Category: Old Shop

Each DAY at 11:00 am. ct (GMT – 5) we will post a different SMR snake being offered at a special price.

All snakes will be chosen for their rarity and/or unique beauty.

FREE U.S.SHIPPING for each Snake-of-the-Day.

 

{simpleproduct:id=513}

toDAY’s SNAKE of the DAY (Wed. Mar. 6, 2013)

#030613

Tessera

Female

d.o.h. 2010

33″ long on March 2, 2013

$350.00 Shipped

 

This 2010 female Tessera is now 33″ long, eating frozen/thawed fuzzy mice.  She is the possibly het for Amel and was brumated from October 25, 2012 to January 31, 2013. 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

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 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.

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 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).

 

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 1/3of 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?

 

 

Each DAY at 11:00 am. ct (GMT – 5) we will post a different SMR snake being offered at a special price.

Anerythristic (aka: Anery, Anery A)

Most Commonly Used Name: Anery (hobby abbreviation for Anerythristic)
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Recessive
Morph Type: Single Recessive Mutation

This corn snake (originally one word, we usually space between corn and snake) color morph is named from the Latin Anerythristic – loosely meaning no red or yellow pigment. Anerythrism best describes this morph because the most obvious missing color resulting from this genetic mutation is red. Another Latin term applicable to other snake species with this general mutation is axanthic, meaning no yellow pigment. Since red is the most recognized general color common to virtually all wild-type corns, its absence is more readily apparent. Having cited this lack of pigment, adult Anery corns nearly always have noticeable yellow – relegated mostly to the face, neck, and lower sides. The result of the retention of carotenoids attained from their diet, neonate Aneries do not exhibit this yellow – since it gradually accumulates throughout maturity. Adult Aneries that are devoid of yellow color zones are extremely rare in the hobby at this time.

Occasionally, we see Anery corns referred to as black albinos. We intentionally omitted this as an aka (also known as) because it is time for that name to disappear from the hobby, when referring to melanin-rich corn snakes. Modern perceptions of “albino” do not apply to such darkly-colored mutants. Ancient definitions of albino “may” have originally also applied to solid black (melanistic) animals (a common mammalian mutation), but that is now considered a colloquially incorrect term when applied to any wholly color aberrant mutant with obvious black.  I think it is nonsense to call a black snake ALBINO, since the word albino derives from the Greek albus – meaning white (which is the visual consequence of most non-reptile animals that lack color pigment).  Unlike mammals and some other animals whose colors are rendered as variations of their only pigment cell (melanin), albino snakes are often colorful (instead of white) in the absence of melanin – since snakes have color pigments produced by chromatophores AND melanin-producing melanophores.  Black Albino is an oxymoron in the realm of most snakes, and I believe its use in corn snake herpetoculture creates undue confusion.

What to expect:
Hatchling Anery corns are essentially black and white, since carotenoid yellow is slowly acquired from their diet – thereby manifesting slowly – as they mature. Most Anery corns begin to display that yellow around the face and neck between six and 12 months of age, and it spreads tail-ward the rest of their lives – relegated mostly to the sides of the body.

There is a reasonably dependable degree of color distinction between adult male and female Anery corns to tempt us to say that Anery mutants exhibit sexual dichromatism (aka: color dimorphism), but in so much as there are exceptions to this color distinction, the term does not accurately apply. An extreme majority (if not ALL) adult male Anery corns I’ve seen in my life had notably different coloration than their adult female counterparts. Males generally have earth tones (some shade of brown) in their ground color zones, their markings, or both – but a female exhibiting this color feature (without the aid of a separate mutation) is utterly rare. Most adult females are shades of black and gray (not counting carotenoid yellow attained from diet). Bear in mind that I refer to single gene mutant Anerys – since compound morphs can display colors that are attributed to polygenic or mutational traits derived from other genetic contributors. In most cases, male and female adult Anery corns can be visually distinguished at a glance, without the need to probe or compare tail conformation. This photograph is a typical example of this visual color distinction referenced above. This also applies to Ghost corns and some other Anery compound mutants, since they are homozygotes of the Anery gene mutation.  The color distinction demonstrated here does not apply to neonate Anery mutants.

There are only three males in this group of sub-adult Anery corns produced by Nancy Wimer.

Thank you, Nancy.

Each DAY at 11:00 am. ct (GMT – 5) we will post a different SMR snake being offered at a special price.

All snakes will be chosen for their rarity and/or unique beauty.

FREE U.S.SHIPPING for each Snake-of-the-Day.

 

{simpleproduct:id=515}

toDAY’s SNAKE of the DAY (Fri. Mar. 8, 2013)

#030813

Tessera

Female

d.o.h. 2011

26″ long on March 2, 2013

$250.00 Shipped

 

This 2011 female Tessera is now 26″ long, eating frozen/thawed fuzzy mice.  She is het for Striped and Caramel mutations.  

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

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 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.

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 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).

 

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 1/3of 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?

 

 

Each DAY at 11:00 am. ct (GMT – 5) we will post a different SMR snake being offered at a special price.

All snakes will be chosen for their rarity and/or unique beauty.

FREE U.S. SHIPPING for each Snake-of-the-Day.

{simpleproduct:id=533}

Details

toDAY’s SNAKE of the DAY (Sat Mar. 23, 2013)

#032313
Common Corn Het for P/S Bloodred and Butter
Female
d.o.h. 2011
36″ long on Mar.22, 2013
$250.00 shipped

Comments:  Superior breeding potential.

The parents of this 36″ 2011 Common corn snake were a Butter female corn bred to a Pied-sided Bloodred male.  She was not brumated, but I estimate her chances of breeding this summer at perhaps 35%  She’s eating frozen/thawed hopper mice.   I held back too many babies with this genotype, so I’m parting with one of them. If you have a P/S Bloodred or a Butter, you either of these compound mutants representing four recessive mutations; Amel + Caramel = Butter & Pied-sided with Bloodred.  If you have a snake with one or both copies of all these mutations, you have a chance of producing the target product; Pied-Sided Butter Bloodred (aka: Pied-sided Sulfur).  

Extreme Reverse Okeetees are variants of the basic Amel Mutation, but with the polygenic impact from the Buckskin Okeetees. Therefore, their only visual distinction from Amel corns is their polygenetic color and pattern scheme.  Genetically speaking, like their cousins, Extreme Reverse Okeetees, are Amel corns that have been selectively bred to promote their target look (Highly saturated blotch colors, separated from clean and unspeckled ground coloration by prominent white blotch margins). Red or orange markings are not difficult to reproduce through generational line breeding, but the quality and size of the white blotch margins is often difficult to achieve, and sometimes difficult to maintain through subsequent generations.  Note that the ground color zones of Extreme Reverse Okeetees run toward yellow, relative to their Reverse Okeetee cousins. The degree of color purity in the orange background and red (or orange) markings have been enhanced via polygenetic traits, modified through selective promotion of only the best target phenotypes. Some will exhibit color “clutter” in these zones, but a distinction between Reverse Okeetees and most Amel corns should be a dramatic reduction in color “noise” — rendering richer colors of blotch and ground color zones.  The blotch margins are often very wide, compared to most Okeetee and Amel Okeetee types. 

What to expect:

Reverse Okeetees are one of the few corn snake mutations that change very little between neonate and adult, so expect some deeper color saturation throughout maturity.  The often “neutrally colored” blotch margins turn bright white throughout maturity.  I don’t recall ever seeing one that was completely devoid of color litter in the pattern and ground zones, but we’re getting closer to that  with  each generation. Some of the hatchlings displaying orange markings mature to have redder markings, and some of those starting with red markings change to orange, but approximately 75% of all our red ones stay red, and about the same percentage of the orange marked ones stay orange.

 

Two Extreme Reverse Okeetees (Amel Extreme Buckskin Okeetees) pictured with a Buckskin Okeetee sibling on 06/10/13. 

 

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.

 {simpleproduct:id=535}

{product id=696}

This beauty sold before the scheduled publish date.  All of you have the advanced opportunity to purchase some of the SOTDs before they publish on the SMR Facebook page or the 11:00 am homepage daily Snake of the Day feature of of this web site.  Sometimes I create two to six SOTDs on the same DAY–that are scheduled to publish on their future respective SOTD date, but when I do that, they immediately post on the SURPLUS JUVENILE AND ADULT page of my web site.   Sorry for the tease toDAY, but she’s still worth a look.

Hand-picked 26″ female 2013 Extreme Reverse Okeetee corn.  Her $175.00 price includes  

Currently eating one frozen/thawed large pinky or small fuzzy mouse every five to seven DAYs, she has great size for being only eight months old. 

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.

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.