This is a project I am working on… (It’s going to be long so TLDR- I am working on proving a possible new stripe morph)
From what I have been able to find out these Leopard motleys were being produced by someone that was supplying Petsmart, Petco and where these unusual motley patterns began to show up. Mostly anerys and ghost. I heard about it around 2018 or so but I was getting out of snakes for a while. However once I took the hobby back up I was able to find a pair of ghost leopards from Cleo’s Kingdom Colubrids, who told me she bought the parents at San Diego Super show.
Anyway, I grew up my pair and put them together last year. They produced the expected leopard motley ghosts, but unknown to Laura form Cleo’s Kingdom one of hers must have been het stripe. I hatched six of these unusual stripes that I am calling Dappled… I wanted to call them tiger corns but apparently name was in use already and Dappled describes them well. Their patterns resemble sunkissed stripes more than anything.
I held back a trio and I also repeated the pairing and bred the father to a normal stripe this year and I am planning to test against a sunkissed also next year.
Pictures are of parents, babies at hatch (including one of the motleys), & a couple of my holdback babies how they look now…
Hi Dean!!!
That’s what I think too. Can they have 3 alleles though? I thought it was either/or. I should know how it reacts with regular stripe- well, cubed- in a couple weeks here. I’m on insta more than here… good to see ya!
Jen
The only way to get an animal that is a visual stripe would be if both parents were motley-stripe and not solely motley. Because those genes are allelic, if only one parent was carrying the stripe gene, all resultant offspring would be motley or motley-stripe.
Yep the parents are most likely motleys het stripe… I purchased them as motleys and the stripe was a hidden het, if that is what it is. My point was it can’t be a 3 way allele with motley, stripe, and dappled which makes me think the dappled is linked to whatever gives the motley leopards the weird pattern. Hence the pairing to a stripe to see if one is dominant or if it seems more of a line bred thing. So at least one of the babies I held back will meet sunkissed stripes when their time comes… I think this is going to be a process of elimination
I think what’s confusing me here is your wording. You can’t have a motley het stripe, genetically the animals are merely het motley and stripe, with the motley gene being the dominant visual expression in that combination. Thus the offspring produced would be motley, stripe, or motley-stripe. Visual stripes can have a dashed look, albeit usually the “dashes” are a bit blobbier than yours, so it is entirely possible there’s another gene causing that specific look, though I wouldn’t necessarily think on the same allele.
There are so many different ways to say it. Motley-stripe, Motley X Stripe, striped motley, etc. Motley het stripe is actually used a lot, at least used to be in old forums and such… Mainly because animals that carry both generally have the Motley appearance. It’s one of those things than no matter how you put it someone doesn’t like it. Striped motley? Might just be a motley with striped appearance. Motley-stripe is a good one. So yes if it clears things up I believe the parents are Motley-stripe and the Dappled is the monkey wrench in the mix, lol. Thanks! Hope that clear it up
Hey Jen! Good to see you here. I don’t think there’d be a limit to how many mutations could be allelic at a locus. Of course only two can hang out there at a time. But my money would be on this being a pattern mutation with effects on Motley and Stripe, like how Tessera changes Mot and Stripe. But probably recessive. It’ll be interesting to see it isolated from Mot or Stripe someday.
As far as Mendelian traits go, you’re correct that any individual animal can only carry two alleles. In the case of what we know so far, the possibilities for these particular alleles are Motley and Stripe with Stripe being recessive to Motley and both being recessive to wild type. That said, there’s no reason why there can’t be a third variant allele which would then be part of this trait complex. This is already the case with the Hypo complex (Hypo A, Strawberry and Christmas).
Looking forward to your results this season. They’re lovely, in any case.
Likewise! Long time no see.
You’re actually not the first to suggest this. I unfortunately seem to have a penchant for stripes, motleys and hets so I didn’t have any snakes “clean” of those two traits to put them with this year.
I personally really want a non-ghost one to pop up in the striped clutch just because the pattern really faded on them and it will be cool to have an amel one. I do this for a hobby so I don’t have the space to keep and test a whole bunch of them… I already kept 6 last year, the 1.2 stripe and 1.2 motley. Might kick myself for selling 3 of the stripes but I don’t need to get to the point I need an outbuilding lmao
Thanks Caryl! I put the male with the cubed stripe you sold me a few years ago She did great and even had a decent second clutch! (The snow stripe also bred for first time this year with a goldust tessera and also did great!)
Those corns are just ridiculously insanely cool! It’s fun to see uniquely different animals here and these guys fit the description! The very best to you on this incredible project and congratulations as well!
Yay! Very glad to hear that “my babies” are thriving and contributing to your very cool collection and project. Yes, I know they’re yours now and not babies at all, but they’re all always “my babies” in my heart.
