Morphs – Page 4 – SMR Archive

Striped Tessera 2016

Striped Tessera (no aka)

Most Commonly Used Name: Striped Tessera
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Dominant
Morph Type: Both Dominant & Recessive Gene Mutations

Eye Color: Black pupil with ground zone-colored iris

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 Tessera Type that is a Visual Het to ANY corn (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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

The belly patterns of most Tesseras that are not also homozygous for other pattern mutations (i.e. Stripe) are all over the charts, but so far, all the bellies on Striped Tesseras have had no pattern at all. Apparently, the STRIPE mutation trumps what normally occurs on the bellies of Tessera mutants, thereby not allowing belly pattern.

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 (white in albinos). Imagine all the current colors of corns infused with the Tessera, Striped Tessera, and Motley Tessera patterns?

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.

Lavender Tessera 2016

Lavender Tessera (no aka)
Most Commonly Used Name: Lavender Tessera
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Recessive + Dominant
Morph Type: Single Recessive Double Mutation

Eye Color: Red pupil & body ground colored iris (see details below about some having black pupils)

LAVENDER COLOR MUTATION

There are several distinct features among Lavender mutants of any variety. One baffling characteristic common in the Lavender mutation is that most of them have eye pupils that are some shade of pink – virtually identical to most albino (Amel) corn snakes. Nobody yet knows why but some have black pupils. Another feature in most Lavender corns is that virtually all of them hatch smaller in size than any other corn snake mutation. What they lack in hatchling size they make up for in appetite. Not so much that they are ravenous feeders (they actually ARE), but collectively relative to all other corn snake mutations, Lavenders statistically favor pinky mice more than any other corns we produce. Our adult Lavender types are essentially the same size as other corn snake morphs, even though they start out so tiny. Many lavenders resemble Ghost corn snakes, as babies and adults.

TESSERA PATTERN MUTATION

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 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.

What to expect:

Most hatchlings are some shade of pale lavender or gray, and as detailed above, they are the tiniest hatchlings in the corn snake hobby. Some have peach tones between markings, while some have pale and are lacking in contrast between markings and ground color zones. Through maturity, most will keep their basic neonate coloration, but unlike most corns whose colors become more saturated with age, Lavender types almost always lost color saturation through maturity. It is difficult to discern between basic lavenders and Hypo Lavenders, since there is a distinct lack of melanin in both. Most have red pupils, but for genetic reasons we don’t yet understand, some have black pupils. I’ve seen other morphs that were virtually identical to most adult lavenders, so distinguishing between them is not easy without a genetic family history. Unless Lavenders are bi-colored (having a peach or coral ground color between dorsal markings), they are highly variable in color. Expect everything from pale gray to lavender.

Striped Snow 2016

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.

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.

Motley ANERYthristic 2016

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..

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.

ANERYthristic 2016

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 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.

Bloodred 2016

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 homozygotesthrough 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, F¹heterozygous 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.

Honey 2016

Honey (no aka)

Most Commonly Used Name: Honey
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Recessive
Morph Type: Single Recessive Mutations of Sunkissed and Caramel

Eye Color: Black pupil & body ground colored iris

Most Honey corns are aptly named for their namesake with overal coloration resembling bee honey. Combining Sunkissed (the second hypomelanistic mutation to be discovered) with Caramel, Honey corns have soft and beautiful colors. Review SUNKISSED corns for more information about the distinguishing mutation that makes Honey Corns so appealing. Some features the Honey inherits from the Sunkissed mutant side of its family tree include:

Generally grouchy demeanor toward humans.
Head pattern that is odd and atypical for being a corn snake.
Often elongated markings that are sometimes spaced farther apart than most corns.
Atypical belly pattern; usually less than most corns and spaced sometimes oddly and not in the classic checkerboard pattern of most corns. Breeding Sunkissed (and therefore Honey) mutants to other corn snake mutations and morphs often promotes aberrant pattern from the SK or HO mutants of such pairings. Many SK and HO Motleys have considerably more belly markings, which is atypical since classic Motley mutants seldom have a single belly marking.

Enough of the odd characteristics of these beautiful mutants. If there is one negative stigma attached to this mutation, it’s surely the potential that the one you get may have a genetic defect sometimes called “star-gazer’s disorder”. The is called a lethal mutation since effects of the muation are not advantageous to the homozygote. Star-gazer’s causes the snake to have limited or aberrant control over balance. Similar neural disorders have been demonstrated in many animal species, and sometimes the cuase is viral. Also, the neural symptoms of this mutation parallel that of animals with certain parasites that retard balance control. Star-gazer’s in corn snakes it not a contagious disease or pathogen, so the only way your snake’s will get it is through genetics. It is inherited recessively, so some people that swear it is not lurking in the genes of their snakes, cannot really be certain of that – without controlled breeding trials. Only by breeding a suspect corn to a star-gazer homozygote or heterozygote can one determine the presence of the gene. Ideally, if you have any corns that MAY have this genetic mutation, you should breed it to a known homozygote. Even that is not proof positive, given that you must have at least 20 progeny (of which 100% are not afflicted with the disorder) in order to be reasonably assured that it’s not in your snake’s genome. This SG mutation was discovered in Sunkissed mutants, but it is not linked to the Sunkissed mutation. It has been reported in several other non-Sunkissed corns (mutant or not). Hence, if you discover you have a star-gazer mutant, it is recommended that you restrict it’s genes to creating “control” snakes that can be used by others to determine the presence or absence of the lethal gene in their snakes. Even though it is not transmitted like a viral pathogen, the danger of the gene inflicting many other breeding lines of snakes is likely and potentially disastrous, in the absence of breeding trials. Such trials are under way here at SMR (and with many breeders) and if/when we determine that any of our snakes are carriers of this lethal gene, they will be euthanized. BTW, if you think you’re safe because you have been breeding sunkissed corns (or any other corn snake type) for over four generations without seeing any homozygotes of the disorder, think again. If your first Sunkissed corn (or Okeetee or other type) was het for this mutation, it could take many generations for you to make the discovery. Since each snake hands one copy of its’ genotype to each of its’ progeny, potentially half of each generation could be heterozygotes. If you (or your customers) continually bred those heterozygotes to non genetic cariers of the mutation, only part of their progeny would inherit one copy of the mutation. If you were lucky in not seeing any sign of the gene in over four generations (or potentially unlucky, in this case), it does not follow that none of your snakes are carrying a copy of the gene. Until you pair two of them with a copy of the gene, it will continue to hide in the family tree. Several years ago, I bought three female Okeetees from a breeder that is now out of the corn snake trade/hobby. They were sold as being het for Sunkissed. I bred one of the females to one of my best Extreme Okeetees and sold the babies as Okeetees. Two years later, a customer called me to ask why some of the Okeetee babies she produced from the pair of Okeetees she got from me were doing the loopy, corkscrew locomotive thing. Because I had never produced a star-gazer homozygote, I naively ruled that out, but upon reviewing acquisition records, I identified that the parents of her mutants were the Okeetees het for Sunkissed. I immediately tracked down the other two customers who had purchased some of those, advising them that those snakes could be carriers of the lethal gene. I then euthanized the three adult female Okeetees I purchased from the other breeder. This lethal gene could be in hundreds or thousands of corns right now, and they don’t have to be Sunkissed corns. Hence, if you ever discover that you have the gene, advise all customers that purchased its progeny, and if you’re not going to use the carriers for producing TEST snakes for others, I recommend that you humanely euthanize them. By essentially eliminating them from the gene pool, you have take an important step toward eliminating this horrible gene.

Mixing the Sunkissed mutation with other color mutations and with pattern mutants is never disappointing. Except for the grouchy demeanor, I don’t recall seeing a single Sunkissed or Honey mutation compound I didn’t like. I know you’ll have fun mixing and matching them with other corn snake mutations and morphs.

What to expect:

As neonates, they are fairly colorful and most of them keep and intensify that honey coloration. Some of mine actually appear to be greenish-gold in overall coloration. Some of the blotch marginal pattern only covers half of one scale each, rendering the vision of faint or pixelated pattern outlines outlines. The head pattern on most is difficult to explain, so we’ll just say it’s “un-cornly” – but tasteful. Most breeders hesitate to mention the scratch on the side of the new car you’re buying, but the only thing most Sunkissed and Honey mutants have in common (other than their beauty and genetic potential when bred to other mutants) is their low regard for human beings. We have a couple here that are predictable and “human friendly”, but fewer of the Honeys are that way – compared to their Sunkissed mutant counterparts. I see that trait somewhat diluted when we outcross them to other mutants, but it would be wrong not to warn you that most Sunkissed-type corns are not the pets you’d freely hand to the children.

Granite 2016

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

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

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

This compound morph results from combining the color mutation, Anerywith the pattern mutation Diffused. As with most morph compounds that include Diffused, the Granite mutations color effect is greatly diffused (markings often barely visible). Except for some of the color and pattern variants of this mutation compound. Male Granite Corns are usually more colorful than females, demonstrating a wash of many different soft colors (e.g. coral, pink, yellow, tan).

What to expect:
Many Granite hatchlings look like little more than regular Anery Corns, but the head should have some form of Bloodred/Diffused head pattern, and the belly will be devoid of classic Anery Corn snake black & white checkering. The belly pattern can have colors – and even pattern – but not organized checkering. Carotenoid yellow – retained from diet – is common in this mutation compound and often contributes to interesting color combinations.

Opal 2016

Opal (no aka)
Most Commonly Used Name: Opal
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Recessive
Mutation Compound: Double Recessive – Lavender & Amel

Eye Color: Red pupil

Opal corns are the double recessive compound of the two color mutations, Lavender and Amel. Many Opal corns don’t look very different from ordinary Snow corns, but some are what we call bi-colors, showing an orange or coral or pink ground color between dorsal pattern blotches. There is usually no way to determine which neonates will mature to be bi-colors, but most of ours mature to have such colors.

What to expect:

Hatchling opals are easily confused as Snow corns, and even the ones that will mature to be bi-colored will often look exactly like Snows. Most of the ones that mature to be bi-colored are actually Hypo Opals, but without knowing that for certain, we don’t charge more for those. If we know they are actually triple homozygous individuals (Hypo Opals), we do charge slightly more, but those prices will be published under the compound morph name, Hypo Opals if/when we have them. Other than making the color bi-colorism more obvious, the extra mutation does not make them overly distinctive from those without the hypo mutation.

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.

Opal Tessera 2016

Opal Tessera (no aka)
Most Commonly Used Name: Opal Tessera
Mode of Genetic Inheritance: Recessive + Dominant
Morph Type: Single Recessive Double Mutation

Eye Color: Red pupil & body ground colored iris (see details below about some having RED pupils)

OPAL COLOR MUTATION COMPOUND

Opals are Amel Lavenders. There are several distinct features among Lavender mutants of any variety. One baffling characteristic common in the Lavender mutation is that most of them have eye pupils that are some shade of pink – virtually identical to most albino (Amel) corn snakes. Nobody yet knows why but some have black pupils. Another feature in most Lavender corns is that virtually all of them hatch smaller in size than any other corn snake mutation. What they lack in hatchling size they make up for in appetite. Not so much that they are ravenous feeders (they actually ARE), but collectively relative to all other corn snake mutations, Lavenders statistically favor pinky mice more than any other corns we produce. Our adult Lavender types are essentially the same size as other corn snake morphs, even though they start out so tiny. Many lavenders resemble Ghost corn snakes, as babies and adults.

TESSERA PATTERN MUTATION

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 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.

What to expect:

Most hatchlings are some shade of white or pink, and as detailed above, they are the tiniest hatchlings in the corn snake hobby. Expect little or no pattern to show, since Lavenders were once called Anery C, and have a phenotype similar to Blizzards and Snows.