with saturated red/rust/mahogany colors, click here ^_____> Bloodred Corn Snaketo see the enhanced version of this color mutation.

A few years ago, due to confusion regarding the heritability of the Bloodred’s base mutation (namely that the namesake snakes were not red and/or diffused), the base mutation name was changed away from Bloodred – to Diffused. The mechanics of this gene mutation barely diffuse the F¹ homozygotesthrough maturity (if at all), so do not expect Diffused corns to look like Bloodreds. It is currently believed that Bloodred corns are the product of enhancing the base mutation via polygenetic trait modification (selective breeding) to render a red and almost pattern-less (highly diffused) corn snake. That is not the opinion of this author, but in the absence of empirical evidence to the contrary, the best hobby and market interests are not served by published opposition to popular opinion. In other words, I’m not in favor of changing the morph name away from the original Bloodred since the new name Diffused is equally incorrect. Without polygenetic modification, Diffused corns are not diffused.

Brief history on Diffused mutants VS Bloodred mutants:

Initially, the corn snake gene mutation, Diffusion (formerly called Bloodred) was described as being recessively inherited, but many of the F¹ generational heterozygotes exhibited some of the obvious features of the gene mutation homozygotes. It is extremely rare for simple recessive F¹ heterozygotes to exhibit ANY features of their recessively inherited genetic mutation. For example, F¹ heterozygous Amel corn snakes have no markers that demonstrate a hint of their simple recessive mutation, Amel . The paradoxical partial-exhibition of the Diffusion mutation in the heterozygotes resulted in the Diffused mutation being re-described as codominant – (codom for short) in heritable function, but was tagged with the descriptor, variable. At that time, variable codom seemed an accurate and satisfactory genetic description for the radical color and pattern diversity among members of this mutation, but far too many genetic anomalies persisted. Identification of the inheritance of this mutation is once again considered simple recessive, but the Bloodred corn that most of us identify with toDAY is virtually always the aggregate of traits resulting from the Diffused gene mutation PLUS polygenetic traits promoted by selectively breeding toward the highest expressions of pattern reduction, diffusion, and red color saturation.

What to expect:
As neonates, Diffused corns are often heavily patterned, most of them exhibiting black (or partially black) scales bordering some of the pattern blotches, and most of them have some degree of black belly checkering (something I have NEVER seen on good Bloodreds). Head patterns are highly variable, but exactly like wild-type corns.

Some Diffused corns may exhibit slight diffusion throughout maturation, but unlike their prestigious BLOODRED cousins, every Diffused adult I’ve seen displayed prominent markings (head, body, and belly). Many of the early Diffused corns over ten years ago were overly inbred and therefore suffered poor fertility (not to mention – the progeny of many of the first generations were stubbornly lizard lovers – refusing to eat pinky mice). Thankfully, through out-crossing in our projects to improve or change colors and patterns, Diffused and Bloodred corns no longer rank high in either of those categories; low ferility or reluctance to eat rodents. In fact, there are some seasons in which Diffused and Bloodred corns are among the best feeding of our corn snake neonates.

General Note:
While most of the snakes we produce will mature to resemble the featured adult image(s) on our web site, unlike manufactured products that are respectively identical to each other, the nature of polygenic variation results in no two specimens being exactly the same. The snake we select for you may not mature to be identical to the pictured examples, but will be chosen based on our experience of observing which neonates will mature to properly represent their respective morph. We take this responsibility very seriously, and therefore publish the guarantee that we will replace your SMR snake if it does not mature to be like our advertised examples.

Striped Amber-13

Striped Amber (no aka)
Most Commonly Used Name: Striped Amber
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Recessive

Type: Triple mutation compound (Stripe + Caramel + Hypo)

Eye Color: Black pupil & body ground colored iris (some can be so hypomelanistic, their pupils can be gray to dark red).

Combining the three recessive gene mutations; Caramel + Hypo = Amber & Stripe renders this beautiful striped yellow corn. Except for the black pupils, many of our striped ambers look like Striped Butters (red pupils).

What to expect:
Both male and female hatchlings look alike (essentially gold with dark gold or brown linear stripes), but all will mature to be some shade of yellow with gold or light brown stripes.

Tessera-13

Tessera (no aka)

Most Commonly Used Name: Tessera
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Dominant
Morph Type: Single Dominant Mutation

Eye Color: Black pupil & body ground colored iris

FIRST, what makes Tesseras so expensive? Other than appearance, the primary (and inherent) value of Tessera-type Corns is their mode of inheritance. Since they are dominant to wild type, pairing any Tessera Type that is a Visual Het to ANY corn snake (other than a Tessera-type) will render 50% Tessera mutants in the F¹ (first) out-crossed generation. The results of pairing an Tessera homozygote with ANY corn snake (other than a Tessera-type) will render 100% Tessera mutants.

History of the Tessera Mutation:

In 2007, Graham Criglow asked KJ Lodrigue to order a 1.2 trio of Striped Motleys that were advertised on one of the popular Online Classified sites – since Graham’s job prevented him from personally receiving them at that time. When they arrived, KJ discovered that they constituted a 2.1 reverse trio (two males and one female) instead of the advertised 1.2 trio (one male and two females). KJ and Kasi recommended that Graham gift the extra male to me, and that’s what Graham did. Profound thanks to Graham, KJ, and Kasi for that gracious and fortuitous gift. In 2008, both the Lodrigues and I independently bred our males (Graham’s and mine) to novel (unrelated) corns. I produced about 24 TESSERAS (so named by the Lodrigues for the tessellated lateral markings) from over 50 fertile eggs, but since the Lodrigues were in the middle of a career move to another State, they were less fortunate, producing just four non-mutant Okeetee-looking corns. My Tesseras were produced by the pairing of the male Tessera to three novel female corns (two F¹ Locality Okeetees from Chip Bridges Rhett Butler Line and one Okeetee-ish female, Het for Stripe and Amel). Imagine my surprise in seeing what we thought were nearly flawless Striped Motleys from three different females, only one of which was Het for a recessive pattern mutation? After the first brood of 50% Tesseras hatched from the female that was het for Stripe and Amel, except for the perfection of pattern, I was not thinking new dominant mutation, but when both wild-type Okeetees produced the same results, it was obvious that a new mutation was discovered.

Upon receiving the reverse trio from the seller, we all commented on the mutual peculiarity of the phenotypes. Most appeared to be the most perfectly Striped Motleys ever seen – in so much as their dorsal stripes were nearly contiguous from neck to tail tip (something never before seen in any corn snake pattern mutant) – but that was hardly possible if the admission of the breeder were true – that they were products of pairing a Striped corn with an Okeetee corn. How could these descendants of a Striped corn bred to an Okeetee be Motley types, instead of Striped? It is still unclear if those 2.1 Tesseras were F¹s (first familial generation) or F²s (the originator of this line is now out of the hobby and difficult to reach – for clarification). If these three Tesseras are F¹s, my deduction is that the striped corn he used in the original pairing was actually Striped AND Tessera. Even if those three were F²s, the likelihood of the mutant patriarch being a Striped Tessera is strong.

What to expect:

At this early period in the Tessera’s resume, we still don’t know what phenotypic potentials exist. So far, the only trait(s) that are atypical for a corn snake mutation is that many of the non-mutant siblings of Tessera types seem to have enhanced pattern and color features. So far, I don’t see any hybrid markers, since the collateral sibling features to which I refer are – so far – in the realm of improving existing corn snake features (i.e. some non-Tesseras have better, brighter, cleaner, and/or more consistent colors and markings).

In the 100+ Tessera mutants produced by me as of Fall, 2010, I’m seeing the following features:

The most obvious advantage of having Tesseras in your breeding inventory (aside from their inherent beauty) is that because the mutation is dominantly inherited, 50% of every brood of corns from them will be Tessera mutants. With most other corn snake mutations, one must raise all the Het F¹ progeny, and won’t receive any mutants until F² reproduction (a task that can take four to six years). In the course of adding Tessera to the myriad current patterns and colors of corns, an entirely new market is now in the making.

Predominantly contiguous dorsal striping is the most unique feature of most Tesseras. Even when the stripe is broken, it resumes immediately thereafter (unlike Striped and Motley mutants whose dorsal striping never resumes with any degree of renewal). Roughly 1/3 of all that have been produced so far have no stripe breaks. Another 1/3 or so have two to four stripe breaks, and the other 1/3 can have five to 20+ stripe breaks, but those breaks are merely interruptions of the stripe. Not unlike very good Striped Motleys, many Tesseras have an interruption of stripe at the girdle (anatomical location – polar to the cloaca), but unlike Striped and Motley mutants, the dorsal stripe almost always continues to the tail tip. Thus far, fully striped Tesseras have been produced from parents with some-to-many dorsal stripe breaks. Hence, broken-striped Tesseras can produce fully striped striped Tesseras, even though their stripe is broken. Incidentally, none of the original 2.1 original Tesseras in this line have complete dorsal striping, but many of their progeny and grand progeny do.

More than 2/3 of the Tesseras produced by me so far have atypically large amounts of black pigment in their non-ventral pattern — a feature roughly 1% of all Striped and Motley mutants have demonstrated to date. Less than 1/4 of all Tesseras produced by me have little to no black in their markings, and these are mostly Striped Tesseras.

The belly patterns are all over the charts. A precious few have enough belly checkering to qualify them as wild-type common corns — until you flip them over to see their mutant pattern elsewhere. About 1/3 of them have roughly 15% to 30% of the volume of checkering seen in wild-types, and about 1/3 or more have virtually no belly checkering at all. Some of the ones with NO belly checkering have organized strings of black markings running the length of both sides of the belly, along the ventral crest.

Having grafted another entire branch on the already sprawling corn snake family tree, we think the Tessera mutation will offer genetic flexibility never before possible; mainly in the realm of making Stripe and Motley types without losing the black (or white in albinos). Imagine all the current colors of corns infused with the Tessera, Striped Tessera, and Motley Tessera patterns?

Important Note:

These images are not renderings of the actual animals being offered, (except for uniquely offered snakes found in the SURPLUS section of this web site). We do not provide pictures of individual hatchling snakes for sale, nor do we recommend that you ever choose a new pet based on an image of its neonatal form. Corns change so dramatically from hatchling to adult, they will NEVER have the same colors or contrasts throughout maturity. While most of the snakes we produce will mature to resemble the featured adult image(s) on our web site, unlike manufactured products that are respectively clones of each other, the nature of polygenic variation results in each animal being similar but not identical to others of its morph. The snake we select for you may not mature to be identical to the pictured examples, but will be chosen based on our experience of observing which neonates will mature to properly represent their respective morph. We take this responsibility very seriously, and therefore publish the guarantee that we will exchange your SMR snake if it does not mature to be like our advertised examples.

Caramel Tessera13

Caramel Tessera (no aka)

Most Commonly Used Name: Caramel Tessera
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Dominant
Morph Type: Single Dominant Mutation (Tessera) & simple recessive (Caramel)

Eye Color: Black pupil & body ground colored iris

FIRST, what makes Tesseras so expensive? Other than appearance, the primary (and inherent) value of Tessera-type Corns is their mode of genetic inheritance. Since they are dominant to wild type, pairing any Tessera Type that is a Visual Het to ANY corn snake (other than a Tessera-type) will render 50% Tessera mutants in the F¹ (first) out-crossed generation. The results of pairing an Tessera homozygote with ANY corn snake (other than a Tessera-type) will render 100% Tessera mutants.

Adding the Caramel mutation to TESSERA, obviously results in an Caramel Tessera. Because all Caramel Tesseras are so close to original morph colors, expect to see more gold and brown tones.

History of the Tessera Mutation:

What to expect:

At this early period in the Tessera’s resume, we still don’t know what phenotypic potentials exist. So far, the only behavior that is atypical for a corn snake mutation is that many of the non-mutant siblings of Tessera types seem to have enhanced pattern and color features. So far, I don’t see any hybrid markers, since the collateral sibling features to which I refer are – so far – in the realm of improving existing corn snake features (i.e. some non-Tesseras have better, brighter, cleaner, and/or more consistent colors and markings).

What to expect:

Terrazzo13

Terrazzo (formerly known asGranite)
Most Commonly Used Name: Terrazzo
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Recessive
Morph Type: Single Recessive Mutation

Eye Color: Black pupil & body ground colored iris

This simple recessive mutation was discovered by Craig Boyd from breeding two Rosy Rat Snakes together (an insular race of corns sometimes called Keys Corns) in the early 1990s. Terrazzos were originally marketed as Granite Corns, but in so much as the Terrazzo producers of that time did not frequent Internet chat forums, many of the mainstream corn snake keepers were unaware of this mutation. Despite warnings (along with pictures), members of one of the popular Online Corn Snake chat forums voted to re-assign the name Granite to Diffused Anery corns (former aka: Anery Bloodreds). It was awkward (and confusing) just a few months after this name re-assignment when Bill and Kathy Loves’ Book (Corn Snakes – The Comprehensive Owner’s Guide) was released, featuring a picture identifying a GRANITE CORN, but of course, that tan corn snake looked nothing like the NEW Granites (formerly Anery Bloodreds) that are black and gray. Jeff Galewood re-named the original Granite corns Terrazzos as he was (and still is) the primary producer of this beautiful mutation.

I called this the second “striped-type allele” because it IS the second one if you don’t count the striped version of Motley (since it is on the same locus with Motley). Several breeders (myself included) have performed breeding trials to verify that Terrazzos are not allelic to other gene mutations. So far, evidence points to Terrazzos being a unique single recessive mutation. I bred a classic Striped Corn mutant to a Key Corn Het for Terrazzo and yielded no mutant corns out of 21 fertile embryos. We all agree that more trials are necessary to validate unique allele status for this beautiful corn.

Terrazzos have the beautiful tan and gray color scheme common to many of the middle-to-lower Keys Corns, and in typical Keys Corn fashion, their bellies are notably unlike bellies of mainland corns. Rarely is even one black scale found on these mutants, and the bellies are usually completely devoid of pattern or other colors. Some will have random patches of color on their bellies, but not black (this is not to say we won’t someDAY see black on Terrazzos – perhaps via out-crossing them with other mutations). Terrazzos are a lean race of corns, some reaching the length of typical mainland corns, but rarely the girth of common corns. The absence of black on most Keys corns is primarily the result of captive selective breeding. In the wild, it’s common to see black on these beautiful insular corns.

Note: Not all Key Corns are devoid of black. Many have black in their pattern AND on their bellies. I point this out because we don’t yet know if the lack of melanin on the belly of Terrazzos if a feature of the mutation or of the respective race of Key Corns from which it derived.

What to expect:

Hatchling Terrazzos are dark-colored when compared to their adult counterparts, and at a glance you would not suspect they would mature to look so much like a Hypo mutant. Except for pattern, some adults have colors identical to the most Hypo mutants (virtually devoid of black). I have bred Keys Corns to Hypo mutants and re-produced Hypo mutants, but that does not always happen. It would be totally understandable that someone thought the Keys Corn they had was a Hypo mutant, and bred it to a Hypo mutant – thereby infusing the Hypo mutation into that family line.

Upon first seeing a Terrazzo, you would understandably think you were seeing a classic Striped mutant. The stripes of Terrazzos are very similar to those of the classic Striped mutants, but there are obvious distinctions. There have not been enough Terrazzos produced to declare a “typical” pattern for them, but so far, the rare and somewhat elusive target for this snake is a totally patternless corn. Some of the first Terrazzos had very little or NO pattern, other than an over-wash of speckles – looking as though the pattern had been shattered to fragments (giving the snake the appearance of GRANITE stone).

We reproduce both the original Boyd line which are more tan and less red than the JMG line. The JMG line began with the pairing of a Terrazzo X South Dade County corn (many South Dade corns resemble Key Corns), so his line includes both the overall tan color scheme and the tan with reddish stripes scheme. The latter obviously the throwback colors of the mainland ancestor. Both are beautiful. Given the persistence of polygenetic traits, I’m sure many color schemes will manifest through captive breeding projects.

SURPLUS section of this web site). We do not provide pictures of individual hatchling snakes for sale, nor do we recommend that you ever choose a new pet based on an image of its neonatal form. Corns change so dramatically from hatchling to adult, they will NEVER have the same colors or contrasts throughout maturity.While most of the snakes we produce will mature to resemble the featured adult image(s) on our web site, unlike manufactured products that are respectively clones of each other, the nature of polygenic variation results in each animal being similar but not identical to others of its morph. The snake we select for you may not mature to be identical to the pictured examples, but will be chosen based on our experience of observing which neonates will mature to properly represent their respective morph. We take this responsibility very seriously, and therefore publish the guarantee that we will exchange your SMR snake if it does not mature to be like our advertised examples.

Caramel? 021013s

#021013

Caramel (that may actually BE an Amber)

Female

d.o.h. 2010
46″ long on Feb. 10, 2013

This 2010 female Caramel may also be hypomelanistic (therefore Amber). I never checked her sloughed skin for melanin because it didn’t matter to me if she was Amber or Caramel, but she’s very pale for a classic Caramel, if not a rather dark Amber? She laid 18 eggs last year.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Caramel (no aka)

Most Commonly Used Name: Caramel
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Recessive
Morph Type: Single Recessive Mutation

Eye Color: Black pupil & body ground colored iris

At first glance, Caramel mutants are not usually attractive – since gold or brown color actions of this gene mutation essentially replace the rich red tones predominant in most corn snakes. Aside from their general appearance, the Caramel mutation has some unusual genetic properties (compared to most recessively inherited corn snake gene mutants), but this mutation is essential if you wish to eventually create yellow corns. The most notably atypical characteristic of this mutation is that of heterozygous (Het for short) Caramels often displaying mutation markers (exhibiting traits of the homozygous phenotypes). It is not typical for out-crossed F¹ corns to show markers of their gene mutation, but from pairing a Caramel corn to a non-mutant corn of any other color and/or pattern, most of the out-crossed F¹ progeny will exhibit a blush of gold or yellow as neonates. In other words, most of the first generation babies will not look like typical wild-type corns. As adults, most corns that are Het for caramel are easily distinguishable from Hets of virtually all other F¹recessive out-crosses, but since this is not always the case, the co-incidental caramel coloration is thought to be the result of polygenic traits derived from the first non-mutant corns that were paired with Caramel types. If this is the case, it demonstrates the power of polygenetic forces by the persistence to show these colors after hundreds of out-crossings – since the late 1980s when this mutation was first discovered.

What to expect:

Caramel mutants are relatively lackluster, when compared to some of their compound products (i.e. Butters and Ambers ). There are still other corn snake mutations (both color and pattern) whose out-crossed progeny will have modified appearance when paired with Caramel mutants, so do not be afraid to mix this seemingly “lazy” genetic color mutation with other corn snake mutations. Like most corn snake mutants, both adult and neonate Caramels are highly variable, spanning the color spectrum from brown to gold, and some even exhibit green tones. As neonates, many Caramels are similar to hatchling Anery corns, but as they mature, the typical caramel coloration slowly manifests. Some of our lines have obvious blotch borders, but most have borders that are barely discernible and some have no blotch borders.

Important Note:
These images are not renderings of the actual animals being offered, (except for uniquely offered snakes found in the SURPLUSsection of this web site). We do not provide pictures of individual hatchling snakes for sale, nor do we recommend that you ever choose a new pet based on an image of its neonatal form. Corns change so dramatically from hatchling to adult, they will NEVER have the same colors or contrasts throughout maturity. While most of the snakes we produce will mature to resemble the featured adult image(s) on our web site, unlike manufactured products that are respectively clones of each other, the nature of polygenic variation results in each animal being similar but not identical to others of its morph. The snake we select for you may not mature to be identical to the pictured examples, but will be chosen based on our experience of observing which neonates will mature to properly represent their respective morph. We take this responsibility very seriously, and therefore publish the guarantee that we will exchange yourSMR snake if it does not mature to be like our advertised examples.

Buckskin Okeetee-13

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Buckskin Okeetee (no aka)
Most Commonly Used Name: Buckskin Okeetee
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Dominant (wild-type) + Selective Variation
Morph Type: Selective Variation of the wild-type, Okeetee

Eye Color: Black pupil & body ground colored iris

The Buckskin Okeetee is another example of the promotion of polygenic traits through selective breeding. By breeding together specimens with an atypically tan ground coloration, through generational selection of pairing only the ones with the most buckskin ground coloration, we are now producing beautiful Okeetees with pale brown or tan ground colors. Of course, this means that no mutations are involved, since instead, changes are made through selective breeding via changes in non-mutant gene interactions.

What to expect:

In both neonates and adults, the ground color should be obviously pale by comparison to typical Okeetees. Note that neonate Okeetees of any persuasion are initially disappointing, as all their colors are drab through much of their youth. Colors will change with maturity, but always get richer and more saturated through maturity. As it is with most relatively new morphs, we don’t yet know what potential variation exists in Buckskin Okeetees, but the obvious target should have clean blotch and ground colors with little or no stippling or speckling that is often seen in the ground color zones of most non-mutant corns, heavy black blotch margins, buckskin-colored ground color zones, and richly saturated red blotches.