Our sweet first-time mom, Luna (motley ghost het lavender), paired accidentally with our 2-year-old Speck (super red factor sunkissed motley ghost het amel). When he wouldn’t lock with her a second time, we weren’t sure if he would be able to fully-fertilize the clutch. So, we went ahead and added the confusion of a second dad, Hi Jack (single-copy red factor, motley tessera ghost, 50% het amel, lava). If Hi Jack ends up being super tessera, which is possible from his parents , then the babies will be easy to tell apart. Otherwise all the red factor motley ghosts will have unsure genetics.
I am still amazed that she laid 18 perfectly healthy eggs, though. An exciting start to our year.
We were really hoping Goldie (amber stripe het lavender) would pair up with our 2-yr-old amaretto, but no luck this year. We tried her with Hi Jack (Coral Tessera Motley Ghost) and Buf Boi (Buf Amel het Palmetto), instead. As long as Buf Boi doesn’t have a hidden motley or stripe het, it’ll be easy to tell the babies apart by pattern, even if the het palmetto does make some appear hypo. I’m also secretly hoping Hi Jack is motley-stripe instead of homozygous motley. His parents’ genetics were less than trustworthy, so I have no idea what he has there. I’m also crossing my fingers that Goldie has a surprise het amel. If so, that opens many possibilities for her pairings in the future.
Het testing aside, I realize these babies won’t have a ton of visual genetics (hypo motley-stripes at best), but it’ll be a great experience for my son. He is super ecstatic to see his first clutches of corn snake babies this year.
I’m excited to see if one of these holdbacks can help me create a Buf Caramel Motley-Stripe Het Cinder in the future, too. Or maybe a caramel palmetto? So many possibilities!
Confetti (Palmetto with unknown hets) and Buf Boi (Buf Amel Het Palmetto) are my favorite pairing this year. We bought Confetti from a biology professor who loved rare reptiles but needed to downsize. My son and I have been looking forward to breeding her for the last 2.5 years and the day has finally come!
Travis Whisler sold me Buf Boi as a proven male but this will be Confetti’s first year.
I am so eager for Buf palmettos. It’s the only combo which gives you dark eyes, some grey flecks, and then all orange spots like an amel—without the red. It’s a fun twist on the classic, and I love that it looks a lot like a amel palmetto, but retains the dark pupils. We’ll also see if Confetti is het amel. Waiting is so hard! Haha.
Great pairings! You have some really lovely snakes. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a buf palmetto but that sounds really cool! I like charcoal palmettos for a similar reason. The dark eyes in a white snake just look so cool.
Lots of excitement for a first season! You have a lot of pretty snakes and a lot of fun possibilities with those pairings. Wishing you all the best of luck with everything!
Hopefully she doesn’t mind me sharing her pic! One of Chantel’s charcoal palmettos. I love how this one has big splotches, but she also produced one with the regular small spots that’s also very pretty.
Wow! The blacks are much darker than the two Anery palmettos I am growing up (also dark eyes). I love that charcoal look, too! Hers really are unreal, like you said.
You and I must have a shared love of black and white. Am I remembering right that you’re breeding two Anery het scaleless this year?
Thanks @caron. Me too! I thought it was just my son and I who loved them but, without fail, every non-snake friend who has seen my collection has oooo’d and aaaah’d far more over the palmettos than they have with any of my other morphs. It’s funny what a good white snake with spots can do to win non-snake people over!
Beautiful Charcoal Palmetto! Those dark eyes are something else! I love splotchy Palmettos… Of course, I also love non-splotchy Palmettos… And non-splotchy non-Palmettos… which is why I have so many corn snakes!
