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Ghost vs Pastel?

N

Nargle

New member
Hi! I'm new to corn snakes. I owned a couple of corn snakes as a kid, and I would like to own another some day in the future. They're truly beautiful creatures!

But the complexity of the genetics making up the different morphs has me so confused, lol! By looking at lots of different pictures of the various types of corn snakes, I have figured that I'm totally in love with corn snakes that look similar to this:
430698fd92312a8e59defb714e0b4c0d.jpg


I think the pale pastel colors are absolutely beautiful. However, I've heard this color referred to as both Ghost and Pastel. I'm confused, what's the difference? Are they the same thing? I've also seen snakes referred to as Ghost corn snakes that have absolutely no pastel colors at all, just shades of gray. Is Pastel a variety of Ghost that has more color? I've also heard that males tend to have more color, too. Is the difference between pastel and just gray gender?

I've also heard about Ultra Anery corn snakes. I apologize if I'm using the incorrect term, lol! They seem to look just like the Ghost or Pastel with lots of nice pastel colors (Maybe more?) Except that they have red pupils. Are the eyes the only difference? Or am I overlooking something?

I'm also sort of confused about one more thing. I've seen the terms Homozygous and Heterozygous used quite frequently. If I remember my high school biology, the terms mean that a gene has two of the same alleles or two different alleles, respectively. How exactly translate into what a corn snake will actually look like?

Sorry for all of the questions, I'm just new to the world of reptiles and very curious! :D
 
Sweetheart, I am in your shoes! I got Nimue from Petco last year and I still do not know what morph she is. She is cute, sweet tempered, and eats out of my hand. I put her latest pics in the gallery and I'm letting anyone with experience help me out there.
Ians Vivarium has some great genetic info, but many morph names are confusing.
 
Homozygous means that the snake is carrying 2 identical alleles, which can be for wild-type or any number of identified genetic mutations, such as amelanism, anerythrism, hypomelanism, caramel, etc. Heterozygous means the snake is carrying different alleles for that location, such as one wild-type and 1 amel, 1 amel and 1 ultra, or 1 motley and 1 stripe.

A ghost is homozygous anery and hypomelanism A. "Pastel" is a term used to describe a peachy pink ghost such as the example you posted. Some breeders drop the term "ghost", others don't, and some even use the term to describe peachy pink anerys that are NOT hypo, which can cause confusion.

The reason ultra anerys look similar to ghosts is because technically, there are at least 5 identified, yet different, genes that cause a reduction in melanin in corn snakes. You can also have an ultramel anery, a lava anery (called an ice), a Sunkissed anery and a strawberry anery (it hasn't been determined exactly what strawberry is, if it is a form of hypo by itself, or a gene that just increases pink color and was just tagging along in some collections with hypo A).

The pastel color in ghosts/ghost motleys is more commonly seen in the males, but some females can show it as well, and the degree of coloration will vary from individual to individual. And some ghosts have the peachy color in their saddles while others show a pink wash in the ground color (which may be the strawberry gene or even something else).

Here are some of my ghosts (1st 4 images), an ice, a pair of dilute anery motleys, a "pastel" anery and a peachy granite (anery bloodred/diffuse) to really throw you off!

Boo%20Oct%20%2709%20-%20close%20up%20-%202.jpg


Autumn%20Oct%20%2708%20-%205.jpg


Spirit%20May%20%2709%20-%20close%20up%20-%202%281%29.jpg


Ariel%20April%20%2708%20-%20close%20up%20-%203.jpg


Ice%202-20-10%20-%205.jpg


Lady%20Aug%20%2709%20-%20close%20up%20-%205.jpg


Phillipe%20July%20%2709%20-%206.jpg


Striker%20March%20%2709%20-%204%281%29.jpg


Contessa%20Nov%20%2709%20-%20close%20up.jpg
 
Nargle welcome to the forum!, Susan did an excellent job explaining things. Though it can be daunting. I'd recommend picking up "The Cornsnake Morph Guide". It has lots of info on genetics as well as explanations of all of the different morphs, the genetics behind them, etc. It's pretty valuable tohave around.

Also I'm local to you, so if you ever have any questions or anything or are looking to start a collection, don't hesitate to ask. I'd be glad to help out in any way I can.
 
wstphal said:
Susan, if you ever want to sell the pastel or the granite you posted, PM me, PLEASE!
Click to expand...

I still have too many plans for the granite and Boo shall never ever be sold, I love him too much. However, I have an incubating clutch of 20 eggs out of my hypo snow that were sired by Boo.
 
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