A Cornucopia of Colors! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Anerythristic

Anerythristic, usually shortened to "Anerys", are one of the most common corn snake "morphs". This genetic mutation results in a snake lacking reds, yellows and oranges: a completely black, gray or brown snake.

DID YOU KNOW? "morph" is a simpler word for "polymorphism". In short, animals that are said to be polymorphic are animals that exhibit different phenotypes [the way an animal looks] within the same species. An example would be in American jaguars. A "black panther" is actually just a "morph" of jaguars, specifically a melanistic jaguar.

Answer: True

A "candy cane", "reverse Okeetee" and "sunglow" are all genetically identical to an amelanistic (albino) corn snake (known in the trade as an AMEL). They are from selectively bred lines, allowing a wide variant of colors and patterns.

Answer: Stargazer

First discovered in the year 2,000 in a breeder's collection in the US, this genetic fault caused widespread panic for corn collectors and breeders all over the world. Luckily, this genetic fault is recessive, and appears to be under control. Originally it appears to have developed within the sunkissed line, however it has been found in other morphs as well, such as amels and snows.

Answer: False

A "normal" (i.e. wild type corn snake) can also be known as a Carolina or classic. An Okeetee, Miami and Alabama are all genetically normal (wild type) corn snakes that have, due to selective local breeding, produced snakes that have a slightly different phenotype than most corn snake owners are used to seeing. These snakes, however, are still considered normals, and are NOT morphs.

Answer: 100% normals

Sorry- it isn't always as easy as it looks. You can have two absolutely gorgeous snakes... but if they don't have compatible traits, all you will get is normal corn snakes.

A SNOW corn snake carries two homozygous traits simultaneously: Amelanistic and Anerythristic.

A HYPO carries one homozygous trait: Hypomelanism.

Since a snow and a hypo do not have any compatible traits, all offspring will appear normal, although they will carry hidden heterozygous traits.

Answer: Butter Stripe

The stripe gene and motley gene are compatible, however motley is dominant. If you breed a motley to a stripe you will get 100% motleys that are heterozygous for stripe, however they may appear striped. Animals that APPEAR (phenotype) striped but are GENETICALLY motley (genotype) are called pin-stripe motleys.

Answer: Fires are albinos exhibiting the "diffused" gene

Genetically, a fire is expressed as homozygous for both amelanistic (albino) and diffused, resulting in a bright red snake with little patterning.

Answer: Palmetto

Named for the state it was captured in (South Carolina, "The Palmetto State"), this absolutely astounding snake is wildly considered one of the most striking and unusual color mutations in the world. Although select hatchlings were made available to the public in 2013, it will be many, many years to come before they are made widely available (and affordable!)

Answer: Tessera, Buf

Genetics 101! Genes are either RECESSIVE (requiring two copies of the same gene to make a physical change in the animal), DOMINANT (requiring only ONE copy of the gene to make a physical change in the animal) or CO-DOMINATE (meaning that an animal with one copy of two different genes has a 50% chance of showing that gene)

Simply speaking, recessive traits are demonstrated in writing with lowercase letters, while dominant traits are expressed with capital letters. For instance, lets say you are breeding an albino snake (recessive) to a normal (dominate) snake. The albino snake would be "aa" and the normal snake could be expressed as "AA". Since offspring get only one gene from each parent, if you breed AA to aa, you have only one possible outcome: Aa. Because the offspring only carries ONE recessive albino gene instead of the mandatory TWO, the offspring will physically NOT be albino.

Only Tessera and Buf have proven dominant over normal corns, which means if you breed a snake carrying two copies of the Tessera gene (homozygous tessera) to a snake carrying zero copies of the Tessera gene, you will produce offspring that phsyically express the Tessera gene (likewise for Buf).

Answer: False

A Creamsicle is NOT a corn snake morph- it is a hybrid produced between a corn snake (Pantherophis guttatus) and a rat snake (P. emoryi).