Coloring

[lauwersp]

Hey everyone...

Not only do some of my little Eastern scrubs have orange coloring... some are significantly greener than others. I really don't know much about coloring... the term flaming has arisen but aside from the obvious connection to the orange coloring, I don't know what other ramifications it has.

Here's a pic of the green vs grey...

6263

[snake man]

Thats pretty cool

[Steveo]

Looking at some of your other pictures, many do bring the flame morph to mind. I wouldn't be surprised if the ones that are cream or orangish on the flanks color up as they grow.

[lauwersp]

Why do you think some are green and others are more neutral dark grey?

[guidofatherof5]

Nice looking little scrubs.

[-MARWOLAETH-]

The variation in colours is really nice:)

[ConcinusMan]

Why do you think some are green and others are more neutral dark grey?

Polymorphism.

[Selkielass]

The easterns I've seen from around Oakland and macomb counties come in all shades of tan to bright yellow, green to dark brown to nearly black. 'Christmas' is the clearest green I've ever found. Shades of olive and brown with varying degrees of yellow are more common mid range colors. Most have a bit of red along the neck but it is uncommon for it to go beyond the first third of the body length, or to be particularly intense.

Im not sure polymorphism is the right term as they tend to be variations on the same color scheme- the intensities saturation and proportions seem to vary along pretty natural curves by locale.

[Selkielass]

Christmas
hypo? - Garter Snake Gallery (http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/showphoto.php?photo=10931&title=hypo-3f&cat=792)

[lauwersp]

I've experienced a little of this. My first garter was from Charlevoix county and was dark green with some fairly bright yellow. No orange. My second was from oakland county and was more of a matte inky black with not as much yellow. That snakes coloring was more pronounced than the first right after a shed.

These are 13 scrubs all born a couple weeks ago. Some are neutral some are green. Two have some really pronounced orange. Obviously the genetics of the father (whom i don't know) is interwoven here.

Being a relative newbie I wondered what else people might think about the coloring. It seems like the orange might be referred to as flaming.

[Selkielass]

'Flame' easterner are a line of high red easterner that were developed by one person by simple selection— breed together the highest reds you can find and the results will be some even redder babies.

He sold some of his ' flames' to others and you will see flames from many breeders now. Hi flames show lots of red' low flames less intensity but they turn up in the same litters. Hi flames have the beset chance of producing more highly colored babies if I understand correctly.

[EasternGirl]

I have several easterns...my small male is very brown with black checkering. My large female is a light tannish/green color...she kind of looks tan sometimes, green sometimes, and brown before a shed. She also has a little red in between the scales. My babies all look exactly like my big female, their mama. My new rescue snake is a very light tan...he/she looks green at times too. These are all from Delaware.

[lauwersp]

So... the interesting thing about the orange in the snakes is this... they were born from a mama garter that was found in the wild in northern Michigan. I have to tell you I think there is no way possible that she mated with a snake that was bred in captivity. My parents property (where she was found) is 10 acres of land on Lake Michigan generally sounded by a light population of retirees mainly.

So all these scrubs are all "natural."

[Steveo]

Flame is a natural morph found in Canada. Some have worked to produce better color, but it was not created in captivity.

[guidofatherof5]

Flame is a natural morph found in Canada. Some have worked to produce better color, but it was not created in captivity.

I believe Dr. Blais was the first to find them.

[ConcinusMan]

So all these scrubs are all "natural."

All morphs are. Well, let me clarify. We only take the genes / morphs already present in nature and work with that. For example, a "snow" wouldn't occur in nature, but both morphs needed to produce a snow are from nature. They occur naturally. We can only artificially select for genes that already occur naturally.

[Stefan-A]

For example, a "snow" wouldn't occur in nature,
Except by coincidence.

[ConcinusMan]

OK, anything's possible but the odds of it happening are astronomical.