SMR Archive

Specter (no aka)Most Commonly Used Name: Anery (hobby abbreviation for Anerythristic)

At this time Specters are thought to have a gene mutation that makes them distinctly unlike most Anery and Ghost corns, but no-one has yet identified an extra gene.  Therefore, they are popularly considered a variant of Anery or Ghost.

What to expect:
Hatchling Specter corns look essentially like Classic Ghosts (Hypo Aneries). As they mature, they get a little pink in most of the ground color zones and even sometimes in the blotch zones, but not nearly as much as Heliconias that owe their remarkable pink to a red-modifying gene mutation. 

FIRST, what makes Tesseras so expensive? Other than appearance, the primary (and inherent) value of Tessera-type Corns is their mode of genetic inheritance.  Since they are dominant to wild type, pairing any Tessera Type that is a Visual Het to ANY corn snake (other than a Tessera-type) will render 50% Tessera mutants in the F¹ (first) out-crossed generation.  The results of pairing an Tessera homozygote with ANY corn snake (other than a Tessera-type) will render 100% Tessera mutants.

Upon receiving the reverse trio from the seller, we all commented on the mutual peculiarity of the phenotypes.  Most appeared to be the most perfectly Striped Motleys ever seen – in so much as their dorsal stripes were nearly contiguous from neck to tail tip (something never before seen in any corn snake pattern mutant) – but that was hardly possible if the admission of the breeder were true – that they were products of pairing a Striped corn with an Okeetee corn.  How could these descendants of a Striped corn bred to an Okeetee be Motley types, instead of Striped?  It is still unclear if those 2.1 Tesseras were F¹s (first familial generation) or F²s (the originator of this line is now out of the hobby and difficult to reach – for clarification).  If these three Tesseras are F¹s, my deduction is that the striped corn he used in the original pairing was actually Striped AND Tessera.  Even if those three were F²s, the likelihood of the mutant patriarch being a Striped Tessera is strong.

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

Eye color: Black pupil with gray or silver iris

This compound morph results from combining the color mutation, Anery with the pattern mutation, Motley. Except for pattern variants (Hurricane Anery Motleys), the only obvious results of the combination of these mutations is usually less carotenoid yellow than their non motley Anery counterparts, and reduced color saturation of black.  As with some single mutant Anery corns, males can demonstrate earth tone coloration, seldom seen in females of this morph.  Males and females generally have color di-morphism (males generally have different colors than females).  Females tend to be more black and gray while males will get some brown in them as they mature.  Both are essentially black and white or black and silver as neonates.  

There are only three males in this group of sub-adult Anery corns produced by Nancy Wimer.  These are not Motleys, but Aneries of any pattern have the same general gender di-morphism.  The three males have some brown markings.  

Thank you, Nancy.

What to expect:

As neonates, Anery Motleys usually appear to be white snakes with black markings.  As they mature, the white usually turns to gray, but markings can be anything between dark shades of gray to black.  Some have only a few of the classic chain-like Motley dorsal circles, while some sport a long and contiguous  “chain” pattern of dorsal circles – nearly all the way to the tail.  Never expect to see such dorsal circles ON the tail itself.  As with all Anery mutants, hatchling Anery Motleys display no yellow around the face and neck, but as they mature, virtually all will develop facial and lateral yellow color zones that slowly manifest with maturity – from the retention of carotenoids in their diet.  BTW, the Motley pattern mutation virtually always alters color and markings – if only slightly. Patterns are often less distinct, and colors are sometimes slighted softened in Motley mutants – compared to non-Motleys..

Anerythristic (aka: Anery, Anery A)

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.