Stripes vs. Motleys

[Dan W]

Can someone try and explain the connection between striped corns and motley corns? Will stripe x stripe produce any motleys and vice versa?

Thanks,
Dan

 

[treppilj]

You might do a search for yesterdays posts. Joe Peirce went into what I think you are looking for. I do not recall where it was but it might help. It was very helpful and interesting to me....

 

[treppilj]

Here it is... http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12049

 

[paulh]

Here's an analogy:

All the chromosomes in a cell are the equivalent of a book. Each chromosome is equivalent to a chapter in the book. Each gene in the chromosome is equivalent to a sentence in the chapter.

Let's say that the sentence that is the equivalent to the original (normal or wildtype) version of the gene is

The cat in the hat ate the rat.

The motley mutant gene is a typo, a slightly changed version of the original. For example:

The cat in the hat ate the bat.

The striped mutant gene is a different typo, a different slightly changed version of the sentence. For example it might be a different version of the original:

The cat in the fat ate the rat.

Or the striped mutant might have been a slightly changed version of the motley mutant. For example:

The cat in the fat ate the bat.

Different versions of the same gene are called alleles. IOW, motley, striped, and the wild type original version are alleles. Amelanistic and striped are not alleles because they are different genes, very likely located in different chromosomes, not different versions of the same gene.

Figuring out whether striped is a mutated version of the wild type gene or a mutated verson of the motley mutant gene will probably require sequencing. Don't expect it soon.

There has been so much selection in various directions over the years that I can't give a definite answer to the breeding results question.

 

[Dan W]

Thanks for everybody's replies. They have been very helpful. One other thing I was wondering is about the adult pattern. Don't stripe corns usually lose most of the boldness of the pattern resulting in a unicolor snake or one with faint indications of the stripes? And don't Motleys generally keep the pattern as adults?

Thanks,
Dan

 

[Quigs]

I think it depends on what morph, as to whether they lose pattern or not.

Could be wrong though.

Quigs

 

[Susan]

Whether the stripe or motley pattern is distinct in an adult is probably quite variable and can depend on morph (color) as well as the individual. I'll try to post a few examples. This is an adult anery stripe with a fairly distinct pattern.

 

[Susan]

A 2 yr old anery stripe with a very light and not distinct pattern.

 

[Susan]

2 yr old normal motley with a distinct pattern (dua alot to a sort of frosted look)...and at 3 yrs old, she still looks the same, just don't have a current pic.

 

[Susan]

And an adult normal motley with a not so distinct pattern. As a note, this motley and the dark anery stripe are the parents of the other 2 snakes I posted a pic of. (This male is "het" stripe. The offspring are technically motley/stripe.)

 

[ecreipeoj]

Adult Striped Amel Corn

Adult Stripes can have bold striping. In many of the color morphs it is harder to get bold striping, especially in the lighter colors. Selective breeding is starting to produce bold stripes from head to tail in the Striped Corns and also the other end of the spectrum which are being called “Vanishing” Striped Corns, which can appear to be one solid color. Both ends of the spectrum are very attractive and personal preference will decide which you like.

The same seems to be true with the Motleys, but I don’t have any “Vanishing” Motleys, but some of mine have a pattern that is very close to the same color as the back ground color.

 

[ecreipeoj]

Striped Corn

This photo was taken at one year of age, but I have four sisters from this clutch who are laying now and they still look the same as in this photo.

 

[ecreipeoj]

Vanishing Striped Lav Corn

This is my best example of a Vanishing Striped Corn and he happens to be Lavender! Poor me. LOL

 

[ecreipeoj]

Hatchling photo

This is a photo of the above snake when he was born in 2002. His striping was much more distinct when he was born. In person, you can actually still see his striping. It is just very hard to see in a photo, because he is only pink and light lavender.