Hard to tell from that photo, but are the saddle borders actually a creamy-brown coloration, or are they black?

If they are a creamy-brown, then it's a hypomelanistic(reduced melanin pigment)mutant. This would also explain the high contrasting lighter background.

This is a hypomelanistic corn as well. Typical normal hatchling corns generally have darker brownish-red saddle blotches than this because of the normal melanin pigmentation, and gradually acquire more reds and oranges in them as they mature. But when their melanin is reduced because of the mutant hypo gene, it allows the other colors to be much cleaner and vivid in the saddles as well as background coloration. Like I said, it's really tough to tell from that one darkish pic alone, but this is another very strong possibility, and hypos can also vary dramatically in their coloration and intensity.

Hypo Miami corns are known as "Crimson" corns, and there is no telling if it is actually a wild corn or an escapee. It could even be a hatchling produced from a gravid escapee adult female too now days, as LOTS of people let their captive snakes loose or they escape, etc...


~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

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