Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently aquired a male cornsnake thats was sold to me as an Albino. However its top half looks like a normal amel, but the last two thirds of its body has an unuasul amount of white with specks of red and orange on top of it. the majority of the sides are orange with little white on them but the tail is completely white with red and orange specks. The snakes underside is bright orange with white spots. The overall pattern" where the is pattern" looks like a amelanistic motely. The eyes are also a dark red color. The man I bought him from was an importer not a private breeder, he was purchased on april 24 at the White Plains reptile expo in New York. I have put him in with a female that I had and he bred with her immediatly so with anyluck if this is a genetic trait I will have some het babys. But I've heard it mentioned that it has not been reproduced yet.and may not be genetic. I do not have a digital camera wich makes things very hard for me to get pictures online but i will be borrowing my friends tommorrow and should have detailed pictures within two days I hope you can help me identify the animal, I will try to get pictures asap until then any information that you can share would be extremely appreciated.

sincerly,
Christopher Lasalvia
Link

Christopher,

I am unsure as to what you are describing, but I am having a hard time understanding why you might think it to be a piebald. Perhaps we are laboring under different definitions of the same term, but I cannot "see" a piebald in your description.

When you post some pictures, it will be easier to see (hopefully), but it sounds like you are describing a perfectly normal variation of the amelanistic variety to me. Like i said, the pictures might help, but that's where I am in my mind from your description.

As an aside, you do know that proving a simple recessive genetically based variety, which is separate and distinct from all other known varieties, takes several years to identify...right? It usually takes a good three years or more just to see if the "effect" is reproduceable, then a few more years to determine if what you have is different from what else is available. And THAT is assuming that you have access to those other genetic examples for breeding trials either by outright purchases, or breeding loans.

Experimentation in cornsnake breeding takes time to be thorough, but it is the only way to be certain of what one has (or doesn't).
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Darin Chappell
Hillbilly Herps
PO Box 254
Rogersville, MO 65742

Darin thanxs for responding I'm actually trying to get pictures now. I'll try to describe it a little better. The front half looks like a run of the mill amel the back half looks white with
with red spots. Similar to a ruby freckled(also a morph that never proved out) Its quite possible thats it just a wierd amel
in fact thats what I'm leaning to but its also very similar to
a photograph I saw of a piedball corn. THis example though loss color as it got older like it was pushing the pigment out and under it left pure whit scales with some red speck on it. This snake was test bred and it never really panned out.

So I'm wondering if my snake is similar to the one mentioned above that it is a genetic defect causeing color loss or just a wierd amel. I hope with the pictures I'm going to put up you can give me a better Idea of what it is.

Thanxs again for your time.

chris