Corn snake morphs are quite popular especially when it comes to the ones that look quite different from the common corn snakes. Common corn types have a bright orange appearance. However, morphs like the snow, blizzard or Palmetto corn snakes look quite different.
All the above mentioned snakes are examples of albino corn snakes. An albino corn snake undergoes gene mutation to produce some desirable traits in colors and patterns. In this article, we are going to discuss the different albino morphs, their prices, and much more.
Contents
- What Does An Albino Corn Snake Look Like?
What Does An Albino Corn Snake Look Like?
Let’s first take a look at how the classic or Carolina-type corn snake looks like. Orange and red colors are characteristic of the traditional looking corn snakes. They have a chocolaty back- ground with red saddles edged in thick black. Their heads are mostly orange with white chins.
Are Albino Corn Snakes White?
When someone mentions an albino corn snake, a white snake comes to mind. However, an albino corn snake does not look white at all. They flaunt the same orange and red shades all over their beautiful elongated body. Having said that though, it should better be mentioned that the orange hues are slightly subdued. The red saddles appear more orangey than maroonish.
Additionally, the brown chocolaty background is more light-orange or white in certain cases. The black edges mentioned earlier, that usually outline the red saddles of a corn snake are not black in an albino– they are completely white instead. Overall, albino corn snakes, though not totally whitewashed, do appear more whitish and suppressed when compared with the Carolyna types.
Albino corn snakes look subdued due to some gene mutation that will be discussed in more details in the upcoming segments. For albino corn snakes to be completely white, they need to be unable to produce both dark and red pigments in their body, or else bright colors will mani- fest. Albino corn snakes are often compared with Okeetee corn snakes that have similar hues.
What Do The Other Parts Of An Albino Corn Snake’s Body Look Like?
Albino corn snakes have red to orange eyes, surrounded by highly transparent orange-hued eye-rings. Orange stripes with a reddish tinge run from their eyes to the cheek region. Beautiful orange colored scales embellish the surrounding area of their eyes that looks captivating.
Spear-head patterns on a corn snake’s head is a feature that one can swear upon. Similar patterns exist on the head of an albino as well, with white ornate interruptions. Just behind the orange eye-bar, lies white eye-bars that accentuate the orange coloration. The snout of an albino corn snake has yellowish and orange hues on them, while the chin is white.
Another characteristic feature of a corn snake is their checkerboard belly that makes their ventral part look like corn kernels. The belly of a albino corn snake is mostly white and glossy. Horizontal lines run across their belly, with certain parts colored in light yellow or orange.
What Do Albino Corn Snake Hatchlings Look Like?
Albino corn snake babies look brighter and more white than their parents. They possess white snouts and almost reddish spear-head markings on their head, with ornamented white lines and patterns. There are beautiful light-orange saddles all over their body, edged in white instead of the usual black. Faint orange or yellow splotches may exist between the saddles.
What Is The Size Of Albino Corn Snakes?
Adult corn snakes could grow between 3 and 6 feet by the time they are 3-4 years old. They could weigh up to 900 grams or more. Babies of albino corn snakes are usually between 8 and 12 inches long, weighing about 6 to 8 gm. 6 months old albinos are 2 to 3 feet long.
Does An Albino Corn Snake Have Other Morphs?
Albino corn snakes have dozens of morphs and some of them are being discussed below. All albino snakes have red to pink eyes. You may browse their prices here.
- Sunglow: Sunglow corn snakes do not have any white on them. They are bright orange and red colored snakes. They also have phenomenal patterns on their body. They are selectively bred to get the desired amelanistic trait from the parent snakes.
- Ultramel: An amelanistic and an ultra corn snake mating may produce ultramel corn snakes. Ultra corn snakes have an allele of the amelanistic gene. Ultramel corn snakes have gray coloration on them in place of black.
- Fire: Fire corn snakes are produced when an amelanistic corn snake is mated with a diffused one. A diffused morph does not have the checkered pattern on its belly. Fire morphs resemble the color of flames– a bright orange, with reddish hues twisting and twirling on their body.
- Creamsicle: An albino corn snake mated with a Great Plains rat snake, the latter being one of the species of corn snakes, produces creamsicle babies. The color on this snake is a show- stopper with light hues of orange, red and yellow all over its body.
- Albino Tessera: In tessera snakes, pixelated patterns are found, especially on the head, sides and the underbelly. Orange, yellow and white square pixel-like patterns appear that look really unique. Albino tesseras have a white snout, and white and orange stripes running along their back. On the flanks of these snakes, there are ornate white markings.
- Albino Motley: They are mostly red colored snakes that look phenomenal with light-orange splotches and orange sides. The splotches appear as little orange flowers when the snake is observed from the top. The snout is mostly orange-yellow with white chins.
- Albino Striped: These corn snakes have some of the most beautiful stripes over their body. Pastel shades of pink, red, purple and yellow dance and sparkle on their exterior. Instead of saddles or splotches, these snakes have faint-yellow stripes running along their back.
- Albino Scaleless: Scaleless mutations are very rare among corn snakes. Scaleless does not mean that the snake is totally devoid of scales but has very few scales on its body. Albino scaleless morphs look fully white or light pink, and have a leathery appearance.
- Reverse Okeetee: Okeetee corn snakes have a bright orange body, and deep red saddles edged in thick black. When you reverse them to an amelanistic version, they become a more subdued version of the Okeetees with white edges, instead of black ones around the saddles. They are also known as Albino Okeetees.
- Blizzard: When an albino and a charcoal corn snake are bred, a snow-white blizzard is produced. They are pure white in coloration but may have some yellow in their belly region. They may give off pink hues because their blood vessels are visible.
- Snow: Snow corn snakes are completely white because they are both amelanistic and anery- thristic, meaning they neither have melanin nor erythrin (red pigment). However, some snow specimens have light blue or purple patterns on them that are barely visible.
- Butter: Albino and caramel parents mating together may result in the production of butter corn snakes. The babies actually look like melting butter on a hot plate– sunny yellow and absolutely adorable. Caramel morphs have varying shades of brown on their body.
Why Does An Albino Corn Snake Look Like They Do?
As you may have figured it out by now by reading about the morphs, an albino corn snake undergoes a genetic mutation that renders it unsuccessful in producing a pigment called melanin in its body. Melanin generates all the dark colors, precisely the black colors, on the body of the snake. As such the snake has all colors on its body except black.
Amelanism, as is the name of the genetic condition, is not a new concept in the world of corn snakes. The first amelanistic corn snake was caught in the wilderness of North Carolina in 1953. A few years later, Dr Bernard Bechtel bred the original wild-type with three normal females to get heterozygous amelanistic babies. The babies were bred in controlled conditions to produce the first captive-bred albino (amel) corn snake morph in 1961.
No, all albino corn snakes are not fully white as many assume. For a corn snake to be completely whitewashed, it needs to be born of homozygous amelanistic and anerythristic parents. Take snow and blizzard corn snakes, for instance.
Where Does An Albino Corn Snake Live?
Corn snakes are highly adaptive creatures and can live in both arid and moist areas. They can be found in grasslands, pine forests, rocky areas and hammocks. They are not only terrestrial but also have the ability to climb trees. However, they are quite shy and hide within crevices.
Albino corn snakes are rarely found in the wild. They are mostly captive bred and live inside terrariums, tanks or controlled-habitats where they cannot venture into the wilderness. They have keeled scales that help them to climb up plants and other ornaments within the tanks and terrariums. As they are amelanistic, they burrow in soil to protect themselves from sun’s heat.
What Does An Albino Corn Snake Eat?
Most snakes feed primarily on rodents, and corn snakes are no exception. This is the reason why they are alternatively called the red rat snakes. Besides eating rodents, they also hunt baby birds and their eggs. As they like moist habitats, they also prey on amphibians.
Corn snakes do not have fangs that are connected to venom sacs. They are harmless colubrids that depend upon their short and slightly pointed aglyphous teeth to get hold of prey and then subdue them by constriction. Their highly elastic and expandible jaws and ribs help them to swallow prey larger than the size of their own head.
In order to protect themselves from predators, they sometimes beat their tail-tips against dry leaves to trick large predators into thinking that it is a rattlesnake. Also, their colors help them to mimic venomous snakes like coral or copperhead snakes.
Albino corn snakes are rarely ever found in the wild. In captivity, they are fed frozen or pre-killed mice and rats that can be bought from retail stores, as such they neither have to use their teeth nor have to constrict. Domestic albino corn snakes must not be fed live prey since the animal may scratch or bite the snake causing infection on the skin.
How Does An Albino Corn Snake Produce Babies?
Corn snakes mate in the spring and lay eggs in summer. Albino corn snakes follow the same seasonal pattern when they are looking to plan their family. When a breeder is aiming to produce a nice batch of albino corn snakes, he would need to increase the temperature of the terrarium or the breeding spot slightly higher than normal.
Before they mate, albino corn snakes would undergo a ritual brumation session in winter. During this time they do not consume much food and are mostly dormant. In the spring, they copulate and each mating session can last for about 30 minutes. A female albino lays about 12 to 24 eggs that need to be incubated by the breeder within a temperature range of 78 to 80°F.
Can An Albino Corn Snake Be Kept As A Pet?
Albino corn snakes are wriggly darlings that do not cause any fuss white eating nor do they bite. Breeders and snake enthusiasts take great pleasure at bringing them up because they are very adorable. The first two weeks may be a bit shaky but after that they get used to your presence. Start with 2-5 min handlings sessions, slowly increasing the time limit.
Albino corn snakes do not fall outside affordability range and different pattern and color morphs could be bought within the range of 40 and 100 US dollars. In captivity, albino corn snakes can thrive for 15 to 20 years so it is worth the time and effort.
Heating and humidity within the terrarium are some crucial factors to note for any corn snake for that matter. As albinos are amelanistic so you have to keep an eye out always to make sure that the temperature does not become too high at any given point of time. Also, keep the tank away from direct sunlight as they may be sensitive to light.
A 30-40 gallon terrarium is great for adult albinos. The cool part is kept at 70 to 77°F and the basking zone should be maintained within 80 and 85°F. Humidity should not fluctuate beyond 65 and 75%. Decorate the tank with logs, branches, plants and rocks to keep them busy. Coconut fibers and leaf litter make excellent substrate material for albinos.
FAQ
Albino corn snakes sound fragile to some because they have amelanism. But seriously, there is nothing to worry about. You can know more about them via these FAQs.
Q: Is there any other snake that looks like an albino corn snake?
Ans: Albino ball pythons with yellowish markings on their body look a lot like the butter corn snake morphs of albino. You should also check out Nelson’s milk snakes that are albinos. They have the same colors on their body that albino corn snakes have–orange, red and white.
Q: Are albino corn snakes pure white?
Ans: No, they are not pure white as many presume. Because they have amelanism, they have all the colors on their body except black. Therefore, they are actually quite brightly-colored.
Q: How long do albino corn snakes live?
Ans: They may live for 6-10 years in the wilderness. In captivity, they can thrive for longer than 15 years.
Q: Are albino corn snakes blind?
Ans: They are definitely sensitive to bright lights, but they are not blind. They can see everything. As a protective measure, they should be kept away from direct sunlight.
Thoughts
Albino corn snakes do not look completely white as many may think. In fact, despite being unable to produce melanins, albino corn snakes are quite bright in appearance. Orange, red and yellow hues, that are quite normal in corn snakes, are present in albinos too.
Can’t albino corn snakes be white? Take blizzard corn snakes, for example. However, besides having albinism, they have no erythrin in their body that results in the absence of red pigment. With no red or black pigment, the snake looks completely white. Isn’t that amazing?
