The beautiful microscale!

The origin of the microscale

In June 2010, two very special corn snakes hatched in a litter at Barbara Velthuysen / SnakeAround from the Netherlands, with a look that had never been seen before. 
The shells of these corn snakes were smaller in size than usual, and did not overlap. There was also a lack of some headscales as well. Was this a mutation or a deformity that was caused during incubation? Barbara was not sure ...  

The two microscales that hatched in 2010. Photo: Barbara Velthuysen 

Father (left picture) and mother (right picture) of the first microscales. Photo: Barbara Velthuysen 

The parents of the cutch was a visually miami phase male of unknown origin, who were mated back to his daughter who was visually wild-type/normal. The mother of the daughter (the grandmother of the microscales) was visually a wild-type/normal with unknown origin.

The microscales in breeding

The next step for Barbara was to find out if this was a hereditary and reproducible mutation.
In 2011, she therefore paired the parents of the microscales again, to see if they would once again would produce this mutation. This would hopefully tell her if the mutation was the result of genes or a defect in the development of the eggs. She also mated the same male to one of his other daughters, to see what that clutch would give. 

From the mating with daughter no. 2 came no microscales, but from the mating between the parents of the first microscales, 3 new microscales appeared. Barbara could now conclude that it was genes that were the cause of the mutation, and not an error during the incubation. 

The question now was whether it was a mutation that could be reproduced in new individuals, or whether it was only a result between the two individuals that gave such small scales. To find out, Barbara had to breed her microscales with other unrelated individuals. 

The first offspring from 2010, both of which were males, were bred in 2012 to produce potensial hets of this mutation. In 2015, these potential hets were then paired back to each other. The offspring from these clutches gave her new microscales, and Barbara could finally conclude that this was a reproducible mutation! 

The name of the microscale

When the first individuals hatched, Barbara referred to these as 'mini scales'.
When she began to look for a name for this mutation, she considered 'Velvet' and 'High Definition' before the proposal for 'Micro Pave' appeared. Micro pave is a term for very small diamonds, which in turn could be transferred to these small scales these corn snakes had. In the end, the name ended up as a little twist from 'micro pave' and became what we use today: Microscale.

The microscaleproject are being sold

In 2012, Barbara sent 3 microscale males to the United States, to Tara&Jeff Gale junior (JMG Reptiles), and Don Soberberg. She exchanged these for other morphs that would be more relevant to her breeding plans. In 2014, several microscales were also sold to Martin at Multicorn Snakes in the UK. Barbara kept some microscales, which she still has to this day.

The microscalens genetics and looks

The genetics of the microscale are not complicated, as the gene is recessive. Het for microscales is not displayed visually.

Microscales have continuous scales from the tip of the tail to the head, but lack some headscales. The missing headscales vary from individual to individual. The bellyscales are not affected by the mutation, and are of normal size.

Microscales. Photo all 3 pictures: Barbara Velthuysen

In 2019, Don Soderberg made two trial pairings between microscale and scaleless, to see if these two genes were on the same allele. One pair was microscale x hot scaleless. The other pair was het microscale x het scaleless. The offspring from these were normal, microscales, scalelesses and what seemed to be a mixture between microscale and scaleless. This mixture had scales like a microscale, but in spots on the body it was scaleless.

This could indicate that these two genes were on the same allele, but Soderberg did not want to make a final conclusion about genetics, as a visual microscale was not paired with a visual scaleless one. At the same time, he did not have 100% control over the genetics in the parent animals. He could not give any guarantees that the individuals were not heterozygous for microscale and scaleless. If the pairing had been visually microscale to a visual scaleless, one could have come to a more correct conclusion.

In the spring of 2021, Ian Bettis and James Jenkins, who runs the Wyre Forest Reptiles, performed a pairing between visual microscale and visual scaleless, to further explore whether these two genes were really on the same allele. Amel scaleless x hypo scaleless was paired. These hatched during the last days of July, and the result turned out to be the same as Soderberg had received: areas on the snakes are scaleless, while other areas have microscale. The gene for microscale and scaleless certainly seems to be on the same allele.

Offspring after mating between microscale and scaleless 2021. Photo both photos: Ian Bettis 

The first microscale in Norway

We had a wish at Firehose Reptiles, and procure this mutation for our breeding. We were in contact with Wyre Forest Reptiles, even before the breeding season for 2020 started, to get a chance to buy a microscale that was planned hatched that year. We waited anxiously for the mating between amel microscale x het microscale, and crossed our fingers for results. Eventually, some beautiful microscales hatched, and we got to choose the one we wanted for our breeding.

Now it was just to get this back to Norway. When Covid-19 struck and country after country closed its borders, it turned out that the shipping-process became a little more nerve-wracking than first assumed. Finally, an opening for shipping appeared in the autumn of 2020, and this beautiful creature finally came home.

We were very lucky to have this opportunity, and we are really looking forward to putting it in our future breeding plans.

Sources 

Correspondence with Barbara Velthuysen at Snakearound, https://www.facebook.com/Snakearound.nl
Correspondence with Don Soderberg at South Mountain Reptiles, https://www.cornsnake.net/
Correspondence with Ian Bettis at Wyre Forest Reptiles, https://wyreforestreptiles.co.uk/ 

All images used with permission