Category: Old Shop

pair-1099

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toDAY’s SNAKE of the DAY (THU Dec 20, 2012)

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#122012

GENDER PAIR of siblings from crossing a Salmon Snow with an Old-school Bloodred

Male and Female

d.o.h. 2011

37″ long on Nov. 25, 2012

$225.00 shipped

Comments: Prospect of new morph as a result of this genetic pairing.

This gender pair of 2011 siblings are now eating frozen/thawed large hopper or small adult mice.  These sibling corns are already showing a great red overcoat.  Pairing them will result in a portion of the progeny being Old-school Bloodreds, Aneries, Amels, Snows, Fires, Granites and Avalanches; most of which will have a high degree of red overtones.

Striped Tessera122112 –

S O L D

 

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ToDAY’s SNAKE of the DAY (Fir, Dec 21, 2012)

#122112
Striped Tessera
Male
d.o.h. 2011

23″ long on Dec. 20, 2012

$350.00shipped

This 2011 hatchling male Striped Tessera is now 23″ long and eating frozen/thawed large fuzzy or small hopper mice  Both parents are Striped Tesseras. He is also possibly het Amel.  If he is a Super-form (aka: homozygote) Striped Tessera, breeding him to any type of corn will result in 100% Tessera progeny.

Details:

Striped Tessera (no aka)
Most Commonly Used Name: Striped Tessera
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Dominant to wild-type
Morph Type: Either a Striped Tessera Heterozygote or Striped Tessera Homozygote (aka: Super-form).
Eye Color: Black pupil with ground zone-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-crossedgeneration.  The results of pairing an Tessera homozygote with ANY corn snake (other than a Tessera-type) will render 100% Tessera mutants.

Striped Tesseras are at least homozygotes of the recessively-inherited STRIPE mutation and the dominantly–inherited TESSERA mutation. At this time, there appears to be no direct mutational relationship between those two mutations (when in genetic union), except for the seemingly collateral features that distinguish virtually all Striped Tesseras from simple Striped mutants. The features that are demonstrated in most Striped Tesseras that distinguish them from simple Striped corn mutants are:

  • Contiguity of pattern. Striped Tesseras have remarkably continuous striping and if it does break – unlike simple mutant Striped corns – it resumes in the same form – without fading to broken striping and eventually no striped pattern at all, as we see in ALL simple mutant Striped corns.
  • Stripe that extends to the tail and beyond.  I have never seen a simple mutant Striped corn that had a stripe that continued to the tail tip.  I’ve seen nearly full striping in some lines of Striped Motleys, but never in Striped mutants.  When one corn possesses both the STRIPE and the TESSERA mutations, most of these corns have striping that continues to the tip of the tail, regardless of how many stripe breaks there are between the neck and tail tip.  When the striped pattern of Striped corn mutants begins to break up and/or fade, it does not resume in recognizable form.  My reference to “tail pattern” is the dorsal location that is the polar opposite of the cloaca (polar as opposing points on the same vertical plane).
  • Variable stripe width. It is not common, but some of the Striped Tesseras we’ve produced have varying stripe width, which is something seldom observed on simple Striped mutants.  Generally speaking, the striping of Striped Tesseras widens as it extends tail-ward.  Some have intermittent and abrupt changes of width from the neck to the tail, but except for gradual widening of stripe, some have remarkably clean stripes.  The question that can’t help but be asked is, “In STRIPED TESSERAS, is the striped pattern the result of the Striped mutation, the striped version of the Motley mutation; Striped Motley. OR the striped version of the Tessera mutation?”  I don’t know the answer at this time.  

Note the comparison of a Striped Amel (Het Caramel) and a Striped Tessera in this image.

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What to expect:

Striped Tesseras are still fairly rare. So far, the only feature that is atypical – compared to typical corn snake mutations – is that many of the non-mutant siblings of Tessera types seem to have enhanced pattern and color features.  So far, I don’t recognize any traditional markers that are unique to hybrid colubrids, 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).  I’m intrigued by the collateral nature of some of the non-Tessera siblings co-incidentally having improved characteristics without changing standard features of the species (i.e. body shape, belly checkering, head pattern, shape and number of markings).
As hatchlings, Striped Tesseras generally look like Striped corns, except for the precision of striping and retention of black pigment seen in most Striped Tesseras. Other than the obviously better quality of striping in Striped Tesseras, the primary difference between the closest corn snake phenotype (Striped Motley) and Striped Tesseras  is that of the dominant genetic inheritance of the Tessera.  Naturally, the Stripe and Motley mutations (which are alleles of the Motley locus) are inherited in recessive fashion. Just like all corns, Striped Tesseras gain improved color saturation as they mature.
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.
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  Posted on Categories Old Shop

Snow Tessera 12-07-12

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#120712
27″ long on Dec, 1, 2012
Snow Tessera
Female
d.o.h. 2011
$900.00 shipped

Comments:  Feeding on frozen/thawed fuzzy mice
 

The inherent Value of the Snow Tessera – in addition to the fact that breeding it to ANY other corn snake color or pattern you will get approximately 50% Tesseras – is that if you breed this snake to a Snow corn snake (or any compound of the Snow mutation), approximately 50% will be Snows and 50% will be Snow Tesseras.  By pairing this snake to a common corn that is Het for Snow, in the first brood of their progeny you can get:

  1. Common corns
  2. Amel corns
  3. Anery corns
  4. Snow corns
  5. Tessera corns
  6. Amel Tessera corns
  7. Anery Tessera corns
  8. Snow Tessera corns

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Snow Tessera (no aka)
Most Commonly Used Name: Snow Tessera
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Dominant + recessive (Amel + Anery = Snow)
Morph Type: Single Dominant Mutation + recessive color mutations
Eye Color: RED pupil
 
 

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.

Snow Tessera is the combination of Amelanistic + Anerythristic = Snow & Tessera.

 
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).
 
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.

 

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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 se

Tessera 12-23-12

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toDAY’s SNAKE of the DAY (Sun., Dec. 23, 2012)

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#122312
Tessera
Female
d.o.h. 2011
25″ long on Dec. 21, 2012
$450.00 shipped

Comments:  Superior color and size maturity.  She is het for Striped Caramel and possibly het Amel (hence, Butter).

Ghost Bloodred-120912

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toDAY’s SNAKE of the DAY (Sun., Dec. 9, 2012)

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#120912
32″ long on Dec, 9, 2012
Ghost Bloodred
Female
d.o.h. 2011
$250.00 shipped

Comments:  Feeding on frozen/thawed hopper mice. Perhaps the tamest corn snake I’ve ever held.  She has not been brumated this year.

Ghost Bloodred (aka: Ghost Blood)
Most Commonly Used Name: Ghost Bloodred
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Recessive
Morph Type: Mutation Compound (Anery+ Diffused + Hypo)

Eye Color: Black pupil (some have a dark red eye)

 

Go to History for more details about the DIFFUSED / BLOODRED base mutation of this compound morph.

This compound morph results from combining the color mutations, Anery and Hypo with the pattern mutation Diffused.  As with most morph compounds that include the Diffused mutation, the Ghost Bloodreds mutation‘s color affect is generally more diffused than a typical Anery corn, and some are so hypomelanistic that their eyes are reddish in color (vs. the black pupil of the Anery Bloodred; aka Granite). Except for some of the color and pattern variants of this mutation compound,

What to expect:
Many Fire hatchlings look like little more than regular Amel Corns, but the head should have some form of Bloodred head pattern, and the belly will be devoid of classic Amel Corn snake white & off-white checkering.  The belly pattern can have colors – and even pattern – but not organized checkering.  From a short distance, adults appear to be completely red or red/orange, but upon closer examination, most have a faint blotch pattern, and some will have minute traces of white on the scales around the posterior-most dorsal markings.

Important Note:
The advertising images on our web site are representations of the average adult example of each morph.  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.

Butter Hurricane Motley-122412

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toDAY’s SNAKE of the DAY (Mon., Dec. 24, 2012)

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#122412
Hurricane Butter Motley
Male
d.o.h. 2012
18″ long on Dec. 21, 2012
$100.00 shipped

Hurricane Butter Motley (no aka)
Most Commonly Used Name: Butter Motley
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Recessive
Morph Type: Mutation Compound (Butter + Motley)

Eye Color:  Red pupil

The good concentric markings go most of the way down the backs of good hurricane-patterned Motleys.  This pattern is sometimes (though rarely) referred to as bullseye motley or donut motley. They got the name “hurricane” not for the circlular markings on the back, but for the broad concentric margins around the circles, that resemble the hurricane symbol on weather maps.

 

 

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.

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.

TERRAcotta-120912

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

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toDAY’s SNAKE of the DAY (Sun., Dec. 10, 2012)

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#121012
33″ long on Dec, 10, 2012
Terra Cotta (Motley Bloodred)
Female
d.o.h. 2011
$300.00 shipped

Comments:  Feeding on frozen/thawed hopper mice. She has not yet been cooled for 2013 breeding.
The TERRA COTTA CORN SNAKE was named by John and Bridgett Bernardi of El Paso, TX.  They produced many of them and we were lucky enough to get a few.  We have since elected not to promote this project, though we think it’s a rare and beautiful variant of the MOTLEY BLOODRED mutation.

 

 

 

pair-880

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.
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toDAY’s SNAKE of the DAY (Tue. Dec 25, 2012)

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#122512

GENDER PAIR of siblings from crossing a Salmon Snow with a Strawberry

Male and Female

d.o.h. 2011

29″-31″ long on Dec. 21, 2012

$200.00 shipped

Comments: Prospect of Getting Coral-type Snows and Strawberry corns.

This gender pair of 2011 siblings are now eating frozen/thawed large fuzzy or small hopper mice.  These sibling corns are already showing a great red overcoat.

Kastanie12-11-12

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DAY121112
toDAY’s SNAKE of the DAY Tue. Dec. 11, 2012)

#121112
Kastanie
Male
d.o.h. 2011
31″ long on Dec., 9, 2012
$350.00 shipped

Details:

Kastanie (no aka)
Most Commonly Used Name: Kastanie
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Recessive
Morph Type: Single Recessive Mutation
Eye Color:  Black pupil & body ground-colored iris


The first Kastanie to be discovered was by a German Corn Snake Breeder and teacher named Frank Schaub.  The English translation of Kastanie is Chestnut.  That was before the year 2000.  Since that discovery, the Kastanie mutation has been bred into many other color and pattern mutations to produce beautifully-colored corn snakes.  The mutation is recessive to wild type.


What to expect:
Most hatchlings are quite differently colored than their adult counterparts. Some neonatal Kastanies look like many Anery Corn Snakes, showing very little color at all.  The example here is a six month-old neonate.ka10-01-06a
Generally, they are anything from mahogany to mocha colored with contrasting markings against ground color zones.  As they mature, they usually darken, but the color scheme seen in most non-albino corns (the first 1/4 to 1/3 of the body having more color-saturated colors) is pronounced in Kastanies.

Ultramel Charcoal-122612

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m23ulamch4164de12gg

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ToDAY’s SNAKE of the DAY Sat, Dec. 22, 2012)

#122612
Ultramel Charcoal
Male
d.o.h. 2011
23″ long on Dec. 20, 2012
$75.00 Shipped

This 2011 Male Ultramel Charcoal is 23″ long and eating frozen/thawed fuzzy mice.  Everything about him is normal, except for his right eye.  He hatched with a cataract on his right eye, but of course, the only truely blind snake is one that does not have a tongue.  Therefore, his handicap has had no bearing on his role of being a corn.  He’s inquisitive, active, and human-friendly.  Regarding the left eye, I have not detected any signs of a cataract and he does react to movements around him.  For $75 shipped, he’s a steal – in the realm of acquiring a friendly and beautiful pet serpent.

Ultramel Charcoal (aka: Ultra charcoal)
Most Commonly Used Name: Ultramel Charcoal
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Codominant with Amel
Morph Type: Codominant (only with Amel) & recessive Charcoal
Eye Color:  Dark Red pupil & body ground colored iris
Note:  Ultramel is the heterozygote of the the mutation, Ultra.
See ULTRamel for an explanation of the genetic mechanics of the ULTRA codominant mutation.

INTERSPECIES  HYBRID

The founder (discoverer) of the Ultra mutation states that he originally paired a gray rat snake with a corn snake, in the discovery of this mutation.  By the time most of us were made aware of the HYBRID origins of Ultra types (originally named Ultra Hypos), we had already bred it into many other corn snake mutations.  It was therefore collectively decided that in so much as it would be virtually impossible to track down (and eliminate) each and every snake containing the Ultra gene (surely thousands of individuals in the collections of hundreds of breeders and keepers), the mutation would be treated like other pure corns.  In so much as it generally did not alter the corn snake appearance, it was known that even if peoples’ snakes had the Ultra gene mutation, they would either be unaware or could avoid mentioning it.  Those of you out there that are boycotting HYBRID corns are advised to avoid acquisition of suspicious-looking corns with the word ULTRA in the morph description. Likewise, purists that admirably endeavor to promote only the genetically purest of corns are urged to question corns that have suspiciously abnormal features that have been historically identified as hybrid markers.  Not that all such markers are proof of alien origins. Especially because of the difficulty and expense of formulating a DNA base line for all North American colubrid snake species, and in the absence of expensive DNA testing to identify authenticity of pure corns, without obvious visual and/or genetic distinctions, identification of legitimately pure (or impure) corns is difficult at this time, if not completely impossible.

Other than appearance, the primary (and inherent) value of Ultra Type Corns (Ultras and Ultramels and their color and pattern compounds) is their mode of genetic inheritance.  Since they are co-dominant to Amelanistics, pairing any Ultra Type to ANY Amel corn (or Het thereof) will render Ultra types in the F1 (first) generation of out-crossing to non-Ultra type corns.  The results of pairing an Ultra-type with a non-Amel corn (or Het thereof) will render Mendelian results that parallel recessively-inherited mutations; no Ultra-types will result and all progeny will be Het for Ultra when bred to non-Amels.

What to expect:
Ultramel Charcoals are stunning.  As anticipated, they are very much like the Anery Ultramels, but with a softer version of black or gray.  Some have the pink violet colored blush in the cheeks and neck, but ovrer all coloration will be different hues of gray. Like their Ultramel Anery cousins, expect a great deal of carotenoid yellow as they mature.  Of course, there will be no apparent yellow until they are a few months old.  Then, yellow will increase rapidly with maturity.  The other obvious distinction between Anery and Charcoals is in the eyes.  Ultramel Charcoals have less contrast between pupil and iris than do Ultramel Aneries. 

_____________________________________________

INTERSPECIES  HYBRID  – ULTRA / ULTRAMEL

The founder (discoverer) of the Ultra mutation states that he originally paired a gray rat snake with a corn snake, in the discovery of this mutation.  By the time most of us were made aware of the HYBRID origins of Ultra types (originally named Ultra Hypos), we had already bred it into many other corn snake mutations.  It was therefore collectively decided that in so much as it would be virtually impossible to track down (and eliminate) each and every snake containing the Ultra gene (surely thousands of individuals in the collections of hundreds of breeders and keepers), the mutation would be treated like other pure corns.  In so much as it generally did not alter the corn snake appearance, it was known that even if peoples’ snakes had the Ultra gene mutation, they would either be unaware or could avoid mentioning it.  Those of you out there that are boycotting HYBRID corns are advised to avoid acquisition of suspicious-looking corns with the word ULTRA in the morph description. Likewise, purists that admirably endeavor to promote only the genetically purest of corns are urged to question corns that have suspiciously abnormal features that have been historically identified as hybrid markers.  Not that all such markers are proof of alien origins. Especially because of the difficulty and expense of formulating a DNA base line for all North American colubrid snake species, and in the absence of expensive DNA testing to identify authenticity of pure corns, without obvious visual and/or genetic distinctions, identification of legitimately pure (or impure) corns is difficult at this time, if not completely impossible.

Ultramel corns are the heterozygous (hobby abbreviation Het) products of the Ultra mutation.  At SMR, we seldom offer the homozygous version of the Ultra mutation because there is a subtle and often indistinguishable difference between the homo (Ultra) and het (Ultramel) versions. Genetically speaking, Ultras are the powerhouse genetic version of this mutation in so much as when you breed one to any Amel corn snake, 100% of the progeny will be Ultramels.  Breeding Ultramels to Amels results in approximately 50% Ultramels and approximately 50% Amels.  Generally, Ultramels are more colorful than Ultras, but there are exceptions in both directions.

Both Ultras and Ultramels render some of the most extreme examples of hypomelanism in corns, but a hypo phenotype is their genetic and visual function we recognize.  Some people call them Ultra or Ultramel Hypos, but I prefer to leave off the “hypo” since the chromosomal location of this mutation is the same as Amel (Ultra and Amel reside on the same locus of the chromosome).  Also, the hobby vernacular for the double mutant that is homozygous for both Hypo A and Ultramel would be Ultramel Hypo.  Upon hearing/reading these two words together, you would surely presume that the snake Ultramel Hypo is a double mutant.  Hence, those two words together are incorrect and confusing — when describing the single mutant, Ultramel or Ultra.  When you breed an Ultra type to a phenotype and/genotype of non-Amel, this mutation genetically behaves as a recessive.  Example:  Pairing an Ultra with an Amel results in 100% Ultramel progeny.  Pairing an Ultramel with an Amel results in progeny consisting of approximately 50% Amels and approximately 50% Ultramels.  Pairing an Ultra with a wild-type corn that is not het for Amel results in 100% normals (wild type) that are all het for Ultra.


Important Note:
The advertising images on our web site are representations of the average adult example of each morph.  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.