Amel vs. Sunglow

[icygirl]

Are they the same thing? Mine was sold to me as a sunglow, and I was under the impression that sunglows have no white except on their bellies, whereas amels can have white on their backs. Or is a sunglow just a fancy name for amel?

[icygirl]

Oh here is a picture of Jake, sold to me as a sunglow motley. This is an old pic but his color is the same.

[joepythons]

Oh here is a picture of Jake, sold to me as a sunglow motley. This is an old pic but his color is the same.

That is deffinatly not a amel .

[joepythons]

Here is a amel corn snake. http://www.moreptiles.com/amelanistic.htm

[Blue Apple Herps]

That is deffinatly not a amel .

Actually that is an amel. Sunglows are just line bred amels. Same with candycanes, they're just line bred amels. If you breed a sunglow and regular amel, you'll get genetically get all amels, some may or may not be sunglows. Likewise, sunglow x sunglow doesn't always give you all sunglows (though it does increase your chances), and two amels can throw sunglows.

As for what makes a sunglow, yes, they have no white on them and are marked by extremely vibrant reds/oranges. Even though some may have no white, they also need to have intense colors to make the cut.

In the case of amel motley/stripe, those almost always have no white on them (other than the belly), but not all are sunglows. In that case you have to rely on the intensity of the color. Here's a comparison of a sunglow stripe and regular amel stripe as yearlings (I need to get new pics as these are several years old)

Oh, and I think yours makes the cut as a sunglow.

Sunglow stripe - note how vibrant he is



Amel Stripe - note how even though she has no white, her colors are much more dull

[joepythons]

Ok now i know also

[Hulihzack]

Oh here is a picture of Jake, sold to me as a sunglow motley. This is an old pic but his color is the same.

Nice looking sunglow, and motley to boot

[icygirl]

Actually that is an amel. Sunglows are just line bred amels. Same with candycanes, they're just line bred amels. If you breed a sunglow and regular amel, you'll get genetically get all amels, some may or may not be sunglows. Likewise, sunglow x sunglow doesn't always give you all sunglows (though it does increase your chances), and two amels can throw sunglows.

As for what makes a sunglow, yes, they have no white on them and are marked by extremely vibrant reds/oranges. Even though some may have no white, they also need to have intense colors to make the cut.

In the case of amel motley/stripe, those almost always have no white on them (other than the belly), but not all are sunglows. In that case you have to rely on the intensity of the color. Here's a comparison of a sunglow stripe and regular amel stripe as yearlings (I need to get new pics as these are several years old)

Oh, and I think yours makes the cut as a sunglow.

Hey, thanks a lot. So does that mean that a sunglow doesn't have one "magic gene" that makes it a sunglow? In other words, we all know if you breed a spider BP to a normal, you get 50% chance of getting spider babies, period. But if I am understanding you correctly, the genetics with the amel/sunglows works somewhat randomly, like a trait being developed slowly instead of all at once.

Sunglow stripe - note how vibrant he is

Very nice!! I love the stripes and if I get another corn, I would get a butter stripe. They are so cool!

Since we're talking about genetics, stripes/motley is the same kind of thing, right? I was under the impression that stripe is just a very selectively bred form of motley?

Jake was darker when I first bought him as a baby/juvi. He has lightened up as he's gotten older. Here's a pic of him as a juvi - the colors are messed up because I was using a broken camera, but you can see how clear the contrast on his motley pattern was, compared to how he looks now.

[Blue Apple Herps]

Hey, thanks a lot. So does that mean that a sunglow doesn't have one "magic gene" that makes it a sunglow? In other words, we all know if you breed a spider BP to a normal, you get 50% chance of getting spider babies, period. But if I am understanding you correctly, the genetics with the amel/sunglows works somewhat randomly, like a trait being developed slowly instead of all at once.

You're correct that there isn't a "sunglow" gene. I wouldn't call it random, maybe pseudo-random. Like I said, two sunglows will throw a lot more sunglow babies than two regular amels. But it was a selectively bred trait. i.e. the most vibrant babies were bred together, then the most vibrant babies from that were bred together, etc.

Since we're talking about genetics, stripes/motley is the same kind of thing, right? I was under the impression that stripe is just a very selectively bred form of motley?

They're allelic to each other with motley being dominant to stripe. So stripe is its own distinct allele and a single gene causes it. Even though they originated out of motleys, they're not selectively bred.

Also, interesting change Jake has gone through. As a juvenile I wouldn't have called him sunglow (though maybe the camera is playing tricks), but as an adult he definitely makes the cut IMO.

[icygirl]

They're allelic to each other with motley being dominant to stripe. So stripe is its own distinct allele and a single gene causes it. Even though they originated out of motleys, they're not selectively bred.

Interesting... So if you had an animal that had MS (motley and stripe), it would appear as a motley, but breeding it with a normal (nn) you would get 50% Mn (motley) and 50% Sn (stripe).

Know any examples of this in ball pythons? I can only think of codominance at the same site (I am under the impression that butter and lesser are allelic to each other). It seems to me that complete dominance of a gene is hard to find.

Sorry about the crappy pic - I don't have many pics of him when he was a juvi. Here's one that was taken a few months after the last one I showed you:

What really struck me about his growth was how dramatically his motley pattern faded. The red areas you see in this picture turned more and more bright orange as he got older. I'm not really sure if that's the case with all sunglows, I usually just see pictures of the babies.