Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello Everyone. This is my first time posting on this forum but I have posted on the ball python and leopard gecko forums in the past. Until now I have had little to post about with my corns and life with them has been very smooth. But now I just have a few questions I would love answers to.

First, I would like some information about breeding that I can not seem to find on websites - specifically size in order to breed safely. I have 4 corns, 2 male 2 female. One of the males and two of the females I have had since the summer of 04. The one female is getting very large. She is a creamsicle and is about 3 ft long and about an 1 1/2 inches in diameter. I don't have a weight on her - I need to pick up a scale. She has just gone through an amazing growth spurt in the last few months. She eats 2 mice or 2 rat fuzzies a week. I know for balls they have a rule of thumb for female size/age. Is there a corn rule of thumb for a females size before breeding? How about a males?

Second, I have a snow corn that is just beautiful. His color keeps getting better and I have compared it to pictures and it looks a lot like a bubblegum snow. What makes his color different? Is there something specific in the genes or is it random? Do they pass this on - like a bubblegum snow is more likely to produce bubblegum snows?

Lastly, my smaller male (early 05 hatchling) has a beauiful aztec pattern. He is amelanistic (red albino) and the red and white color are awesome. Is the aztec pattern genetic? If so, it is co-dom or recessive? I have been able to find little about this.

Thanks for reading and all feedback!
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Jessica

0.1.0 Sharpei-Husky mix...all attitude
1.1.0 Ball Python
2.2.0 Corn Snakes
2.2.0 Leopard Gecko
1.0.0 Blotched Tiger Salamander
...and a saltwater tank!

[First, I would like some information about breeding that I can not seem to find on websites - specifically size in order to breed safely. I have 4 corns, 2 male 2 female. One of the males and two of the females I have had since the summer of 04. The one female is getting very large. She is a creamsicle and is about 3 ft long and about an 1 1/2 inches in diameter. I don't have a weight on her - I need to pick up a scale. She has just gone through an amazing growth spurt in the last few months. She eats 2 mice or 2 rat fuzzies a week. I know for balls they have a rule of thumb for female size/age. Is there a corn rule of thumb for a females size before breeding? How about a males?]

Three foot is good starting breeding size for females & males (as long as they are well fed, which yours is of course) I've had a male that successfully bred that was only about 30" long before, but I generally wait til' they're (females & males) all at least 34" long to be safe.

[Second, I have a snow corn that is just beautiful. His color keeps getting better and I have compared it to pictures and it looks a lot like a bubblegum snow. What makes his color different? Is there something specific in the genes or is it random? Do they pass this on - like a bubblegum snow is more likely to produce bubblegum snows?]

Hmmm not sure about that one, unless I had information on the parents & grandparents genetics'.

[Lastly, my smaller male (early 05 hatchling) has a beauiful aztec pattern. He is amelanistic (red albino) and the red and white color are awesome. Is the aztec pattern genetic? If so, it is co-dom or recessive? I have been able to find little about this.]

Not sure about that one either, unless I had info about its' parents at least, but in my case (with my breeder pair of okeetees) I always have a few to pop out with both: A partial aztec look, and a partial zig-zag look, while most of the babies are normal, all-blotched looking individuals. (Here's my okeetee breeding pair I was referring to

Zee

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"I am an expert on everything, but I know so little and have so much to learn!" -Carsten "Zee" Zoldy-

Rule of Thumb (both sexes): Third spring, 3 feet long, 300 g.

Creamsicles are derived from a corn snake x Great Plains rat snake cross, so I don't have much use for them. YMMV.

Sorry, I don't know what makes a bubblegum snow. Though it is a pretty safe bet that two bubblegums are more likely to produce bubblegums than two snows that are not bubblegums.

As far as I know, aztec is not a codominant mutant gene, with recessive or polygenic being more likely. The effect seems to be quite variable, and you can't depend on two aztecs to drop all aztecs. Nobody seems to have the genetics nailed down tight.

You might want to get a copy of Chuck Pritzel's Cornsnake Morph Guide.

Paul Hollander
Order page for the Cornsnake Morph Guide

Breeding age/size for males is 2 years, 200g
Breeding age/size for females is 3 years, 300g

Snow = Homo for Amel and Anery

A "Bubblegum" Snow is a line bred to produce a particular color. So being that is line bred, their are not guarantees on what you would produce if you bred Bubblegum x Bubblegum.

Aztec is currently a line bred variation.