Hello everyone. My two corn snakes have been a breeding pair for many years but it’s only recently I have been trying to figure out what morphs they are, especially the male as he looks very different from other corns that I’ve seen. I’ve reasoned that he is an Amel, but unsure if he’s an Orange or Butter morph or maybe something else altogether. I have attached some pictures in the hope that someone with more experience than I do can figure him out.
Welcome! I think you’re right with the Butter (Caramel + Amel) ID.
He certainly looks like a butter in these photos, but the artificial lighting often adds a yellowish tint to photos. Can you take a few more photos in natural lighting, like by a window or outside on a cloudy day?
Third voice here saying he looks to be a Butter. Natural light will help clarify that, though. A better shot of his eye color would also be nice.
Btw, I love Butters!
Btw I love Butter period! On toast, on baked potatoes, on rolls, well you get the idea!
Oh my gosh, @Caron, me too! I knew someone who used to say bread was just an excuse to eat butter.
Thank you I have replied to some other community members in the comments of this with pictures of his eyes and a shot taken in more natural light for clarification. My other snake appears to be a regular Amel and I would share pictures of her, but she is getting ready to shed after laying her eggs last weekend so I’m just leaving her in peace to rest and see if she will eat.
Their hatchlings always look fantastic when they emerge from the eggs and I’m happy to share a picture of them if anyone wants to see This was their first clutch of eggs and I’m still not sure how the hatchling with darker scales happened.
Thanks for extra pics. Your male is a Butter, which is Amel + Caramel. Most of the babies in the photo are Amels, which makes sense if your female is Amel.
The baby with the dark markings was sired by a different male. It’s not physiologically possible for two homozygous Amels (amelanistic means “without melanin”) to produce offspring with melanin. If the dam was with another male that season, that explains it. If not, she had been previously. Females can retain viable sperm for a season or two.
Thank you I don’t know if she was paired with another male before I got her
You know now, lol.
I sometimes wonder how many animals get tagged as having unknown/unlisted hidden hets “prove out” when an unexpected hatchling appears, when the little one is truly sired by another male. In this case, you don’t have to wonder; there’s no way two homozygous Amels can make a baby with melanin.
Have you got any way to reach out to the person from whom you got your female? You might be able to find out more about hets or possible hets that this darker youngster has.
Has she ever had dark babies since that first clutch?
She hasn’t, no. Her hatchlings ever since have been amels with the occasional surprise snow morph on occasion. But no other darker hatchlings
I haven’t been able to reach out to the person I got my female from, but she’s had no other darker hatchlings since. There has been the occasional surprise snow morph in a few of her clutches, which I don’t even know how that happens because she’s an Amel and her mate is a Butter morph.
That’s an easy one. Snow babies mean that both your male and female are het for Anery. Since they are both homozygous Amel, should get roughly 25% Snows in that case if the odds play out accurately. Of course, the odds are just that; odds. They’re not rules. The snakes don’t read the books and sometimes the odds don’t appear in reality. I’ve had known hets which didn’t appear with expected frequency, and combos appear which were teensy possibilities. But yeah, Snow babies mean the parents are het Anery.
That makes sense, the current clutch are due to hatch around the end of August so hopefully there will be some snows <3 Also my adult female is now done shedding, so I’m happy to share some recent pictures if you would like to see her?
As my mom used to say, abso-tively posi-lutely! We love pictures.