Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How about this cornsnake morph. Does it qualify as a deformity??

Since there are those who selectively breed their Leucistic Texas Ratsnakes for expolthalmia ('bug eyes'), where's the harm in a lumpy, bumpy, bubbled cornsnake??

I am going to market him under a variety of names to appeal to a variety of demographics.
For those with an interest in paleontology I will market him as the "Stegosaurus Corn."
To appeal to the 10 and under market I will market him as a "Bubble Corn".
To the chiropractor crowd I will market him as the "Super Vertebrae Corn".

I cannot wait to start cashing the cheques! Bring, bring the bling bling!

BB

PS: All kidding aside, this particular cornsnake will NEVER be bred. He has never even been in the same tub as another corn during cleaning time.
'Bubbles', as I like to call him, is a 2001 snow corn. I noticed a slight kink in his neck shortly after purchase. With each shed his 'bubbles' have become more obvious. (The attached pic is 3 years old.)
Bubbles eats great, grows a bit slower than my other gutatta, and has some issues with his motor skills. When you handle him he seems kind of 'limp' at times and will tie himself in a knot if you let him. As for constricting capabilities, he constricts his f/t mice with gusto. As per breeding, he WILL expose himself in the Spring if I handle him after I've handled females.

What's wrong with him? Well, he's been through two fecal analyses with nothing detected. So what's wrong with him? My guess is he was incubated at too high of a temperature. Are his swollen vertebrae genetic? I don't know, but I'm not taking any chances.
A shame really, because he's got great yellow pigments to pass on to any perspective offspring. At the very least he makes for an interesting conversation piece. LOL

Anyone else have any 'freakish' snakes to share?
Anyone have some one-eyed boa pics to share? Who doesn't like the one-eyed boas with their 'friendly wink'?? LOL
(I realize this post is non-ball python in subject, but someone asked when a morph becomes a deformity. When the morph looks and moves like Mr. Bubbles, it's a deformity. )

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"Have you hugged your drummer today?" --- Me

I can see a tie in with the derma ball! AS for the cornsnake, its great he will not be bred!

with the derma ball. This thread was a legitimate response to the thread further down asking when a morph becomes a deformity.

Like I said, if it looks and moves like my boy Bubbles, it's a deformity.

While I'm not a big fan of the derma ball, it's NOT the first scaleless variety of snake. There is a genetic line of scaleless Texas Rat Snakes proven by Dr. Bern Bechtel. The Texas Rat variety is TRULY scaleless, looking like a wrinkled sock when coiled up. And I could be mistaken, but I think their is also a proven genetic scaleless variety of one of the Thamnophis (garter snake) subspecies.

BB

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"Have you hugged your drummer today?" --- Me

scaleless Pituophis species too (bull?).......same as derma.half and half.....

scaleless lots of stuff and fish and birds.......etc

genetic too......
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technically it's just a physical problem not a morph at all.......it just had way too many growth spurts in it's back or just way too much calcium buildup in it's spine .....

feed it to a king cobra?......

I had a corn.....didn't feel any problems.....kept it........like 8 months?......one day packing it for a show.....thought I'd throw in a female opal for kicks.....felt a bump....wow....alot of bumps..the whole way down it's spine.....lots of them....ate.....all well....just bumpy bigtime like this one........

I did pack her and I did take her to the show.and I did give her away......free........why keep it and why kill it if it will live?........

have another corn...female too........fluorescent.....best color that year of the clutch......she had 3 kinks....kept her for me....too good looking.......bred her.....she is shorter and fatter than average corns.....still has 3 kinks in neck and back......and she throws the nicest eggs that all hatch out normal..........better than alot of other corns I got.....

.......just a physical problem.......

.........not genetic.........not morph.........
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In 1998 I hatched a pewter (bloodred type B anerythristic) that was kinked from head to tail. I actually had to slit his egg and help him out and to water for the first few days but then he ate great from his first shed. He couldn't constrict but my vet didn't think he moved like he was in pain so I opted not to put him down. However, as he aged and grew he got worse and I was rethinking what the humane thing to do was when he died just a few weeks ago. Odd that neither of yours seemed to start out kinked but if I had it to do over again with one right out of the egg as bad as mine I'd put him down based on the progressive nature of the problems I observed.

actually only the one didn't hatch kinked..the opal.....she got fully kinked with some age........the fluorescent girl had the three kinks at the hatching..

I usually kill and feed (coral or cobras) feed off babies with kinks or oddities.........(no top jaw,no bottom jaw,no eyes,no head,kinks,siamese twins,halfway siamese twins,,,etc etc etc....)

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Yeah, I know he's not a morph in the most technical definition of the word. But throughout the history of animal breeding I'm sure there are examples of variations/morphs that were originally looked upon as deformities.

Those bubble-eyed goldfish? Give me the creeps.....lol

The first scaleless Texas Rat MUST have been looked at as a deformity. Afterall, no scales means no adequate protection from predatory bites/scratches/etc. Because it's genetically reproduceable and has a small niche market, voila, it becomes a 'morph.'

If I were ever to get rid of Bubbles, he would be FREE to a good home. I don't who'd be more stupid; me trying to sell him for money, or someone willing to pay money for him. haha

Besides that, I have a certain 'sympathy' for him that will keep him in my collection for his lifetime.

He is just like the Opal you describe. EVERY vertibrae is 'swollen.' He has the texture of a thick wooden bead necklace when slithering through my hands.

Growth spurt in his spine?? That's as good a theory as I've heard. Whatever growth energy/hormone he's producing certainly isn't going entirely to length since he's only a hair over 3 feet at four years of age.

Thanks for the info, Jeff. Nice to know I'm not the only 'CornNut' who pops into this forum.

BB
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"Have you hugged your drummer today?" --- Me

That you take pity on bubbles because of his back? Oh thats cruel, thats cruel....

Pity, sympathy, it's all the same.

But I'm obviously not overly sympathetic or I wouldn't call him Bubbles, in turn mocking his abnormality. LOL

BB
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"Have you hugged your drummer today?" --- Me

growth spurts USUALLY occur in the egg with tamp spurts...eggs get to 89 degrees and they grow wierd.....not always.I had all my eggs hit 88 more or less more than one time ......and all were fine this year..only one or two little kinks and nothing I could contribute to temp spurts......

........and I keep seeing more and more odd things happen all the time.........
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My cornsnake incubator is thermostat controlled at 82F throughout the day. At night I let room temps takeover with the thermostat set to kick on the incubator if the temps go below 75. If the incubator does come on at night it's only for a max of 78F.

They hatch out at about 65-72 days this way. Sure I have to wait a week longer on hatchlings than if I incubated at a constant 83-88F, but after 6 years and 500plus hatchlings with no kinks, it's worth the extra wait time.

BB

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"Have you hugged your drummer today?" --- Me

aww poor snake, good thing he seems healthy right?

i have a leopard gecko named Merrick that i got while working at evil petsmart. he has a qestion mark shaped spine. hes alot smaller then a male LG should be but he turned 3 years old this october, has a great appitite, and walks/ acts normally. no one would buy him at the store, they even wanted to kill him by putting him in the freezer >_< jerks.
i showed pics and talked to alot of reptile hobbyists and so far they seem to think its from the incubator being too hot.
i have a female leopard gecko too but of course they arent in the same tank, couldnt breed him even if i was stupid and wanted too... the female thinks anything that moves is food including him.

I was given a kinked Corn when she was about 2 weeks old. She had 5 kinks in her spine including one right over her vent area. She turned out to be the nicest pet. She got infected follicles and I had to have her euthanized on Sept 1 this year.
Although I was very sad I had decided to just give her the best life I could for as long as I could. She lived 7 years.

Here is a picture my Vet took right before he put her to sleep:

RIP Lumpy....

I was me who asked, and yes I would call that a deformity.

I have a 04' normal burm, with no eyes, I call that a deformity, and I will not breed him, or sell him, that way I KNOW he will never breed!

Some times, it easy to make the call, but some times is not so cut and dry.

At least a snake like that is in the hands of someone who knows better then to breed it.