A Few Head-Scratchers?

[Lycari]

So! I just returned from the local (reputable) pet store where I had a look at their corns. I was able to correct two mislabeled Ghost Motleys to the their actual morph (Ghost Stripes), as well as identifying a Butter that was mislabeled as a Caramel, but there were several there that I can't put my finger on. They have five new arrivals. One I'm sure is an Anery, but the others have me confused.

The first one I thought might be a Plasma, but the belly isn't totally plain. The eyes are black. The background is a sort of ivory or off-white while the saddles are a... sort of dark wheat color, with no significantly dark color on the borders (though the edges are very neat). Little bit of frosting in some of the saddles. Belly checkers are a sort of darker ivory color. The pattern is pretty uniform except for some Q-tipping. Very sweet little shoestring.

The other three look like they're the same morph. They have dark brown saddles with very little (if any) orange; mostly a light grey color in the background. The saddles don't show any red that I saw. Eyes are black/dark brown. There's no ventral pattern, and logs very clean with no bleeding colors. Side patterns on these guys seem... different to me, but not in a way I recognize. Kind of "dirty," for lack of a better word, with lots of speckling. I took pics of all three, but I'm only posting the best ones. Any guesses?

Please excuse the crappy pics. I'll try to get better ones tomorrow. >.<

 

[Lycari]

Photos of the first snake are surprisingly true to color, but the second shows more red/orange than is really there.

 

[Nanci]

Lavender? As for the second one, I actually have no idea. Upper Keys-ish normal??

 

[Lycari]

That was my first thought, too, but the lavender hatchlings on Ian's Vivarium are much darker! The belly checks on this sweetheart seem more pronounced than on the lavenders on there, too.

http://iansvivarium.com/morphs/species/elaphe_guttata/lavender/

 

[Lycari]

I can see the other three being Keys! They're still really really little, so a couple sheds might do the trick.

 

[MysticExotics]

What store was that?

I was thinking Lavender too.
Is the last one some sort of Motley?

 

[Shiari]

I'd say the last ones are probably 'diffused'. Technically. That's what happens when you outcross enough; you lose the lateral diffusion and keep only the bare belly.

 

[Lycari]

These guys are at Bridge's Pets in Snohomish.

Besides the clean belly, they don't really look motley. Then again, I don't believe I've ever seen a motley in person. Just a couple of stripes. They do have a banded guy there, but he has his checkers. *shrug*

 

[Lycari]

Really, Shiari? I guess that does make sense!

I'm still pretty thrown off by the super dark brown saddles, but I think a shed or two might be enough to make them look more normal. XD

 

[Lycari]

I'm also looking at those Ghost Stripes. They're only a couple of months old, but they have lot of yellow coming out on their front halves. That's sorta making wonder if these are really Ghosts.... it just seems like it might be too much yellow for Ghosts that young. I'll try to get pics today.

 

[Shiari]

Snake #1 in your post could, aside from lavender, be an ultramel anery. Those ghost stripes, if the yellow is going high up the sides of the neck, or even appearing on the top of the neck, or have a yellow wash on much of their face, might be ultramel anery stripes.

 

[Lycari]

The yellow in the "ghost" stripes appears on top of the neck, between the two darker stripes. The ultramel anery stripe hatchling I see on Ian's Vivarium is actually a spitting image of what these two looked like before this last shed! I'm going to have to get pics today. The ultramel anery hatching also looks a lot like snake #1. Awesome! I'll try to confirm today and let them know!

I'm definitely going to try to get better pics of the... keys/diffuse/who knows snakes. The ones I posted are just blarg.

 

[Shiari]

Get us a head shot too, if you can.

 

[Lycari]

I knew I forgot something! I got this shot of the most cooperative weird clear-belly.

 

[Lycari]

I'll be heading to the shop real soon. I'll get better pics there, and I'll try to get them to let me take them into better light.

 

[Lycari]

Alrighty, so I wasn't able to get pictures of the stripes because they evidently have mites (great...). I did get a much better look at the first snake though, and she's a dead ringer for an ultramel anery. ^^ She's now on hold for me because she's so very sweet. <3 I'm picking her up on the tenth. I'll try to get stripe pics then, too.

Apparently the other three with the clean bellies were actually about ready to shed the other day as they shad yesterday. I got a good look at them, though, and they have so much red coming out that wasn't there before! It's also very obvious now that they are in fact diffused.

 

[chris68]

Snake #1 in your post could, aside from lavender, be an ultramel anery.

Thought the same thing. And if you handled those ghosts w/ mites keep a close eye on your collection. Mites have a habit of hitchhiking from collection to collection...

 

[Lycari]

I did handle them before the mites were discovered. My boa had them just recently and he's still in a sterilite tub for another few weeks before I'll be reasonably confident they're really gone. I'm still pretty well prepared to handle another outbreak, though. I also haven't really touched my boa in that time since he's in shed and gets pretty cranky when he's blue. I really, really HOPE I can avoid another infestation, but if it happens, at least I'm ready this time. >.>

 

[Susan]

First one actually looks like 99% of the ghosts I've hatched out. The last ones could either be most likely heavy Keys influence or possibly bloodred. Not all bloodreds have the really diffuse sides or skull pattern head.

 

[Lycari]

I guess the only way to know for sure would be to do some breeding trails at some point in the future! XD