Susan

Gotta love these 4 genes! I know I do. Once you get the idea that you treat motley and stripe, as well as ultra and amel, as if they were a married couple, you'll have better luck. I like to think of the motley and stripe couple as Archie and Edith Bunker (for those old enough to remember All in the Family). The motley and stripe gene live in the same house (are located at the same locus). The stripe gene (Edith) is very sweet and loving. You can always count on her to do the right thing...produce lovely stripes when she's with another sweet lady (stripe gene - ss). The motley gene (Archie) can be very unpredictable. You know that something stupid is going to come out of his mouth, especially when paired with another motley gene...like George Jefferson (you'll get a motley pattern - mm) but you really can't predict what the stupidity is going to be about (nice motley pattern, Q-tip motley or a striped motley). Put Edith and Archie together (mm X ss = ms) and Archie's domineering, loud-mouthed bigotry will rule (Just shut up and get me a beer!). That is, when you have 1 motley and 1 stripe gene together, the motley pattern will over-ride the stripe pattern.

Cube fits in with motley and stripe somewhere (probably the Meathead, but I'll put my bet on Gloria), but it really hasn't been figured out yet.

Ultra and amel are very similar except they are more like Steve and Elyse Keaton (the parents) on Family Ties. They also live in the same house but instead of one being the head of the household, they're extreme liberals and each has an equal voice in everything. Put 2 ultras together (uu) and you get...an ultra. Put 2 amels together (aa) and you get...class? An amel...right! Put an ultra with an amel...they combine ever so sweetly (ua) and you have an ultramel...something that isn't fully one or the other, but rather an equal combination of the two.

When you breed an ultramel (ua) or a motley/stripe (ms) to a normal, the offspring will only be het for one or the other trait...never both.

AA X ua = Au (or Uu) and Aa

MM (or SS or even MS - all the same thing, just different letters) X ms = Mm and Ss

Also, breed an ultramel with an amel, you will get ultramel and amel offspring...but please note that the amel offspring are just like any other amel produced from any cornsnake carrying the amel gene. DO NOT spend more money on one simply because it is marketed as being from an ultramel parent.

Now I'm going to bed. I may or may not add more to this tomorrow. It may depend upon if I find any questions or not.