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what are the corn snake sub-species?

L

Lawrence1996

New member
After looking around the forums, and reading a bit about different corn snakes such as okatee, etc, I can safely say that I am confused. Im trying to find out what kind of corn would be best as a first snake, but all those species names mean nothing to me. I don't get them. Can someone please explain the different types? And are the only differences the color, or are there other factors involved?

Thank You
 
For the most part, corn snakes are just one species but different locality phenotypes that have been selectively bred to enhance the look (Okeetee and Miami phase are the two largest known examples). The one exception is the Upper Keys corns. They used to be considered a subspecies (rosy rat) but have been reclassified and are now considered "just" corn snakes and another locality phenotype. Just about everything else is a genetic mutation that results in a particular color or pattern, and then the combination of multiple genetic mutations.

Any corn snake will be an excellent first snake. The tough part is deciding which look (color &/or pattern) you like the best.
 
Lawrence1996 said:
Will some color combinations have different habits, growth, etc? Or is it all aesthetics?
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It's mostly all aesthetics. Some, such as the sunkissed, are known to be a *little* feistier, but not all are that way. You can laid back and flighty from any locality or color phase or pattern.
 
From what i have learned Corns , Kings, and Rat snakes have a 98% exact genetic breakdown... but even crazier is that native European corn snakes have less in common genetically with American corns, then say an american corn and a great plains Rat snake.. but they do have enough in common to be able to state that Corns may not have been native but perhaps came over on ships to the americas???? it is also interesting that you can inter-breed corns, kings,and rats and have healthy,happy, "normal" offspring. to me this is all very curious its like american snakes have gone the way of american people and created there own little melting pot
 
Warsco... you're getting this information from.... where? Especially that part about the corns in europe.

Citations needed.
 
There is nothing in that that I could find about captive bred corn snake populations in europe being more genetically distinct than corn snakes and emoryi ratsnakes.

There are NO native corn snakes in europe. There are only captive-bred ones unless people have been releasing them into the wild. It is thus impossible for corns to have originated in europe.
 
hahaha..sorry i had my facts mixed up.I confused myself, it has been a long night already but you must admit if you can understand it, its still an interesting read and answers the question that no there arent any sub species of corn snakes as corn snakes are a sub species.. :)
 
Shiari said:
There is nothing in that that I could find about captive bred corn snake populations in europe being more genetically distinct than corn snakes and emoryi ratsnakes.

There are NO native corn snakes in europe. There are only captive-bred ones unless people have been releasing them into the wild. It is thus impossible for corns to have originated in europe.
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I think he was talking about native European rat snakes or other colubrids, not cb corn snakes in Europe.

And I agree that there is something "funny" about the fact that different species are supposedly unable to reproduce or produce fertile offspring if manipulated to reproduce, yet many North American colubrids not only interbreed in captivity, they interbreed naturally in the wild and produce fertile offspring. Are they really all different species or should they be reclassified to be sub-species or something in between?
 
Since it is all just aesthetics, is it necessary for me to even know the names of the colors, or can I just choose which one I like more?
 
Just choose which one you like ^-^ I love the yellow (Butters, Caramels and Golddusts ect...) and whites (Snows, blizzards, Xanthic snows,and Avalanches ect...). Visit http://iansvivarium.com/morphs/species/elaphe_guttata/ to see a lot of the different morphs.

It's not necessary to know what the morph(Color) is called but it helps when your looking. What color/s are you interested in? Maybe we can help you find the Morph names :)
 
Susan said:
I think he was talking about native European rat snakes or other colubrids, not cb corn snakes in Europe.

And I agree that there is something "funny" about the fact that different species are supposedly unable to reproduce or produce fertile offspring if manipulated to reproduce, yet many North American colubrids not only interbreed in captivity, they interbreed naturally in the wild and produce fertile offspring. Are they really all different species or should they be reclassified to be sub-species or something in between?
Click to expand...

I have the exact same question. My (admittedly rudimentary) understanding of the distinction between species is that they cannot reliably produce fertile offspring.
 
Ring species add to the confusion of this:

Imagine a circle, with a small break in the bottom. There are 10 species lined up on this almost-circle. The two species that have the divide between them cannot breed. But they CAN interbreed with their neighbor. And that neighbor can interbreed with its neighbor, and on around the ring.

Lions and Tigers are definitely different species, and while their male offspring are sterile, the females are fertile.

Wolves and Coyotes are different species, but they can interbreed and have fertile offspring.

They're still separate species, but the separation was fairly "recent" genetically. The farther apart they go, the less viable the hybridization.
 
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