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What exactly is a lava corn? Thanks!! Jeff

Lava is an independant form of Hypomelanism, it is unrelated to Hypo A and Sunkissed. The good ones are really bright looking animals and some have a "gray" looking border coloration. A really striking snake.

dc

I will agree that it appears to be a hypo gene like hypo A and Ultra.. Sunkissed, IMHO, is a pattern modifier, much like motley, stripe or blood/diffused..

I am waiting Godfreys results to see what ultra and lava does together.. These two genes seem to have some very similair results.. I can't seem to tell the difference between goldust and topaz...

The person that seems to have brought this to the fore front is Joe Pierce, who now seems to have all but disappeared from the scene.. I believe he got his specimins from a Zoo display out east, and he originally called them translucent.. I also seem to remember that the lava genetics came out of a normal "okeetee" line..

One of the most common lava prjects out there is the Ice Morph.. Which is a combo of lava and anery A.. Again, there is a very striking resembelance between ultramel aneries and ice..

Regards.. Tim of T and J

Not sure Sunkissed is really a pettern modifier so much as it affects the look of the corn enough to really change their looks greatly. I imagine what you are referring to is how the pattern of some sunkissed corns appear to have a "washed out" look? I am not sure that is the norm rather than great exceptions. Not all of them end up looking like that from what I have seen.

Here is a pic of an albino sunkissed and you can see it has a very typical pattern. The pic is from Ian's Vivarium, it is not my animal.

dc

One of the things that stands out with Sunkissed IMHO, is the saddle shape and of course the unusal head markings a lot of them seem to get..

The colour change could simple be similair to what motley and stripe does, give a general over all appearance of a hypo like look.. Of course, when you flip over a sunkissed the belly checks are generally darker, not true in every case, because we all know that corns can vary dramatically.. Hypo is supposed to reduce the melanine in corns, so why does it not reduce the melanine in the belly checks? Hench, just my observations and thoughts on the sunkissed genetics..

The odd thing about it, though, unlike other pattern mutations, the belly checks remain in place..

Regards.. Tim of T and J

I agree with Tim on it being a pattern modifier. I have notice that on my sunkissed the saddles are more Square, and the side patterns are distorted. Atleast that is what I am seeing here.
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Jeff L.
I always seem to be waiting for something!!!

but if I understand the genetics correctly, lava is a "form" of hypomelanism, like the old fashion hypo "hypo A", and the sunkissed variety "hypo B"??? Also, if you are dealing with hypomelanism, can you really see the difference in a lava amel, hypo amel, or sunkissed amel??? Since the amelanism cancels all black coloration, how would you even see the hypo trait expressed?? Man, I've been out of the corn world for about three years and now I have very little understanding of the new morphs floating around. Maybe I am being confused with new catch names for the old genetic traits!!!

The only lava amel I have seen first hand, really looked like an amel... I personally could not tell the difference.. Sunkissed Amels, I would be expecting to see sunkissed charactoristics, such as the funky head pattern and odd saddles... Hypo A amels, I would be lost as what to look for.. People have suggested sunglo's should be hypo amels, but that does not fit with the meaning behind the sunglo alone..

I agree, a catch name can change..

Regards.. Tim of T and J

Lava has been bred to both hypo a and sunkissed and proved out to be a different morph. Lava x hypo a = all normals. Lava x sunkissed = all normals.

I got my male lava and a het lava female "wild line" from Joe PIerce in Jan. '08. The female had not grown to sufficient size for breeding when the time came for brumation last fall. I held off another year so she would get some more size to her. I'm glad I waited as she has really taken off since then and will be big enough to produce a good clutch next spring. Here is a link to the story behind the lava gene as I understand it. My lava het anery A X ghost hatchlings are starting to shed now. I'll post some pics as soon as I have time to snap a few. The normals look real nice. The anerys are just anerys, but they are het for lava and hypo A. Looking forward to seeing some F2s!

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27322&highlight+history+lava+gene.
Hope this works

I got a decent photo of the clutch before they all tried to scatter! This shows both a normal and an anery from the Lava het anery crossed to a ghost. The lava/ultramel eggs are due to hatch in one week. The male lava is possible het amel, so I am anxious to see if he is. The pairing with the ultramel should tell me.