Calico Corn Information?

This has been discussed pretty extensively by myself and a few others.

If it was a WC, and was caught at that mature size, that snake must have been hiding under a rock for its entire life. Or maybe it just throws a good bluff... he doesn't quite pack the punch of an albino Mojave

I've seen a few calico corns, even actually had one myself. I, like many others, tried to determine if it could be reproduced. However, results did not prove out to be consistant, and I was never able to produce another one. I wish I could find pics, but I've been searching my computer files relentlessly only to come up empty handed.

However, I don't consider that to be a calico. I believe the term piebald is more for the occasion. My calico was bought at a young age from descendents of Jillian Cowles, appearing as a normal amel corn but from known calico lineage. At about 2 years old, he started to undergo severe skin blistering. The effect left him incredibly weak and it was a battle to keep him alive. He was force fed for about 4 months, and given water with a syringe. When he finally did regain strength, the blisters revealed white pigmentation, however the areas took on a scarred appearance. (This actually seems to be happening with my/Hallie's Pewter right now as well, though without the severity of the weakness my original amel went through). Based on that information, and from long conversations with Jillian and her husband Bill regarding this, and based on evidence collected about calicos, this seems to bode true for just about all of them. Considering the experience my boy and I went through and the massive amount of white coloring on this WC, if it was a calico, then I doubt it would've been able to survive the aforementioned change. I won't say this is impossible, however highly unlikely. Furthermore, his scales are seemingly untouched and pure white. My Calico's depigmentation resulted in an almost off-white type of white coloration, and were riddled with scale scarring. It did eventually start to decrease with time and sheds, but then again, this was only over about 50% of his body, whereas this guy has I would say over 98% of white coloring. I will try to email Tim Rainwater. I know he has (or had at one time) a true piebald. Maybe he can give us a bit of insight.

That red is something you would definitely find on a corn, and even on a few rats. That base erythrin is common. I just wish the specks were a bit bigger in order to give us an idea of pattern. If that escaped from captivity, you would figure we might have heard about it before now, considering in how extreme the whitening effect is.

Those eyes (if compared to a cornsnake) suggest something I would see out of a hypo lavender, or blue eyed ghost... something to that effect. The fact that the iris is a blue/gray and the pupil is leaning towards black/ruby combined with the flashes of red/black/grey color in the specks just don't make sense with everything I've ever known about corns.

IMO this isn't a corn, or at least not a pure corn. The coloration and the eyes are something I think is pretty consistent with what you would see from a leucistic Black Rat.

amazing, that snake is beautiful and the fact that you are willing to take so much time to share pictures and photos as well as opportunities to view the snake is very kind.
If I was onto breeding corn snakes yet and lived anywhere near SC I would be thrilled for the opportunity to see it in person, I don't see how you'll get your money back anytime soon with corn snakes morphs being much less expensive than most other snakes, but again I'm not yet a breeder and I'm sure you know what you are doing.
Those closeups are great too, he looks very healthy for a snake that must have stuck out like a soar thumb, have you thought of collecting normal specimens from the same area to hopefully breed to him and skip a generation of breeding if they carried the gene as well?

Jeff Risher, Hall of Fame Herps, lives near me ( I've have a few of his snakes, including a vanishing pattern ghost) He is mentioned in Kathy Love's book as one of the first to breed patternless cornsnakes. Anyways he had what he described as a paradox snow corn, that looks similiar to this one, with larger blotched areas. It also looks to have a strong brow ridge. If I remember correctly he told me was unable to reproduce and the snake ultimately died. Here is the link to that pic:
http://www.halloffamereptiles.com/blush.jpg

A Paradox Snow would have the appearance of a Snow, including pink eyes/irises but the "paradox" part of it would include more melanin. I would label the snake in that link a Ruby Freckled.

I saw this corn this weekend at the Repticon show where Stephen Howard and I had a table--it was unbelievable, just amazing!! However, when I asked the owner if he had bred the snake yet, he simply replied "no". I didn't pursue it. I know he has been offered a large sum for the snake and turned it down. I don't know what his plans are, but I hope he has some kind of plans to breed it.

I saw it this weekend as well, Lynnea. There is NO QUESTION that this is a 100% awesome snake, with a huge market potential, no matter what it is. I didn't even talk to the guy, because I didnt want to deal with the drama. However, he and I have been round and round about this snake, and Jynx has been in on it too. Jynx's above post sums it up completely.

The "owner" is a complete jerk, and his story on the acquisition of this snake holds about as much water as a strainer. He gets very defensive, real quick.

It's still an awesome snake though.

I saw it as well, even took a picture. I asked first of course. When I did inquire I got the "piss off" feeling but eh. I mentioned it to Jeff, said he was gonna take a look at it too.

Been there, saw it. Neat snake but Parrish thinks it is worth a million dollars so it'll be a while before it is produced since the first hets will be six figures.....

Jeff, and others, in your opinion, is it a cornsnake??

Whatever it is...its awesome!!