Just in case you didn't already see this, here is some interesting specific history on the "Tequila Sunrise" line. There seems to be "ultramel" lineage traced back to this line, and very likely the "strawberry" hypo gene as well, but nothing absolutely conclusive on this as the strawberry gene has been extremely tough(if not virtually impossible) to isolate in many of the cornsnake morphs in the hobby today.





~Doug



below is a direct quote from VMS Herps.......



Tequila Sunrise Project Cornsnakes (Pantherophis [Elaphe] g. guttata)



Many many years ago, we acquired a very unusual looking corn from a Denver area pet shop. This animal was nick-named the Tequila Sunrise corn, as sort of an inside joke following my inability to push the margarita pitcher to the far side of the table the night before. But that's another story.



We immediately set about trying to produce more corns with the unique look, as well as determine what was causing it. But this proved more difficult than one would think. Obviously, part of the look was being caused by a hypo-like mutation, but at the time the only known mutation of that sort was regular old Hypomelanism. Since that time, other mutations have been identified that can cause a hypoish appearance, including Lava, Sunkissed, and Ultra, plus different alleles at the original hypo locus have appeared, such as Strawberry and Christmas.



Over the years and generations, we've determined the original snake to have been an Ultramel Anery, heterozygous for Hypo, Motley, and Bloodred. But all of these failed to account for the entire look, especially the yellowing of the head and overall speckled look, so some as yet unidentified mutation or mutations is still at work here. To further muddy the waters, the original crossing to a Pink Pastel Ghost evidently added Strawberry, as bright pink snakes now frequently appear in the mix of F2 generations and beyond. All of this at a time before many of these mutations had even been identified. Thus sorting it out back in the days proved to be the devil's own as they say.



So after so many years of trying, and a thousand or more offspring produced, we still really don't know what these are genetically speaking. And I've grown weary of the entire project. So, as Clark Gable so eloquently put it "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn", they're just really cool looking snakes.
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

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