It Finally Happened

It Finally Happened

Postby Mehelya » Fri Dec 06, 2013 1:54 pm

Well, I have tried my hardest to keep away from the Corn scene... Due to some issues with an acquaintance of mine, he had to give up his Corn snakes (2 pairs apparently). So, I reluctantly agreed to take them over for him, and to look after them...

Yesterday morning, I went through, and picked up the snakes and their enclosures. I went home and immediately washed out all the enclosures, and did a physical examination of the snakes for external parasites, scarring, etc. Besides some bad shedding on the one, and another looking a tad on the thin side, I started to question the morphs of them.

I have to admit that I wouldn't know a normal corn from a hypo butter granite striped motley snow corn! So, I enlisted the help of some of the more knowledgeable people that I know... Gavin, Justin, Tyrone, and Roland, I thank you for answering the million and one beginner Qs from me! I really do appreciate it!

Please excuse the poor conditions of the snakes. These photos were taken yesterday, when I picked them up, and they have been checked, cleaned, and are getting some decent food, and attention now. Hopefully by next year's breeding season, they will be ready, as I have handed these over to my gf to start her out in the amazing hobby and addiction called Reptiles...

Without further ado :

Normal and Amelanistic pair (unsure if there are any hets or hidden traits in these, will know next season)
Image

Snow Motley (not sure of sex)
Image

Butter Motley (not sure of sex)
Image

I hope that these are all going to become healthy happy snakes under my care, and I will make sure that they never see another day-old broiler chick again, as long as I have them in my care... Plus, the gf can start off with some nice triple trait morphs, and she can start seeing some interesting things happening from the get go, to really get her juices flowing for this amazing hobby! She's already thinking of names for these ones, so it looks like no matter what happens, they are here to stay... And I vowed to never get into cornsnakes... :lol: :oops:
Rian
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Re: It Finally Happened

Postby Bushviper » Sun Dec 08, 2013 5:48 pm

The snow motley looks female to me. Have them probed just to make sure. You can put adequate weight on them in a month. Feed them lots of small food every 5 days and they will recover dramatically. You could even breed them this season.
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Re: It Finally Happened

Postby Mehelya » Mon Dec 09, 2013 1:09 pm

Thanks BV, I am going to get them up to scratch, and then leave them for the remainder of this season, to recuperate, and to settle down properly. Both females apparently laid earlier this season, and in their current condition, I would rather not chance a second (or possibly third) clutch this season, if they are in this shape.

Apparently, the normal and albino are a pair, and the two motleys are a pair. I will try and have them probed, and then see what would be interesting for pairing.

Just some pics I took on the weekend, after they were put into new cleaner enclosures, and had been inspected and old shedding etc was removed. External parasite free, and the fecal matter that the one had left looked pretty normal to me, but once they eaten, and defecated, I will take samples for staining.

Normal :
Image

Amelanistic/Albino :
Image

Butter Motley :
Image

Snow Motley :
Image

Time will tell if there's anything hidden in any of these beauts as far as genetics goes.

Enjoy!
Rian
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Re: It Finally Happened

Postby Chantel » Tue Dec 10, 2013 8:51 pm

Lovely Corns! I'm not 100% certain that motley is in fact a butter motley. I saw the smaller pics on the cell phone but now that I see bigger pics, I think it could even be a nice snow motley showing a lot of yellow. A snow is genetically a amel anery, and most anery based morphs develop shades of yellow as they mature - some more than others.

If it is in fact a snow motley, I REALLY like the yellow coming through the ground colour - very nice! :)

I will see if I can find any pics of some of my butter motleys.
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Re: It Finally Happened

Postby Chantel » Tue Dec 10, 2013 8:56 pm

Ok, I found some pics of some of my butter motleys for comparison. That's why I'm not 100% certain yours is a butter motley.

Image

Image

Image
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Re: It Finally Happened

Postby Mehelya » Wed Dec 11, 2013 11:28 am

Thanks Chantel,

When Gavin said it was a Butter Motley, I went and checked on the net, and the butter motleys were quite a bit different to this one, so I was a bit sceptical at the end of the day. Are there any identifying markers that can define it as either a Snow Motley, or a Butter Motley? Still a lovely snake though, and has such a pleasant attitude! It is still quite young, compared to the other corns though.

Thanks for the input, and lovely Butter Motleys!
Rian
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Re: It Finally Happened

Postby rolandslf » Thu Dec 12, 2013 11:49 am

@ RIAN

The only one that really looks to be on the thin side to me is the first Snow Motley.

I agree with Chantal on this one, what you have is a Normal, an Amel, and 2 Snow Motleys.

Best of luck with them.
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Re: It Finally Happened

Postby Mehelya » Tue Dec 17, 2013 12:23 pm

Roland, Thanks bud! I have ordered a new 3 month supply of rodents, and they should be arriving this week, so they will start getting some decent weight on soon.

Thanks for the comments, and help in IDing these little beauts. Either way, it's nice to start the missus off with some basics (normal and amel), and then to have some triple traits to work with as well. So she's sorted for the next breeding season or two, hopefully, as the missus has already started reading up, and has made a short list of new morphs to obtain. x_x
Rian
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Re: It Finally Happened

Postby Mehelya » Fri Jan 03, 2014 10:31 am

Well, the completely unexpected happened, once again!

Came home after graft yesterday, and as is my habit, I check on my reptiles first. Excuse the BB pics.

I walked in, and saw the following :
Image

So, after about 2 hours, and bated breathe, I ended up with 16 beautiful white pearls:
Image

The female had curled around, under, and inbetween the eggs, as she was laying, so, to get her off without moving the eggs was quite the nightmare, and I have had less hassles with the Carpet Pythons in doing so... :roll:

My only incubator is set at 31, with a 1 degree variance for the carpet eggs that should be hatching any day from sunday (5th Jan), and then I can reconfigure the incubator for the corn eggs, but the top of my cupboard (27 degrees, checked, and measured as stable with analogue and digital thermometers) will have to do for a few days, until I can move them over.

Now, although this was completely unexpected, as I had separated the snakes as soon as I got them from the previous owner, it seems as if this one in particular has decided to double-clutch. I will be feeding her some extra rodents this coming month, and season, so that I can get her back up to scratch, as she shouldn't have laid this clutch.

It seems that the pairing should be Normal female x Albino Male... I do not know the history of these snakes, or their lineage, so I cannot say if there are hidden traits, but who knows, maybe something nice will pop out, seeing as these corns snakes are basically lucky packets for me with all these "surprises" they're throwing my way!

Thanks for looking, and enjoy!
Rian
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Re: It Finally Happened

Postby Bushviper » Fri Jan 03, 2014 1:53 pm

Thats a nice bonus. Yes feed her up. If she was not in any shape to breed she would not have produced these eggs. She looks in good shape to me.
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Re: It Finally Happened

Postby Mehelya » Fri Jan 03, 2014 3:23 pm

Arno, it was a nice surprise, but she hasmore than halved in size since dropping this clutch, and I am getting fresh rodents on monday first thing (new supplier). The really nice thing though, is both adults are unknown histories, so the offspring could be anything! That's if the father was the albino, and not the snow motley... I have no ideas what the pairings were, and what their lineages are, so this is really a lucky packet shot for me. But, the missus has now realized the awe of coming home to eggs, and the ensuing panic to keep them incubated, when you're not prepared for them... :lol: at least she's learning quickly!
Rian
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Re: It Finally Happened

Postby Mehelya » Sat Jan 18, 2014 9:24 am

Been 16 days since the eggs were laid... Decided to check on them last night, and all the eggs look like the following...

Image

Image

All candled nicely, and have masses of lovely bright red veins. Estimated date for start of hatching is anywhere rom the 25th February. The missus can't wait to see what pops out of these eggs. Then the fun really starts. She has no idea that it gets a bit harder after the incubation... :lol:
Rian
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Re: It Finally Happened

Postby Mehelya » Tue Mar 11, 2014 12:52 pm

Well, after some disappointments (normal female up and died about 2 weeks ago), The eggs started to pip today, and I helped them all along a bit. I thought there were some hidden genetics going to come into play, which sucks, seeing as the mother is no longer around.

Without further ado :

Image

As far as I can see I see some Anery, some Amels, one possible Snow, and some have some interesting patterning going on, like no white/red dots on the saddles etc. Will see once they're all out and moving by the end of the week.

Enjoy!
Rian
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Re: It Finally Happened

Postby Chantel » Tue Mar 11, 2014 7:55 pm

So sorry to hear you lost your female.

It's difficult to tell for sure, but I'm sure I see 2 motley patterned babies in there too! If there are snows (I also think I see one there near the top) and anerys and motleys, then we at least know for sure their mother was het for anery and amel and motley. I'm more inclined to think she was fertilised by your snow motley male, that certainly would explain the snows, anerys and motleys in this clutch. However, it is also possible that the amel is the father which would mean he's also het for anery and motley :)

Looking forward to seeing them all hatched. Good luck!
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Re: It Finally Happened

Postby rolandslf » Wed Mar 12, 2014 3:02 pm

Nice one Rian, now we just need to see pics of them out of the egg, and then the after first shed pics.
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