Newbie Corn Snake Owner

Hello,
I have just bought my pet snake and, of course, it's a corn snake. I had wanted a snake when I was younger but only now took the plunge mainly due to playing with a friend's collection (Missouri Bull Snake - Male, Pine Snake - Female, and a normal Corn - Female). I just discovered this forum and have already found some great pics and info and wanted to ask a few questions as well.

My corn is just a tiny guy or gal. Don't get me wrong I think the wild variations of color are all great, but I decided on the gray/silverish and black. The label and dealer states, "het Ghost Striped". I took some photos this morning and wanted to post them and maybe get some feedback. Some of my questions for you kind folks are:

Is this what is is claimed to be, Ghost Striped? Some of the pics of ghosts seem really different.
What is the difference between the ghost and the Anerys?
What is the kind of hour glass type shape on the back?
Can this little fellow eat a whole pinky? He was feed on 7/24, the day before I bought him. When should I feed him next and will it be hard because he is small? My friends corn just gobbles them up and needs 'Fuzzies' now, but she is a lot bigger.

I think that is it for now. I look to forward to talking with everyone.

Hi and welcome ! :wavey:
That isn't what's claimed to be a ghost stripe, it does however look like a nice ghost though. The label "het" means (in basic terms) it carries those genes but does not display them.
Ghosts are hypomelanistic aneries and display lighter, sometimes even to a pinkish hue on the saddles. An anery is basically black and silver/grey.
I am not sure what "hour glass shape" you mean.
Yes he/she will be able to take a whole pinky. It is amazing what they can swallow in comparison to their head and neck size. I would however offer a small pinky at first, as it is difficult to gauge the size of your baby from the pics.
As for when to feed it, I personally feed my hatchlings every 5-6 days, there is allot of debate about how often. Some feed every 4 days, some every 7. :shrugs: I would give the little one at least 4 days to settle into its new surroundings before trying to feed it. Keep in mind its whole world has changed and it will be stressed from the move.
I hope this helps and I am sure others will offer more info. :cheers:

Welcome! :wavey:

Is your snakes belly plain white? It looks like a motley pattern on the back and they have plain white bellies rather than checkers.

White Belly

Hi Princess and graffixcs,
Yes s/he has a white belly. I'm including the best pic I could get of the barbell shape and the belly. I think s/he likes the cam because the lens is recessed into a hole. S/he kept trying to go into it and so maybe I can get a great mug shot later .

So this would be a motley then and s/he is het for the ghost and striped?
The friend that bought it for me got it from a wholesale fish guy so maybe the label is wrong. Would there be a way to tell outside of being bred? Is there a corn snake genome project I could volunteer her for. :bang:

I'm voting motley (shhhh, don't tell anyone, I have been wrong before)

I would guess ghost motley as well. Ghost motleys are also called pastel motleys I believe.

Neat looking snake by the way.

I'm putting a first and final vote for anery motley.

As your snake is a motley it is impossible for it to be het stripe as...well it's a long story but just believe me!

A snake can be het motley or het stripe but as it's homozygous (carrying 2 copies of the gene so that the trait shows up on the snake when you look at it) motley, then it can't be het for stripe as the snakes DNA will not allow for that.

I'm putting in a guess that it had a parent who is a ghost striped-motley and a parent that was het or homo anery and/or motley...those parents would give that kind of result.


Without knowing more I'd say you have an anery motley, perhaps het hypo (hypo + anery = ghost)

Swhitting, pastel motley refers to a ghost genotype with the lighter peach, apricot, cramy colours rather than the one in the pics here.

Oh, the reason I'm saying it's an anery rather than a ghost is that it just doesn't look nearly light enough to me to be a ghost.

I agree, anery motley, and a very pretty one at that. As far as the hourglass shape on the back, it just appears like the motley "circles" are connected. Sometimes they connect to form a type of stipe...aka motley/stripes.

Your little one should definately be able to eat a pink...you would be surprised at what they can get down those little necks. If you are nervous start with the smallest pink you have, or even cut one in half. In no time at all yours will be on fuzzies also.

Congrats, and welcome to the forum...VERY PRETTY snake you have there!

Yes, I would say it's an anery motley. You said it was labeled het ghost striped. This could mean it is het for hypomelanism and het for stripe. I think a motley can still be het for stripe. Check with Serp though, he's the expert :cheers:

You might be right there Mike but I was of the impression that motley and stripe share a gene locus and therefor and plainbellied motley and or stripe can be motley/motley or stripe/stripe or motley/stripe genotypically and therefor if it's motley/motley as in this snake in question, it can't ALSO be het for stripe..there's just no room!

Then again there is some strange stuff turning up in the motley and stripe world these days!

Awesome

Hey you guys are great on this forum
So much to absorb about these critters.

My friend, R, also picked up a little guy that day. S/he is definitely absent of any true black (a tan at best) and so hypomelanistic (if I have the words right). The markings are nearly identical between the two except the motley 'spots' are more elongated. I assume they are siblings. R would like to bred if we can, but would it be safe being they are so closely related?

I borrowed another friends The Corn Snake Manual by Bill and Kathy Love. I think I'll learn a lot from it.

I also want to post a pic of his corn which has been sexed as female. Between R and myself, maybe we have a stud for her if he'll let them breed. It will be fun trying to guess what variations may be made.

Thanks again.

Well, I say anery motley for yours! The one of your friend looks like none Ive ssen before! Really odd coloring... and the head pattern is very strange...it makes me think of blood red but never seen this combo of colors.. maybe their's some non-corn blood involved?

Id say the second snake is Hypomelanistic Motley or just Hypo depending on the belly. The first snake does not seem to be ghost at all I would go with anery motley on that one. Congrats on the New Snake the Anery is very NICE!

Appreciate it guys

Thanks for the comments. My friend especially is happy because he really wants (the red/orange snake to be in the BloodRed group).
The only other info I have on it currently is the belly (hope I got this right).
It is not checkered like a Normal but instead the front 1/3 is white and the rest is kind of mottled orange/white like the BloodReds (I think but not for sure).

The only confusion he remembers at the shop was it had been labeled as a type of 'gopher snake' initially but then changed to a corn label after a bit of debate. I have no idea if her parents could have been dating out of their species

I'll try to get more info and picks on my little guys siblings (some of them true ghost maybe) and his unique looking one.

Hypo ??

In my opinion from the picture it doesnt look bloodred. It looks to me like a hypo motley. With Hypo Mots you will have a white belly and will have speckling on some, even though it may or may not have any bloodred in it. Plus it could be non corn too or a mix.

I attached some pics of my two adult female hypo mots for you to compare with. The picture on my screen looks like the lighting was off just caushing the colors to be a tad diff. but it could be my screen.

First Picture Looks similar to the (Possible) Hypo Mot you show
And the Second is my other Hypo Mot who has speckling on her belly

Forgot something; Am I right you say it has been fed last a 24th of July??? Hope you've fed it since... a hatchling should be fed every 4 or 5 days.. Hop I understand wrongly... if not, please feed asap!!! And yes, it will be able to goggle down a small pinkie.

Actually, I believe every 4 days is considered power feeding, especially when they need 2 days to digest. Everything that I have read, including Kathy's book, says they should be fed every 5-7 days. I feed mine once every 7. If fed every 4 days I believe that could result in obesity.
Lovely anery you've got! He's going to be quite handsome.

~Lisa

An Update

Hi,
Thought I'd update under my Corn's info (no name still).
I'm not going to pretend I know much but I do know more now than when I first saw this forum and had to post a pic.
I've been playing with this Corn Program
. It's pretty cool and have even recalled some biology I had mostly forgotten.
I think the dealer meant het for ghost (anery-A, hypo). I'm still confused on the motley/stripe thing and breeding. The program has a checkBox for motley/stripe and when you use it it marks het for both motley and stripe. I'll have to read and get more experience on that. I believe (and hope) s/he is Charcoal (Anery-B) mainly because I like that look and she could still be a het Ghost even though an anery. I have found out there were 3 amel hatchlings in the clutch. (Feel free to comment about the gene stuff.. I think it's interesting).

Originally I should have said 7/24 and 8/4 on the feedings from the tub and I fed s/he on 8/09. She took right to the pinky and for more on my obsessive posting go here
.
I let her be for the 2 days and played with her for a minute last night. I was also trying to see if the tail tapers like they say if it is female. It really looked like it did and we were getting along fine and I could feel her going up my belly toward my face, when I started to smell something odd. Ugh...Pooped on me!!! I'm thinking now the tapered look might have been caused by her having a bowel full of pinky poop lol.

I haven't got to see my friends Corn, Squirmy, again to take more photos but I think you guys are right on about the hypo (do they also call those 'Rosy'?). Although my cheap cam had problems with her colors (to much saturation) I should be able to get clearer ones later. I wish I knew what she may carry but I guess only breeding will help to clear it up.

Ok..long post I know