Diffused
Type: Recessive
First Produced By: Eddie Leach
Aliases: Bloodred
Issues: N/A
First Produced In: 1970s
Availability: Common
Last Updated: 2022-08-16
About
Diffused is a recessive mutation founded by Eddie Leach in the 70s.
History
Eddie Leach collected wild corn snakes from northeastern Florida, where the snakes often exhibited a more uniform coloration. Some were redder than normal and had reduced black borders around their saddles. Subsequent inbreeding of these wild caught corns determined that this was a new recessive gene.
Bloodred and diffused are sometimes used synonymously, but bloodred is actually considered to be a selectively bred morph that is made from a combination of diffused, masque, and a red enhancing gene - usually red factor.
Appearance
Head
Nearly all diffused corns are combined with the masque gene, so generally you will see the typical ‘bald’ or reduced head pattern. Although a single gene diffused corn can exist without masque, it’s incredibly rare. The reduced pattern on the head will typically be mostly gray at hatching, but will fill in with red or orange as the snake matures. The eyes typically match the saddle color - red, orange, or brownish with a black pupil.
Body
The body of a diffused corn will have typical saddle placement, but the saddles will fade down the sides of the corn snake. The lateral pattern will be smudged, blurred, or messy looking on most diffused corns, but some low expression diffused corns will still have a normal side pattern. As the snake grows, the diffusion along the sides should become more apparent, filling in with color. On excellent examples, the sides will be completely diffused and there will be little to no pattern along the dorsal region. As hatchlings, diffused corns typically have dark brown or burgundy saddles and tan or gray background color, but mature to be shades of dark red and orange. Saddle borders are typically thin and black, although corns with high levels of diffusion may lose their saddle borders as adults. On some examples, you will see two faint dark lines running parallel down the length of the snake.
Belly
The belly of diffused corns is white with no checkers. Many times the center of the belly scales will be translucent. Red or orange color bleeding into the belly scales is a possibility. Sometimes they can have a few tiny black dots amidst the white.
Tail
The tail will follow the body pattern and color. Often the underside of the tail will have color bleed from the top.
Proven Lines
Pied sided appears to be linked to the diffused trait.
