Orange Phase Eastern Garter. Is it a dominant gene?

[Philminator]

Hey I have an orange phase eastern garter and I'm wondering when her babies are born I think most will look yellow as Shannon stated in one post I believe but is the gene recessive? dominant? in other words I wonder what % of her babies will end up being orange as they get older as I highly doubt the father was an orange phase. Just the chances of that would be slim as of 100's of garter snakes if not 1000's of them I've seen in my life and I have only ever come across 1 orange phase eastern. Secondly are they rare? and if you bred some of the brighter orange babies together as adults is that how you could eventually get deeper orange or red ?

[charles parenteau]

If your adult female have orange on her probably this snake was born normal and over the years the orange appear you need to keep her babies for few shed to see which one have orange on it sometime orange appear over the seconds years ....the one you should keep are the one that have orange at there second shed those will be very nice as adult.....If you breed 2 orange eastern together as i did few years ago you will have high orange flash babies and this is so nice ....

I caught 2 female last week with a little bit of orange to see what there babies will look like one female had her babies yesterday and at first sight all normal i will keep the babies and mom for few week before releasing and over this period i will have a better idea of what the babies will look like....If you had found and orange garter at one site you should expect red garter snake too you need to spend a lot of time herping in different location to find red one!!=)

[Philminator]

If your adult female have orange on her probably this snake was born normal and over the years the orange appear you need to keep her babies for few shed to see which one have orange on it sometime orange appear over the seconds years ....the one you should keep are the one that have orange at there second shed those will be very nice as adult.....If you breed 2 orange eastern together as i did few years ago you will have high orange flash babies and this is so nice ....

I caught 2 female last week with a little bit of orange to see what there babies will look like one female had her babies yesterday and at first sight all normal i will keep the babies and mom for few week before releasing and over this period i will have a better idea of what the babies will look like....If you had found and orange garter at one site you should expect red garter snake too you need to spend a lot of time herping in different location to find red one!!=)

yeah this place I found the orange at was ridiculous, I have never seen so many garters in my life, but time is ticking now as a lot of females are giving birth now well that's good news then that it is in fact possible for babies after their second shed to be orange already. Does that include the first shed when they are born right away? I keep herping as much as I can but I'm also waiting to see what comes of your WC flame that is gravid

[ConcinusMan]

Not locally rare. In other words, in certain locations in Canada they are common. Same goes for wild flames, or at least, the color phase that flames were captive developed from.

I think the same thing that applies to flames will apply to your orange eastern. It's polymorphism. The shade and intensity of the orange will always vary, just as the intensity, distribution, and shade of red varies with flames. You really have to raise them up to adults to know which ones are going to color up.

One can artificially select for color. That is where the reddest, most colorful flames come from. Years of selective breeding over generations, but the original pairs were Canadian WC.

[Philminator]

Not locally rare. In other words, in certain locations in Canada they are common. Same goes for wild flames, or at least, the color phase that flames were captive developed from.

Oh ok, thanks for the info. I guess they are just not locally common in my specific city then. Charles in only a few hours away from me and he sees wild flames! I need to take a trip out his way soon

[ConcinusMan]

If I recall, he's not the only Canadian member that lives where most of the snakes are very red flames but we haven't heard from the other guy in a very long time. Anyway, to answer your question, it's not a dominant gene. It's polymorphism. It will vary in a single litter or population. You can line breed over generations to select for the orange color though, just as nature selects for color sometimes if there is a local advantage to certain colors.

[Philminator]

If I recall, he's not the only Canadian member that lives where most of the snakes are very red flames but we haven't heard from the other guy in a very long time. Anyway, to answer your question, it's not a dominant gene. It's polymorphism. It will vary in a single litter or population. You can line breed over generations to select for the orange color though, just as nature selects for color sometimes if there is a local advantage to certain colors.

I will google polymorphism as I'm not entirely sure what that means. I'm glad that you can line breed to select the orange though he's probably not the only one as you said but he's the only one I've heard of and he's only a few hours away from me.

[ConcinusMan]

Basically it means you're going to see color variations within a population, or even within a single litter. The orange likely isn't the result single allele (gene) and therefore is neither dominant, codominant, or recessive. Those terms are for when a certain color or trait is the result of a single point gene. (allele)

Polymorphism: The Northwestern Gartersnake (Thamnophis ordinoides) - Diamondback Trading Cards

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you can breed your orange snakes but that doesn't mean the orange will be fully expressed outwardly in all the offspring. Inheritance will vary just as it does with flames.

[charles parenteau]

My wild female is very late ,it's been since mid march since she was with the male!!Wild snake are giving birth right now....my female is one month late!!!something is going on!!She is very big!!!???

[RedSidedSPR]

Maybe she's just saving her energy for the biggest litter in history