Sunkissed X Ultrahypo

About time they started breeding. Joe, here's the sunkissed X ultrahypo test pairing, in progress.

-Kat

This Ultrahypo has become quite a mystery. The first steps to try to figure out what it is has already been completed, by several people. Test breedings between the Ultra and Standard Hypo has shown that it is sometimes compatible with standard hypo and sometimes not.

Ultra X Standard = normal

Ultra X Standard = ½ normal

Ultra X Standard = Hypo.

There have been enough people breed them to the standard hypo that it is pretty clear that at least some of the Ultrahypos are homo or het for the standard hypo gene and another mystery hypo.

Is it a new hypo, or one of the other known hypos out there. This is the second step toward trying to determine if the Ultrahypo is a new hypo gene or compatible with the Sunkissed. Lets hope that our third test breeding between the Ultra X Lava is soon to follow.

I have bred the Ultra Hypo line I have into the Sunkissed line and ALWAYS gotten all normal colored animals.

Your mileage may vary.

That's the fun of the scientific process, trying to duplicate someone else's results.

The hard part is, after all is said and done, finding caramels, lavs, stripes, motleys, bloodreds, etc... that aren't carrying any hypo genes... so that I can make ultrahypo crosses and know what I'm getting .

-Kat

I remember Rich saying that one of the first test he did was to breed the Ultra to the Sunkissed to try to determine what the Ultra was and got all normals. This test breeding will be another to try help unravel the mystery of the Ultra. This test breeding will help to determine if this particular Ultra is compatable with the Sunkissed. It has already been shown not to be compatable with the standard hypo and hopefully the test breeding with the Lava will go as planned soon.

It seems that many of the Ultras out there are not all the same. By this, I mean that some seem to be homo standard hypo and some seem to be het standard hypo. So far I have talked to four different people who have bred the Ultra to the standard hypo, and the results are mixed.

I have recently received photos of the "Christmas" Hypos. They look simular to the "Pumpkin" Hypos. They also look a little like the Lavas as well. I may be able to set up a test breeding between the Christmas and Lavas, by using an Anery het Lava female that is still in hibernation. Half of the clutch would be hypo if they matched up, but if not, we would be on the way to producing "Christmas Ghosts".

I think perhaps I will start a new thread in the Genetics section soon about the test breedings that have already been done between the different types of hypos and we can add new test as we discover people who have done them and new test when they have been completed.

I would like someone to "define" Ultra -Hypo! How did the name come to be? Rich, I purchased a pair of Hypos from you in 2001. One of the animals is much brighter than the other. Is this the Ultra Hypo we are talking about? I own many Hypos, alot of them hets-which makes a difference in color. I am quite perplexed by this "Ultra-Hypo" name. I think it is tyed to the Blood red background, but that is just a guess?!?

The problem is going to be finding a base level from which to start. How do we identify which Hypo genes are which? For instance, this past year I hatched out two hypomelanistics from progeny of wild caught Upper Keys corns. Suppose they are yet another new Hypo line? How long will it take me before I can safely make that claim? What animals do I need to breed it against in order to test this hypothesis?

What exactly are "Christmas Hypos", "Pumpkin Hypos", or "Lava" Corns? And are all of those that may be carrying those names even the same thing across the board?

Heck, I think it is doubtful that I will ever be willing to stick my neck out to say I have a new Hypo gene any longer. There could just be one gene that I neglected to test breed with, not realizing that it even existed here and there, because it looked indistinguishable from one of the 5 other genes I already test bred against.

I got the Ultra Hypos from Mike Falcon quite a few years ago. I grilled him unmercifully about the origin of that line. With Mike, I always tried to interrogate him when he had a rather high level of alcohol in his blood stream, thinking that if he was going to slip up, it would certainly be then that it would happen, but he never faltered in his description of the origin of the Ultra Hypos

He said it came from a wild caught animal that looked like a naturally occuring hybrid with an obsolete. But he said that subsequent breedings proved to all involved that this was not the case. I do not recall the locality that this animal came from, if Mike even told it to me. Most people keep things like this pretty close to their chest.

I kept the line isolated genetically from the rest of my stock for quite a long time, trying to be cautious in case I saw evidence that would lead me to believe that it actually was a hybrid of some sort. But with many examples to view, I have become convinced that either it is truly a corn snake line, or if not, there is just no way for me to be able to tell otherwise. I look for things like mannerisms, breeding habits, personality, hatchling feed responses, appearance throughout hatching to maturity, and any other variable that I think may be significant. This has helped me weed out several lines of animals over the years that I had purchased and then become convinced that they were not pure corns.

And to be perfectly honest, if the Sunkissed line had come from anyone else but Kathy or a couple of other people whom I trust, I would have discarded that line long ago as being some type of hybrid. But Kathy has never given me any reason whatsoever to even slightly doubt her word. So if she says they are pure corns, then I have to accept that at face value.

So, I have done the best I can to try to determine the actual history of those two lines to my satisfaction.

Thanks for replying Rich! I feel the same way! I think the "MUD" corn is right around the corner. Just about a year ago a local collecter brought me a wild caught corn, I would call a Upper keys corn by looks. It was collected in St.Lucie county, which rules out the upper keys by about 300 miles. So what do I have ? A transplant? a morph that is out of place or another freak of nature. I realize that "upper -Keys" is not far from a normal corn., but I noticed a difference. The corn I purcased from you was just another Hypo for about 6 months. I did notice that the head was a little darker than the others. I remeber joking to myself-what if Rich slipped up and sent me a Blood red. I have a pair of Blood reds and they are clearly different. We Will see what happens I have plans for him this year.

This snake was sold as a Pumpkin Hypo in Daytona. It is one of the hypos out there with a different name, that is most likely the standard hypo gene, but we don't know. Snakes do get a name attached sometimes for the "look" rather than the genetic make up. I for one, assume that all hypos carry the standard hypo gene, unless stated otherwise.

A few of us are trying to establish a base line for the hypos.

Some hypos out there are "Mud" Corns because their genetic make up in unknown. Not all hypos are a mixed up mess that carry many hypo genes.

Photo: South Mountain Reptiles