Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm curious about what traits affect the belly color and pattern.

It was my understanding that both motley and bloodred caused patternless white bellies but I also saw someone mention a corn having a patternless orange or red belly.

Any info on which genes affect the belly appearance and how exactly they express would be greatly appreciated.

>It was my understanding that both motley and bloodred caused patternless white bellies but I also saw someone mention a corn having a patternless orange or red belly.

Motley and blood red cause patternless bellies. While most corns have white bellies with a checkered pattern, Okeetees, blood reds, and some other corns have some to almost all of the belly a red-orange color. Okeetees, at least, also have a checkered pattern on the belly. Whether the belly is mostly red, mostly white, or somewhere in-between seems to depend on factors that, as far as I know, are not related to the checkering.

Striped also causes a patternless belly. Striped and motley are different variants of the same gene so the similar bellies are not too surprising.

Striped and motley seem to affect the direction of pattern development. So there is a tendency for the pattern to move in a front to back direction rather than from the back towards the belly. While the blood red pattern mutant seems to make the pattern more diffuse, especially as one moves toward the belly.

I understand that zigzag (Aztec) does not cause a patternless belly. And I do not know of any other mutants that affect the belly chechering.

Hope that helps.

Paul Hollander

Thank you that was exactly the information I was wondering about and answers all my questions.