Rootbeer?

[MesoCorney]

Hello,

I got my corn snake maize back in November and he was your stereotypical looking normal pippy, with dark reds, greys, and a little bit of orange on the dorsal side near the his head. As he has grown he seems to be losing the orange and reds for more tans and greys, and I am wondering if maybe he is has some emoryi influence. His true background is unknown to both me and the shop I purchased him from. Is there any way to tell visually or do you all have any opinions about this? Here is a picture I snapped of him recently that is a good representation of his coloring.

 

[MesoCorney]

Here is another of him as a little wee lad.

 

[Christaberk]

He looks like my 2 year old rootbeer

 

[cturley]

Can you tell me what pet store sold him? If it's one of the Jurassic Pets stores, there's a chance that I may have produced him, and can dig through my photo files to find the parents.

 

[MesoCorney]

It was Reptilian Paradise in Wheatridge but the owner said he bought him at a reptile expo. He said something about the parents being in the Denver Zoo at some point, that the husband of the lady who sold him was an employ there. Who knows if that story is accurate or not. It would be very cool if you did produce him.

 

[cturley]

'Fraid it doesn't sound like one of mine, since I haven't sold any normal-types at one of the expos, and it would be odd for the whole zoo connection to be completely made up. Ah, well.

I've produced a fair number of rootbeers, and I wouldn't say that yours looks any more like one than it does a regular corn of mixed normal and Miami lineage. The emoryi genes in many creamsicles and rootbeers are so diluted these days that many are tough to distinguish from pure corns. Plus, with genes like Buf and the still-unverified "yellow jacket" gene out there in "pure" corn lines, it's hard to determine what's going on with your fella without knowing more about his lineage. :shrugs:

Regardless, it'll be fun to watch him grow into whatever he becomes!

Catherine

 

[MesoCorney]

Thanks Catherine. Is it possible to tell an adult root beer from a normal visually? Normals are so variable and I can not see much difference in pictures.

Christa is your root beer known 50% corn and 50% emoryi?

 

[cturley]

I'm afraid I don't have a good picture of an adult rootbeer for you, but you can tell the difference (barely), when the mix is pretty close to the original half-emoryi, half-corn. I'm breeding a WC emoryi (thanks, Highball!) to a creamsicle female this season, so assuming the eggs hatch, I'll post pictures of the babies.

In cases where the rootbeer's emoryi heritage is more distant, they show more of the look of immediate parents (which of course is as variable as what you're seeing among pictures of normal corns).

For example, here are two pictures. The first is the one I thought might be your snake (had he come from me), but has NO ROOTBEER in his heritage. He's the product of an Oak Miami (which could account for the yellowness developing) and regular Miami.

The second is one of the rootbeers I produced last year, from a creamsicle female and a "pure corn" striped bloodred male. Except for their general hugeness at hatching, and a slightly orange color-cast, I'd say they show more of the het diffused, het red-mask influence from their father than they do emoryi traits.

Sorry to go on so long! My point is, I guess, that your fella could be part emoryi even if he never looks it, or he could grow to resemble a rootbeer without actually being one. Lol, sorry for the frustrating answer. There's just been too much intermixing of creamsicles and regular corns to easily distinguish them, in most cases.

 

[MesoCorney]

You have no reason to apologize. I appreciate all the information you have given me. Also I was fairly certain that the answer was that without knowing his heritage it was not likely to be a straight forward answer. I just figured it was worth asking. He certainly does look like that first picture. In the end it is not that important as he is a great snake. As I am not or ever plan to breed snakes being a hybrid or not is of little importance. Thanks again for taking time to answer my question.