Reptile & Amphibian Forums

the difference between a pastel motley and a dilute? Are they names for the same genetic trait?
I got this guy from a breeder who had no idea what it was. His siblings were all normal color anerys.
I was thinking he was dilute or something.....

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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"

Misty, that does look VERY similar to other "dilute" corns that I've seen on other websites. However, I'm not real sure if it's the same gene as what is being called "pastel" in the motley line, or not. I do know that this dilute gene is a fairly recent one, and is a separate gene all by itself. I have seen a few picsfrom others, and like I said, it sure does seem likely it is, I mean, there's certainly NO mistaking that yours has a very subdued look to it.

I got real close to seeing the pics that went along with this article, but the friggin' pics wouldn't be displayed unless you're a member to this particular forum,..GRRR!

In any case, I think you'll find this article VERY interesting. It discribes "dilute" anery Motleys just popping up out of other normal anery clutches too!

here it is,......good luck!, and NICE ANIMAL!!!

>>> This may not be the best photos to introduce this Morph in my forum, but she is my best Blue. Technically, she is a Dilute Anery Striped, but I like the common name of Blue for them. Originally, many people began calling a line of odd looking Anery Motleys, “Blue” Motleys, but there was an overwhelming dislike for the name.
Now that several other people have had them pop up in their colony of Anery Motleys, it seems as if, “Blue” may get accepted by the Corn Snake community as a common name. The Dilute gene seems to be very similar to Dilute genes in mammals that cause a black animal to be a blue/gray color. I am sure you have seen them, because the list is very long. Many dog breeds have blue coat colors that are accepted by most breeders, and there are even Blue Rats, which are caused by a gene they call dilute, so it seems very fitting to at least call this gene the Dilute Gene. The Dilute gene in mammals causes a black coat to turn blue, a brown coat to turn lavender, a tan coat to turn yellow, and it even changes a gray coat, to a pinkish color.
It will be very interesting to see how it effects other morphs of Corns other than the Anery gene. It seems very likely that it will have a nice effect on all darker morphs. Charcoal and Lavender Dilutes won’t be too far off. In the beginning, many people thought it was somehow attached to the Motley gene, but a Normal patterned Blue was produced by Rob Stevens at Bayou Reptile in 2006, along with the very first Striped verson. I was lucky enough to talk Rob out of one of the Striped Blues which is pictured below.
This gene acts in a very similar way to other hypomelanistic genes and seems to obviously be different than our other five proven hypo genes, but actually the only real test that has been done is with Hypo. The dilute gene is not compatible with hypo, but what about the other hypo genes? The phenotype of the Dilute Anerys seems to be different enough that they may just get accepted as a new type of gene without testing them to other hypomelanistic genes. It seem as if the Dilute gene affects the melanin in Corns in a different way than other hypo genes. It has been reported by several people that the sheds of Dilutes do not have any pattern on them. This fact along with the obvious change in color in addition to the reduction in melanin, may be proof enough that we are looking at a new gene.
I find it hard to believe that the dilute gene is only contained in Anery Motleys. We certainly were able to see it in this morph, but it is very likely spread around a little into some other morphs. The Lavender morph seems to be a likely candidate. Many hypomelanistic looking Lavenders have been produced that are not Hypos, so the “possible” new hypo gene that is floating around in Lavenders, may in fact be the Dilute gene. I guess time will tell, but I have a feeling that it is already spread around pretty good.

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Thanks for that post Doug. It helped. The only thing that bothers me is the mention of animals with blue coats. Being a Vet Tech, I know that Blue animals have problems, medically. They are genetic rejects, if you will. I hope this is not the case with the dilute corns. They are very pretty snakes
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****Misty****

www.sneakyserpents.com

"The more things change, the more they remain Insane"

n/p
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"