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What's the truth about Sun Kissed?

Mark Dwight

Mark Dwight

New member
I've read on this forum many times about Sun Kissed having bad attitudes. So, I emailed a breeder to find out more and this is what they wrote back, "They normally have a typical corn temperament. Most corn snakes have similar temperaments but there are always a few that can be nasty regardless of what color morph you get."
They're telling me Sun Kissed have "typical corn temperament."
So what do you guys think about this?
 
IMO, Both of my sunkissed did start out a bit more jumpy than some of my others but are both really calm now with regular handling- but really, a couple of my non sunkissed musked and flailed more in the beginning than those 2 so I wouldn't say they have horrible attitudes
 
MotleyMedusa7 said:
IMO, Both of my sunkissed did start out a bit more jumpy than some of my others but are both really calm now with regular handling- but really, a couple of my non sunkissed musked and flailed more in the beginning than those 2 so I wouldn't say they have horrible attitudes
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Thank you. I've seen youtube vids of owners handling their Sunkissed and they seemed fine to me.
But I keep seeing the opposite info all the time. For example here is quote from the SMR site, " Since virtually every Sunkissed corn I've ever owned was less than friendly toward humans (polite way of saying, "watch out when ya reach for one"), it is safe to say that their human intolerance is a behavior associated with the mutation."
So, you see why I'm so confused. Half of the people are saying one thing and half the other. :shrugs:
 
I have dealt with only two adults and a single clutch of 18ish babies, but every single one of them were evil. Those babies would actually lunge out and bite me when I'd change water bowls and spot clean. Even wild caught Okeetees never did that. It is a small sample, but really soured me on the mutation.
 
The adult Sunkissed I brought home last week has an amazing temperament, but he is the only one I have ever been around.
 
My orchid Peaches was a little whippy as a kid, but she is much better now.
My sunkissed Minneola is not really friendly, but not super evil either.

Both my boys Dimetri and Stark are sweethearts...
 
I have a SK stripe here, Daphne, and she is very shy and sweet.

I had a SK Bloodred here visiting for a couple years. As a hatchling she was evil incarnate, and had been named Spazztastic by her owner. She would strike at me so hard she would lift her body off the ground, and she would make spitting sounds as she lunged at me. She would bite and flail and musk and rattle and death roll. I renamed her Mille Fleur, so she would have a pretty name to live up to. As a yearling, she was housed in a 10 gallon Critter Cage, and she would lunge at the screen and bite if I touched it. Then one day, literally overnight, she stopped that behaviour completely and became calm and easy to handle, and never bit or struck again.
 
Nanci said:
I have a SK stripe here, Daphne, and she is very shy and sweet.

I had a SK Bloodred here visiting for a couple years. As a hatchling she was evil incarnate, and had been named Spazztastic by her owner. She would strike at me so hard she would lift her body off the ground, and she would make spitting sounds as she lunged at me. She would bite and flail and musk and rattle and death roll. I renamed her Mille Fleur, so she would have a pretty name to live up to. As a yearling, she was housed in a 10 gallon Critter Cage, and she would lunge at the screen and bite if I touched it. Then one day, literally overnight, she stopped that behaviour completely and became calm and easy to handle, and never bit or struck again.
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WOW. Crazy snakes. :eek1:
Their attitudes seem to be all over the map, from sweet to completely insane. :crazy02:
Spazztastic reminds me of my Macklot's pythons. They were crazy mean babies that grew into the sweetest snakes ever.

I guess renaming her Mille Fleur worked. :)
 
All the ones I've ran across have been rather grumpy. The one I owned was even named "Nemesis." Bless his poor little angry heart. :D
 
1 here, definitely cage defensive, but cool once out. Definitely more jumpy and hyper than the rest when handling though.
 
Sunkissed corns started in my own okeetee lines. They were virtually all quite vicious. But I haven't kept them for quite a few years. I am guessing that some breeders have outcrossed them to calmer corns and that some are now as calm as other corns. It just depends on the selective breeding being done on a particular bloodline. But because of their origins, I would expect that a high percentage are still less than friendly.

Also, keep in mind that most sunkissed are not from lines that have been proven to be star gazer free. So it is very possible that any particular specimen COULD be het for gazer, and could produce some if bred to another het. (Search for sun gazer threads for more info on this hereditary condition).
 
I have a Dimetri son (SK, many poss hets) and he's a complete sweetheart. Very curious and always wants to be out and held. He was rattling a bit when I first brought him home, but that's to be expected.
 
DragonsDenSerpents said:
I have a Dimetri son (SK, many poss hets) and he's a complete sweetheart. Very curious and always wants to be out and held. He was rattling a bit when I first brought him home, but that's to be expected.
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His dad is one of my favorites of all time. LOVE him!! Can't wait til I see him again. Out of the 5 kids Joanna kept for me, he was easily the one I missed the most.
 
Only have one and has always been evil. He doesn't actually bite (much). But now that he is 3 years old I do have to get the snake hook in order to get him out as he will not come out at all without a fight.

To be honest he seemed more like a typical corn snake baby. Very flighty. But as he has gotten older no amount of handling has calmed him down. He flails all over the place like a whip. He tries to squeeze my arm to death. Then he starts crawling backwards. Or he will do this limp noodle thing and try to slip out of your hands backwards. Generally he doesn't bite. However it is not hard to get him to bite. If you try to direct his movement or restrict it at all he will bite you. So you if you hold him you pretty much have to act like a tree and let him do whatever he wants. No amount of calm handling has calmed him down. Now that it is 3 years later I figure this is just how he is and I just leave him be most of the time as he seems happier left alone.
 
I think with sunkisseds you should look at it this way.

Generally corn snakes are calm with a few exceptions.

With sunkissed it's just opposite.

Generally sunkissed are not calm with a few exceptions.
 
Oh this reminds me if my female, mazie, she was jumpy the first day we brought home she was born just last July I believe. She tried taking my friends nose off the first time she got picked up by her. To be fair my friend did stick her face right in strike range. I thought it was funny. However now that she's a littl bit older she has never struck me she likes to climb in my pockets and even enjoys being handled by my four kids. She always comes out and at least watches what I'm doing when I'm near her cage. Also she wouldn't strike at her food I had to turn off the l
 
I had a Ultra SK mot stripe from Rich Z, and a Hypo SK (can't recall from where), and a SK het anery from someone else, and all handled well for me. Never got bit by any of them. The first 2 now reside at SMR.

I SUSPECT that a lot of SK were heavily inbred when they first became available which resulted in the condition called 'stargazer'. Out-crossing to unrelated stock is always a good idea for a lot of reasons.
 
I have a Sunkissed and when she was small she tail rattled alot but never bit, now that she is older she hisses sometimes but still has never tried to bite me.
 
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