Amel Lava Corn Snake?

Simon, here is the updated photo of the suspected Amel Lava Corn. I am not 100% sure that this snake is double homo Lava/amel, but I am pretty sure. She is getting a dose of Lava this year to find out once and for all. I have another female Amel Lava that is also going to get bred to a Lava Male to test her out too.

This photo shows how the lava gene effects the other colors of the corns as well as the black. The next photo is of a sibling Amel Okeetee from this same project. I have several Amel Okeetees from this project and they all look about the same except for the amount of white around the blotches. They are very nice and a very saturated red color. The suspected Amel Lavas are not even close in appearence.

I accidentally produced two more of these Amel Lavas last year when I bred amel Okeetee X amel Okeetee. The parents were het Lava I guess. This pair of Amel Lavas hatchlings looked almost like baby amel Burmese Pythons in coloration. That color really looks odd on a corn snake, but interesting.

Amel Okeetee Corn Snake

Here is a sibling to the above Amel Lava Corn. You can see why I suspect the Amel Lavas are just that, homo amel and Lava. They look very different than the Amel Okeetees from the same project. I have six of these Amel Okeetees females and a couple males and they all look like this. Well, except for one male that is the most intensely dark red amel that I have ever seen. He is my "Fire" Amel Okeetee here. I have got to get him bred to an amel Blood female when they grow up. He is a very Dark Cherry Red color and if he is not careful he is going to turn black.

The two Amel Lava Okeetees or should I call them Lava Amel Okeetees, look very different and I don't know what else could be causing this look except for the lava gene.

Amel Lava Corn outside

Here is a photo of the above Amel Lava Corn that I took two summers ago. The colors in this photo are pretty close. My digital with the 10X zoom does not always take good photos indoors in low light with a flash. I need to make some manuel adjustments to it and see if that helps instead of letting the auto setting take care of things.

Lava Corn

This is Serps Lava male, Moses. He has simular washed out areas in his blotches as the above Amel Lava Okeetee.

Interesting... it almost looks like someone took a crayon to use in coloring the saddles... Amel Lava = Crayola Corn?


-Kat

Joe,

Thanks for posting these photos for me.
They do look very different from the regular amel okeetees that we see here.
I really think that the amel lava corn is really nice~~
I like them very much. In fact I like the whole lava line a lot.

I am planning on trying out on some lava lavenders and lava bloodreds. Next year (if I can get the male up to size) I would try to breed the Male Lava het ice to my Lavender and/or my Bloodred female. That way I'll be getting normal het Lav and lava and possible anery a and/or normal het bloodred lava.

All those I would think looks great.
I wonder what a Ice Ghost Bloodred would look like~
hahahahaa

Ya, the saddles are unique, that's for sure. They look like they've been coated with a thin layer of wax or something. It is barely present on the head/neck, and almost takes over the entire saddle by the time it gets to the vent.

Interesting that the look apparently shows up in amels. Joe, is this something all lavas have in common? Or just one side of the bloodline, or just some here and there mixed randomly amongst all of the lavas? Also, has this been seen on any of the ice ghosts?

Here's a closeup of Moses. Here you can see the difference between typical "flash glare" (on the left) and the "waxed" saddles.

"Waxed" Look

I think there is a simple explanation for the washed out or “waxed” look of the saddle areas on some of the Lava’s. This look is very random and I have only seen it on a couple of Lava’s and this single “Amel” Lava. I think the waxed look is simply a result of there being black on the saddle areas in the normal phase. Some of the Wild Line Okeetees that are het for Lava, have quite a bit of black on the blotches like this female does on the last half of her body. Since the Lava hypo gene, removes more of the black than the regular hypo gene does, it leaves a transparent opaque look where the black would normally be.

The line of Wild Caught Okeetee phase, Jasper County Corns that the lava hypo gene came from are very saturated with color, with more red in them than most, and much less difference in color between the background color and the blotches. There is not a great deal of black around the blotches and black pigment is randomly scattered the length of the body.

Due to the transparent opaque look of the black on the Lavas, I have obtained a very nice Okeetee from Kathy Loves line of Okeetees, which has very wide distinct black borders around the blotches. I have outcrossed a male Lava Okeetee with this female Kathy Love Okeetee. Kathy’s Okeetees are descendents from Jasper Co. Corns, as the Lavas Okeetees are, so the offspring will still have the Jasper Co line of heritage, but if I can produce Lava Okeetees with very wide transparent opaque, purplish borders, they should look very unique and hopefully desirable look to them.

Lava Corn

Some of the Lava Corns from the outcrossed line that produced the Ice Ghost have almost no opaque areas on them at all. They would have almost no black on them in the normal phase. They are like the "Sunglow" Amels that have no white on them as adults.

Ice Ghost Father

This is the male that produced the first Ice Ghost and many of the Lava Corns that I have. He has almost no black on him at all. Many would say that it is the Lava Hypo gene showing through in the normal phase. This is simply not true! The above Okeetee I used as an example of the reason for the waxed look is het Lava.

The reduction in black on this male het Snow/Lava simply has a very reduced amount of black pigment from his mother. He is a result of a Lava Okeetee X Amel Het Snow breeding. Some of his siblings do have black around the blotches. He happened to be the only male that I saved from this clutch that was het for anery a which is necessary to produce the Ice Ghost. Only 50% of the clutch of a Lava Okeetee X Amel het Snow would have been caring the anery a gene. I only saved 2.4 from this original crossing and only 1.1 of the ones that I saved where het snow/lava. This one pair produced the first Ice Ghost.

Purple Opaque Look "waxed"

The "waxed" look has a purplish opaque look to it. This female Lava Okeetee in this comparison photo with a Regular Hypo has quite a bit of purplish coloration around and on her blotches. This will be the look I will be targeting for with the Kathy Love Okeetee outcross.

"Waxed" Ice Ghost

I don't know if I have seen this "waxed" look on the Ice Ghost. I only have three adults, so that is not much of a sample. Most of the Ice Ghost that I produce are out of Lava Het Ice females.

Is the whitish areas on this Ice Ghost females blotches the waxed look? I don't know. I am not sure that you will be able to see the "waxed" look on the Ice Ghost. In the Ice Ghost morph, the Lava hypo gene seems to lift off the black and the Anery A gene lifts off the red, revealing the colors underneath, but differently than the amel/anery a or hypo/anery a combos do.

Drool...........

Joe!!!
Stop this!!!
You should of told me that you have some of those amazing Lava Okeetees or amel lavas out for sale~~
I want them~~
hahahahaha
man...do I ever stop.....

the 'waxy' look on those lava okeetees and ice ghost are just amazing!
I told you I am not a bit regreting on those ice ghost!
They have already fed for me too!

Home of the guaranteed feeders

If they eat for me they should eat for the customer. My pain in the ____! feeders go in the freezer. Any corn that won't eat a pinky fresh out of the oven, must have a genetic brain disorder!

Joe,

Agreed!
Sigh..
I still have 2 that wouldn't really eat for me from last year....they were born in July....

But I finally got 1 of them eating by teasing....the other one will eat once in a while....

sucks....

But I just can't put them into the freezer myself...I would hate myself for doing that....

Sorry I know over the pond people do things differently and I am not judging just stating, but if you did that over here you would be done for animal cruelty and be banned from keeping animals for life!!!! Shaows the difference between there and here hey???


Peter

Joe, I have to get a pair or two from you

this season. They are just so incredible looking. I know I probably asked you already but did you put them into Lavenders or bloodreds yet? Thanks. Any 03's left?

Lava Lavenders

I did breed Lavender X Lava in 2002 and will hopefully produce the first Lava Lavenders this year. I only have two breeding sized females Hets for Lava Lavender, so the odds are not too good. In addition, the Lavender and the Lava that I used turned out to be het for anery A which I didn’t know at the time, so that gene is in the mix as well, which may interfere with the target snake. Some of the offspring from my Lavender X Lava breeding where Anery A’s.

This year, I have already bred Striped Lavender X Lava Okeetee and Blood X Lava Okeetee. I also started some more Lava Okeetee X Lavenders, in an attempt to correct the above problem. I have also bred Ice Ghost X Striped Anery A, Ice Ghost X Snow Motley and Lava X Snow Motley. Oh, and I have bred a Lava Okeetee X Butter Motley which will hopefully rival the Ultra Amber Motleys.

I am currently down to the very last few 2003 Lavas of any kind. The Ice Ghost sold out. I fed yesterday and I believe I had 2.1 Lava het Ice and 5.2 Lava Corns left. I may have one Lava Okeetee male that I could part with.