New Corns? What Morphs?

Hi there, just thought some of you could give me an answer to my question about what morphs these guys are. I inherited them from some family down in Florida. Corns are not really my thing, but I have other snakes. My husbands Uncle couldn't keep them anymore, but wanted them to 'stay in the family', see what happens when people find out you keep reptiles.

Any way I'm pretty sure the white one is a snow- no yellow pigment at all. The other one I'm not so sure about- she has a very dimminished pattern when compared to a 'normal' corn. A friend of mine has one and we compared them, this one has very faint markings where the 'normal' one has dark black markings.

Any ideas would be helpfull, like I said corns are not my specialty.

Thanks!

Kisha

Well, the whitish one is definitely a snow. The other one is a bit more difficult, partly because of the lighting and background in the pic. Certainly looks like a normal, but seems a bit dark. It may be nearing a shed cycle or something, but I think I see something different. It appears to have little to no black in the rings around the saddles, so may be a hypomelanistic normal phase. Another possibility, and I hope Rich jumps in here, is the bloodred cultivar. I don't know enough about that one to say for certain, so hope somebody else chimes in soon. Hope this helps a little bit, if nothing else.

David

Yeah, definitely a snow corn.

The other I would just classify as a 'normal' corn, unless there was some other information available that would sway me differently. Corns are so wildly variable even in wild populations that it can be bewildering. It doesn't help matters that you can find Okeetee looking animals in south Florida, and Miami phase looking ones in South Carolina.

So to try to keep the confusion down to a dull roar, unless you know otherwise, it is probably best to use the 'least common denominator' rule. No one will ever get upset with you if you claim that it is LESS than it actually is. IMHO.

Thanks for the insight, the previous owner referred to her as a 'red rat'- but I thought she looked 'normal' untill I compared her to my friends corn. She deffinately has less dark markings than the 'normal' one we compared her to. If I can get a pic with them both I'll try to post it to show what I'm trying to explain. Pics are never true to the actual color.

They are great snakes, regardless. Now if I can just get them eating FT mice I'll be very happy!

Kisha

the previous owner referred to her as a 'red rat'

A red rat is a cornsnake. Two common names for the same species.

I thought she looked 'normal' untill I compared her to my friends corn. She deffinately has less dark markings than the 'normal' one we compared her to.

She still looks normal...

This is something that cropped up quite a few times in some of the forums supporting pictures considering the short time these extra boards have been up but I'll address it here...

"What morph is this" is one of the most negligent and generally foolish things anyone can possibly ask. Outside of demonstrating a lack of experience with the animals (not inherently negative itself), it shows a very negligent attitude towards the individual animals involved. How many ludicrous adds for normal ball pythons do we need to see labeled as something other than what they are? How many false "high yellow leopard geckos" (I know there are real ones but the term is abused)?

This new drive for the neophyte keeper to need to ascribe morphs and names and traits that don't exist to animals that are just normal... beautiful and NORMAL... is reaching a fever peak, it seems nothing can be sold or even just represented in a picture as what it is these days, the need for every animal to somehow be a mutant encompasses otherwise rational people.

The corn in the picture looks normal... just normal. It does not have to look exactly like every other normal cornsnake to be a normal corn snake. There is a concept known as "phenotypal elasticity", that is to say, there's a natural and normal slight deviation in appearance between even members of the same species. Deciding that every animal that isn't completely identical to another is some new and exciting morph is bad for the hobby as a whole and needs to be stopped.

Most herpers are scientists, even without the degrees, they have the mentality, ask one of them to make a statement that universally rules out a possibility and they will balk and backpeddal and stretch their brains to come up with any possible situation that represents a second or third possibility, I do it myself most the time... In this instance though, fueled by some irritation over a situation that has come to a head in my own mind at this time, I will speak in an absolute...

That corn is normal.

Discounting any recessive traits it might be carrying that corn is a <explitive> normal.

The seeming need to attribute something else to it in order to add to it's worth is inappropriate and false.

I understand I'm probably coming off a bit stronger than this situation warrants, it was an innocent question and most of that was not directed at the person who asked, I'm just getting a bit frustrated with the constant need to decide animals are something other than what they are, as marketing gimicks, as things to brag about, whatever the root cause may be, I'm getting a bit sick of it as a personal matter.

The above post is mostly a personal rant, if it causes any offense, I would ask that the reader simply discount me as an angry person rambling and not attribute any importance to the words which may cause any future unpleasantness.

Seamus, I agree with you. I am not very familliar with the corn morphs available, which is why I posted here. I thought she was normal too- which is fine- they are not for breeding or selling, just for pets. I also think there is an overwhelming trend to name slightly different animals as 'morphs', not just with corns. I only have experience with breeding Bearded Dragons, but I am constantly seeing plain looking dragons going for hundreds of dollars- some are legit, of course, but for that much $$ I would want to be sure.

Kisha