Which morphs result in the "grayest" of grays?

[Glenaerie]

I'm interested in finding out from all the wonderful experts here which morphs or combinations of morphs result in the "cooler" (in the sense of cool vs. warm colors) grays, with little or no brown or peach influence in the adults. I've spent a lot of time looking at photos of adult anery (and charcoal, and lavender) combinations with and without the influence of hypo, etc. and many of the adults eventually seem to end up more brown than gray, or gray with peach. Some individuals of the various combos do seem to have a more "cool" "silvery" "true gray" adult appearance, but other individuals in the same morph combos do not. What are the influences at work here, does anyone know? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, and thanks!

 

[Shiari]

Lavender + anery or charcoal tends to keep the brown at bay. I have a hypo-charcoal-lavender (Wraith) who is actually almost leucistic looking with a few gray markings near his tail. Remove the hypo and drop down to a lavender charcoal (start out looking brown, but gray out quick) or try a moonstone.

Here is Galena, my charcoal moonstone-

This photo was taken 4 months ago (man, I need to update her) and she is little less pink. As she ages, and her scales thicken, she'll lose that and turn nice pale, cool grays I suspect.

 

[cturley]

For something simpler and more accessible, a good-quality pewter stays pretty grey (or rather, silvery).

Catherine

 

[TyeW]

Nothing quite like a really nice charcoal for some gray.

 

[Glenaerie]

Thank you, Shiari! That is good to know, that lavender helps to keep the browns at bay. Galena is beautiful. It will be neat to see how she turns out, with both anery and charcoal along with the lavender.

Thank you for the other answers, too, recommending pewters and charcoals, but even the charcoals seem to get a bit brown at maturity, as lovely as they are. At least most photos of them seem to show this.

 

[kc261]

Overall, I've noticed that charcoal is a better choice for what you are looking for than anery.

I've seen pics of several adult pewters that are beautifully grey... from dark to silvery.

Also, I know this isn't grey, but I think the reason behind it is probably why charcoals stay more grey and less brown than aneries. Look at the different between a snow and a blizzard.

 

[Nanci]

What about a female plasma?

 

[rich333]

Natasha.... 218grams Pictured.

Charcoal Plasma Het Stripe

Enjoy....

 

[Crazy Colubrids]

Here is one of my Pewters.

 

[SarahP]

How old is that pewter? I have a yearling, and she hasn't lightened up like this. I'm wondering if I'm in for a really dramatic shift over the next couple years, or if I've gotten a reallly dark pewter.

Which wouldn't upset me at all.

 

[Crazy Colubrids]

She is a year old.

 

[Glenaerie]

How can you discern which pewters will turn out to be more gray as opposed to the more brownish gray? I have seen beautiful photos of both, but is there a way to guide the result?

Nancy, your photo of the female plasma is beautiful. Will she stay free of the warm tones, do you think? I know from what I've read here that the male lavenders tend to express more of the peach tones if present. Are there certain lines of lavender in which the peach is less present? And some lavenders seem more tan/mocha than others. Can this be predicted?

In both pewters and plasmas, does bloodred/diffusion seem to control the expression of color as well as pattern? Do they seem to tend to be more gray than charcoal or lavender alone?

Rich, your Natasha is beautiful. Doesn't her photo seem to express a bit more warm tan/beige/mocha, though, than, for example, the photo of Nancy's plasma? Natasha is gorgeous, but I'm trying to figure out how we get the gray color with even less of the tans.

Gary, your pewter is a great example of the cool gray color with the lack of warm tones. Whether dark or light gray (and I love the look throughout the range of pewter) I am wondering how we get that cool gray that your pewter expresses.

 

[rich333]

Just add the stripe gene to the Snake I posted earlier.....

 

[kc261]

Selective breeding, or buying from a breeder who has been doing selective breeding, will get you more of what you want.

However, I don't think anyone can say what these snakes will look like throughout their whole lifetimes, which can be 15-20 years or so. I believe many of the morph combos that have been posted did not exist 15-20 years ago.

 

[carol]

Lavender Cinder. You will never get yellow creeping in and I highly doubt they would ever turn brown. And nope, I don't have pics. What a tease right? I will get pics some day.

 

[rich333]

Can't argue with that.......

 

[Isoldael]

Nash, my anery stripe, appears to be staying very blue-greyish apart from his yellow stripe. It is possible in aneries, but you have to be lucky or get one from the right lines:

 

[Crazy Colubrids]

She is a year old.

Dont know why I said a year old. She is a 2012.

 

[Glenaerie]

Thank you, Carol! A lavender cinder sounds interesting and beautiful. I look forward to seeing pics someday!

Your Nash is lovely, Isoldael.

 

[Glenaerie]

kc261, you make an interesting point, that no one really knows yet how many of these newer combinations will look throughout a snake's lifetime. And I guess I didn't realize that a snake's color might continue to change significantly after it reached maturity. Thanks!