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Ultramel Gene

schnebbles

New member
I have a friend locally who breeds corns.

She told me that very recently the ultra gene is considered a "mutt" sort of gene b/c it came from a ratsnake. I know there are morphs who are mixed with rats so I guess those would fall into the "mutt" category as well? I know many of them are popular.

Has anyone heard this about the ultra gene? she was wondering if she should even breed her ultramels now b/c people might not want that gene. I love it and so does she.

Just asking if anyone knows anything about this.
 
Has been discussed in detail here a couple of times. No conclusions reached, other than the originator not being able to remember whether a non-Corn was involved. Ultimately, we have to decide for ourselves based on what little evidence is available.

I'll see if I can dig out links to the two most detailed threads.

ETA: Nope, sorry, can't find the threads. I have one link to a thread that's been archived and the other was on my laptop which died last year. Hopefully someone else can chip in - I've had no joy with the Search function.
 
The gene has been under scrutiny, and suspected to come from the "white oak phase" of gray rat snakes. I think it was Russel Keys who tested to see if the white oak was carrying the gene and did not find it there. The gene has been around for a few years and if it was a rat snake gene it would be hard to say how much is still left so undiluted that it would make much of a matter. Some do sale the ultra and ultramels as intergrades while others sale them as corns. So it may just come down to what you believe about the ones in your own collection.
 
This is what Don Soderberg (one who was there when this went down) has to say about the ultra gene:

Now, what I know about the origins of the Ultras:

Before it was revealed by the originator of the Ultra Mutants that a Gray Rat Snake was used to make the first ones, they were in commerce under the name of Ultra Hypo Corns (most were motleys). Simultaneously, Frosted Corns were also being advertised. The first "frosted" corns I purchased from Andy Barr were purported to be Gray Rat x Corn hybrids. After the release of Bill and Kathy Love's first book, I approached Andy, and asked why he was quoted as saying in the book that they were pure corns. That was when the Expo was in Orlando, and I recall him finally saying to me, "well some were and some were not". He said some were made from a Gray Snow (the final product of the hybrid crossing of a Snow Corn to a Gray Rat Snake) and some were from the pairing of a pure Snow Corn to one of the Ultra types. In so much as every time I bred my Frosted Corns to Amel Corns, I got 50% Ultramels and 50% Amels (the parallel results of breeding an Ultramel Corn to an Amel Corn), it was clear that the Frosted Corns possessed the same mutation as the Ultra types. Since Mike Shiver told me essentially the same story about the origin of the Ultra Hypos (that a Gray Rat was used in their creation), commonality of Frosted Corns and Ultra types was a foregone conclusion.

On one of Rich Z's popular corn snake chat forums back in the mid 1990s, it was discussed at length (surely those threads are archived) and in the final analyses, the forum participants unofficially decided that Mike Shiver had likely been upset about getting out of the corn snake business and had therefore falsely stated that a Gray Rat Snake was used in their creation. At that time, keepers and breeders of Ultra types either chose to ignore the testimonies of Mike and Andy - in favor of being able to declare that they were not hybrids - OR realized that by the time this discussion came up, many of us had bred Ultra types into hundreds of pure corns, and it was too late to rid out inventories of those mutant products. In essence, they chose to downplay the Hybrid Issue. So be it. It is difficult (if not impossible) to sway public opinion. Especially when some forum participants have the time to lobby their views on a regular and constant basis). Meantime, I was still saying they were hybrids, until one day when a customer that was interested in buying one said to me, "I wasn't aware that the SMR Ultra types were hybrids, so I'm buying mine from so-and-so who has pure Ultra types". That was when I stopped advertising that they were hybrids, but everyone who ended up ordering one from me was told by me that they were hybrids. The facts seemed to blur with time, but every time I was involved in any thread about Ultra types, I made it a point to remind that they were not pure corns. Each time I did, it seemed that a new generation of forum frequenters were present, and had little or no knowledge of their alien origins. When I rolled out my new web site, I decided to make it abundantly clear that they were not pure corns, so just as I label Creamsicles as Inter-species hybrids between Emory's Rats and Corns, Ultra types were also labeled as hybrids from a sister species.

One thread even posed the challenge that since the originator of this mutation said he used a White Oak phase of Gray Rat Snake, someone should breed a wild-caught Gray Rat with an Amel Corn to see what happens. I was always comically amused at this line of thinking, which seems to have presumed that ALL Gray Rat Snakes possess this mutation? OR all White Oak Gray Rats (which is only a phase - not locality) would carry the mutation. To me, that's like saying since the first albino corn was discovered in NC, all corns in NC are het for Amel.

Do any of us really know the origins of the mutants of any species for sure? Unless we were there to see the first pairing, how could we? Add to that the fact that so many captive corns have escaped or been intentionally released in the wild, how can we even really know the origins of corns we personally catct in the wild? Sure, it's logical to presume that a corn snake we capture far from a city (or corn snake breeder) does not possess any alien genes derived from captive-breeding, but anyone that's worked at a zoo knows of (or has seen) Natural hybrids. When I lived in California, more than one California King x Pacific Gopher were donated to the zoo, and most (if not all) were genuinely found in the wild. Geneticist will also tell you that the likelihood of mutations springing from the pairing of two different species (inter-species), is more likely than mutations derived from intra-species pairings. Mutants are mutants. In the wild or in captivity, mutants are rare. Perhaps more prevalent in captivity, since unlike their wild counterparts, captively-produced corns are not exposed to the predators that prey upon corn snakes in the wild. Surely, countless thousands of mutants have hatched in the wild over the past mellenia, but the appearance of most of them were so unsuccessful, their full genetic potential never entered the gene pools. Fortunately, most mutant heterozygotes are successful in the wild, in that their phenotypes are virtually identical to their nominate forms, and therefore, ideally suited for survival in their natural habitats. It is for this reason, some corn snake mutations are still found in the wild. Some are even more successful than their nominate form, and thrive among their wild gene pools; i.e. Anerythristic Corns. Look at Black Pine Snakes and Great Lakes Melanistic Garter Snakes? Very successful mutants, indeed.

PS, as Rich will tell you, once he was convinced that the Frosted Corns were hybrids (when he bought them, he was told they were pure corns), he sold me all of those snakes. I subsequently bred them, and except for the Amels of this line looking nothing like Amel Corns, all the non-Amels looked precisely like all the Ultramels and Ultramel Aneries in our hobby today. In typical hybrid fashion, their pheontypic diversity is VAST, but everyone would call the Frosted Ghosts I produced, ULTRAMEL ANERIES.

Don

It can be found in this thread: http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=117585&page=4
 
Thank you, I'd not seen it before and she may have just heard about it and thought it was new.

Now, can someone explain the difference between a corn and a rat snake? Wikipedia says they are the same.
 
Very interesting stuff. I was just about to post a thread asking what the deal was with ultra, ultramel and gold dust disappearing from http://iansvivarium.com (as corn snakes anyway).

I was looking at this list http://iansvivarium.com/morphs/species/elaphe_guttata/ days ago and they were listed under the single or double trait categories. Now, they are listed under the hybrids category. I guess if it's true that they are hybrids then this is a welcomed change. Sure confuses the heck out of everyone though.

ultramel - page gone, http://iansvivarium.com/morphs/species/elaphe_guttata/ultramel
ultra - page still there, http://iansvivarium.com/morphs/species/elaphe_guttata/ultra/
gold dust - page gone, http://iansvivarium.com/morphs/species/elaphe_guttata
/gold_dust
 
Very interesting stuff. I was just about to post a thread asking what the deal was with ultra, ultramel and gold dust disappearing from http://iansvivarium.com (as corn snakes anyway).

I was looking at this list http://iansvivarium.com/morphs/species/elaphe_guttata/ days ago and they were listed under the single or double trait categories. Now, they are listed under the hybrids category. I guess if it's true that they are hybrids then this is a welcomed change. Sure confuses the heck out of everyone though.

ultramel - page gone, http://iansvivarium.com/morphs/species/elaphe_guttata/ultramel
ultra - page still there, http://iansvivarium.com/morphs/species/elaphe_guttata/ultra/
gold dust - page gone, http://iansvivarium.com/morphs/species/elaphe_guttata
/gold_dust


Wow just wow, I guess will have to rethink some projects lol
 
here in germany, finally people start to label their ultras as hybrids since Don has updated his website. It's a pitty people didn't do that from the beginning, now we have a ton of nonultra byproducts, such as amels, caramels, butters, etc., which are impossible to detect as hybrids. I just can speak for myself, but I do not want any ultra blood in my stock, meanwhile it's pretty hard to find some morphs which are unrelated to ultra...

anyway, people start to label them as hybrids, so everyone has the chance to choose by himself if he wants a more or less "pure" corn or a corn-ratsnake-mix. definately a step in the right direction.
 
I just want to see the ultra gray rats.
Must admit, that's a fly in the ointment with the hybrid theory for me - the lack of success in trying to produce ultras in the rat snakes at the root of the debate.

I'm still leaning more towards hybrid than I used to, but it's by no means cut & dried.
 
On Don's site, where the animals are for sale, everything Ultra has a hybrid disclaimer, so I'm going to say yes, it seems like a conclusion has been reached.

I have 3 ultra/amel animals in my collection. 2 of them are pretty, but will probably never be bred. However, my ultra/amel pewter is definitely breeding when he comes of age. If no one likes it then I guess I'll keep all the pretty babies.
 
From Don's SMR site:
The founder (discoverer) of the Ultra mutation states that he originally paired a gray rat snake with a corn snake, in the discovery of this mutation.
That is pretty much the end of the discussion.

Does anyone remember when/where Mike Shivers said this? None of the debates I've ever seen online have produced such an absolute statement from him, but I'm guessing there have been many more behind-the-scenes discussions. Being able to give a firm source would put the recurring discussion to bed for good - it'd be nice to do that.
 
Good luck putting it to bed, as the story I heard was that after claiming to do the corn X rat cross, it was "amended" to that there was also a corn X corn cross done. And it was never determined from those involved if the "ultra" gene was from the suspected rat snake or a corn. The test crossed have been done between gray rats and corns with no results other than you would expect; corn/rat crosses.

I'd guess Don S labelled everything ultra or ultramel based "hybrids" as much from the story that has been going around about the "origins" as any definitive "proof" of if they arte or aren't, but as they are in doubt it's just the right thing to do. The TS line I work with have always had that moniker of "under suspicion" :)

And to the "I KNOW my line is pure corn and yours isn't" folks, unless you started, literally from the ground up, you really have no proof other than the last guy who had them or their parents, who got them from the last guy etc etc...;)
 
Good luck putting it to bed, as the story I heard was that after claiming to do the corn X rat cross, it was "amended" to that there was also a corn X corn cross done. And it was never determined from those involved if the "ultra" gene was from the suspected rat snake or a corn. The test crossed have been done between gray rats and corns with no results other than you would expect; corn/rat crosses.

I'd guess Don S labelled everything ultra or ultramel based "hybrids" as much from the story that has been going around about the "origins" as any definitive "proof" of if they arte or aren't, but as they are in doubt it's just the right thing to do. The TS line I work with have always had that moniker of "under suspicion" :)

And to the "I KNOW my line is pure corn and yours isn't" folks, unless you started, literally from the ground up, you really have no proof other than the last guy who had them or their parents, who got them from the last guy etc etc...;)


Very well said, I tried to rep you but it wouldn't let me.
 
Actually Don based his decision on comparisons between his frosted rat line and ultramel anery a's from the other line per his site. So that is as definitive an answer as can be expected. :)
 
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