Category: Old Shop

 

Palmetto (no aka)
Most Commonly Used Name: Palmetto
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Recessive to Wild-type
Morph Type: Simple recessive gene mutation

Eye Color: Black pupil and dirty white iris

Arguably the rarest and most beautiful corn snake yet.  

 

NOTE:  Male heterozygote and homozygote Palmettos will begin selling in 2015, and only 2015 hatchlings will be sold.  Our marketing strategy of selling only female Palmettos until 2015 is practiced toward the goal of ensuring everyone that no one person will have the advantage of acquiring a male Palmetto before anyone else.  Continuing that logic, 2016, we may sell a few 2015 yearlings, and after 2016, perhaps Adults can be purchased, but until then, everyone who owns a Palmetto is essentially on an even playing field with all other Palmetto owners.  

 

At this time, there is no doubt that The Palmetto is the first leucistic mutation of the corn snake.  Arguably, the Palmetto is THE most beautiful corn snake mutant to be discovered, so demand is high, even for the unprecedented price.  Like all corn snake mutants, the Palmetto will eventually increase in market supply, thereby decreasing in price.  That said, we anticipate that Palmetto corns will remain expensive longer than any previous mutation.  To consumers who buy one for a pet, this reads like we’re proud of the fact that they have a lofty price, but that is not the case.  In the realm of making Palmetto Corns a worthy serpent investment, we hope that our revolutionary marketing plan not to sell males for several years will indeed render them attractive to investors who seek to increase profits of corn snake sales.  They will never cost as much as new Hognose Snake Mutations ($10,000.00 usd and above) and certainly not as much as new and different Ball Python Mutations that command prices between $10,000.00 usd and $60,000.00 usd each.  If memory serves me, the first all-white Ball Pythons sold for more than $125,000.00 each.  Hence, Palmettos may end up being the most expensive corn snake in history, but as it is with all new snake morphs, their opening market pricing is directed toward investors.  Eventually, like all other corn morphs before it, the Palmetto will have a market value under $1,000.00 usd.  

 

Because Palmettos are a variant of the Leucistic mutation, their iris is some shade of gray or silver.  Besides the predominantly white body color, expect the hatchlings to have pink where they will later be stark white and barely show any of the color flecking that makes Palmettos so attractive.  Within a few months, the colors that are visible on some scales will slowly saturate, but in addition, additional red or orange flecks or smudges will materialize, adding to overall color volume.  By 1.5-2 years of age, most of the color flecks and smudges will have reached their mature color and the pink is nearly finished converting to white.  At any age/size, the Palmetto is shocking in appearance, if not impossibly beautiful.  

 

PRICE ?

In 2011, we pre-sold 2012 Palmettos for $4,000.00 USD each, but only females were (and still are) offered.  We likely will not sell any males until 2015, or later.  Likewise, no heterozygote males will be sold until 2015, or later.  This is in an effort to break the corn snake market trend of over-producing rare morphs, only to have their market values plummet from supplies that exceed demand.  Such a marketing tactic is important so people hoping to invest in this unique corn snake will be assured that they have a fighting chance of gaining a handsome return on investment, since there will be fewer initial breeders in the market.  In 2011, the patriarch male was bred to only three het females (normal corns Het for Palmetto), so you can see that I’m not on a mission to produce buckets of Palmettos in the coming years, hastening their devaluation.  My promise to those who invest in this beautiful corn snake morph is that I will not be the first (or second) to lower their price.  You may count on SMR holding the $4,000.00 price LONGER than the first of our customers and competitors to lower market value.  

  

Before having the adult wild-caught male Palmetto shipped to me from South Carolina, I sent an adult female Amel corn to Daryl Camby (the person who purchased the wild caught male for me) just in case something were to go wrong in transit to Texas.  It was near the end of the 2009 breeding season, but I still had a few receptive females, so I shipped one to SC in hopes that the Palmetto male was in the mood to breed her.  Some snakes (especially males) are reluctant to breed immediately after being shipped, and some can even arrive at their shipping destination with dead sperm.  If something HAD gone wrong in shipping and/or the Palmetto had refused to breed that season, getting on first base – toward the home run of reproducing this phenotype – may have taken an extra year.   After Daryl introduced the male Palmetto to the novel female corn I shipped, and after copulation confirmation, the inseminated female was shipped back to Texas.  After she arrived safely, the male Palmetto was shipped – and the rest – as they say – will become corn snake history.

Status of the Palmetto in the marketplace:
The adult male we have that was captured in the wilds of South Carolina in 2008 is the only one known to exist and at this time, and SMR is the only place in the world where Palmetto Corns exist at this time.

Update – July 6, 2011 :
After 62 DAYs of incubation at an average (and nearly constant) 82.4^o F. the first captive-produced Palmetto was born (emerged from her egg) toDAY – July 6, 2011, at 6:25 pm, cdt.  She spans 10.6″ in length and tips the scales at a whopping 6 grams (later weighed at 5 greams – after yolk digestion).  It’s difficult to say how much like her wild-caught father she will be at maturity, but her general appearance is just what I’d imagine her father to have been when he was her age.  Five of the 13 eggs in her brood yielded Palmettos, and the rest are visual normals.  All five Palmettos are virtual clones of each other, possessing nearly the same disbursement of color flecking seen on their father, but of course, each is unique regarding color flecking locations – not unlike unique fingerprints on humans.  We’re naturally pleased to announce that Palmettos are officially gene mutants that are recessively inherited.  We’ll post more pictures as our Palmetto family grows.

How the Palmetto got its name:
A perfectly natural trend exists in herpetoculture toDAY to sometimes hastily assign hopefully unique names to newly-discovered mutations or traits, but in the haste that often drives such assignments  – usually via desire to be the first to name the new morph – insufficient consideration is given to the potential that the bulk of the phenotypes of the new morph may not have immediate and parallel association with the new name.  Historically, in our hobby, upon reading the name of a new corn snake morph, one should conjure a mental expectation before seeing it, and if that expectation is met, the morph will usually be successful in the marketplace.  Because of the highly colorful nature of corn snake mutations and their selective variants, namesakes are usually colors, fruits, or candies. If the person naming the morph did his/her homework, the chosen names are accurate most of the time, but sometimes, it is discovered that not enough individuals were examined prior to naming.  This can result in the new morph name not accurately reflecting the appearance of most members of that morph.  In the absence of a regulating entity governing such name assignments, and because patents are not granted for corn snake morphs, anyone can assign names to corn snake morphs that they discover.  As it usually is with any product, success is ultimately dictated by the consumers.  If they like the name, it sticks.  This is notably demonstrated when two or more people producing the same morph have assigned different names to it.  One of those names usually wins out over the other(s), but there are cases where more than one name applies to the same morph, and a descriptor denotes the genetic family (usually the name of the respective gene/trait discoverer).

I labored over many names I thought would be perfect for this exciting and new morph – and some that could be adequate – but most were already assigned to other corn snake morphs.  Keeping in mind that this particular snake may look less like a chosen namesake than its descendants, I was dubious about using a color, pattern, or familiar and commonly recognizable namesake.  Therefore, in favor of a name that did not require a mental or visual association – I Palmetto was assigned to this beautiful corn snake.  Of course, the name is associated with the state in which this snake was captured; South Carolina (aka:The Palmetto State).

Adding the recessive gene mutation, Motley to Sunkissed renders just what the name implies; Sunkissed Motley.   The main difference between most colored Motleys and the Sunkissed Motley is the seemingly distorted Motley pattern.  That is to say, the motley pattern is not very orderly on Sunkissed Motleys and in addition, the belly often shows some random and disorderly checkering.  99%+ of all Motleys have NO belly checkering so seeing it on these (and a scant few other Motley color compounds) is rare.  Obviously, Sunkissed has a collateral impact on other color and pattern mutations.  

Details about Anery Tesseras:

Anery Tessera (no aka)
Most Commonly Used Name: Anery Tessera
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Dominant
Morph Type: Dominant & Recessive Gene Mutations

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 Posted on January 17, 2021January 17, 2021Categories Old Shop

This compound morph results from combining the color mutations Amel + Caramel = Butter and the pattern mutation, Motley. Color and pattern are variable, but it is apparent that the Motley mutation has a beneficial color impact upon the Butter corn’s coloration, and that impact is one of enhancement.  I don’t recall ever seeing Striped or Motley Butter corns that was not more deeply yellow than Butter corns without a pattern mutation.

What to expect:
Expect  most neonates to have surprisingly low-quality yellow (compared to adults), and pattern on some may actually be brown for up to a year or longer.  I have personally never seen one retain non yellow colors, so be patient.  In six to 18 months, all other colors should transform to yellow.  The pattern mutation, Motley demonstrates its power when combined with butter by heavily saturating and otherwise improving the yellow – compared to non-Motley Butters.

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.

Adding the recessively inherited gene mutation, Anerythristic (Anery for short) to the dominantly inherited gene mutation, Tessera results in this amazing corn.  

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.

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.

Adding the recessively inherited gene mutation, Anerythristic (Anery for short) to the dominantly inherited gene mutation, Tessera results in this amazing corn.  

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.

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.

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.