Reptile & Amphibian Forums

does anybody know of a good site that lists all snake morphs, with pics, genetics and how they are related to each other?

Like a snake morph encyclopedia.

There are so many now I have a hard time keeping up.
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1 BP
4 Cal Kings 3 alb 1 het
3 Alb Corn
1 Rev Alb Nelsons

I have not seen such a site. There problem is there dozens of snake species for which there are "morphs" and some of these species have dozens of morphs (i.e cornsnakes). I suspect there are many hundreds of legitimate snake morphs in the hobby.

And then there are the dozens of snake "morphs" that are totally bogus and just made up so someone can get a few extra dollars from their babies - try looking at some of the Ball Python and Western Hognose "morphs" sometime. :LOL:

So the first thing you would need is a definition of what is and what is not a morph!

If you have some time, it might be a fun project to put togther. I'm sure KS would host it for you for free as an educational page if you got it organized.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

I think it would be great if some one did put such a site together. It would definatly get a lot of hits. A large number of the posts on the forums are questions about morphs and genetics.

I don't know enough about computers to put a site together myself.

Perhaps we can petition kingsnake.com to put it up. All us hobbyists could supply pics and genetic info on the morphs we know. All put together I bet we know it all.

As for defining a morph, I guess as a comunity we could come up with criteria that we can agree on. I think a morph is a color and or pattern that is easily distinguishable from any other and has proven genetic heritability pattern.

What do you guys think?
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1 BP
4 Cal Kings 3 alb 1 het
3 Alb Corn
1 Rev Alb Nelsons

I don't know enough about computers to put a site together myself.

What do you guys think?

I think these are all great ideas. The problem is that somebody has to do the "legwork". You wouldn't need any computer skills, just a willingness to find all the names/morphs. You might be able to find those by posting a RFI on each of the snake forums (you should probably get permission from KS to do it). People could respond with the morph names they know and you could compile them. You may run into some trouble where people suggest the names of morphs that probably don't warrant inclusion. That's why you need a good definition first.

If you were willing to find them all the morphs and make a list by species, I'm sure someone here would be willing to format your list in HTML and even get it posted. If you knew the addresses of photos, you could have the list link to them.

I think this is a good idea. I just don't have the time to collect all the morph names.

My morph definition would probably be something like yours -

"A morph is a heritable, definable and recognizable color or pattern anomaly which is clearly distinguishable from other color or pattern anomalies within the same species. The name for the morph should be the first name given and publicly disseminated."

Chris
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

I like your definition. Technical and precise.

I am afraid my morph knowledge is too limited to be able to put the list together. That's why I want there to be a site that lists them all in the first place.

Maybe if I had the computer access and the time I could research it but my home computer does not have internet (and I have stored it in the closet to make room for more snakes). )

I guess I will just have to hope someone else out there has the ambition to tackle the project.
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1 BP
4 Cal Kings 3 alb 1 het
3 Alb Corn
1 Rev Alb Nelsons

The one thing morphs have in common - they are just color variants of the snake. Knowing as much as you can about the snake is the better primary goal. Morphs will always evolve into other coined names, that is the very human side of the hobby.

Also, if you know the basic morphs, you probably can figure out that many "morphs" are combinations of surprisingly few basic inheritable traits, coupled with some natural variability of the snakes themselves, but with a fun new coined name.
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Mark