Reptile & Amphibian Forums

New albino corn. Have heard maybe amel or het reverse okeetee. Here's a pic. hope you like. Any more precise classification would be appreciated - terrible with morphs. Until this little guy, I hated albinos.

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/29208Img0179.JPG

>>New albino corn. Have heard maybe amel or het reverse okeetee. Here's a pic. hope you like. Any more precise classification would be appreciated - terrible with morphs. Until this little guy, I hated albinos.
>>
>>http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/29208Img0179.JPG
>>

Hi,

Just a little clarification for you. "Albino" is a generic term meaning a lack of pigment, generally referring to the lack of black pigment, melanin. The more precise term for this is amelanistic, usually shortened to amel, a morph in which all the colors of a normal snake are present with the exception of melanin. This is probably one of the most common mutations in the animal kingdom. Your snake is an albino, more precisely, amelanistic.

Secondly, there is no such thing as "het. reverse okeetee." A reverse okeetee is simply an amel animal selectively bred over several generations for certain traits, in this case bright solid reds and oranges and thick white borders. They get their name because there is a race of normal cornsnake known as Okeetees, which are the most brightly colored of all normal corns with thick black borders around their saddles. The reverse okeetee is simply an attempt to get an animal which looks the exact opposite of this. Reverse okeetees, sunglows, and candy canes are a few examples of corn snakes, which only carry a single genetic mutation, amelanism, but which have all been bred over several generations to give each line their own unique look. Just based on appearance, I would not classify your animals as a reverse okeetee, just a normal looking amel animal.

The term het. refers to the fact that there are two alleles for each gene in an organsim. Both copies can say the same thing, likend to AA or aa, or they can be different from eachother, likened to Aa . Homozygous describes the state where both copies are identical (AA), heterozygous (shortened to het) refers to where there is two different alleles on a gene (Aa). Amelanism is a recessive trait, meaning there must be two copies of the "albino" gene in an animal, (aa), for the mutation to show up. If an animal has the genetic code (Aa), it means it can still potentially pass on a trait to it's offspring, but will not show the trait itself because it is "overpowered" by the normal gene present. Since your snake exhibits amelanism, then it's genetic code would be (aa). Your animal is homozygous for this trait. Your animal could certainly be heterozygous for other traits, but it is impossible to know which ones unless you know the genetic heritage of it's parents, or you make several "test breedings" with your own animal and see what pops up. However, since your animal is already amelanistic, and "reverse okeetee" refers simply to a unique looking line of amelanistics, you obviously cannot have an animal that is het. for this trait.

Tried to keep this simple, hope I didn't confuse you! When you get into the world of corn snakes, and reptiles in general, you'll find yourself becoming more and more comfortable with all the terms people use to describe certain animals, and it certainly wouldn't hurt to go pick up a book or two (The Corn Snake Manual is a great one) and read up on some of the basic corn snake mutations available today and the basis for them.

-Christian-
-----
"Game over man, game over!"
-Hudson, Aliens

Currently Keeping:

3.5 Amazon Tree Boas
1.0 Ball Pythons
1.0 Southern Scrub Python
1.2 Okeetee Corn Snakes

Just have to say that was the best explanation ever given, that I am aware of, on genetics for the common man, (or woman in my case). Good job! Do you teach?
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1.1 Ball Python
0.0.1 corn snake
0.0.1 Bearded Dragon
0.0.2 fish
1.2 cats
3.1 kids
1.0 husband

That had to be the BEST explaination I have heard for the amateur / non-geneticist corn snake enthusiast.

Thanks for the effort and the education.

MAP

n/p

No, not a teacher, not yet anyway (high school biology teacher's definatley an option, though..=). I just find something that interests me and totally immerse myself in it... and that's very easy to do when it's something snake related. Thanks for the kind words, I just try to help out the way I would liked to have been when I started in this hobby, and also try to keep things as basic as possible and not assume any knowledge on part of the reader. I take so much from these forums it's nice to be able to help out once in a while,

-Christian-
-----
"Game over man, game over!"
-Hudson, Aliens

Currently Keeping:

3.5 Amazon Tree Boas
1.0 Ball Pythons
1.0 Southern Scrub Python
1.2 Okeetee Corn Snakes

My Dad taught high school biology and advanced physics in Boston....Gah! I give you credit if that is your goal. Quality teachers are few and far between. I can count 2 in my life time that made an impact. If you could be a teacher like that to a child...

Oh, and that little guy looks like he's going to mature into a Sunglow. Very little white, also seems to be fading.
-----
1.1 Ball Python
0.0.1 corn snake
0.0.1 Bearded Dragon
0.0.2 fish
1.2 cats
3.1 kids
1.0 husband

"just a normal looking amel" --> that's what I'm looking for. Hoping I might get lucky, sometimes the shops don't realize what they have. Some of the morphs can be so similar, even the experts can disagree on id. It'll be interesting to see how he matures. Normally only interested in Okeetees so kinda skimmed the genetics chapter. The only reason I bought this guy was his color scheme, love at first sight. BTW, that was a nice, clear, concise summation of genetics 101.

0.1 Normal
0.0.1 Amel