Interesting day at the office!

[ecreipeoj]

I had an interesting day at the office today. I had a feeling that I needed to get some snakes together for breeding and it seemed like everything that I put together, bred right away.

This first photo is of Casper’s first mating. He is one of the few snakes that I have named. He is the Lavender that I suspect is some type of Lavender Hypo or other odd gene. He actually looks like a Lavender Ghost or Lavender Hypo and thus, the name Casper.

I decided to sacrifice two of my Het for Striped Opal females and see if I can pull any more of these pink ghostly looking lavenders out of them. It was hard to let Casper breed the Hets for St. Opal instead of a St. Lav male, but I am very interested to see if I can get some more of these Lavenders that turn pink or are saturated with pink. I chose the females that produced my “What the hell is this” Lavender (Saturated pink lavender) and my “Sunset” Lavender ( Pink Lavender). I am also keeping my fingers crossed that Casper is het for Striped. He is a Lavender poss het Striped and amel.

 

[ecreipeoj]

Casper and Aunt

It looks like Casper figured it out.

 

[ecreipeoj]

St. Lav pos amel. X Het St. Opal

This little guy figured it out too.

 

[ecreipeoj]

St. Lav pos amel. X Amel het St. Lav

Brother figured it out too.

 

[ecreipeoj]

Hypo Lav X Hypo

This was this little guys first time too.

I also caught a Blood X Lava Okeetee, Lava Okeetee X Butter Motley, and Amel Blood Okeetee X Amel Okeetee in the act today too. I will be looking forward to see what becomes of these crosses in a couple of years. It looks like it will be a year of mostly Normals multiple het hatchling.

I have some matings planed for hets for St. Ice, St. Lava, Motley Lava, Ice Pewters and more.

 

[ecreipeoj]

"Sunset" Lav

This is what I am hoping to get more of out of Casper. This is a Lavender believe it or not.

 

[ecreipeoj]

"What the hell is this" Lav

This guy looked brown and I thought I produced a mocha when he was born. He soon changed into this. He is very saturated with pink, which is on top of the lavender color underneith.

 

[Simon]

superb pairings!
Hope that the 'ghost lavender' x het striped opal would do you good!!
I really hope that you would end up in getting some of the things that you would hope with this pair!

Great looking snakes and
and that last lavender is really nice lookig too!
You can throw in everything here into my box now!

 

[mike panic]

great looking snakes

I especially like the "what the hell is this lavender." Whos line is the Sunset lavender from orginally? Thanks

 

[Clint Boyer]

Way to go Joe!

Don't you just love it when a plan starts to come together like that. Lets just hope for good fertility and good hatch rates too.

Almost all of my special projects have worked out as far as breeding goes this year. My male Okeetee het Motley with one hemipene seems good to go. My 'Speckled' male has bred his mother, a sis on mom's side and a sis on dad's side. Lots of OkMot pairs are bred and ready. All of my females seem especially plump with eggs this year.

Good luck on those projects!

 

[ecreipeoj]

Whose line is it anyway?

“Sunset” Lavender is just what I am calling it around here. Is it a simple recessive gene causing this or just a total saturation of pink, cased on top of the Lavender. Some of my Opals from this line have just about turned completely pink and the pattern is getting hard to see. This is what I hope to figure out. I like the look, either way, perhaps because it is just different. Casper looks ghostly, but is not as pink as the rest, so it may be genetic.

As far as whose line is it, I guess it is mine. They have came from my St. Lavender Project which was started with a St. Amel (Lemke) X Lavender het amel (Rainwater) and then the Lavender gene was recovered from this cross. So far, I have identified four Lavenders from this group that are different. (You have one, Mike) They are very saturated with pink and appear to have a hypo or ghostly appearance without a hypo gene involved. I have them labeled “Lavender Hypos” here.

I have also acquired a Lavender Motley that has the “Sunset” look from Ted Frey. (Photo attached). I just bought a mate for him from Frey, which looks the same. I sent Frey photos of this “Sunset” Motley Lavender and ask him if he had more. He had a female and attributed the pink color to one of his adults which was very pink. The photo he sent me of this adult Lavender was just a Lavender with pink between the blotches and not like these “Sunset” Lavenders. Rainwater bought many of his lavenders from Frey and company, which is traced back to Rich Z of course, so whose line is it is a matter of opinion. Since Frey and I have produced a few of these “Sunset” looking Lavenders, I would assume that others will or have too. It would be very interesting to see some photos of other Lavenders that look pink or have an extreme pink cast to them. Not around the blotches but on top of the lavender color.

 

[Darin Chappell]

Joe,

I'm sure its obvious to everyone else, and you may have even explained it elsewhere, but I didn't see it. What do you mean when you write about "St. Lavender"?

Thanks for your help on that...

 

[ecreipeoj]

Fertility

Young males always worry me with fertility, but so far I have only got 3 plugs from this group in two years and every female has double clutched. Out crossed vigor is a wonderful thing!

I have had infertility problems in the past in my colony that I attributed to protozoans, as others have documented. Not so much with the corns but sometimes. The Tri-colors are usually the problem. I started routinely treating my entire colony with Flagel in the spring many years ago. This takes me two entire days to complete, but the results are very rewarding.

This is an exciting time of the year, but my favorite time is when I start seeing little noses poking out. Reaching your genetic goals, which you started many years ago, unfold before your eyes as the hatching crawl out of their egg, is the most rewarding part of this wonderful hobby/business to me.

Good luck to everybody this year!

 

[ecreipeoj]

"St. Lavender" = Striped Lavender Corn Snake

Kathy Love asked me that same question. I guess that is not a good abbreviation that I should stop using.

 

[Kat]

Everytime I read it, it first translates as 'Saint Lavender' (you know, the patron saint of cornsnakes? )... I really don't think there's a good abbreviation for Stripe OR Motley...

-Kat

 

[Darin Chappell]

Oh I see ... Yep, I should have recognized that on my own, but if it stumped Kathy too, I guess I'm in good company, at least!

 

[mike panic]

Joe, here are some updated photos for comparison

I took some decent shots for a change. Let me ask you this, how would you prove something like this since Lavenders are so variable? Thanks.

 

[mike panic]

shot 2 same snake

 

[mike panic]

Opal Stripe

she has gotten lighter and I am losing the stripe but she does have that pink in her here and there. Is she from those "sunset" lavs as well?

 

[mike panic]

same snake, shot #2