Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Pics at bottom if you just want to see some eye candy.
In 2002 I purchased some corns posted in the KS classifieds by a breeder in Florida.
1.1 snows and a female "Florida" corn. The snows were typical. The Florida
corn was different. Not like anything I had seen before. She looked hyper erytheristic with
a hypo look to her dorsal and belly with no real side pattern.
That same year I purchased three more corns from the classifieds. They were offered
as normal corns. There was one male that was definitely not a normal. His colors were brighter,
cleaner, and more crisp. Almost no black on his dorsal area and sides along with the belly
pattern of a hypo.
2003 breeding season- I bred the male to the Florida corn. While the eggs were incubating I responded to a
post in the Corn forum that resulted in controversy about the female. After much research I
believed she was hypo, bloodred, and possibly motley. However, she lacked one trait that many
people felt outweighed all of her other traits. She didn’t have a clean belly with no pattern.
When the eggs hatched, they didn’t support my belief or did they? They grew up to be bright
red hypos with the best male displaying all the bloodred traits. At birth he had some red belly pattern.
That cleared up as he grew up and is now all white and red. I posted the pics for all to see and share their opinions.
I was motivated to continue the project because privately I received emails from breeders that
said they felt the female was a bloodred and that if I bred her to one, she would prove out. I
also had inquiries to buy or trade for some of the hatchlings. That didn’t work out and I kept
all of them.
2004 breeding season- during the fall of ‘03/early ‘04 Don Soderberg posted an ad for a young adult male
bloodred het for nothing. I purchased that snake to breed to the female. I also purchased from
the classifieds a charcoal female. I traded Jim Stepflug for a ghost female that was in Dons collection and
shipped to me by Don. I bred the bloodred male to all 3 females with the following results.
Bloodred X Charcoal, all the hatchlings looked normal
Bloodred X Ghost, all the hatchlings looked normal
Bloodred X Florida corn, 16 eggs, 7 hatchlings were bloodreds with all the expected traits. They
had the gray head, clear belly, red dorsal, and sides with no pattern.
The results of that breeding proved two things. First, she is bloodred with almost half the clutch
being bloodreds. Second, she is also something besides bloodred or the whole clutch would
have been bloodreds. The results were very promising but more breeding would be necessary.
All of the hatchlings from that season were sold.
2005 breeding season- I had to make a tough decision but one that I felt was absolutely necessary
to maintain the integrity of the project. The female was cooled, fed heavy during the early spring,
and placed with a young male from the 2003 clutch. I would put him in and watch for a few minutes
and then remove him. This was done several times to expose her to a mate but not allow her to breed.
She produced a clutch of infertile eggs. This was exactly what I wanted. I needed to be sure that she
did not retain sperm from the previous years breeding with the bloodred male from Don.
2006 breeding season- the best male from 2003 was ready and so was the female. She had her first
clutch, 16 eggs. She did not feed as well as usual after laying that clutch so I did not put the male in
with her. I made no attempt to double clutch her. Unfortunately I had an accident with the
incubator about a third of the way through incubation. I lost the entire clutch. I would have to wait
another year to see the results of breeding the best looking male from ‘03 back to the female. This was
obviously a setback but there was a plus side. Another year, another breeding that should eliminate
the possibility of sperm retention from the bloodred het for nothing male.
2007 breeding season- the best male from '03 would be bred back to his mother. Also, I received
back from a friend two females from the same clutch as the male. He would be bred to all 3 females.
The results of those breedings are the pics that I have been posting along with the ones in this post.
All hypos, some that look like the original clutch with dorsal blotches that wrap down the sides.
These should fade and become barely visible. There bellies will show red and may show some slight
checking that will look like the belly of a hypo. There are a couple with what is clearly a motley pattern
and clear to mostly clear bellies. Then there's the ones that are bloodred showing all the traits. They
are hypo, bloodred, but the motley patterned dorsal is not there. My theory is that there is some
sort of gene masking going on.
Because of the variety within the clutch and the controversy that always comes up I will most likely
name these Red Extremes. Hypo, Hyper Erytheristic, with the possibility of producing the motley dorsal
pattern without the clear belly. There is a chance that the couple of checks will go away as they mature
but I won't know for a while. Some of the previous hatchlings did lose belly pattern as they matured.
2008 breeding season- I plan to breed the male back to the same 3 females but may only breed him to 2.
One female is a little darker and I may cut her out of the project. I would also like to see what the
results would be if I bred the male to another line of hypo bloodred. Maybe even just a hypo motley.

This is the male that sired all of this years hatchlings. As a hatchling he had some reddish checks on his belly. His dorsal saddles wrapped down the sides. As he matured his side patterned faded away. This left him with a beautiful cube type dorsal pattern.

This is the original female that was sold to me as a Florida corn.

so, you are trying to make motleys with a checker belly?
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****Misty****

www.sneakyserpents.com

"I try to take one day at a time but sometimes several days attack me at once"

Why so negative? having a bad day?

Correct me if I am wrong, but if you bred the female to a bloodred and approximately half of the clutch was bloodred, isn't this conclusive proof that the female is not a bloodred but in fact a het bloodred?
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"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."
J.R.R. Tolkien

If you bred that female to one of Don's bloodred males, and only half of the offspring showed the episkiastic pattern, then your female is het for episkiastism, and may or may not be predisposed to pass along the red coloration of bloodred linebreeding.
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Darin Chappell
Hillbilly Herps
PO Box 254
Rogersville, MO 65742