Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This past summer, I purchased a wild-caught melanistic (solid black) female from South Carolina. She was basically one of my first eastern hognoses, so I know very little about eastern color morphs. Two days after she arrived, she laid 15 eggs, which are just now starting to hatch. Of the 11 that have pipped and/or hatched so far, they all look very similar, with lots of noticeable red/orange ground color near the heads and a short ways down the body, fading into gray ground colors. A couple have red tinges in their ground color all the way down their bodies.

Could someone please tell me about color morphs in eastern hogs? Do most babies keep their colors as they mature, or will they fade in color? Also, are melanistic hogs born black? Do they gradually darken and lose their pattern? If they do gradually darken, is there any way to pick out babies now that will eventually end up all black?

There are a few articles on color morphs on Easterns in the primary literature, but there is still a lot of speculation. I won't have time to dig those papers up until this weekend, but I'll see what I can find.

>>This past summer, I purchased a wild-caught melanistic (solid black) female from South Carolina. She was basically one of my first eastern hognoses, so I know very little about eastern color morphs. Two days after she arrived, she laid 15 eggs, which are just now starting to hatch. Of the 11 that have pipped and/or hatched so far, they all look very similar, with lots of noticeable red/orange ground color near the heads and a short ways down the body, fading into gray ground colors. A couple have red tinges in their ground color all the way down their bodies.
>>
>>Could someone please tell me about color morphs in eastern hogs? Do most babies keep their colors as they mature, or will they fade in color? Also, are melanistic hogs born black? Do they gradually darken and lose their pattern? If they do gradually darken, is there any way to pick out babies now that will eventually end up all black?
-----
"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."
Governor George W. Bush, Jr.

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

Wow. That would be great, and very kind of you. Thanks for your help. I've bred corn snakes for years, so I understand genetics. I just don't know anything about the colors and/or pattern morphs of Eastern hogs. I'd appreciate any help you can give me.

>>Wow. That would be great, and very kind of you. Thanks for your help. I've bred corn snakes for years, so I understand genetics. I just don't know anything about the colors and/or pattern morphs of Eastern hogs. I'd appreciate any help you can give me.

I don't think easterns follow easy to predict genetic patterns in the manner that other snakes do (such as corns). Breeding melanistic to melanistic isn't going to guarantee all melanistic offspring.
-----
_____

PHWyvern