Jeff Barringer - Tonight's chatweek99 guest is Don Soderberg.... Dons topic is Breeding Corn Snake color morphs. Don has produced a wide variety of 'designer' morphs. Lets go ahead and start the questions. JFORKS go ahead

JFORKS - How many different morphs of corns snakes are you aware of?
Don Soderberg - I have never counted the morphs, but I have over 40 here at South Mountain. There are about four to five new ones each year counting colors and patterns.

BrianT - What do you think of the piebald corns and do you think they'll be compatible with other mutations?
Don Soderberg - I don't think the piebalds have been proven yet. in my estimation they are not recessive, but we all hope I'm wrong.

CoreyE - Ok so Don If I breed my amel mot to my anery het for mot I will not get triple het for snow mot offspring? And if i breed those babies together will I at least get snows and maybe snow mots? oh and what are those out crossed bloods you sent me, Okeetees?
Don Soderberg - they will be triple het and you will get snows, amels. and anerys. for colors. I just wanted you to know you will not get snow hets, you will get hets. for amel. and anery and snow.
CoreyE - I guess I'm really confused then.

gordie - Do you think if a concerted effort was made to get African house snakes more popular that we could see the variety of color morphs in them as we see in corns?
Don Soderberg - Yes, those have good potential in the colubrid world.

Reticulatus - Do you have any possibly unheard of mutations in your collection? Are there any Lavender x Okeetee, or Lavender Okeetees?
Don Soderberg - Have not worked on the lav. Okeetees yet I will have about three brand new morphs for this coming season mostly spin offs of the blood reds, my favorite. We hope to have six different colors of bloods this year.

TokayKeeper - Don..what do you think about the piebald and calico corns? I have also been told and have seen a picture of a striped emoryi(it's on John Cherry's site here at kingsnake.com)...is the striped emoryi completely genetic?
Don Soderberg - John's striped Emory's is genetic, but I'm not sure if any of the others out there are.

JeffB - Last time you were here I asked if anyone was working with locality animals - have more or less people begun working with them since?
Don Soderberg - There is a growing interest in locale specifics. I don't have many of them as they are not as predictable as the recessive "sport" corns.

BrianT - How many mutations/phases of corns do you currently keep?
Don Soderberg - about 40 right now. There are more every year and this year should be the best with about five new ones I'm keeping secret for the time being.

caolan - Do you keep any tiger rat snakes? If so could you give me some info on breeding? If not could you point me in the right direction for info?
Don Soderberg - I don't have any of the Asian rats. I've had them from time to time, but keep coming back to the guttata. I recommend sticking with the rat snake forum for contacts.

CoreyE - Don, Do you have plans to have any solid colored corns other than the blizzards, say total orange or bright red?
Don Soderberg - I've been working the butter colors in the bloods and blizzards, but the jury is still out. It's hard to make the markings go away in anything but snows.

DanS - Ever consider trying to breed glossy blood into your corns for possible mutations?
Don Soderberg - No. That one never occurred to me. That is, if you mean glossy snake.
DanS - Yes, I'm working on that here.
Don Soderberg - Please, keep me posted.

kleb - Are you working with the new red blotched snow corn? I've heard about 2 breeders working with it. Or have you seen it?
Don Soderberg - Red blotched corns??? I'd have to see them. Every breeder is coming up with his/her own new corn and naming it. Sometimes, it's an old corn with a new name. Without a picture, who knows?

Reticulatus - Have you bred or do you know of anyone who has bred Butterscotch x Lavender? Do you agree with the name SunCream for a Hypo Creamsicle? or Caramel x Lavender.
Don Soderberg - I bred the carmel to lavender and got the double recessive this year. I bred the butterscotch to butters and got those F-1's this year. I like the name SunCream. Sounds marketable.
Reticulatus - Do you think it will make Caramel Lavenders from the Caramel x Lavender?
Don Soderberg - I also bred butter to blood reds this year. I have the results of that crossing of the F-2's and will type it to you in an E later. I can't type fast enough to tell you about the five different colors that resulted from that. Suffice it to say, it was variable and exciting.

RyanG - This might already have been asked but how many more corn morphs do you honestly think are possible?
Don Soderberg - Since there are so many new ones each year, I honestly think it is endless, the problem is all the people that hatch something slightly odd and rename it only to find out it's already out there and common.

TokayKeeper - Don...do you plan to work with the t+ albino corns? And if so, what do you think a crossing of them to anery will produce, possibly brighter snows? One other thing...do you plan on trying to make any of the New Mexico Reptile Expos in Albuquerque anymore?
Don Soderberg - First, the NM shows are a possibility for me now that we're in Texas. Second, T+ corns will be expensive and I'll have to see what I can trade to get into those. I think they'll produce new everything. Everything that has been produced from the amel. corns will be possible for making new ones with the T+ ones. I don't even understand what I just said...Any new corn will create new corns 50 fold.

JeffB - In your opinion is the cornsnake the reptilian equivalent genetically to the fruit fly and if we know exactly the number of single mutants isn't the total variety a mathematical formula.
Don Soderberg - Yes, for the most part, the recessive are 95% predictable since some of the so-called recessive are not simple and we have not yet worked with them enough to find out what they can do. Yes, the fruit fly of the Herp. world. No other snake will have the variety in my opinion that the corn does.

BrianT - What corn snake appeals to you the most?
Don Soderberg - Any form of the blood corn. I mean the blood red corn, but since they're not the color of my blood, I'm hesitant to call them blood red? Also, I like the blood for the pattern it brings to the table.

CoreyE - Do you have a corn that is het for more than four things if so how many and for what?
Don Soderberg - Yes, Try the blizzard blood, het. for motley?
CoreyE - blizzard blood wouldn't that be a solid red snake?
Don Soderberg - I'll let you know when one grows up, but I don't think we will entirely get rid of the markings.

grayband - Don, you think a striped and lavender will produce a pretty snake?
Don Soderberg - A striped anything in this business is awesome. The striped candy cane, butter, etc. Just imagine???.
grayband - have you seen my striped temporalis?
Don Soderberg - Yes. Beautiful animal.

Reticulatus - I have this male Corn he is a Hypo but is very bright and looks like a Amelanistic or Sunglow with now white but has Black eyes and about 8 or 10 grey squares on his belly. What do you think will be a good mutation to breed him to? I know any of them would be good but I want your opinion on this. Oh and one more thing.. if you bred a Blizzard to a Blood red it would be like breeding a Amel Blood to a Charcoal so it would be lacking red?
Don Soderberg - That hypo. would be great for breeding into amels. for the better sunglows and the ghosts for lighter ones. I do those hypos. and I use them to improve some of the double recessive.

RyanG - Any plans for blood red x sunglow motley? DARK red and bright yellows would be amazing.
Don Soderberg - I have been working on the sunglow bloods and they are awesome. I don't think you can have a blood motley as they should cancel out each other??? The blood might cancel out the motley???

TokayKeeper - Don..I sent the pics. Could you possibly fill me in on the emoryi morphs. I use to catch them all the time when I was in Abilene, TX. I hear there are hypos and anerys, besides the already known albinos and stripes.
Don Soderberg - As far as I know there are only the following Emory's morphs in captivity, striped, amel., anery., hypo. If there are more, someone tell me where to go to see them.
TokayKeeper - What do the anerys look like?
Don Soderberg - Like a black rat. Long story. . . The only one in existence that I know of is silver with jet black markings. Awesome. More like a juvie black rat.

JeffB - Don how is the albino suboc project coming?
Don Soderberg - Albino suboc. project is doing great, with the talents of the barkers over 10 albinos produced this year.

JFORKS - Is there one strain of corn that tends to be larger in size than any other? How big is your largest corn?
Don Soderberg - Okeetees, hands down. I have a couple over five feet long and the stories out there indicate they get up to six feet. What a gentle and awesome giant the Okeetee is, can't say enough about them.

BrianT - Because of there great looks and endless possibilities, do you think sunglow motleys will continue to demand a high price?
Don Soderberg - The good ones will like it is with anything,,,shop around for the best. I think they are the brightest corns out there and therefore will continue to fetch the big $.

DanS - Any ideas on ways to produce a nicer ghost - white snake with silver markings?
Don Soderberg - It's in the works. I have some like that now, but they are usually the females. At least my line of ghosts are dimorphic, the males are pinkish and the females are the light silver colors. Beautiful! That's because I use the best hypos. in the recipe.

kleb - I have a Corn that is 16 months old now he was born 14 inches and now he is 34 inches and i am brumating him even though we only fed him once a week before. he is a 98 i believe he is ready.WIll this mean he would get big as his ultimate size as an adult,Or just a fast grower?he did grow about an inch a week at about 6 months.
Don Soderberg - As a rule, they will get no longer than they are genetically dispositioned to. If your mother fed you twice as much as you needed, would you be exponentially larger as a result?

PaulH - Have any striped blizzards been produced?
Don Soderberg - Not here. I think it might be somewhat of a double negative. Worth doing, but not sure about the marketability.

Ralphine - I have a 6 year old male corn and will be breeding him in 1-2 years. He's never been brumated. Do you brumate all your corns before breeding?
Don Soderberg - For the break from feeding, but it is not entirely necessary. Some of mine due to their marginal size do not get brumated and produce well.

JeffB - I want to thank Don for being our guest here tonight on ChatWeek99
Don Soderberg - My pleasure.