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This is a male that I picked up last fall as a backup. I've known the breeder for years and he has an excellent reputation for high quality stock. I've seen his collection, just awesome, and cleaner than clean. His pricing is a little higher than most but the quality justifies the price. Last fall when he offered this male hypo I emailed him to hold it until I was in his area. When I picked it up he was out and so I didn't ask his partner any questions. Once I saw the snake, I had several questions. No big deal, just a backup breeder, so I put off the questions until this last week. If you look at this male and the male amel in the last pic, the difference is obvious. First, this hypo does not have a spec of melanin, not even in the eyes. Looks somewhere between an amel and an orange creamsicle. The background orange is lighter and softer than an amel. The eyes look identical to an amel and the belly scales are very similar. Since many breeders are now supporting the theory of 3 types of hypo genes, I figured that this male might be that 3rd strain, a super or ultra hypo.
So what is it? Well, he is the product of breeding a sunglow to a blood red. I would have expected a normal, het for sunglow(amel) and het for blood, with possibly more red from the blood. Two melanin reducing/eliminating genes must have matched up. So did the blood also carry the amel gene of the sunglow or did they both carry an extreme hypo gene?
The breeder knows his morphs and his genetics! So, he calls it hypo, I call it an amel het for blood.
What do you think?
I wasn't looking for another project, I have enough as it is. In fact, I have been puzzled by those seeking albino blood reds. I always figured if you crossed a blood and an amel and bred them back producing an albino blood that you would end up with a sunglow looking corn or possibly a blood looking corn that does not darken with age. I don't know since I've never seen one.
Hope you enjoy the pics and the topic!
Hypo

Hypo Side View

Hypo Belly Scales

Here's a suplus adult male amel. Pics taken at the same time, same lighting, etc. Notice the difference in the background color and the dorsal blotches.

albino/amelanistic......

yep........

.......not hypo........

there are alot of odd hypos out there.........

............this is a hypo,motley

Hypo means "reduced" not "absent". I have a hard time with all the different hypo's, and how some who look hypo aren't called hypo, and some that don't look hypo are called hypo. But any hypo, of any type that I've seen so far, they all have some black, if no-where else, at least in the eyes.

I'd say that's an amel...but then again, I'm not that snakes breeder, and have no clue on his lineage...But I would guess the blood was also het amel. Can you get any baby pics of him? If he had some black when he was younger maybe that'd explain the hypo label?
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Dianne
AKA IcedGoddess
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I have kept and bred a pair of hypos which also did not have any black (except the eyes). They happened to be het albino (I don't think this had a bearing on their appearance), and threw some albinos as well as hypos like themselves.

They looked similar to the ones in your pic (they basically looked like albinos). However, the one in your pic appears to have red eyes (an albino).