Corn Snake - Variations - Color Morphs

Color Morphs

• Normal or wildtype corn snakes are orange with black lines around red colored saddle markings going down their back with black and white checkered bellies. Regional diversity is found in wild caught corn snakes, the most popular being the Miami and Okeetee phases. These are the most commonly seen corn snakes.
• Miami Phase (originates in the Florida wildtype) These are usually smaller corn snakes with some specimens having highly contrasting light silver to gray ground color with orange saddle markings surrounded in black. Selective breeding has lightened the ground color and darkened the saddle marks. The “Miami” name, coined by Rich Zuchowski, now is considered an appearance trait. Many Miami corn snakes are difficult to start feeding as hatchlings, as they prefer lizards. Miami corn snakes, unlike other varieties, will often readily accept anoles as food for life. This can simplify feeding for residents of Florida, but care should be taken to avoid introducing parasites from wild caught food.
• Okeetee corn snakes . These snakes are characterized by deep red dorsal saddle marks surrounded by very black borders. The ground color varies with bright orange being popular amongst breeders. As with the Miami phase, selective breeding has changed the term “Okeetee” to an appearance rather than a locality. Some on the market originate solely from selectively breeding corn snakes from the Okeetee Hunt Club.
• Candycane (selectively bred amelanistic) These are amelanistic corn snakes bred toward the ideal of red saddle marks on a white background. Some were produced using light creamsicle (emory/albino corn hybrids x corn) bred with Miami phase corn snakes. Most candy canes develop orange coloration around the neck region as they mature and many labeled as candycanes later develop significant amounts of yellow or orange in the ground color. The contrast they have as hatchlings often fades with maturity.
• Reverse Okeetee (selectively bred amelanistic) an amelanistic Okeetee corn snake which has the normal black rings around the saddle marks replaced with wide white rings. Ideal specimens are high contrast snakes with light orange to yellow background and dark orange/red saddles. Note: Albino Okeetees are not locale-specific okeetees—they are selectively bred amelanistics
• Fluorescent orange (selectively bred amelanistic) develop white borders around bright red saddle marks as adults on an orange background.
• Sunglow (selectively bred amelanistic) another designer amelanistic corn that lacks the usual white speckling that often appears in most albinos, and selected for exceptionally bright ground color. The orange background surrounds dark orange saddle marks.
• Bloodred (selectively bred “Diffused”) corn snakes carry a recessive trait (known as diffused) that eliminates the ventral checkered patterns. These originated from a somewhat unicolor Jacksonville and Gainesville, Florida strain of corn snake. Through selective breeding, an almost solid ground color has been produced. Hatchlings have a visible pattern that can fade as they mature into a solid orange red to ash red colored snake. The earlier bloodreds tend to have large clutches of smaller than average eggs that produce hard to feed offspring, though out-crossing with amelanistic and anerythristic corn snake hatchlings tend to be larger with fewer feeding problems.
• Crimson (hypomelanistic + Miami) are very light high contrast snakes with a light background and dark red/orange saddle marks.
• Anerythristic (anerythristic A, Sometimes called black albino) are the complement to amelanism. The inherited recessive mutation of lacking erythrin (red, yellow, and orange) pigments produces a snake that is mostly black, gray and brown. When mature, many type A anerythristic corn snakes develop yellow on their neck regions. In 1984 a Type B anerythristic corn snake was caught in the wild; it is the ancestor of anerythristics missing the yellow neck regions. Similar snakes include: stonewashed-copper or light brown saddle marks; charcoal (aka muted anerythristic, Pine Island anerythristic); type B anerythristic, very low contrast with shades of gray on white and black background.
• Charcoal These snakes (sometimes known as anerythristic type ‘B’) can lack the yellow color pigment usually found in all corn snakes. They are a more muted contrast compared to Anerythristics.
• Caramel corn snakes are another Rich Zuchowski engineered corn snake. The background is varying shades of yellow to yellow-brown. Dorsal saddle marks vary from caramel yellow to brown, and chocolate brown.
• Lavender corn snakes contain a light pink background with darker purple gray markings and burgundy eyes or lavender gray saddle marks on an orangish background. Variation with this same genetic strain are arguably called mocha, cocoa, and chocolate.
• Cinder reduced red pigment which becomes more like an anerythristic as they become adults.
• Kastanie This gene was first discovered in Germany. Kastanies hatch out looking nearly anerythristic but gain some color as they mature, to eventually take on a chestnut coloration.
• Hypomelanistic or rosy corn snakes carry a recessive trait that reduces the dark pigments causing the reds, whites, and oranges to become more vivid. Their eyes remain dark. These snakes range in appearance between amelanistic corn snakes to normals with greatly reduced melanin.
• Ultra Ultra is a hypomelanistic-like gene that is an allele to the amelanistic gene. Ultra corn snakes have light grey lines in place of black. The Ultra gene is derived from the grey rat snake. All Ultras and Ultramels have some amount of grey rat snake in them.
• Ultramel is an intermediate appearance between ultra and amel which is the result of being heterozygous for ultra and amel at the albino locus.
• Dilute is another melanin-reducing gene.
• Sunkissed is a hypo-like gene which was first found in Kathy Love’s colony.
• Lava is an extreme hypo-like gene which was discovered by Joe Pierce and named by Jeff Mohr.
• Stargazing is not a color morph, but a chronic deficiency in balance. It is caused by a simple-recessive genetic defect and is considered deleterious.