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Here are a couple photos I took tonight of a few snakes involved in the Crystal project. I have been asked by a couple people to post some along with a comparison photo of the Mojave...
First up is the "Special Mojave" female... I posted some photos of her a couple days ago to come in tonight and find her freshly shed... I also took a comparison photo with my breeder Mojave male (he also shed today) but it turned out kinda crappy! This will be exciting to see what she can produce and if there is a different Super "Special Mojave"...


Here is a shot of the "Special Pastel" female that produced the Pastel Crystals this year... She has a little bit of a lighter washed out look (kinda like adult Supers) and can look very nice after a shed...

Let me know what you think,
Tom Baker
pythondreams@cox.net

Where's my droolin' smiley when I need it!!!
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Don't interupt me when I'm talkin' to myself

So would you describe the "Special Mojave" as having the same mojave pattern, just lighter and with more yellow? I wonder if this could just be some other gene in your original special female that really doesn't have anything to do with the crystal. I'm still thinking maybe the crystal is yet another super of the white snake complex like the blue eyed leucistics and I think also the platy. It would certainly be one of the most colorful of the supers but given how much pigment is in the super mojave it isn't that much of a stretch to think that the crystal might be something like a platy mojave.

The special gene might not be exactly like the dilute gene that I think is what's turning lessers and butters into platy but similar in the idea that the combo doesn't make a completely white snake. Anyone have a picture of the crystal lesser? I guess we don't know if it's the exact same "special" gene that BHB crossed into lesser to make the crystal lesser. However, if the crystal lesser looks more like a crystal from the mojave line than a platy then the special gene probably is different than the theoretical dilute gene in the platy combo. I'm thinking quite possibly special is yet another allele of this group.

If the special gene is visible on it’s own (apparently unlike the dilute gene to make platy) then a good test will be when the male crystals are old enough to breed. Per this theory when bred to normals they should produce 50/50 split of just specials and just mojaves but no normals and no crystals. I believe this is what has been seen with the cross line leucistics so far tending to indicate that the combs are different versions of the SAME gene (i.e. multiple mutant alleles). If crystal was a combination of different mutations of DIFFERENT genes like pewters which can produce normals and pewters along with cinnamon and pastel when bred to normals then crystal X normal could produce normals and specials. Will be interesting to see but I’m betting on another allele and no normals or crystals from crystal X normal – just mojaves and specials.

Check out the link below for a few photos of BHB's Crystal Lesser that Celia Chien of Exotics By Nature took in Daytona last year.

Just my opinion/observation, but when I look at the Crystals I see sort of a 'halfway point' colourwise between the Super Mojaves and Super Phantoms. (ie: more washed out than a Super Phantom but still showing more colours than a Super Mojave) All three (Crystal, Super Mojo, Super Phantom) seem to have similair 'floating' patterns.

(I'm no genetics expert, and alot of what you, Randy, said goes over my head, lol, so my previous paragraph might just echo what you said in your post. )

Another thing to consider: Tom produced a Paradox Crystal, BHB's Crystal has some Paradox colouration, and Ralph produced a Paradox Super Phantom in clutch 35 last year. Hmmmm....

BB
BHB's Crystal Lesser Ball

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"Have you hugged your drummer today?" --- Me

So maybe the special gene is more like phantom than like the “dilute” gene? And the crystal is more like the Mojave version of the phantom lesser “karma”? Interesting. But even if it’s something completely new I bet it turns out to be another allele of this group, everything else seems to be, lol

Just like Bb, alot of what Randy says just goes over my head!
I dont believe it to be a Super Mojave of any sort... I also dont really believe it to have anything to do with the Platty since Brian has produced a Crystal with a Lesser and it does not resemble a Platinum.
Maybe there are a few things going on with the "Special" mother and that is what we are seeing. I expect that when a Crystal is bred to a Normal that it will produce similar results to the Bumblebee... One of my Crystal males has been banging around a little with this one female so hopefully something happens...
I probably missed something in there, but I will try and answer the questions.

So is it a normal female that the crystal is breeding? You should start to get some answers based on the babies produced by the crystals, especially with normals.

The big question is indeed what will the distribution of babies be like.

1. Two independent genes like a bumblebee that when bred to a normal produces an even 25% chance each split of normals, spiders, pastels, and bumblebees.

or

2. Two in some way linked genes that appear likely to be different mutations of the same gene like the combo lecusitics (MKR's lesser mojave or RDR's lesser phantom) that when bred to a normal produce only the two parent types at 50% chance each with no normals or leucistics.

For crystal X normal I'm expecting #2 with 50% special and 50% mojave babies. There is really no proof one way or the other yet, just a gut feeling based on the crystal looking like half way between a platy (which I think is another combo of alleles in this group) and a super mojave.

Great Pics.Good Luck this year with the mystery of the Crystal.
Kevin

Link

Thanks Kevin!

np
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"yeah, eagles have feathers hanging off of them too and I don't smoke --- out of them!" PS it was a dream catcher!

Not yet... I'm keeping her underwraps for just a little longer...

np
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"yeah, eagles have feathers hanging off of them too and I don't smoke --- out of them!" PS it was a dream catcher!