Here is an old post for reference:
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/sho...light=Kastanie . Briefly, I don't have any interest in making this a "chestnut" post, so I'll briefly recap that gene and then move on to the potentially more interesting "Rosy bloods."
There was a new mutation discovered over the pond that was called "Kastanie" - which basically means "chestnut" in English. Albino "Kastanie" cornsnakes were termed Mandarins (which means "mandarin" OR "tangerine" in English). THEREFORE, I will call them Chestnuts for the purpose of this thread. It is (to the best of everyone's knowledge) a new simple recessive trait. New gene. Whatever. In MY mind, it is like a caramel corn except less yellow and more orange-brown. Babies look kinda anerythristic-
ish. It was believed to originate in Europe and not be in the US yet. That's the brief synopsis. Follow the other link for more info if you care.
NOW, enter Rosy bloods about a decade ago or so.......
I'll skip over the story of how Don got his founding stock since it isn't that relevant to this thread. Needless to say, they date back to a couple of WC Rosy "ratsnakes" from the Keys. I believe they were captured there, but we know how many corns have been released (or escaped) on the islands, so who can guess if this is a new bloodred mutation or the same old one from a released/escaped CB cornsnake? I won't even take a guess, but I will say that the "normals" from the Rosy blood bloodline look like typical, but highly variable, Rosy ratsnakes. There is nothing I see in them to say they are NOT locality, TRUE, Key cornsnakes.
Soooo, some of the Rosy ratsnakes were eventually kept because of distinctive looks (i.e., the PRETTIER ones were kept back as breeders). They had patternless ventrals and diffusion - both of which are common in bloodred corns AND common in some Rosy ratsnake lines. Don crossed his original "pretty" rosy rats to a blood corn, and he got 100% bloodred cornsnakes. This proved that they WERE actually bloodred cornsnakes! Additionally, Don sayed these were some of the best bloodreds he had produced to date. They looked like regular bloods. They did NOT look "Rosy Blood" at all.
In hindsight, this SHOULD have convinced him that there was some OTHER gene in play in that colony.
Fast forward to the future and we are only looking at a couple of years ago. Don bred one of his Rosy bloods to a snow corn. Some of those offspring were eventually bred together by someone else. I believe this was last season (2007). In that clutch is an EXACT replica of a chestnut (I believe) and a mandarin (I'm positive on this point). I'm not sure about the chestnut (maybe that part is a mistake on my part), but I'm positive about the mandarin-looking snake. Regretfully, it did not survive. Breeders in Europe have stated these look EXACTLY like the ones they are seeing, and have even went so far to say many of the Rosy bloods behave (in terms of color changes) exactly like what they'd expect from Chestnuts.
Obviously, there is more to the story than this, but that's the gist of it. The above (and some other factors) have many of us convinced these are LIKELY chestnut bloodred cornsnakes of Rosy ratsnake descent. Is Don positive? No, not yet. (I believe Rob's came from Don, but he can answer THAT question for sure.)
These have NOT been conclusively tested against a known chestnut yet! Let me restate this for clarity: lots of us are 95% confinced this will turn out to be the chestnut mutation, but it has NOT be confirmed through trail breedings yet. THAT process is underway, but it is NOT known conclusively yet.
This is exactly why Don is selling them as "Rosy Bloods." Notice that Don has NOT offered any chestnuts for sale. Not does he call them chestnuts. There is just a darn good possibility that Rosy bloods may be chestnuts! I will be shocked if it turns out NOT to be chestnut unless it turns out to be a NEW chestnut-like gene instead. I am having trouble believing it will turn out to be nothing. Either way, Don (and probably Rob for that matter) is NOT claiming that these are chestnut bloods.....but there is no secret he just THINKS that they are. My words, and I don't mean to put words in Don's mouth.
Now, if
these really ARE chestnuts (and assume that they are for the sake or argument), the big question is as follows:
Are all "Rosy Bloods" chestnut bloods or just some of them? The answer is more complex that we'd first think. Some from this line aren't bloods (but might be chestnuts since they look like "brown Rosy Rats), so we can ignore them. Some of the Rosy bloods are REALLY orange. Are these chestnuts or are they too colorful? We don't know yet. Is it possible that some are true chestnut bloods while others are just bloodred Key Corns (not chestnuts)? Don isn't sure that is very likely, but I haven't personally accepted that ALL of the snakes called "Rosy bloods" are chestnuts.
Either way, from what I've seen, Rosy bloods are pretty variable. Either the chestnut blood combo is very variable or NOT all of the "Rosy Bloods" are chestnut bloods even if some of them ARE. Sooooo, more breeding trails needed in the future, right? BINGO! It's underway, of course. Maybe only some will be found to be chestnuts - or maybe all of them will be chestnuts because his main breeder pair are both chestnuts???? Again, this is another reason why they are still called "Rosy Bloods" and not definitively called chestnut bloods. If they DO turn out to be chestnut bloods, the $500 price tag is a super good deal. I'll admit I'm betting on that horse and acquiring some more!
To date (to the best of my knowledge), Rosy bloods (using the most chestnut-looking male Don owns) have been bred into butter motley, snow motley het striped, ghost striped, sunkissed, and (of course) female Rosy Bloods.
Anyway, here are a few images of "Rosy" / possible chestnut bloodred corns! All of them are Don Soderberg / SMR images that are posted with permission.
KJ
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