Corn Belly markings

Corny-Dawny · #1 (**permalink**) 13-06-2007, 03:55 PM

Just wondering about belly markings please,
what corns have them and what do they mean.
Thanks
Dawn

JohnC · #2 (**permalink**) 14-06-2007, 12:13 AM

Most corns have checker markings on their bellies.
The colour of the checker depends on the morph of the corn, a normal will have black checkers on white, an amel will have red checkers on white.
Exceptions are pattern morphs motley, stripe and bloodred, these have white bellies with no checkers.

Corny-Dawny · #3 (**permalink**) 14-06-2007, 12:47 AM

Thanks John,
I have a normal but didnt see its belly markings until today just wanted to know what it meant.
Dawn

stephenie191 · #4 (**permalink**) 14-06-2007, 12:48 AM

meant? it's just their markings.

beckys_dad98 · #5 (**permalink**) 14-06-2007, 04:36 AM

I wish I had piccys of my big male Sunglow's belly, but unfortunately he passed away a couple of years ago (not the one in the siggy bar)... His belly marking were not the usual checker pattern, but instead he had orange, yellow, and cream marbling. I have never seen another one like that though.

Steve

HABU · #6 (**permalink**) 14-06-2007, 06:10 AM

let a guy that lives close to cornsnakes explain!

just kidding guys. morphs don't count in any of this as they are artificially selected for. corns use the same strategy as anacondas and other snakes. if you want to understand it just put your corn way up in a tree and look up at it. a light belly and checker board belly breaks up the outline. it looks kinda bold up close as does many camoflage strategies, but in real life, with real eyes looking up, it is very effective. ratsnakes have those flat bellies and sharp edges laterally because they are so aboreal. dorsal comoflage works great from above but, from underneath, against the sky, having simply a solid light colored underside just makes it look like a stripe. by checkerboarding things, it breaks up the pattern. just like an anaconda being looked up at from below. i hope this helps. i figured this out a long time ago. ya gotta study that biology and vertabrate zoology.

great question by the way!!

HABU · #7 (**permalink**) 14-06-2007, 06:34 AM

well, these things are what fascinate me about natural snakes. everything that they are is for a reason. natural selection is a tough business. all the evolutionary adaptations they have inherited over the eons goes straight out the window when you start selecting for traits desirable to humans. morphs are very pretty but so is a shitz-tzu, but it's not a wolf. not by a long shot.