#i literally had someone contact me specifically asking for “low quality” females to pair to their mystery males

[omg-snakes]

So, do all diffused corn snakes have to have patternless sides or is it another gene that can have levels of expression? I'm buying a pewter corn hatchling soon but it has those patterns. And another completely unrelated question (didn't want to send 2 asks) but lets say one snake is het for charcoal and the other snake its being paired to is not het for charcoal. Does that het pass on to the hatchling at all?

Hello friend!

Diffused corn snakes should have some level of diffusion of pattern on their sides (that's where the name comes from!) that gets more pronounced closer to the tummy, but there are definitely levels of quality at play. A snake with no or very light side patterning is obviously going to be a higher quality Diffused than one with more normal-type side patterning. It's become pretty common to see these popping up in the hobby, though, as folks just mash snakes together without regard for morph integrity. :(

Personally, I know "pet only" is a bit of a trigger phrase in the reptile hobby, but if a Diffused has normal, undiffused patterning on their sides or any checkering on their tummy, I certainly wouldn't consider them worth breeding. They can still be a gorgeous lovely pet! There's absolutely nothing wrong with keeping snakes as pets and just, like, not breeding them! You don't need to breed them to love them! You don't need to breed them please stop breeding them I beg of you please the market is so saturated please do not

Anyway,

If a het [insert favorite gene here] is paired to a non-het, the resulting offspring will be 50% likely to carry the het gene. We call these "50% het [gene name]" until proven het or non-het.