#022013
Tessera from Tessera parents
Female
d.o.h. 2010
34″ long on Feb. 20, 2013
This 34″ long female Tessera is from a Tessera to Tessera pairing. Therefore, it is possible that she could be a homozygote (aka: Super-Form). When Super-Form Tesseras are bred to ANY other corn snake, 100% of the progeny will be Tesseras (plus whatever other mutations they commonly share but hide). This one is 50% possibly het for Amel and Caramel. She was brumated from November 4th last year to February 15, 2013. She is currently eating one frozen/thawed hopper to small adult mouse each week.
More about Tessera mutants ~~~~~~~~~~~~~>
Tessera (no aka)
Most Commonly Used Name: Tessera
Mode of Genetic Inheritance:Dominant
MorphType: Dominant to Wild-Type
Eye Color: BLACK pupil and ground-color matching 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 Ultra 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.
Anery Tesseras are virtually identical to exceptionally patterned Anery Striped Motleys in appearance, but that’s where the resemblance ends. The remarkably consistent Striped Motley-type pattern that derives from the base mutation, Tessera, is inherited dominantly. Hence, when you breed a Anery Tessera to a Anery, both Anerys and Anery Tesseras (approximately 50/50) will comprise the
F1s (First Generation Progeny). No waiting one more generation to get pattern mutants, since Tessera is dominant to wild type.
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).
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.
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 keel.
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?
