Reptile & Amphibian Forums

First the parents.

A male Great Valley Serpentarium "Lavender" bred to a Ghost (het for albino) female.

Kerby...

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Lonesome Valley Reptiles
www.lonesomevalleyreptiles.com
Specializing In California Kingsnakes

Oh, baby! !

Kerby...

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Lonesome Valley Reptiles
www.lonesomevalleyreptiles.com
Specializing In California Kingsnakes

Kerby...

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Lonesome Valley Reptiles
www.lonesomevalleyreptiles.com
Specializing In California Kingsnakes

Nice snake.

Uh, what am I looking at?
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Peter Jolles
East Coast Colubrids
www.eastcoastcolubrids.com

Kerby just proved that the Lavender morph and the Ghost morph are the same thing?
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Mike
KingPin Reptiles Inc.
www.freewebs.com/mikesnake
Updated 7/29!!!
www.captivebredforum.com

It is probably not the same gene but a sort of codom gene like the T- and PB brooksi that I have.

Great work you are doing Kerby. Finally somebody is crossing all these genes to find out new things about all the cal king genes. Long overdo. Thanks fo sharing!

I am uncertain exactly what is going on with these genetics but Kerby is doing us all a huge favor by putting in the time to attempt to figure it all out.Way to go Kerby, excellent work......and I am sure it is fun as hell to be you right now!
Tom Stevens
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TomsSnakes.com

Hard to sleep at night! LOL

Kerby...
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Lonesome Valley Reptiles
www.lonesomevalleyreptiles.com
Specializing In California Kingsnakes

As baby Ghost do not look like that.

Kerby...
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Lonesome Valley Reptiles
www.lonesomevalleyreptiles.com
Specializing In California Kingsnakes

Kerby,

I always wondered why the ghost cals were never bred into other lines. I know that Brian Barzyk did breed a ghost to a amel cal but never heard of the outcome. I used to have a breeding group of the ghosts a long time ago but was not into other cal king morphs to breed them into. It makes sense that the ghost is a mystery and this is the first step into finding out more about them.

When I talked to Brian (B.H.B.) a few years ago, he said that the original Ghost was a wild caught from Palomoar, CA. Someone sat on the project for a few years with little or no success, then Brian acquired it. He had bad fertility problems with the Ghost, but proved that it was a single simple recessive gene, not a combination like Snows (amel & anery) in cornsnakes. He also said that because of this low fertility problem, he started breeding the Ghost to other cal kings, thus producing healthier baby Ghost from het to het breedings. Of course any of these cal kings could have been het for albino, thus introducing the albino gene into the Ghost line.

I know that my male Ghost IS NOT het for albinism.
I know that my female Ghost IS het for albinism.

I do not know what is going on with this clutch.....yet. LOL

Kerby...
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Lonesome Valley Reptiles
www.lonesomevalleyreptiles.com
Specializing In California Kingsnakes

I know the ghosts are a single recessive gene. I worked with them early on around the same time Barzyk had the first ones. I might have even had them before. I got my stock from Tim Turmezie.

Do you know who Brian or Tim acquired them from?

Can't wait until they are all out!

Kerby...

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Lonesome Valley Reptiles
www.lonesomevalleyreptiles.com
Specializing In California Kingsnakes

This is a normal looking one (double het for hypermelanism & Great Valley Serpentarium Lavender). They have the same daddy.

Just for comparison to see the difference.

Kerby...

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Lonesome Valley Reptiles
www.lonesomevalleyreptiles.com
Specializing In California Kingsnakes

That baby deffinatly looks "Lavender" or "hypo" but it does not look to have the Ghost pattern to me. What do you think it is Kerby?

Are the Great Valley Serpentarium "Lavender's" the same thing as the ones that used to be called J.R. Lavender?

Aaron, I'm not sure what is going on here yet. Two are out of the egg and the second is slightly darker but the same. I will have to see the whole clutch.

I think the idea that the Great Valley Serpentarium might be the other "Lavender" strain. I had always wondered what happened to it.

Other questions that I have: What are the odds that the female Ghost is het for that "lavender" as well? And if she is I will not get 100% of these in this clutch. I already know that she is het for albinism (which was a surprise).

I also bred this male Great Valley Serpentarium "lavender" to a Mendota (hypermelanism) and got normal looking (double hets) babies. So I know that there isn't a direct (outward) affect. I also bred him to an Albino High White and an Albino High Yellow (have not hatched yet).

I also talked to Bill Gillingham last year after I acquired this big male "Lavender" and he said a while back that he had bred both lavender strains together producing normal looking cal kings, bred back and was able to produce one that carried BOTH at the same time. I sent him a picture of this one and he said the time line (of when acquired by original owner) might not make it the one that had both genes. He said he doesn't have those anymore (carrying both genes). A simpler test would be for me to breed him to a regular lavender next year.

I do not believe that the Ghost is a combination of two recessive genes, but is rather a single simple recessive gene.

Kerby...
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Lonesome Valley Reptiles
www.lonesomevalleyreptiles.com
Specializing In California Kingsnakes