Sunkissed Corn Snake by Mesozoic Reptiles

Sunkissed Corn Snake by Tropic Cove Pet Store

Sunkissed

Type: Recessive

First Produced By: Kathy Love , proven by Rich Zuchowski

Aliases: Sunkist, Hypo B

Issues: N/A

First Produced In: 1990s

Availability: Common

Last Updated: 2022-06-02

Genetic Calculator

Do you have any suggestions or corrections for this article?
Click here to contribute feedback

Learn About Morphpedia >

About

Sunkissed is a recessive mutation founded by Kathy Love in the early 90s. Sunkissed is both a color and pattern mutation. It reduces the level of melanin (black pigment) and changes the pattern of a normal corn snake. It is considered a hypomelanistic type.

History

Sunkissed appeared in Kathy and Bill Love’s okeetee breedings in the 1990s. Rich Zuchowski later proved it to be a separate recessive gene mutation.

Appearance

Head

Sunkissed heads can vary wildly. They typically are ‘messy’ or blobby, but they can also look almost exactly like the typical head pattern. They often have extra dots or spots. A key giveaway that a corn snake is Sunkissed is they will show a break in the cheek stripe, even if the head pattern looks normal. The eyes will usually be a shade of orange or brown, matching the saddle color, with black pupils. They may gain yellow along the sides of the neck as they grow.

Body

Sunkissed corns have a hypomelanistic appearance with reduced blacks. They typically are brighter orange than a normal corn snake. Their saddle pattern will be uniformly squared off (or rounded off), instead of having points and jagged edges like a normal saddle pattern. They typically have reduced borders, but some have been selectively bred to have thick borders (Sunkissed Okeetees). Combined with some of the other gene mutations, sunkissed can cause some unusual pattern or color changes.

Belly

Sunkissed bellies will have typical checker placement, but they often exhibit bicolor checkers, usually half black (or dark gray) and half orange.

Tail

The tail will follow the body color and pattern.

Controversy

The stargazer trait was originally discovered in Sunkissed corns. Test breeding proved that stargazer was its own gene mutation, unrelated to Sunkissed.