T. ordinoides on the Ranch

[KephrenJorgensen]

PS, that red scrub is on FIRE. She's on her way to being Flicker's best friend

[guidofatherof5]

I love a variety that is possible with T.ordinoides - Northwestern Garter. "Ordies are like a box of chocolate, you never know what you're going to get"

[Foxrun402]

Woooooo Rusty! I love her coloring!

[KephrenJorgensen]

would it be possible for a melanistic phenotype to produce offspring that do not exhibit any melanism? That would top it off. I'd have too much to choose from :P

[guidofatherof5]

I have no idea.

[ConcinusMan]

would it be possible for a melanistic phenotype to produce offspring that do not exhibit any melanism? That would top it off. I'd have too much to choose from :P

Can't really give you a concise answer because there isn't one.

Ignore the phenotype. The answer depends on genotype. If it's a single locus, and recessive then of course. If it's dominant (not recessive) then no. If it's incompletely dominant or polygenic then it's still not probable even though plausible, but color is difficult to predict or even determine the genotype in northwesterns due to polymorphism and the interaction/interplay of different types of color genes.

However, if you're talking about the Vancouver Island/B.C. melanistics like yours then you're just going to get very dark to completely black snakes. I really don't think you can hope to get anything other than melanistic/very dark snakes from yours. At this point I really don't think anyone knows for sure what will happen when they are bred to regular colored snakes from another location like Steves or mine but if you want an answer I would say no. You're not likely to get something like this from yours especially since they don't already exist in the population where you got them from.

[guidofatherof5]

Flicker has been a picky eater lately. He seems to only want rosy-tipped worms (Aporrectodea rosea) He did take a medium sized night crawler that was from the same soil the rosy-tipped earthworms came from. Him and I are becoming good friends. He meets me at the screen 3 times a day for food. He's a very nervous eater and will give up a worm to a challenger. He also will spit the worm out of I try to hold him too soon after he's taken the worm
Richard, any idea how old this guy is? His face says old to me.

[ConcinusMan]

No idea. He was WC summer of 2010 in SW Portland and has grown only slightly since. The whole time he's been in captivity he either can't get enough to eat for 4-6 months (during which time he usually sheds once or twice) or he fasts and eats little to nothing for the other half of the year.

[ConcinusMan]

[guidofatherof5]

Not flaw, character. Great looking snake.