Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know I have read about this. Is there any information out there that someone is willing to share?
Any info appreciated

here are some pics. The clutch is all motleys, and two have checkers (one has just a couple, the other has a bit more), and two of the motleys have very odd patterns. One is cube-ish the other is all connected in the Q-tip pattern-like.

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************SNEAKY SERPENTS****************

www.sneakyserpents.com

Elk Grove
California

Misty- the only other motley i've seen like that q-tip kind was in a book. i think it had either high temps or a mold on the egg... if i run by the book i'll let you know. But its defiantly interesting!!
~kin
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~Sober Serpents~
www.freewebs.com/soberserpents
Corns, Creamsicles, A Black Rat, Thayeri, Cal Kings, A Jungle Corn, A pair of Ball Pythons, A Bearded dragon, Leopard Geckos, Green Anoles, a Snapping turtle, and a white cheeked mud turtle

My experience with motleys that showed even less belly checkering than yours was negative responses from forum trolls.
That prompted me to look into this a little more. Then I found the Daytona video interview with Don Soderberg. There's a link on the main page of KS. Don is showing Jeff B a sunglow motley and comments that the motley gene produces a "somewhat" clear belly. When Jeff zooms in on the sunglow motley you can see quite a bit of black. I can't really see any full checks just a spattering of partial checks. That was enough for me to ignore the trolls and satisfy my curiousity. You may want to contact Don for info about how common it is? If it breeds true? etc.
I think most breeders and collectors are looking for perfectly clear bellies. So does that mean that even a slight amount of checkering is "B" grade? As long as the keeper is satisfied who care's what anybody else thinks.
You produced a really nice clutch. You've got a few keepers in that clutch.
John Q

Thanks!
I was thinking it was the cornsnake morph guide that had the info about the belly checkers on motleys, but maybe it is Don's book.
Thanks again
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************SNEAKY SERPENTS****************

www.sneakyserpents.com

Elk Grove
California

It does, but that pamphlete refers to it as a simple recessive. I'm not sure where/how THAT info was obtained, but it is not always true. I'm reluctant to accept it as ever being true without independent confirmation. I've breed ones with belly marks together and got all plain ventrals on the offspring. That means it can't (always) be simple recessive.

I will NOT guess what DOES cause it, but they DO exist. I tend to select away from that look since it is confusing and rather pointless, but it does pop up. The bellies on these have small black PARTIAL checks (well, they aren't black on albino motleys) of varying amount. They are NOT checkered like a normal corn.

They are out there, but I can't see that they are anything special. I'm not sure what causes it, but the causes seem to be variable.
KJ
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KJUN Snakehaven
Pituophis.net

The amel motley I had had quite a bit of color on its belly but not checkers per say.

The lavender motley I have has a clean belly.
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I decided my old sig was too big.

but in recent years have gotten a few motleys that have had a few checks on the belly. I specifically have one "banded" type motley golddust with a few checks on his belly. When I breed him to a typical motley, I generally get all motleys, but the dorsal patterns are often not as unusual as the momn's pattern, and they often have a few checks as well. I also bred him to a stripe with the same results. I plan to keep some of his babies and will breed them together - it will be interesting to see what happens in the next generation.

I have seen or produced an occasional motley with a belly check here and there in recent years. But I have never had another adult breeder with the checks, so this golddust male is the only real experience I have had in producing that kind of motley. I will definitely hold back babies with fewer or no checks as I like to be able to define motleys by the lack of checks as well as the dorsal pattern.

I have never had any stripes with the partial belly checks. That could be because I don't keep as many stripes as I do motleys. Or maybe the checks don't occur in stripes. I am not sure about that.