Abbreviations/Terminology Frequently Found on Snake Sites/Forums

****Please note the following lists were created by many members of www.cornsnakes.com and myself****

 

Abbreviations Commonly Used In Reference To Snakes And/Or Corn Snakes

1.2.0 = Signifies the sexes of the snakes in this order male, female and unknown

1.1 = Signifies only males and females, there are no unknowns or they have not been listed

0.0.6 = Signifies the number of snakes who’s sex is unknown

Blue = Is often used to represent a snake in shed, ie: “my snake is going through her first blue”

Brain = Cut open the skull of the F/T and allow some brain to come out

CB = Captive Bred, Captive Born or Colubrid (Corns, Kings, Milks, Rat Snakes etc)

CBB = Captive Bred Baby or Captive Bred and Born

CH = Captive Hatched (generally with WC gravid females)

Christmas Morning Clutch = A clutch where every egg that pips is like a fun little gift you don’t know you’re going to get. Especially used when referring to a clutch that’s proving out hets or has been sired by multiple males.

Cull = Euthanize/Kill. This is done when a breeder feels the snake is not genetically desirable. It may be kinked, two headed, severely deformed, unable to survive, suffering, and to keep the genetics of the snakes they are working with, strong and healthy the decision is made to euthanize, thus preventing the continuation of undesirable/flawed genetics or preventing the suffering of the animal.

DIE = Dead In Egg

DOR = Dead On Road (in reference to field herping)

Genotype = The genes a snake carries and can pass on regardless of whether they can be visually seen in the specimen.

Gravid = When a female snake is in state of pregnancy, whether it be a live bearer or egg layer.

Hatchling = A baby corn snake that has fully emerged from the egg.

Hateling = A baby snake that is aggressive and frequently coils, strikes and/or bites.

Hybrid = A snake that has be created from the crossing breeding of two different species. For example, when a King Snake is bred to a Corn Snake, the offspring are neither pure Corn nor pure King but a hybridization of the two, which has been named Jungle Corns. There are several types of hybrids. See Common Hybrids.

LTC = Long Term Captive

Munson Plan = A feeding plan created by Dean P. Arnold II aka Roy Munson on cornsnakes.com, easy to follow, great guidelines to how much to feed your snake when, based on the weight of your snake and the prey items.

Murphy = Murphy’s Law, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Often when discussing problems with breeding or not getting the babies wanted, people make comments like “Murphy has struck again”.

Phenotype = The visual genetic markers in a given snake.

Pip = Hatch ie: “day 70 and they are finally starting to pip!”

Pips/Pippie(s) = Baby corn snakes when they first start to hatch, noses just peeking out of the egg ie: “beautiful pips or pippies”

Pipping = Hatching ie: “finally they are pipping”

P.I.T.A. = Pain In The Ass, often referring to a hatchling that will not feed.

Popping = A method of determining sex by “squeezing” a snake below the vent so their genitals “pop” out (unscientific definition).

Probing = A method of determining sex by sticking a metal probe(rod of appropriate size) into a snake’s vent.

Regurge = When a snake throws up it’s meal, it can happen in varying stages of digestion for varying reasons. It is a serious health concern if not treated properly the act of regurging can kill a snake.

R.I. – Upper Respiratory Infection, this is an infection in the snake’s lung, which if not treat quickly and correctly can be fatal. It is generally caused by a lack of proper husbandry.

Saddles = The blotches found along the back(dorsal area) of a corn snake. Saddles vary in shape and size but generally they are shaped like: a saddle on the back, a band across the back or virtually round. Abnormal or aberrant shapes which make a pattern similar to a zig zag or that likened to Aztec patterning found in fabric can also be found on snakes and are often bred for that specific look.

Scutes = the ‘scales’ on a snakes belly.

Substrate = The bedding or covering found in the bottom of the snakes enclosure. Most frequently used with corn snakes is Aspen, although there are several other suitable substrates for corn snakes.

Slug = An egg that is not fertile and will not hatch.

Viv = Vivarium

WC = Wild Caught

 

Corn Snake Morph Abbreviations

Amel = Amelanism/Amelanistic/Albino (means without black pigment)

Anery/Aner(Anery Type A) = Anerythrism/Melanistic/Anerythristic/Black Albino (means lacks all red and most yellow pigments)

Anery/Aner(Anery Type B) = Anerythrism/Melanistic/Anerythristic/Black Albino/Charcoal (means lacks all red and generally all yellow pigments)

Blood(s) = BloodReds

C.C. = CandyCane

Diffused/Diffusion = This is the genetic term for what is commonly called a bloodred. Bloodred is a Line Bred (color) form of diffuse (a pattern morph), the diffuse gene itself presents as “smeared” sides, mostly clear bellly scutes and a mostly grey head with “eyebrows” of various shapes and sizes.

Dominant = A gene ( allele) that when paired, expresses itself as the phenotype (what you see).

GBR = Ghost BloodRed

Hurricane Motley = A condition of motley where the dorsal spots are surrounded by an atypically thick and usually darker (depends upon the morph) ring.

Hypo = Hypomelanistic/Hypomelanism (means a reduction not removal of black pigment).

Hypo Lav = Hypomelanistic Lavender

Intergrade = These are the result of different species or subspecies of snakes that can and do breed together because of geographic proximity and common genetics, as opposed to a hybrid (artificial breeding of different species or genuses).

Lav = Lavenders (very light snake with purplish tones)

Line Bred (trait) = The selective breeding of certain desirable characteristics of a snake to ‘fix’ a desired trait ( not known to reflect Mendelian genetics.

Locality = Used to specify where a snake species is found, it’s origin, can also refer to a line bred trait from that origin.

Masking = When one genetic trait, hides another. eg. A hypo amel looks just like an amel because the Hypo is masked by the amel.

Mot = Motley

P/S, P.S. = Pied sided, a trait known to be associated with diffuse, where the sides,only, of the snake appear to have been splashed with bleach. (some snakes occasional have white nose scales as well.)

Recessive = A gene ( allele) that is not expressed when paired with a dominant allele.

R.O. = Reverse Okeetee

SK = Sunkissed

 

Morph Related Abbreviations

het = Heterozygous (contains gene, but not physically showing)

homo = Homozygous (shows gene)

poss het/phet/ph = Possibly heterozygous (not confirmed, need breeding trials)

uk het = unknown hets

 

Feeder Abbreviations

Red = 1 day old mouse

Pink/Pinky = young mouse with no fur

Peach/Peach Fuzz/Peach Fuzzy = fur just starting to grow

Crawler = mouse just staring to move around

Hopper = lively young mouse, jump like kangaroos right out of your hands!

Weanling = young adult mouse

Pups = rat pups/young rats

F/K = fresh killed

F/T = frozen, thawed food item (mice, rats, hamsters, etc)

Zombie Dance/Zombie Mouse Dance = jiggling dead mouse to induce feeding response

 

Snake Type (Non-Corn) Related Abbreviations

ATB/atb/Ammy’s = Amazon Tree Boa

BCC = Boa Constrictor Constrictor (“True” Red Tail Boa)

BCI = Boa Constrictor Imperator

BP/bp = Ball Python

BRB/brb = Brazillian Rainbow Boa

Burm = Burmese Python

Chondro = Green Tree Python

Conda = Anaconda

ETB = Emerald Tree Boa

FWC = False Water Cobra

GTP/gtp = Green Tree Python

KSB = Kenyan Sand Boa

KS = King Snake or www.kingsnake.com another mainly snake website/forum.

LTR = Leucistic Texas Rat

MBK = Mexican Black King

Retic = Reticulated Python

RP/rp = Royal Python/Ball Python

VBB = Vietnamese Blue Beauty.

 

Forum Abbreviations

AFAIK = As Far As I Know

Admin = Administrator/owner

BTW = By The Way

BOI = Board Of Inquiry an internet forum(housed on faunaclassified.com) where a person can check for reviews(good or bad) on a person or business they may want to make a transaction with. The BOI is also a place where people can post a Bad Guy thread when they have been wronged by a transaction, post a Good Guy thread when they felt a transaction went well or can post an Inquiry when looking for information on a person or business they are considering a transaction with.

Bump = means you’re posting so that the whole thread goes back to the top of the new posts list (aka “bumping” it to the top).

CS/CS.com = www.cornsnakes.com a forum that has a main focus on Corn snakes and their care.

DIY = Do it Yourself

DUW = Dial Up Warning, to let those on dial up internet connections know that this thread or post has a lot of pics so may take some time to load or lock up your connection.

DYK = Did You Know

FAQ = Frequently Asked Questions

Fauna = faunaclassifieds.com a site which houses the BOI.

IMHO – In My Humble/Honest Opinion

IMO = In My Opinion

JK = Just Kidding

JJ = Just Jokes

Kudos = Congrats/Way To Go

KS = www.kingsnake.com another mainly snake website/forum or it can refer to a King snake.

LOL = Laugh Out Loud

Mods = moderators

OMG = Oh My God

PM = Private Message

ROFLMAO = Rolling On Floor Laughing My Ass Off

Troll = Disruptive forum member who’s sole purpose on forums is to cause fights.