The Plethora of Patterns

[jaxom1957]

There seem to be dozens of pattern names bandied about, but not a lot of agreement on what the names mean. A few are simple enough, like "stripe" or "diffuse". But what about, "zigzag" and "Aztec"? Is Aztec a subset of zigzag? What differentiates the two?

The varieties of motley alone make my head spin. Hurricane? Zipper? Pinstripe? Q-tip? I call my favorite a "messy motley", a phrase that popped into my head to describe a motley that follows no pattern, with dashes and dabs, dots and barbells, stripes and splotches. My anery motley, Macey, is a "messy motley".

Who can help untangle this Babel of pattern names? Post your best example of a pattern, one you feel shows the pattern as it should look. Even if you don't have an example, do you have a definition? Can you tell me how a Q-tip motley is supposed to look? When does an amel become a reverse Okeetee? When is a normal a Miami? Let me hear from you: post your patterns!

 

[Rich Z]

OK..... But I'm not coming up with names for them.... :bang:

 

[Velvet]

Gorgeous snakes!!!

I love the little grey ghostish jobbie in the last pic! Lovely blue eyes and such a pretty pattern! lol

 

[jaxom1957]

OK..... But I'm not coming up with names for them.... :bang:

The snakes in the middle of these photos, save for "stripeless", are what I think of when I hear, "zipper motley". The line, to my eye, looks like a closed zipper, with the bumps on the edges resembling the zipper's teeth. Is that what others picture when they hear, "zipper"?

 

[thugz]

yeah i think 'zipper motley' as well... i've seen pictures of other snakes being called that that look quite similar.

but hm wtf is a hurricane?

 

[idontknow]

rich in the last pick is that like a charcoal butter?

 

[Duff]

Personally, I'm becoming less and less a fan of pattern "names". I think alot of it is people just like to have more names to call their snakes to make them seem more special or fetch a few extra bucks. There are some cases where I can see it being legitimate, but what I see being called hurricane now pretty much makes 90% of motleys hurricane. Which, IMO, just makes it meaningless.

 

[jaxom1957]

but hm wtf is a hurricane?

A hurricane, I believe, is when the spots normally found between the saddles have been isolated from the field color by the saddles having grown together. The border color of the saddles now encircles the spots, making them resemble the eye of a hurricane or tornado. The spots have to be very evenly round to produce this effect. Elongated or capsule shaped spots ruin the effect. Many motleys have one or more areas where saddles have grown together, but, to be called a hurricane, most, if not all, of the spots should look have that "eye" appearance.

 

[Rich Z]

rich in the last pick is that like a charcoal butter?

Well, you know, that clutch is actually a puzzler. The parents are Motleys het for Lavender and Butter. Now if you look closely at those lighter colored Motleys, they certainly aren't Butter Motleys, and yet they are not Snow Motleys either. Didn't get any Anery Motleys in the clutch and even so, it would defy reason to think that I would get three Snow/Butter Motleys in that one clutch. So what the heck ARE they?

Even that Lavender Motley (I assume) looks different from others.

And of course, the striping pattern was a complete surprise.....

 

[jaxom1957]

Personally, I'm becoming less and less a fan of pattern "names". I think alot of it is people just like to have more names to call their snakes to make them seem more special or fetch a few extra bucks. There are some cases where I can see it being legitimate, but what I see being called hurricane now pretty much makes 90% of motleys hurricane. Which, IMO, just makes it meaningless.

I agree. This is going to happen with any name applied to subjective criteria. Aztec, Banded, Bubblegum, CandyCane, Fluorescent, Miami, Milksnake, Pastel, Reverse Okeetee, Silver Queen, Sunglow, Zigzag.... Any others? So, where does one draw the line? How do you quantify a Miami or an Okeetee? Different people have different cut-off points, but if we find common ground on what the factors are, we come closer to consensus. For instance, to be a candycane, I think a snake should be two colors only, either red and white or orange and white. A snake with both orange and red along with white, does not qualify, IMO. Do others feel the same? If not, what is your criteria? What makes a candycane worthy of the name? What defines any of the labels I listed?

 

[Rich Z]

I think my two favorites are "Milkshake" Corn, and once a seller at one of the Daytona Expos was selling some snakes he said were "Het for Rainwater".

 

[Susan]

Well, you know, that clutch is actually a puzzler. The parents are Motleys het for Lavender and Butter. Now if you look closely at those lighter colored Motleys, they certainly aren't Butter Motleys, and yet they are not Snow Motleys either. Didn't get any Anery Motleys in the clutch and even so, it would defy reason to think that I would get three Snow/Butter Motleys in that one clutch. So what the heck ARE they?

Even that Lavender Motley (I assume) looks different from others.

And of course, the striping pattern was a complete surprise.....

I haven't seen too many lavender and caramel combos to know exactly how they look when combined, but those really light ones might be lavender butter motleys/caramel opal motleys/whatever lavender + amel + caramel + motley.

 

[Susan]

For an excellent photo comparison of what makes a hurricane motley different from a regular motley, Don Soderberg at South Mountain Reptiles has this image to offer:

http://www.cornsnakes.net/images/PhotoGallery/_hurricane111.jpg

 

[jaxom1957]

Well, you know, that clutch is actually a puzzler. The parents are Motleys het for Lavender and Butter. Now if you look closely at those lighter colored Motleys, they certainly aren't Butter Motleys, and yet they are not Snow Motleys either. Didn't get any Anery Motleys in the clutch and even so, it would defy reason to think that I would get three Snow/Butter Motleys in that one clutch. So what the heck ARE they?

I know motley (or motley/stripe) tends to hypo colors, but wouldn't this make sense:

 

[jaxom1957]

I think my two favorites are "Milkshake" Corn, and once a seller at one of the Daytona Expos was selling some snakes he said were "Het for Rainwater".

Sounds like someone was told the names over the phone and jotted them down. In etymology, these are referred to as "Eggcorns", words that people hear but transpose into words that are already in their vocabulary. Were his snakes milksnake phase and het anery?

One that made my jaw drop was in a conversation with a former tenant. In talking about getting to work, she said, "I take Maxie's breast." At least, that was what I heard. I've known Maxie for fifteen years, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't loan her breasts out to commuters. When asked to repeat that, the tenant said, "Max Express", the minimum-stop public buses here in Modesto. I was relieved to hear that, as I'm sure Maxie would have been had she known.