:: Ians Vivarium - Corn Snake Colour and Pattern Morphs ::

Corn Snake Colour and Pattern Morphs

After several decades of captive breeding, and in particular selective breeding the humble cornsnake is now available in many different and beautiful colour and pattern morphs. This page is a guide to the most popular of these morphs, and is continuously growing. Click here for an introduction to corn snake genetics, including a brief explaination of how different morphs are achieved.

*** Click on a thumbnail picture for photos of hatchling, adult and pattern variants of that colour morph ***

We now have morph galleries on the Forum for members to upload photos of morphs they own. There are currently morph galleries for Corn Snakes and Leopard Geckos, so if you keep any of these species please feel free to contribute your own photos. The aim of this is to build galleries that illustrate the differences between animals of the same morph, and how age or sex can affect colours and patterns.

LATEST STATS:
210 photos of 90 individual morphs with 115 different trade names

Key to genotype notes

-⁺	= wild type	a^a	= amelanistic	a^u	= ultra
an^a	= anerythristic	ca^c	= caramel	ch^c	= charcoal
D^D	= diffuse	dt^d	= dilute	h^h	= hypo
k^k	= kastanie	l^l	= lavender	m^m	= motley
m^s	= stripe	p^p	= pied sided	s^s	= sunkissed
v^v	= lava	z^z	= cinder

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Wild type corn snakes

To produce wild type corns of a certain locality (e.g. miami), you would have to breed a miami with another miami. This type of selective breeding is neccessary because all the wild types carry the same genotype (-⁺-⁺), therefore it is impossible to be het for any of the wild types.

Normal or Carolina
This is where it all started - the classic corn snake.
An orange body with red blotches, outlined with black.

Photo © Ian Bradley

Miami
A normal phase corn, originating in southern Florida.
A grey/tan body with red/orange blotches, outlined with black.

Photo © Don Soderberg

Okeetee
Another normal phase, from South Carolina.
An a brightly coloured orange body with orange/red blotches, outlined with a wide black band.

Photo © Connie Hurley

Keys Corn or Rosy Rat Snake
A normal phase from the Florida Keys. Once thought to be a seperate species, but now re-classified as a true corn snake. Smaller in size to other corns, it has a golden background colour with blotches ranging from dark crimson to bright orange.

Photo © Don Soderberg

Kisatchie
Found in Eastern Texas and adjoining states. There is quite a lot of debate as to whether Kisatchies are a sub-species of corn snake, or totally seperate.

Photo © Caroline Piquette

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Single trait corn snakes

Amelanistic or Red Albino (a^aa^a)
Amelanistics lack the black pigment melanin. Also called an Amel for short.
An orange body with red or dark orange blotches outlined with white.

Photo © Ian Bradley

Anerythristic Type A or Black Albino (an^aan^a)
Anerythristics lack the red pigment erythrin. Also called an Anery for short.
A grey body with darker grey blotches outlined with a black band. Once mature Anery A's usually develop yellow on their chin and neck.

Photo © Ian Bradley

Anerythristic Type B or Charcoal (ch^cch^c)
Similar in looks to the Anery 'A' but incompatable, sometimes lacking the yellow colouring.

Photo © Don Soderberg

Anerythristic Type C or Cinder or 'Z' or Ashy (z^zz^z)
A fairly new Anerythristic-like recessive trait differing from type A and B by having dark burgundy tones instead of the classic anery black and grey.

Photo © Connie Hurley

Caramel (ca^cca^c)
The Caramel corn carries a recessive gene, leaving very little or no red at all.
Light yellow to light brown body with caramel brown blotches, outlined with black.

Photo © Simon McCleave

Chestnut or Kastanie (k^kk^k)
An extremely new gene, first discovered by a biology teacher in Germany in 2002. Through test breeding it has now been proven as simple recessive.
The name 'Kastanie' comes from the German word for 'Chestnut'.
Photo © Marc Zajonc

Diffused (D^DD^D)
The new term 'Diffusion' is gaining favour for describing corns affected by the Bloodred mutation, but without the intensive red colour selection process.
Photo shows a Diffused Normal (D^DD^D)
Photo © Connie Hurley

dilute (dt^ddt^d)
The dilute allele is responsible for a unique appearance. Extreme fading of colours, almost as if the snake is in shed all the time, more evident as the snake ages.
Photo shows a Dilute Normal (dt^ddt^d)
Photo © Sean Niland

Hypomelanistic or Hypo Type A (h^hh^h)
Similar to Amelanistics, but with a greatly reduced melanin black pigment as opposed to a total lack. The black is usually restricted to the belly and the eyes, sometimes causing the eyes to appear purple. Hypomelanism also has the effect of brightening existing colours. Also called a hypo or hypomel.
Photo © Rob Stevens

Lava or Hypo Type C (v^vv^v)
A newer genetically independent form of hypomelanism.

Photo © Connie Hurley

Lavender (l^ll^l)
Similar looking to an Anerythristic but a much paler grey, sometimes almost pink, with pale purple blotches and ruby coloured eyes.

Photo © Don Soderberg

Motley (m^mm^m)
The oldest pattern morph, discovered in 1977. Motleys have no ventral pattern, while the rest of the pattern can be highly variable, but all have merging blotches.
Photo shows a Motley Sunglow (a^aa^am^mm^m)
Photo © Don Soderberg

Stripe (m^sm^s)
Instead of blotches, these animals have two dorsal and two finer lateral stripes

Photo shows a Striped Amel (a^aa^am^sm^s)
Photo © Joni Garcia

Sunkissed or Hypo Type B (s^ss^s)
A genetically independent form of hypomelanism producing very brightly coloured snakes, again with highly reduced black pigment.

Photo © Don Soderberg

Ultra or Hypo Type D (a^ua^u)
A genetically independant form of hypomelanism, producing a much paler hypomelanistic animal

Photo © Nate Benson

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Double trait corn snakes

Amber (h^hh^hca^cca^c)
A combination of Hypomelanistic and Caramel.
Similar in appearance to a Caramel, with paler more 'yellowy' colours and reduced black.

Photo © Don Soderberg

Amel Cinder (a^aa^az^zz^z)
A combination of Amelanistic and Cinder, resulting in a white bodied snake with freckled red saddles.

Photo © Carol Huddleston

Anery Lavender (an^aan^al^ll^l)
A combination of Anerythristic and Lavender, giving a very clean looking pale grey snake.

Photo © Carol Huddleston

Blizzard (a^aa^ach^cch^c)
A combination of Amelanistic and Charcoal
Similar in appearance to the Snow, but without the yellow. Usually the pattern in Blizzards is extremely light, resulting in an almost completely white snake.

Photo © Don Soderberg

Butter (a^aa^aca^cca^c)
A combination of Amelanistic and Caramel. Butter corns lack both red and black pigments.
A yellow body with yellow blotches, outlined with white bands

Photo © Nate Benson

Caramel Bloodred (ca^cca^cD^DD^D)
A combination of Diffused and Caramel. These animals start out looking like normal caramels but as they grow the pattern becomes lighter with each shed. Also lacking in belly pattern which is a result of the Diffused influence.

Photo © Daniel Bohle

Diffused Lava (D^DD^Dv^vv^v)
A combination of Diffused and Lava

Photo © Carol Huddleston

Dilute Anerythristic or Blue (dt^ddt^dan^aan^a)
A very new mutation, the dilute allele is responsible for a unique appearance. Extreme fading of colours, almost as if the snake is in shed all the time. Others have described it as the colours are buried under some layer. But along with this, lighter pigments such as pinks and yellows are enhanced.

Fire (a^aa^aD^DD^D)
A combination of Bloodred and Amelanistic. Similar to the Hypomelanistic Bloodred, but with vivid orange colouring.

Photo © Sean Niland

Ghost (h^hh^han^aan^a)
The Ghost corn is a combination of Hypomelanistic and Anerythristic 'A'.
A very pale version of an Anery.

Photo © Caroline Piquette

Gold Dust (a^aa^uca^cca^c)
A combination of Ultramel and Caramel. Similar in appearance to an Amber, but with much brighter yellow colouring, and almost no black around the blotches

Photo © Ian Bradley

Granite or Pepper (an^aan^aD^DD^D)
A combination of Diffused and Anerythristic 'A'. Granites can also develop shades of pink and red.

Photo © Don Soderberg

Honey (s^ss^sca^cca^c)
A combination of Sunkissed and Caramel. This combination produces a snake with a bright yellow ground colour with honey coloured saddles.

Photo © Charles Pritzel

Hypo Amel (h^hh^ha^aa^a)
A bright orange snake with very little white produced by combining Hypomelanistic with Amelanistic. Some Sunglows are actually Hypo Amels without the owner knowing.

Photo © Johan van der Dussen

Hypo Bloodred (h^hh^hD^DD^D)
A combination of Diffused and Hypomelanistic producing a bright vivid red snake, with a plain belly as a result of the Diffused influence.

Photo © Mark Perkins

Hypo Lavender or Cotton Candy (h^hh^hl^ll^l)
A combination of Hypomelanistic and Lavender. A more pronounced lilac colouring is brought out by the hypomelanism.

Photo © Nigel Gooding

Ice Ghost (an^aan^av^vv^v)
A combination of Lava and Anerythristic 'A'. These animals are extremely light compared to normal ghosts, and can seem to have a pale blue tone. Often refered to as just 'Ice'

Photo © Mary Boyd

Lavamel (a^aa^av^vv^v)
A combination of Lava (hypo type C) and Amelanistic.

Photo © Oliver Reville

Mandarin (k^kk^ka^aa^a)
A combination of Kastanie and Amelanistic. Mandarins hatch out white and pink, much like a snow hatchling does. As it ages orange colouring develops giving an orange snake with slightly darker orange saddles.

Photo © Luebben/Strauch-Germany

Opal (a^aa^al^ll^l)
A combination of Amelanistic and Lavender. Starting out as washed out looking amels, they quickly fade into what appears to be a purplish snow corn. As they mature, varying amounts of pale orange fills in the areas between the blotches.

Photo © Susan Willis

Paradox Snow (a^aa^aan^aan^a)
Genetically a snow corn but displaying patches of black, which should be impossible because snows lack the gene that creates the black pigment melanin. It is described in this section, as even with selective breeding it can be almost impossible to create another Paradox Snow.
Photo © Sean Niland

Pewter (ch^cch^cD^DD^D)
A combination of Diffused and Charcoal.
A light silvery body with slightly darker blotches.

Photo © Don Soderberg

Phantom (h^hh^hch^cch^c)
A combination of Hypomelanistic and Charcoal, and looks similar to a Ghost but with paler grey, and sometimes lacking the yellow neck colouring.

Photo © Don Soderberg

Pied Sided Bloodred (p^pp^pD^DD^D)
Pied sided is the newest gene to be discovered, and shows random patches of white along the sides of the snake. It is thought to be somehow linked to the diffused gene.

Photo © Rob Stevens

Plasma or Lavender Bloodred(l^ll^lD^DD^D)
A combination of Lavender and a Diffused.

Photo © Denise Milligan

Snow (a^aa^aan^aan^a)
The Snow corn is a combination of Amelanistic and Anerythristic 'A'.
A mostly white body with pale blotches and a yellow chin and neck.

Photo © Cornsnakeman

Sunkissed Amel (s^ss^sa^aa^a)
A combination of Sunkissed with Amelanistic that produces a bright orange snake.

Photo © Charles Pritzel

Sunkissed Lava (s^ss^sv^vv^v)
Combining Sunkissed with Lava (both independant forms of hypomelanism) produces a doubly bright snake.

Photo © Johan van der Dussen

Ultra Amber (a^ua^uca^cca^c)
A combination of Ultra and Caramel, giving a snake that looks much like an Amber, but using Ultrahypo instead of type 'A' Hypo.

Photo © Tom Thompson

Ultramel Anerythristic (a^aa^uan^aan^a)
Breeding Ultramel into Anerythristic produces a quite pale, but very clean looking grey and white snake with a deep ruby eye pupil.

Photo © Carol Huddleston

Ultramel Bloodred (a^aa^uD^DD^D)
A combination of Diffused and Ultramel.

Photo © Mark Perkins

Ultramel Lavender (a^aa^ul^ll^l)
A combination of Ultramel and Lavender.

Photo © Tom Thompson

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Triple trait corn snakes

Amber Bloodred (ca^cca^ch^hh^hD^DD^D)
A combination of Caramel, Hypo and Diffused, giving a much paler version of the caramel corn, with less pattern and a plain belly

Photo © Josua Hannink

Anery Phantom (h^hh^hch^cch^can^aan^a)
A combination of Hypomelanistic, Charcoal and Anerythristic.

Photo © Carol Huddleston

Avalanche (a^aa^aan^aan^aD^DD^D)
A combination of Snow and Diffused, giving a much paler version of the snow corn, with less pattern and a plain belly.

Photo © Sean Niland

Coral or Hypo Snow (a^aa^aan^aan^ah^hh^h)
A combination of Hypomelanistic and a Snow. Many of these snakes show enhanced red, due to the hypomelanism, and vary widely from pale pink to darker coral pink.

Photo © Nerys Garbett

Hypo Butter (a^aa^aca^cca^ch^hh^h)
A combination of Hypomelanistic and Butter creating a snake very similar to a regular Butter, but with muted colours.

Photo © Nate Benson

Hypo Granite or Ghost Bloodred (h^hh^han^aan^aD^DD^D)
A combination of Hypomelanism, Anery and Diffused.

Photo © Mary Boyd

Hypo Plasma (h^hh^hl^ll^lD^DD^D)
A combination of Hypomelanism, Lavender and Diffused. Adults lose their pattern as they age due to the diffuse influence and can become a solid bright purple.

Photo © Carol Huddleston

Hypo Pewter (h^hh^hch^cch^cD^DD^D)
A combination of Hypomelanism, Charcoal and Diffused.

Photo © Charles Pritzel

Ice Blood (an^aan^av^vv^vD^DD^D)
A combination of Lava, Anerythristic and Diffused.

Photo © Carol Huddleston

Pied Sided Granite (p^pp^pD^DD^Dan^aan^a)
Pied sided is the newest gene to be discovered, and shows random patches of white along the sides of the snake. It is thought to be somehow linked to the diffused gene.

Photo © Rob Stevens

Snopal or Champagne Snow or Glacier (a^aa^aan^aan^al^ll^l)
A beautiful morph with lots of different names! The Snopal is a combination of Lavender and Snow.

Photo © Amanda DeWitt

Sulfur or Butter Bloodred (a^aa^aca^cca^cD^DD^D)
A combination of Diffused and a Butter. Very similar in appearance to a Butter, but lacking in belly pattern which is a result of the Diffused influence.

Photo © Daniel Bohle

Tequila Sunrise (a^aa^uh^hh^han^aan^a ?)
A new line currently being developed and test bred and is thought to be possibly Ultra/Ultramel Anery or ghost. Another theory is it is an intergrade with the yellow rat snake, although neither has yet been proven.

Photo © Sean Niland

Whiteout (a^aa^ach^cch^cD^DD^D)
A combination of Blizzard and Diffused. The same brilliant white as a Blizzard, but with the Diffused genetics there is even less pattern present and no belly pattern, producing a near perfect white corn snake.
Photo © Sean Niland

Xanthic Snow (a^aa^aan^aan^aca^cca^c)
Xanthic Snow is the name being given to Snows that are also showing the Caramel gene. The result is very similar to a regular snow, but with a slight yellowy tint.

Photo © Vincent Lilja

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Codominant trait corn snakes

Ultramel (a^aa^u)
Ultrahypo (hypo type D) and amelanistic alleles share the same locus and are codominant, so if no normal gene is present in that place i.e het for both Ultra and Amel, it is possible to create a snake with an appearance intermediate between the two.

Photo © Don Soderberg

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Selectively bred corn snakes

Abbotts Okeetee (-⁺-⁺)
A selectively bred Okeetee, the aim with the Abbotts is to enhance the wide black borders.

Photo © Don Soderberg

Banded (m^mm^m)
A selectively bred Motley. The dorsal blotches extend down and blend into the lateral blotches giving a banded look.

Photo shows a Banded Miami (m^mm^m)
Photo © Carol Huddleston

Bloodred (D^DD^D)
By selectively breeding the Diffused trait, an almost solid color has been produced. Hatchlings have a slight pattern that fades as they mature into a solid dark red snake. Snakes showing the Diffused trait also lack belly pattern.
Photo © Don Soderberg

Butter Okeetee (a^aa^aca^cca^c)
When Butter is bred into Okeetee lines a butter corns white banding is greatly enhanced.

Photo © Rob and Louise Stevens

Candycane (a^aa^a)
A selectively bred Amelanistic, producing a white body with bright red or orange blotches, resembling as the name suggests christmas tree candycanes.
Candycanes also develop yellow markings on the neck as they mature.
Photo © Don Soderberg

Dilute Pastel (dt^ddt^dh^hh^han^aan^a)
A combination of Dilute, Hypo and Anerythristic. Selected for high pink and other pastel colours

Photo © Rob and Louise Stevens

Crimson or Hypo Miami (h^hh^h)
Hypomelanism crossed into a Miami, resulting in a snake similar to a normal miami phase but with greatly reduced black.

Photo © Jason Hamp

Cube (m^sm^s)
A selectively bred Stripe with the stripe broken up, appearing as rectangles.

Photo shows a Cubed Amelanistic (a^aa^am^sm^s)
Photo © Bribrian

Fluorescent Orange (a^aa^a)
Selectively bred amelanistic, to produce vivid bright orange colouring.

Photo © Sean Niland

Frosted (-⁺-⁺)
Selectively bred to concentrate colour towards the outer parts of the blotches, giving a frosted look to the inner parts. Thought to be due to Grey rat snake influences.
Photo shows a Frosted Normal (-⁺-⁺)
Photo © Don Soderberg

Green Spot Snow (a^aa^aan^aan^a)
A selectively bred snow with fluorescent yellow/green blotches.

Photo © Don Soderberg

Hurricane (m^mm^m)
Hurricanes are a selectivly bred type of Motley. The blotches on the back are reduced to thick borders that form circles, while the rest of the snake is background colour. The name is said to have come from the hurricane symbols on weather maps.
Photo shows a Hurricane Snow (a^aa^aan^aan^am^mm^m)
Photo © Don Soderberg

Milksnake Phase (-⁺-⁺)
These are selectively bred Miamis that have larger and more intense saddles, and are similar in appearance to Milksnakes hence the name..

Photo © Clint Boyer

Pastel (h^hh^han^aan^a)
Selectively bred Ghosts, bred to show lots of pastel colours such as orange, pink and yellow.
Photo © Nate Benson

Pink Green Spot Snow or Bubblegum Snow (a^aa^aan^aan^a)
A selectively bred Snow, similar to the Green Spot Snow, but with a pink ground colour with the same green colouring.

Photo © Don Soderberg

Reverse Okeetee (a^aa^a)
An amelanistic bred to resemble the okeetee (not all of these snakes have okeetee blood). The same bright colourings as an okeetee, but with wide white bands instead of black.

Photo © Don Soderberg

Silver Queen (h^hh^han^aan^a)
Silver Queens are genetically Ghosts, but are a much paler silvery grey with slightly darker blotches. Some Silver Queens also lack the yellow colouring as found in a standard Ghost.

Photo © Mark Perkins

Sunglow (a^aa^a)
A brightly coloured contrasting selectively bred Amelanistic with little or no white banding.

Photo © Don Soderberg

Zigzag or Aztec (-⁺-⁺)
This pattern is caused by the left and right halves of the dorsal pattern becoming misaligned, and appearing as a wide zigzag line down the snake. When the pattern is completely misaligned with both halves completely seperated these snakes are sometimes refered to as Aztecs.
Photo shows a Zigzag Ghost (h^hh^han^aan^a)
Photo © Don Soderberg

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Corn Snake Colour and Pattern Morphs

Contents

Key to genotype notes

Wild type corn snakes

Single trait corn snakes

Double trait corn snakes

Triple trait corn snakes

Codominant trait corn snakes

Selectively bred corn snakes

A-Z index of corn snake morphs

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z


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