SMR Archive – Page 206 – Posts from old SMR Website

Albino Western Hognose

Western Hognose

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.

Ultramel Anery

INTERSPECIES HYBRID

Ultramel Anery (Ultra anery)

Most Commonly Used Name: Ultramel Anery
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Codominant with Amel PLUS Recessive Anery
Morph Type: Codominant only with Amel & recessive Anery

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:

Hatchling Ultramel Aneries are essentially the counterpart of their allelic snow cousins. In other words, the Snow mutant is the white phenotype of the genotype Amel Anery, so the phenotype of the genotype Ultramel Anery is this ghostly-looking morph. Most develop more yellow than the average Ghost corn, which is common in most Ultra types.

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Terrazzo

Terrazzo (formerly known as Granite)
Most Commonly Used Name: Terrazzo
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Recessive
Morph Type: Single Recessive Mutation

Eye Color: Black pupil & body ground colored iris

This simple recessive mutation was discovered by Craig Boyd from breeding two Rosy Rat Snakes together (an insular race of corns sometimes called Keys Corns) in the early 1990s. Terrazzos were originally marketed as Granite Corns, but in so much as the Terrazzo producers of that time did not frequent Internet chat forums, many of the mainstream corn snake keepers were unaware of this mutation. Despite warnings (along with pictures), members of one of the popular Online Corn Snake chat forums voted to re-assign the name Granite to Diffused Anery corns (former aka: Anery Bloodreds). It was awkward (and confusing) just a few months after this name re-assignment when Bill and Kathy Loves’ Book (Corn Snakes – The Comprehensive Owner’s Guide) was released, featuring a picture identifying a GRANITE CORN, but of course, that tan corn snake looked nothing like the NEW Granites (formerly Anery Bloodreds) that are black and gray. Jeff Galewood re-named the original Granite corns Terrazzos as he was (and still is) the primary producer of this beautiful mutation.

I called this the second “striped-type allele” because it IS the second one if you don’t count the striped version of Motley (since it is on the same locus with Motley). Several breeders (myself included) have performed breeding trials to verify that Terrazzos are not allelic to other gene mutations. So far, evidence points to Terrazzos being a unique single recessive mutation. I bred a classic Striped Corn mutant to a Key Corn Het for Terrazzo and yielded no mutant corns out of 21 fertile embryos. We all agree that more trials are necessary to validate unique allele status for this beautiful corn.

Terrazzos have the beautiful tan and gray color scheme common to many of the middle-to-lower Keys Corns, and in typical Keys Corn fashion, their bellies are notably unlike bellies of mainland corns. Rarely is even one black scale found on these mutants, and the bellies are usually completely devoid of pattern or other colors. Some will have random patches of color on their bellies, but not black (this is not to say we won’t someDAY see black on Terrazzos – perhaps via out-crossing them with other mutations). Terrazzos are a lean race of corns, some reaching the length of typical mainland corns, but rarely the girth of common corns. The absence of black on most Keys corns is primarily the result of captive selective breeding. In the wild, it’s common to see black on these beautiful insular corns.

Note: Not all Key Corns are devoid of black. Many have black in their pattern AND on their bellies. I point this out because we don’t yet know if the lack of melanin on the belly of Terrazzos if a feature of the mutation or of the respective race of Key Corns from which it derived.

What to expect:

Hatchling Terrazzos are dark-colored when compared to their adult counterparts, and at a glance you would not suspect they would mature to look so much like a Hypo mutant. Except for pattern, some adults have colors identical to the most Hypo mutants (virtually devoid of black). I have bred Keys Corns to Hypo mutants and re-produced Hypo mutants, but that does not always happen. It would be totally understandable that someone thought the Keys Corn they had was a Hypo mutant, and bred it to a Hypo mutant – thereby infusing the Hypo mutation into that family line.

Upon first seeing a Terrazzo, you would understandably think you were seeing a classic Striped mutant. The stripes of Terrazzos are very similar to those of the classic Striped mutants, but there are obvious distinctions. There have not been enough Terrazzos produced to declare a “typical” pattern for them, but so far, the rare and somewhat elusive target for this snake is a totally patternless corn. Some of the first Terrazzos had very little or NO pattern, other than an over-wash of speckles – looking as though the pattern had been shattered to fragments (giving the snake the appearance of GRANITE stone).

We reproduce both the original Boyd line which are more tan and less red than the JMG line. The JMG line began with the pairing of a Terrazzo X South Dade County corn (many South Dade corns resemble Key Corns), so his line includes both the overall tan color scheme and the tan with reddish stripes scheme. The latter obviously the throwback colors of the mainland ancestor. Both are beautiful. Given the persistence of polygenetic traits, I’m sure many color schemes will manifest through captive breeding projects.

Sunglow

Sunglow (no aka)
Most Commonly Used Name: Sunglow
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Recessive + Selective Variant

Morph Type: Single Recessive Mutation

Eye Color: Red pupil

Sunglow corn snakes are the products of selectively breeding Amel corns toward the goal of intensifying the red/orange coloration and eliminating the white blotch borders. Most have some white scales, but are generally two shades of the Amel color theme.

What to expect:

As hatchlings, they essentially appear to be typical Amel corns, with the exception of having little or no white on the borders between blotches and ground color zones. Some Sunglow corns actually lose some of that white through maturation. While we do not guarantee the extra gene mutation, we began our Sunglow line with Hypo corns, since our Hypos have such little black margins around the markings (which of course, translated to low white volume around the blotches of the Amel mutants in the line). Expect deeply saturated orange coloration and very little (if any) white scales between markings and ground color zones.

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.

Strawberry

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Eye Color: Black pupil & body ground colored iris (some can be so hypomelanistic, their pupils can be gray to dark red).

Vanishing Stripe

Vanishing Stripe (aka: Vanishing Pattern Stripe)
Most Commonly Used Name: Vanishing Stripe
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Recessive + Selective Variation?

Type: Single Mutation + Selective Variant

Vanishing Striped corns are selective variants of the Striped mutation. At least, that’s what we know toDAY. Breeding trials by some corn keepers are currently under way to determine if what causes low stripe volume and/or vanishing pattern is a polygenic trait or a mutation. At this time, it appears that the cause of low stripe volume and/or vanishing pattern is the work of polygenetics.

What to expect:

Some Vanishing Striped corns start with some or alot of dorsal striping, while others have very little or no stripe when they hatch (these are rare toDAY). Regardless, the name Vanishing Striped Corn applies to Striped corns that hatch without striping AND those that hatch with striping but lose it with muturity. Most of our’s have some striping and lose it fairly rapidly (within the first year), resulting in adults that are a pale version of their color mutation and only the area between two different colored ground color zone indicates that a stripe was originally there. Most Vanishing Striped corns have “tweener” markings (i.e. ovals, rectangles, bowties) on the dorsum that are located in pattern zones that would be between wild-type pattern blotches. They almost completely fade with maturity, but often, in strong light, they can still be seen in some adults.

General Note:
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 identical to each other, the nature of polygenic variation results in no two specimens being exactly the same. 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 replace your SMR snake if it does not mature to be like our advertised examples.

Morph & Glossary Hyperlinks:

allele Amber Amel Motley Amel Anery Motley Anery atypical Banded Blizzard Bloodred Blue Motley Butter Butter Motley Candy Cane Caramel Caramel Motley carotenoid Charcoal chromosome cloaca codominant contiguous Coral Snow Creamsicle Diffused Dilute dominant dorsal epidermis F¹ Fire Fluorescent genotype Ghost Ghost Motley Gold Dust gene genotype Granite guarantee herpetoculture heterozygous High White homozygous hybrid hyper hypomelanistic hypo Hypo A Hypo Bloodred Hypo Lavender Kastanie Key Corn Lavender Lavender Motley lateral locus marker melanin Miami Phase morph Motley mutation neonate novel Okeetee Okeetee Banded Okeetee Buckskin Okeetee Extreme Okeetee Locality Okeetee Creamsicle Opal January 17, 2021Old Shop

Striped Ultramel

INTERSPECIES HYBRID

Gold Dust (aka: golddust)

Most Commonly Used Name: Gold Dust
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Codominant (Ultramel) & Recessive (Caramel)
Morph Type: Mutation Compound – recessive & codominant

Eye Color: Dark Red pupil & body ground colored iris

See ULTRamel for an explanation of the genetic mechanics of the ULTRA codominant mutation.

Note: Ultramel is the heterozygote of the the mutation, Ultra.

INTERSPECIES HYBRID

What to expect:

The Striped Ultramel looks very much like some Striped Amels and some Striped Hypos, but the primary distinction is the wind-colored (dark red) eye pupil of the Striped Ultramel (red on the Striped Amels and black on the Striped Hypos). As with most striped corns, the degree and contiguity of striping is variable.

Eye comparison between

Hatchling and Adult Ultramels

Note:
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 identical to each other, the nature of polygenic variation results in no two specimens being exactly the same. 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 replace your SMR snake if it does not mature to be like our advertised examples.

Striped Avalanche

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Most Commonly Used Name:
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: recessive

Type: Triple mutation compound

Eye Color: Red pupil

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

What to expect:
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Glossary Term Hyperlinks:

aerobic allele amelanistic anerythrism anomaly anterior atypical axanthic Bechtel, Dr. H. Bernard brumation carotene carotenoid Celcius chromatophore chromosome cloaca codominant colubrid contiguous cryptosis diurnal dysecdysis dominant dorsal ecdysis ectothermic embryo embryogenic epidermis erythrism erythrophore F¹ Fahrenheit genotype gene genotype gravid guarantee herpetoculture heritable heredity herpetology heterozygous homozygous hybrid hyper hypomelanistic hypo integument iridiophore lateral leucism line-breeding locus marker melanin melanophore melanosome morph mutation neonate nominate novel ontogenetic out-cross pathogen phenotype polygenic progeny punnett recessive respire rheostat selective variation SMR thermoregulation thermostat trait ventral ventral crest wild-type xanthin xanthophore

Morph Hyperlinks:

Amber Amel Motley Amel Anery Anery Motley Banded Blizzard Bloodred Blue Motley Butter Butter Motley Candy Cane Caramel Caramel Motley Charcoal Coral Snow Creamsicle Diffused Dilute Fire Fluorescent January 17, 2021January 17, 2021Old Shop

Striped Snow

Striped Snow (no aka)
Most Commonly Used Name: Striped Snow
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Recessive

Type: Triple mutation compound (Stripe + Amel + Anery)

Eye Color: Red pupil

Combining the three recessive gene mutations; Stripe and (Anery & Amel = Snow) renders these beautiful Striped color mutants.

What to expect:
Both male and female hatchlings look alike (essentially pink or white snakes with slightly darker pink or white striping), and adults are essentially larger versions of that color scheme, except for possessing carotenoid yellow they develop as they mature.