SMR Archive – Page 205 – Posts from old SMR Website

Bloodred

Bloodred (aka: blood)
Note: Expect DIFFUSED and BLOODRED to be incorrectly but synonymously used
Most Commonly used Name: Bloodred
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Selective Variation + Recessive
Morph Type: Single recessive mutation & selective variation

Eye Color: Black pupil & body ground colored iris

A few years ago, due to confusion regarding the heritability of the Bloodred’s base mutation (specifically 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 homozygotes through 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, Diffused 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 inaccurate. Without polygenetic modification, Diffused corns do not have a diffused appearance.

A 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 having codominant inheritance (codom for short), 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 (new mutation name) gene mutation PLUS polygenetic traits promoted by selectively breeding toward the highest expressions of melanin reduction, diffusion, and red color saturation.

What to expect:

As neonates, Bloodred corns are often heavily patterned (sides are generally faded or lacking typical lateral markings). Some exhibit black (or partially black) scales bordering some of the pattern blotches, and most of them have head patterns that are notably unlike those of typical corns. Most SMR Bloodreds diffuse dramatically through maturity, thereby rendering adults that are nearly devoid of head markings, side markings, (any visible dorsal markings will be very faint). There will be NO belly checkering, but ventral coloration can be all red, all white, or red and white (no black). Many of the early Bloodred corns in the early 1990s 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, Bloodreds no longer rank high in the realms of sterility or reluctance to eat rodents. In fact, there are some seasons in which Bloodreds are among the best feeders of our corn snake neonates.

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.

Buckskin Okeetee

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.

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.

Banded Okeetee

Banded Okeetee (no aka)
Most Commonly Used Name: Banded Okeetee
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Dominant wild-type selective variation
Morph Type: Selective variant of wild-type, Okeetee

Banded Okeetees are a classic example of the promotion of polygenic traits through selective breeding. By breeding together only Okeetees with saddles that extended down on the sides, after a few generations, we are now reliably reproducing the Okeetees with obvious banded markings. No part of this genetic product owes its’ appearance to any known mutation.

Banded Miami Motley

Banded Miami Motley (no aka)
Most Commonly Used Name: Banded Miami Motley
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Selective Variation + Recessive Mutation

Morph Type: Selective Variant of Single Recessive Motley

What to expect:

As with most corn snake neonates, expect young Banded Miami Motleys to have relatively bland coloration for at least one year. Compared to other corn snake morphs, relative to color changing through maturation, this line predictably demonstrates vibrant brick-reddish markings on a gray or silver background. BTW, the pattern mutation, Motley virtually always alters color and markings – if only slightly. Patterns are often less distinct and colors are sometimes slightly softened in Motley mutants – compared to non-Motleys. Our Banded Miami Motleys can vary from having only some banded markings going only half way down the sides toward the ventral crest to banded markings that all touch the ventral crest – where the ventral scales meet the lateral scales.

Fluorescent (Banded)

Banded Fluorescent (no aka)

Most Commonly Used Name: Banded Fluorescent
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Recessive & Selective Variation
Morph Type: Selective variant of single recessive mutation

Eye Color: Red pupil

Genetically speaking, Fluorescent corns are Amel corns that have been selectively bred to promote their target look (red or orange blotches on an orange background, with separating white blotch margins), but we have taken this to a new and better version by selectively toward stretching the markings from blotches to bands. Since the only gene mutation they possess is Amel, the obvious distinction between Banded Fluorescents and the classic Fluorescent corn is the obvious banding.

What to expect:
Neonate Banded Fluorescent corns vary little from their adult counterparts, with the usual exception of being more color saturated at maturity. Expect to see little or no color or white clutter in all color zones, and thicker white blotch borders than typical Amel corns. Colors can vary from one specimen to another, but all have more deeply saturated oranges and less reds than their Reverse Okeetee counterparts. Bands will be obviously longer than their non-banded Fluorescent cousins, while some will extended to the ventral crest (anatomical junction of the lateral and ventral body zones).

Banded

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

This is another example of manipulating the shape and size of a corn snake feature (markings, in this case) through selectively breeding only specimens that had a degree of the desired traits. In other words, since progeny of snakes tend to resemble their parents, alteration of pattern features (banding, in this morph) via polygenic trait production was relatively simple to achieve in just a few generations. By pairing two corns with laterally stretched markings, and breeding two better ones together from each generation, in roughly three generations we produced corns with blotches that generation-progressively change to saddles, and then, to bands. Color schemes in our lines aren’t that variable, since the first specimens used in breeding projects had the Miami look (brick red markings on gray backgrounds). Don’t worry, we outcrossed to novel genes every chance we could, and it would have otherwise been achieved sooner. These are guaranteed to be sufficiently outbred.

What to expect:

In the 10+ years we’ve been producing these, I’ve never known one to change markings from hatchling-to-adult, so expect the adults to be essentially larger versions of their neonatal pattern scheme. The main variation we’ve seen in this line is that of color de-saturation, so if some of them vary from their neonatal coloration, it will be in the direction of the wild-type color scheme.

Banded Candy Cane

Banded Candy Cane (no aka)
Most Commonly Used Name: Banded Candy Cane
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Recessive + Selective Variation
Morph Type: Selective variant of the single recessive mutation, Amel

Eye Color: Red pupil

Candy Cane mutants are selective variants of the basic Amel mutation that have been selectively reproduced by promote the target look (red or orange bands on a white background). The Banded Candy Cane takes the basic Candy Cane morph to the next logical level; banded (like their holiDAY candy namesake).

What to expect:

Our Banded Candy Canes always have obvious elongation of markings, essentially changing the dorsal blotches to saddle-like markings that render some degree of an obvious banded appearance. As neonates, our Candy Canes have red or orange markings on a white background, but with maturity, the first third (or more) of the body’s ground color zone changes from white to soft red or orange. It does not detract from the overall candy cane look, but this anterior ground color area will never be as white as the ground color zone seen in the last half (or more) of the snake.

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Show & _$ell

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This female 2009 proven-breeder Tessera Corn is now 46″ long, eating frozen/thawed adult mice. She is het for Stripe. She is visibly ovulated now and must be shipped very soon if you want her to lay eggs for you. She has not been with a male yet this year, but if she has not sold in four DAYs I’ll be keeping her until she lays eggs for me. Her $425.00 usd price includes

ANERYthristic

Anerythristic (aka: Anery, Anery A)

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

Eye Color: Black pupil & body ground colored iris (usually silver)

This cornsnake (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 mutationaltraits 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.

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.

Corn Snakes In Captivity

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In the Summer of 2006 Corn Snakes In Captivity, my first (and to-date ONLY ) corn snake book was offered for sale. Corn Snakes In Captivity offers over 35 years of my experience in keeping and breeding this fascinating serpent species. With over 113 pages of text and 70 photographs, everything you need to know about keeping and breeding corns is detailed in an easy-to-read and understand format. In sequence from acquisition of your corn snakes to breeding and reproducing them, I have detailed successful corn snake keeping from A to Z.

At $12.95 USD (which includes $4.00 usd processing and 1st Class postage for U.S. destinations), each copy of Corn Snakes In Captivity shipped is personally autographed by me.

Ever since the 2006 release date of Corn Snakes In Captivity, I have been working on (actually more off than on) a bigger Corn Snake book. It will be a much larger and hard-bound book offering far greater detail for the novice corn snake keeper OR professional corn snake breeder. It will include maps, diagrams, and hundreds of photographs of the processes in maintaining corns, as well as descriptions, histories, and photographs of many of the myriad current color and pattern morphs in our hobby.