Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got lot's of odd patterns on my hatchlings, some missing a bunch of belly checks, some with a few connected dorsal blotches, and then this one

So now what do i call them are they 66% het aztec?
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Dianne
AKA IcedGoddess
IcedGoddess Creations
Castle Serpents

lol, i just thought of how i will market them, MUTTS!

hey are all het amel, anery,i think het zigzag/aztec, and possibly het motley/stripe LOL Can't wait till one of the males is big enought to breed with mommy, should get even better patterns!
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Dianne
AKA IcedGoddess
IcedGoddess Creations
Castle Serpents

hey are all het amel, anery,i think het zigzag/aztec, and possibly het motley/stripe LOL

I haven't seen any motleys or stripes in there. As of yet, there's no proven correlation between odd belly checkering and being het for motley. There's no reason right now to assume they're het or possible het for motley, or stripe.

As for aztec, I don't see it at all. Minor zigzagging, yes, but not aztec.

There was a recent post where people posted a bunch of what I call zigzags, and they called all of them aztecs. I was scratching my head. It seems that most people have a very different opinion of those two terms than I do. IMO Aztec involves breaking up, or "shattering" of the saddles themselves, where zigzag is simply an offset from right to left, making the zipper pattern like you've shown in the latest hatchling.

To me those are two extremely different looks, regardless of whether or not they are caused by the same "gene." If they aren't different, I don't see what point calling anything an "aztec."

Anyway... some appearance of zigged saddles can appear on some offspring, even if neither parent is "het" or shows any signs of it. If it appears on one of the parents, it might be safe to assume that those also showing it are "het." But there are obviously more influences to zigzag than a single gene... getting near-fully zigged corns requires selective breeding.
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Useful stuff on the Serpentine Widgets website:
Morph Library
Genetics and Inheritance Tutorial
Snake Measuring Program
Cornsnake Glossary

k, i guess i didn't realize how distinct the two looks were, and ass-u-me'd they were somewhat interchangeable being caused by the same gene. Ooops

Ruby does have a 3" "Mickey Mouse hat" on her, don't know if it would be considered enough to think the babies are het though. But that last ones zig zag is so perfectly clean cut for that one little inch, those pics were taken under real cruddy light, but it is a perfect "zipper". I'm excited to see it post-shed.

What would a reduction in belly checks be, just odd? several are missing some, others have a clear clean stripe of white right down the middle.

? about hypo...how obvious is a hypo vs normal after the first shed? I have a few who's borders are extremely faint, and the belly check are blueish gray (i know, they havent shed yet), but they are extremely lighter than their dark saddle bordered sibs. Once they shed I'm wondering if the hypo would be "obvious", or if I'd simply have to wait and see if it was there. (probably both huh?)
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Dianne
AKA IcedGoddess
IcedGoddess Creations
Castle Serpents