Puget babies

[Dan72]

Nice, looking good.

[ssssnakeluvr]

The mother is an awesome snake!! she was trying to crawl up to me while giving birth! she is so calm and friendly.... she was pretty hungry today too.

[Steveo]

My guess would be that when it comes to Pugets most people only want the blue phase, I know I do.

I think part of the problem is that we don't have a morphological primer for Pugets. Obviously people want the blues, but do blue parents make more blue snakes? Can non-blue parents make blue snakes? I'll take some non-blues if I can at least get some blues from them in the future but I have no idea if it works like that.

In my particular case, I just bought a 2012 blue female. I feel like it would be a waste of her potential if I didn't pair her up with a blue male.

[BUSHSNAKE]

i havent seen much interest in mixing color varients with this species..

[ProXimuS]

Good looking little ones

[ConcinusMan]

i havent seen much interest in mixing color varients with this species..

And it's apparent to me, since I find color (and pattern) variation at the same locations when I'm out herping for them, and from the results of this litter, that they do mix it up in the wild. We now know for sure that the black w/ yellow striped version can come from a red spotted phase, and probably visa-versa.

[ConcinusMan]

Obviously people want the blues, but do blue parents make more blue snakes?

Yes

Can non-blue parents make blue snakes?

I doubt it. That would be like me taking two normal concinnus' from the area where I find blue ones, breeding them, and expecting blues to come out. Concinnus' and pickeringi are not that far apart genetically or geographically. It doesn't surprise me that they both have a blue phase and I'm pretty sure that producing blues, requires blue parents.

[Steveo]

Yes



I doubt it. That would be like me taking two normal concinnus' from the area where I find blue ones, breeding them, and expecting blues to come out. Concinnus' and pickeringi are not that far apart genetically or geographically. It doesn't surprise me that they both have a blue phase and I'm pretty sure that producing blues, requires blue parents.

Now I'm kind of interested in getting a group together to test things out.

Pickeringii come in blue, yellow, and green, correct? Since green is yellow+blue, it could be possible to get all three colors from green parents (provided that blue and yellow are produced independently).

Let me give an example from my experience with Betta splendens:

Royal blue bettas are het for two codominant color genes... let's call them H/h. Royal blues are Hh. HH produces a steel blue type color. hh produces a green color. Therefore:

steel x steel = steel
steel x green = royal blue
steel x royal blue = 50% steel, 50% royal blue
royal blue x royal blue = 25% steel, 50% royal blue, 25% green
royal blue x green = 50% green, 50% royal blue
green x green = green

Now it's probably not that simple since pickeringii color seems to be more of a broad spectrum than three distinct colors. Maybe it's polygenic. Maybe they have multiple layers of chromatophores (B. splendens has four; to get yellow, for example, the top 3 layers have to be turned off), but it would be interesting to try a bunch of different combinations and record the results.

[EasternGirl]

Awesome pics...thanks! That is awesome about the mom trying to crawl on you while giving birth...so sweet. Sounds like you have some wonderful snakes!

[mikem]

Pickeringii come in blue, yellow, and green, correct?

There's a red phase as well.