Not Quite Normal Striped Baby

[wendhend]

This is a striped baby that hatched recently and just had his first shed. He just doesn't quite look like a normal stripe to me, but I can't tell what he is otherwise. Without commenting on what his parents are just yet, I'm wondering if anybody sees any morphs here besides stripe?

 

[Nanci]

Here's a bunch of normal stripes I hatched a couple years ago:

 

[Shiari]

Maaaaaaaaaaaaybe if I stretch it and squint I could imagine diffused, but I doubt it.

What has me curious is... is that a white 'ringer' around his tail there, or is it just the light shining through? And if it is actually white, does he have a kink there?

 

[Nanci]

Lots of bloodred stripe hatchlings:

 

[wendhend]

Thanks you for your replies! Diffused is definitely a possibility, as the sire is het diffused, and the dam is at least het diffused if not homo. All three of the siblings are definite diffused morphs. In real life, he does not have a white spot and no kinks. I think it must have been the lighting causing it to look that way.

 

[Nanci]

Going by his head markings, I feel like they are more typical of plain stripe. The bloodred stripe head markings are a lot more reduced.

If you look at his belly (there are threads about this) if he's diffused, he should be white on the edges, with some areas of translucency, heaviest in the center of the scales. That's a good marker for diffused.

 

[Nanci]

Here's a good discussion of that.

That first snake pictured has the classic diffused belly scale translucency.

 

[wendhend]

More than pattern morph, I am questioning his color morph. He has a very good chance of having a color morph that is not normal. Anybody see anything different than normal?

 

[Chip]

I'm not seeing a color mutation.

 

[wendhend]

Maybe some more photos would help to show the difference I'm talking about. See how he has grey eyes instead of the reddish brown ones you see on a typical normal stripe? I just think there is something different about him.....



Weirdo stripe alongside a typical normal stripe hatchling


Weirdo stripe eye


Typical normal stripe eye

 

[nancyg]

Is there any other genes beisdes some Anery that suppresses yellow and/or red pigment?

 

[Shiari]

I don't think anery is involved at all. I'll bet you that the eye colors up, as there is a touch of orange to it as is. It could also be something like Carol's Zombie Headed miami phase corns. Or it could be a once-off quirk, like the ghost with orange eyes that Carol also had.

 

[cturley]

I'm going to go my own way here and guess at a tessera parent/ancestor. He's got the reduced head pattern, the loss of lateral stripe, etc. of a tessera stripe (i.e. stripe/stripe tessera geno, as opposed to what is generally called a "striped tessera," which is actually a stripe/motley tessera geno).

Something about him says cinder ancestry as well, which could be the source of his zombie head? No real idea about the color (though I've gotten some very weird colorations in tessera clutches).

Catherine

 

[wendhend]

Good thoughts, Catherine! Since I produced both of his parents, I can say pretty certainly that there is no cinder or tessera in the mix. However, I do think you might be onto something with the notion of hybrid lineage (which tessera just might be) producing funny-looking offspring. With Weirdo Stripe here, there happens to be a different gene associated with hybridization on both sides of his family, and that is the ultra gene. His father is a gold dust het diffused stripe, and his mother is an unrelated diffused or het diffused motley who is now proven het for caramel, stripe and ultra. She came from a pairing that would have made her 50% possible het caramel, but I could tell from an early age that she probably was het caramel from the intense yellow coloration she developed early on. Anyway, so my own thoughts on what make Weirdo Stripe look how he does are:

1. He might be an ultra stripe rather than a normal stripe. I can't find a photo anywhere of a striped ultra (that is not ultramel) to compare, but lots of ultra corns look darker than ultramels and similar to normals in color, yet not quite "normal."

2. Being het caramel may affect his coloration, like it did to his mother.

3. He is very likely het diffused, which can mean less side pattern. I don't believe he is homo diffused, because his stripes are too full and distinct, although it is genetically possible.

4. Hybrid weirdness may be coming through and giving him the zombie head and unusual appearance.

Just my speculation, of course. In any case, I plan to raise up Weirdo Stripe to see how he turns out, and I will likely breed him to an amel morph when he is bigger to see how much ultra comes through.

 

[cturley]

Rats, I was looking at the VMS site for a pic one of the Ultra Stripe babies from 2012, but looks like they've all been sold or taken down. It was an Ultramel Motley/Stripe to Ultramel Motley/Stripe pairing, and we had the greatest of times sorting out Ultras from Ultramels. -_- What we found was that the Ultramel Stripes had the slightest ruby cast to their pupils in bright light, but the homo Ultras had none. In keeping, of course, with the look of Weirdo Stripe. (Though there was no chance, in our case, of any of them being normals, as there is in his.)

So, pointed out to me as it now is, I'd have to say Ultra Stripe would be my guess.

 

[Nanci]

nevermind.

 

[wendhend]

Rats, I was looking at the VMS site for a pic one of the Ultra Stripe babies from 2012, but looks like they've all been sold or taken down. It was an Ultramel Motley/Stripe to Ultramel Motley/Stripe pairing, and we had the greatest of times sorting out Ultras from Ultramels. -_- What we found was that the Ultramel Stripes had the slightest ruby cast to their pupils in bright light, but the homo Ultras had none. In keeping, of course, with the look of Weirdo Stripe. (Though there was no chance, in our case, of any of them being normals, as there is in his.)

So, pointed out to me as it now is, I'd have to say Ultra Stripe would be my guess.

Thanks for your input, Catherine! Good to find someone who has seen ultra stripe close-up and in person. I can't believe I can't find a single photo of one on the internet! If anyone has a photo of a definite ultra stripe for comparison, I would love to see it, and feel free to post it on this thread!