Corn snake dude/ettes, help! :P

[Zephyr]

I'm working out my breeding plans for next next year.
So far, I have these to work with:
Female normal Okeetee
Female Butter
Female Lavender motley lined
Female red amelenistic
Male orange amelenistic
Male light anerythristic

So, I'm thinking this:
Female red amelenistic x male orange amel
Female lavender motley lined x male light anery (If this doesn't sound good, I'll try and find a stud)
Female butter x male orange amel
Female normal Okeetee x Male light anery (My favorite combo <3)

Look good? Any comments? Questions? Concerns? Miscarriages?

[infernalis]

Kinda like a skittles commercial, taste the rainbow

I'm a big Korn, oh sorry Corn fan, and they all sound like killer combos.

[Zephyr]

I'm just wondering about the lavender and butter crosses... Moreso the first...

[Steven@HumboldtHerps]

Hello Zephyr!

Hmmmm! Let's take a look at the rainbow.

First, I am confused as to the genetics of the red AND the orange amelanistics. Are these just polygenic differences/selectively bred blends (for example, both snakes are amelanistic, and they are just either more red or more orange...), or is there another recessive trait effecting the colors?
If they are just polygenic blends (so I will assume), then it is likely you will get some reds, some oranges, and some red/orange inbetweens (and the only recessive gene present will be amelanism).

As for the lavender motley lined and the light anery: The offspring will all be normally colored and patterned, unless there are some unknown heterozygous traits. All of them will be what I often call "super mutts", for although they will be phenotypically normal, they will be het. lavender, het. motley, and het. anerythristic. This is great if #1) you like to avoid excessive inbreeding for recessive traits, as you are outcrossing new genetic stock, and #2) you plan to breed the results to a similar genetic line (usually a long-term breeding project). This cross is NOT recommended if you plan to sell the normally colored offspring to a pet store or any amateurs breeders who do not understand corn genetics. Since they look normal, they may be sold as normal. Unknown hets showing up in corn breeding programs everywhere are messing up a lot of people's genetic predictions, and is causing a mess, even in professional circles. Also, beware the motley gene in corns! The motley gene is named so, because the motley dorsal and dorso-lateral patterns are highly variable (big circles, small circles, stripes, circles and stripes, even selectively bred banded specimens! This may sound confusing, but the motley gene shares the same loci as the striping gene, so both mutations appear co-dominant; HOWEVER, motley is dominant over striping! Huh? A lot of pet stores sell striped corns that are technically not striped, they just look striped, but they are actually motley - The observable difference is in the width of the stripe. If you have a motley /striped corn, the 2 recessive genes of this snake may be 1 motley and 1 striped (but "real" striping doesn't show up) or 2 motley genes that just show up as thin stripes. True striped corns have a rather wide dorsal stripe. Of course most all motleys and stripes have no belly checkering.

Your female butter and male orange amel will produce all amelanistics that are het. for the caramel gene.

Your Okeetee and anery will result in all normals; some may take on the polygenic Okeetee influence from their mother, while others may look like average corns; there may a lot of variablity: You might have average-colored corns with bold black borders, or you might have thin-bordered corns with the rich solid Okeetee colors. Since your anery is "light" (sure it's not a ghost?), it might have a Miami influence, which may make some of the normals have a lighter background color (light tan or grey to almost white). All will also be het. for anerythrism.

Hope this helps.

Steven

[Lori P]

Kyle, my little brain can't get into these genetics. All I want to know is..... can you make me a purple one???

[Stefan-A]

Aren't lavender corns a little bit purple?

[Lori P]

Well... they're lavender-ish. I want PURPLE. Dark, vibrant, deep purple.

[Stefan-A]

Well, I did recommend Cryptelytrops (Trimeresurus) purpureomaculatus.

[Lori P]

And how kind of you to help me in my search by recommending such a DEADLY creature. LOL Now, go forth and find me that color without the venom and fangs. :-)

[drache]

lavender snakes aren't even really lavender
they look more like really white person left out in the cold too long