Book by Sarah Mohr, Review by Justin Smith
A lot has changed in the corn snake world since I was a kid. What once seemed like a lot of morph options has now exploded into endless new combinations of color and pattern. If you’ve been out of the loop on what’s been going on in this world there is a ton of catching up to do, a position I found myself in recently. There hasn’t been much in the way of updated literature on the latest and greatest the corn corner of the hobby has to offer but, luckily, one breeder has put in serious work to fix that. Thanks to Sarah Mohr of Sarah’s Snake Shop and her two volumes on Cornsnake Cultivar Compilation.
To start, both of these books are ebooks and combined are made up of about 90+ pages. The first volume covers the proven mutations, unproven morphs, detrimental mutations, and a text version of an interview done by Donovan Winterberg with Kathy Love from the Corn on the Pod Podcast. The follow up volume covers phases and localities, basic selectively bred traits, traits tied to mutations, non-inheritable traits, hybrids, more detrimental traits, het markers and the traits of the future.
Sarah does a fantastic job of explaining all of the above along with a brief history of each. Each section has just the right amount of information to make these books handy for quick reference but also good reads if you really want to dive into both volumes. Pictures of each cultivar discussed are included as well with the comfort of knowing those pictures are accurate representations of them.
It’s clear that Sarah really put a lot of work into these writings with the help of herpetocultural legends like Howie Sherman, Donovan Winterberg, Kathy Love, Don Soderberg, Rich Zuchowski, and many, many more. I also have to mention that Sarah has a youtube channel with a ton of videos on the morphs or morph groups she discusses in the books. The channel coupled with the books makes getting up to speed on the corn morph world so much easier!
Whether you’re just getting into corns, coming back to them after many years, or a seasoned breeder, both of these books are well worth the money. I very much look forward to what Sarah publishes in the future to continue the series.
Grab both volumes here.
Brought to you by Toad Ranch Reptile Habitats
good because corn morphs have gotten confusing!