Meet My Snakes :)

These pics are a few months old, and some of the young 'uns have since grown. I'll get new pics later.


My banded cali king, Guthrie. A feisty dood who really is the king of his cage.






Corkscrew, a....something cornsnake. Would appreciate morph ID on this snake if possible! I named him before I got him, but he lives up to his name, loving to wind around my arm.






Shoelace, my first ever pet snake. A snow corn. Growing soooo slowly. Shy eater--won't eat more than a peach feeder every 10 days.


Telescope, sibling to Shoelace. Albino corn. Growing much faster than his/her sib.


Kubrick, my supposedly WC cornsnake. Is this a normal corn? I really don't know. She is HUGE though, and very heavy. She constantly looks like she's carrying eggs, but then again, I wouldn't know.



Better pix promised at a later date.

Very cute pics! I definitely have a fondness for snakes!

I've never kept any kings, but that one's really pretty.

Your Corkscrew looks to be a striped/motley amelanistic corn if his belly is clear (no checks or other patterning).

The hatchlings are adorable. Some grow a bit slower than others so it's nothing to worry about as long as they're not noticeably losing weight.

Kubrick is definitely a normal but looks like a "Miami phase normal". There's a fairly wide spectrum of 'normal' in corn snakes and I honestly think many normals look nicer than their morph counterparts. She does look like a gravid female in the pics but unless she's been paired with a male, it's more likely that she's just a big girl. You can palpate her just to be sure. Press a finger against her belly and press in slightly while she's moving through your hands. You'll feel bumps in a female that is developing follicles or carrying eggs (don't do this after she has eaten or you'll mistake her last meal for follicles/eggs).

Awesome advice about "palpating." I am pretty sure she is not gravid, though sometimes I swear there are egg lumps. I wonder if she can reabsorb them if they are not fertilized. I know that crested geckos will sometimes do this.

Corkscrew has a perfectly white belly. So if he is a motley amelanistic (that word is hard to type!), is there any color specification to that? I mean he is intensely bright.

I got the hatchlings from the same guy on CL at two separate times. He usually sells them for 30 bucks every now and then--snows and albinos most often.

Miami phase. It's sad that my first thought is CSI Miami! Hehe. If she is indeed WC it is likely that she was caught south of us, like Alabama or Florida.

Can anyone tell me a little bit about corn snake genetics? For instance, I would be very interested in trying to breed Kubrick even though she is just a normal. I don't know much about corn snake genes. I do not have a male big enough to be sexed, but I'd love having her bred sometime. I'd even let whoever had the male for her keep all but a couple of the eggs. I'm not into snakes for money.

P.S. I have done a lot of research on corn snakes and breeding. I am just a dunce when it comes to their genetics. It's a little bit more complicated than those little squares we did in high school biology class...hehe.

Dagan wrote:

Awesome advice about "palpating." I am pretty sure she is not gravid, though sometimes I swear there are egg lumps. I wonder if she can reabsorb them if they are not fertilized. I know that crested geckos will sometimes do this.

Yeah, it's definitely possible. It's also possible for some females to lay infertile clutches without ever having been exposed to a male.

Dagan wrote:

Corkscrew has a perfectly white belly. So if he is a motley amelanistic (that word is hard to type!), is there any color specification to that? I mean he is intensely bright.

Dagan wrote:

I got the hatchlings from the same guy on CL at two separate times. He usually sells them for 30 bucks every now and then--snows and albinos most often.

I had a bunch of amels and snows hatch out back in '08. $30 for them is a good deal.

Dagan wrote:

Miami phase. It's sad that my first thought is CSI Miami! Hehe. If she is indeed WC it is likely that she was caught south of us, like Alabama or Florida.

hehehe

How long have you had her?

Dagan wrote:

Can anyone tell me a little bit about corn snake genetics? For instance, I would be very interested in trying to breed Kubrick even though she is just a normal. I don't know much about corn snake genes. I do not have a male big enough to be sexed, but I'd love having her bred sometime. I'd even let whoever had the male for her keep all but a couple of the eggs. I'm not into snakes for money.

P.S. I have done a lot of research on corn snakes and breeding. I am just a dunce when it comes to their genetics. It's a little bit more complicated than those little squares we did in high school biology class...hehe.

It's not too hard. All corn snake morphs are simple recessives except for the tessera morph and it's so new I doubt anyone will have one in their collection for a long while yet considering their current price is $1k or more.

If either of your hatchlings are male and you bred one of them to your female, you would get all normal babies that are 100% het for amel and 50% poss. het for anery if you used the amel or 100% double het for snow (100% het amel + anery) if you used the snow. That's assuming that the female is not carrying those hets, herself. If she's het for either amel or anery, there would be a chance for normal hets and visual morphs in the clutch. You won't know if she's carrying any hets unless you breed her to another het or a visual morph to prove out the genetics in her.

Here's a link to a corn snake genetics calculator that might help a little more. http://www.corncalc.com

Babies can be sexed straight out of the egg if you can pop. There are youtube videos that can help you understand how to do this. That's how I first learned how to pop my snakes. I learned to probe by watching videos online and watching Mike at Fins N' Skins probe one of my snakes. When I felt confident enough, I bought a probe kit of my own and gladly sex other people's snakes when I can.

Males can start breeding at around a year old but if you're pairing an itty bitty male with a massive female, I would definitely exercise caution. I'd be afraid the female wouldn't be receptive and view the little guy as a snack. lol

I have had Kubrick for over a year now.

Ah, okay, that makes a little more sense. Words like "Amel" and "motley" and all of that confuse me more than recessive/dominant and such.

My young corns are much, much, much too small to be bred to this massive female for at least another year. Corkscrew, who was sold to me as a male, is a bit smaller than her. A few months ago I attempted to breed them, following steps from a good site--http://www.vmsherp.com/ It is one of my favorites to browse, though I have never purchased anything there. (My dream snakes are rosy boas.) They both seemed somewhat interested and did the little mating dance thing (jerky heads/etc.) but after that, Cork just wanted out and Kubrick retreated. I supervised them worriedly for a few days and then chickened out of the whole thing, as I was worried the situation was stressing them both needlessly.

I was almost entirely sure no mating happened and was questioning the genders of my snakes, but I provided a lay box for over a month, and though Kubrick loved to sleep in it, she never laid any eggs.

That's my corn-snake saga...epic breeding fail! And thus the reason I would love to find someone who would stud a male or take my female to be studded. Lol. I hope I don't sound like a total idiot. I really do research quite a lot. x.x

Dagan wrote:

I have had Kubrick for over a year now.

Ah, okay, that makes a little more sense. Words like "Amel" and "motley" and all of that confuse me more than recessive/dominant and such.

My young corns are much, much, much too small to be bred to this massive female for at least another year. Corkscrew, who was sold to me as a male, is a bit smaller than her. A few months ago I attempted to breed them, following steps from a good site--http://www.vmsherp.com/ It is one of my favorites to browse, though I have never purchased anything there. (My dream snakes are rosy boas.) They both seemed somewhat interested and did the little mating dance thing (jerky heads/etc.) but after that, Cork just wanted out and Kubrick retreated. I supervised them worriedly for a few days and then chickened out of the whole thing, as I was worried the situation was stressing them both needlessly.

I was almost entirely sure no mating happened and was questioning the genders of my snakes, but I provided a lay box for over a month, and though Kubrick loved to sleep in it, she never laid any eggs.

That's my corn-snake saga...epic breeding fail! And thus the reason I would love to find someone who would stud a male or take my female to be studded. Lol. I hope I don't sound like a total idiot. I really do research quite a lot. x.x

Yeah, amel would refer to the coloration and motley refers to the pattern. I still get a bit confused when motley and stripe are both present, like it is in your snake. Striped corns have clean bellies and no saddles, just a nice stripe all the way down their back which fades into their sides. Motley corns have clean bellies and disconnected saddles that look like circles or ovals of color down their back.

Hm.. How old was the male at the time you tried pairing him with the female? It could be that he was just overwhelmed and didn't know what to do and/or the female wasn't receptive and giving him reason to back off. There's also the chance that your female might actually be a male. If you pair them again and the two are twining and trying to hold their head over the other's then I would think it's two males sparring. I picked up a female corn not so long ago that turned out to be male. Lesson learned.. I always bring my probe kit along nowadays if I'm picking up a snake from someone locally. lol

I just wanted to ad, ftr, that popping snakes freaks me right out. I have nothing productive to add that hasn't already been said, except that is a real pretty amel

Yeah, about CL. I wonder how many snakes are passed from hand to hand as one gender or another just on an original person's guess. It's kind of funny if you think about it!

They didn't spar. They didn't do anything really--just went to separate hides, haha.

I am not entirely sure how old he is. I received several snakes from a local girl that I am sure people on here know...um...Sonnie? And I didn't get much info from her on them. They have been healthy and happy for two years or so in my care though, so I wouldn't think that he's too young for breeding.

If you got them from sonnie you got lucky they weren't infected with some disease. She doesn't take care of her animals. I am glad they found a good home. She didn't know much about them because she probably was going to flip them for a profit....if she could.

Hey, I don't think it's very nice to talk bad about people especially on a public forum. Sonnie has been very nice to me, and yes she has her own problems, but so do we all. Let's not make this site turn into a fiasco like the last one by starting bad blood. :P

Only one of the animals I ever got from her had a problem, and it was from a previous owner.

This isn't starting anything, nor is it slandering anyone with falsities. Yes Sonnie and I don't get along, but it is more appropriate to talk on a public forum then a closed one behind some one's back, at least it is to me. This is all I will say on the subject unless some one asks me directly. I am glad the snakes found a good home. They are gorgeous.

Well I didn't mean anything against you of course, I just would rather not discuss Sonnie right now.

Anyway, thanks for the compliment. I love my snakes--they are very pretty.

sounds good to me and compliments are ease when they are so pretty.