Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm trying to find out if there is more than one type of amelanism in corn snakes. I know that in some herps, there are two types of amelanism: type A and type B, sometimes called tyrosine-positive and tyrosine-negative. Is this true in corn snakes, as well.

Thanks for the info.

Tom M.

Wow. Bad typo in heading and I can't figure out how to edit it. I suck.

Tom M.

You can edit the subject heading when replying to a post. I don't know of any way to edit the subject in a message that has already been posted.

The amelanistic mutant has been tested for tyrosinase activity. (See Bechtel's amphibian and reptile variants book.) It either produces a nonfunctional version of tyrosinase or no tyrosinase at all. That would make it T-negative.

The ultrahypo mutant gene produces some melanin and seems have the same location in the genome as the amelanistic mutant. In other words, the amelanistic and ultrahypo mutants are alleles. The most probable explanation for ultrahypo's biochemistry is that it produces an abnormal but still partly functional tyrosinase enzyme.

There are several other mutant genes that produce snakes that have less black pigment than normal corns. Their biochemistry is unknown. They are apparantly not alleles of the amelanistic mutant.

There is an albino in Great Plains rat snakes. Hearsay says that such snakes lack melanin, that the mutant gene is recessive to its normal version, and that crossing it to an amelanistic corn produces normal-looking babies.

Paul Hollander

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Thanks for reading.
Big Tom

www.herpzilla.com

This would, I assume produce offspring that are het for both forms of amel? You could breed it to corns and great plains that are het for there own type of amel and get amels from each clutch?

I expect so. But I don't see any great benefit to actually doing such crosses.

Paul Hollander