Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have been struggling to narrow down the genetics of this beautiful boy. The supplier gave me what he thought, but it doesn’t ring true. I have some ideas but have not been able to match them together to produce the traits seen below. Thanks in advance of any suggestions given.
Wow, big guy. What was he labeled as? He looks like an amel motley at least, but he’s certainly unusual looking.
Goodness, he’s certainly not hurting for groceries! I’m thinking he may be a Creamsicle Motley. What were you told, @roastmg ?
The had labeled him as Amel Motley Het amber opal stripe. I can see Amel Motley/Stripe in him but cant seem to fathom the clean yellow/orange ventral and the graduated/blended sides. I had figured maybe a Mandarin Motley (adding Kastanie to the mix), as it would present closer to his looks than an Amel Motley, but the Ventral should present white instead of how it does. I also considered if there was masque or diffused in there but honestly I have been going round in circles.
Lots of Motleys have color suffusion on the ventral side. This is also common with Diffusion, though it’s not in itself an indication. These morphs don’t have checkers, but they can certainly have a lot of color on their ventral side. Kastanie is uncommon enough that it doesn’t usually pop up unexpectedly. I would be pretty surprised if that were the surprise case here. Did the seller know parentage?
Do you have pics of the snake from the side?
Good point. Creamsicle could account for his very orangey-ness.
Unfortunately not, there is no other info other than what they suggested he was.
I’m assuming the seller must have had information from somewhere, since they listed hets. There’s no way to look at an animal and know it’s het for Lavender, or know if a visible Motley is actually het Motley/het Stripe. People who acquire an animal with no info other than what’s visible wouldn’t be able to list hets, so the seller likely has a bit more info to help you figure this ou.
If I were you, I would try contacting the seller and asking what they know about parentage. If they say they don’t know anything more than what they’ve already stated, it would be worth asking where they got info about hets.
Well we can definitely say that’s not correct as you can’t have a homozygous Motley also be het for Stripe. Either this snake is a Motley-Stripe or solely Motley.
I’d say you’ve got what you were told on the visuals, the thing that sticks out to me specifically that may account for the orangeness of your snake is that “Het Amber”. Amber is just the name for the morph combo of Caramel and Hypo, and Het Caramel animals can sometimes have a higher amount of yellows involved. I will say, @caryl has far more experience with Caramel than I do, so I defer to her on that count.
I will attempt to get more info but I am sceptical of their knowledge as the labeling is a bit weird. He is just a very good looking snake I believe the more visible markings towards the tail end may confirm the Motley/Stripe. As for the rest, I may see soon enough as he has been paired with this Moonstone Charcoal (possibly het Amel)
Clutch has just pipped so may prove out in a few days as there seems to be some interesting variations peeking through.
I considered the listed Caramel het. @noodlehaus is right, Caramel hets can present with a different look for whatever reason. This snake looks to me to be a few shades too light for that to be the sole reason for its coloring. A baby Amel Motley or Stripe who’s het Caramel might possibly be that light. I would expect an adult to have colored up more red.
Fun! Good luck with the pippies!
Sorry, but this isn’t the case. It used to be thought that one could visually ID the presence of Stripe with Motley, but this has been proven to be false. The snake may be Motley/Stripe, and you might find out from the babies. It’s not possible to tell this genotype by looking at the phenotype.
I have checked with the guy I got them from and he had them for a while and just passed on the details to me.
The babies are nearly all out, 2 to go and will share the photos, a real mix of morphs have come out.
Well this was a clutch with so much surprise and excitement followed by a bit of upset.
The last one came out and to our surprise was two headed, you can imagine our shock and amazement! Unfortunately It barely lasted and passed away shortly after coming out. The umbilical had been triple wrapped around the abdomen and while we managed to detangle it, it was too late.
I will be posting photos of the clutch soon…
That is crazy! Do you plan on preserving it?
Not sure as yet, still a bit shocked by it all
Wow! That’s very rare. And even more rare to have them survive and make it past the baby stage. So don’t feel like you did anything wrong. I think finding a person who makes wet specimens would be really cool.