Gray Okeetee?

[lilwing89]

I ordered an Okeetee corn snake about a month ago. I'm pretty impressed with the colors, even if they are brownish grayish. However, most of the pictures I seem to find of Okeetees, they have yellow instead of gray. Below is a picture that resembles my snake very closely. I am just wondering if the scales will change color to yellow as he grows like in the picture below or if his scales will simply stay the same color.

 

[Shiari]

Corns snakes, especially the "normals" like okeetees change color a great deal between hatching and maturity. If you want to see how drastic that color change can be, look up Nautley in the photo gallery.

 

[bitsy]

Agreed. Yellow is the pigment that mainly develops after hatching. If you've bought a baby, then you can expect the browns/oranges to become much more vivid over the next year.

 

[diamondlil]

An okeetee from a good breeder should develop those rich colours as it grows. Here's my Love okeetee as a hatchling, in 07, as she changed and now!

 

[lilwing89]

Thanks everybody! Shiari, your corn is very beautiful, no doubt!

Wow diamondlil, your pictures really helped. My okeetee looks very much like yours did when it was a hatchling... it's got orange spots on the top between the bands, too. How long is he now? He looks 5 feet!

I'm really looking forward to seeing how my snake changes throughout time.

 

[diamondlil]

I'm glad you liked the pictures of Kate! She's in and out of her laybox, but I'll try to measure her at some point. She's probably around the 4-5 foot range by now. The way the reds and yellows appeared as she grew up made me so glad I got her. Knowing she was from imported Love okeetees meant I was pretty much guaranteed she'd turn out vibrant. The reason I said 'an okeetee from a good breeder' is the key, is because my first 'okeetee' was not. He's got great borders but his colours just aren't that eye catching, so I'd never personally describe him as an okee, he's a classic with thick borders. This is Joe Buck. Bought as okeetee phase (and as a female, but missexed too!) He's a lovely tempered pet, never any trouble, but I was quite upset that he never coloured up.