In 2023 I paired a Miami Honey het Cinder Stripe female and a Miami Cinder het Caramel Cinder Sunkissed Stripe. I got some great morphs out of the clutch, such as Sunkissed Stripe, Shatter Stripe, and Caramel Shatter. But I also got nine “dwarfish” corns from the clutch of 24, with varying degrees of expression.
I’ve been calling the dwarfish mutation “Bantam.” They are shorter and much stockier than standard corns. They also have a different texture to their scales, making them feel more heavily keeled than a standard corn. There is also a different shape to the scales along the spine, giving them a different sort of reflectivity than standard.
Here are eight of the nine Bantams I hatched, at hatching at the end of August. I sent a ninth low-expression female Bantam Cinder to my friend Olivia at Solar Serpents.
I think they’re really cute and unusual! And I can’t wait to see if it proves to be recessive, but it sure sounds like it to me. Definitely keep us updated with how they’re doing - they seem to be thriving for now! Mine is perfect so far, no issues eating, moving, pooping, etc.
Breeding trials over the next few years should iron out the heredity, if it’s indeed heritable!
They’re only five months old now, so most questions about them are still up in the air. Like what they’ll look like as adults. But they’re growing fast!
I do have a few questions if you don’t mind answering then that would be great.
So how is there mobility compared to a normal corn (as in quickness, wiggleability, etc)?
Are you positive there wasn’t any fluctuations that could have happened to cause this?
Do they feel any different than a normal corn (as in muscle tone and squishiness)?
I do have about a bajillion more questions but I think that is a good start. Sorry for berating you I just am very intrigued by this and when I get interested in stuff like this, I must know everything about it
They look great as hatchlings. Corns are so spindly typically compared to these guys.
I think the only thing that worries me is how they seem to almost look a bit bloated in the middle on some of these photos. Makes me wonder on the viability of breeding females or anything else as they do get older.
Will definitely be interesting to see what happens over time.
Yeah, it’s a big question mark whether they can breed. So far they’re doing everything else normally. They popped as easily as any corns when I sexed them as hatchlings. So I’m hopeful.
I don’t know much about corns, but even I can see that these guys have a noticeably different body type from a standard corn snake. As someone who’s a big fan of the blood python/gaboon viper aesthetic, I think they’re adorable! I love how short and chonky they look. I’ll be very interested to know how this all pans out. Hopefully these little chonks continue to thrive, and it turns out to be genetic. That would be so freaking cool!
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