Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello
This is my first post so hope it gets right.

My female corn is starting to lose her color everytime she sheds.
Anybody know why?

Sorry for my bad english.

Well, the truth of the matter is nobody really "knows why" this happens, but there are other snake's that I've seen and heard of that have also done this as they aged. It's called "piebaldness", and most of the time it affects random areas of the body.

Most snakes that are piebald in the hobby, start out that way genetically right from the egg, with this and other forms of the piebald trait having been found to be a simple recessive trait, as in the "pied-sided" corns that Don Soderberg has produced, but these two traits of course are very different from one another here.

To be quite honest, I would take your pied corn over a regular amel ANY day of the week, as this is MUCH MORE unusual. It would be very interesting to see how far this "piebaldness" progresses as time goes on.

This phenomenon of course affects the pigment cells known as erythrophores(red pigment cells),and very likely the xanthophores(yellow pigment cells) as well that are responsible for the production of reds, and/or yellow pigments of the animal.

In any case, it's VERY interesting to see this, and it is VERY unusual. I would hold onto that one!

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

wow i did not know that, thanks so much guys.

I will definatly keep her. ^^

/Niklas

I agree with what Doug said, but would like to add that it's possible that snake is a creamsicle (has Great Plains Ratsnake in it's genetic makeup). If this is the case, the snake's colors will fade as it ages. Creamsicles sometimes start out being an intense hue of orange, but this gradually "washes out."

Tim

Third Eye

Was this snake more like a snow than an amel when it hatched?
South Mountain Reptiles

No she has always been looking like an amel.
just recently she has been losing her color.

/Niklas

No she has always been looking like an amel.
just recently she has been losing her color.

JUST CURIOUS. . . .
South Mountain Reptiles

Sorry if I did sound rude,that was not my attention. :S
I have been reading about this, and correct me if i'm wrong.
But is this piebaldness called Calico.

Thanks for all your reply.
Really appreceate it.

Best Regards
Niklas

Yes,....animals that exhibit piebaldness throught the body giving them an overall mottled look are many times coined "calico". Whereas if the animal displays very distinct patched of pure white, they are usually referred to as "piebald" animals, a good example would be the "piebald" Ball Pythons in the hobby.

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

You were not rude one little bit. No worries.

What you have there really has no name. It's not really calico and it's not pie-baldism. At this point, it's just color changing (absence of color). Neither of those color-changing mutations has had any significant degree of breeding trials to prove its heritability. There is a blister disease that used to be called calico. You didn't mention sores accompanying the color changed scales, so it doesn't sound as though you have that. Bottom line is that without knowing anything about the parents of your snake (presuming there's no evidence of this in relatives of your snake), and in lieu of results from forward breeding trials, it's not known why your snake has these colorless scales. Therefore, it would be wrong to give it a name, until you know what causes it and/or if it's heritable. My advice would be to call it nothing. As pointed out above, it could simply be a maturation phenomenon, not unlike aged mammals getting gray hair/fur. Shrug?
South Mountain Reptiles

I seem to remember reading about a similar trait that is suspected to be simple recessive at VMSHerp.

I'll try to find it. If I recall - you can not tell the homozygous animals out of the egg.

-=-
It's snowflake - described on pg 115 of the '08 CMG

Not sure that this is the same thing, but it would be interesting to hear Niland's comments.
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I decided my old sig was too big.

If I'm not mistaken, Sean has never reproduced corns like Snowflake. I think the "mutation" Snowflake exhibits is actually of a paradox nature. Those have never been reproduced. A random FREAK thing? Not heritable.

BTW, (RE: Snowflake) white in unexpected places on anerythristic corns is not that rare. It is believed that the white on the sides of some pewters and anery bloods is actually not transferable to other color morphs. Breeding trials are now under way. I'm betting the phenomenon seen on this albino is related to aging. Shrug?
South Mountain Reptiles