Corn snake: hypo, ultramel, or albino reverse okeetee?

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pdrobber

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Thinking of getting a corn snake off craigslist and wondering which of these I should get. I'm interested in one that has as dark red coloration as possible.

I google and youtube the morphs and get tons of different looking results...help!
 

ascott

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I got nothin....but my post will bump your thread and hopefully someone in the know will see it....:D
 

Floof

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Their appearances and coloration can vary a LOT, even in one morph, which may explain why you're getting such varied results. (There's also a lot of combo morphs that include Hypo and Ultra/mel, which just adds to the confusion, lol!) Any of these will have an overall red to orange coloration.

Personally, if it's a good example of the morph, I'd go with the Reverse Okeetee. A good RO has deep red saddles and a vibrant orange background. You can find some pics of good examples of this morph on Ian's Vivarium: http://iansvivarium.com/morphs/species/elaphe_guttata/reverse_okeetee/?sid=

Another great idea would be to look through Ian's Vivarium and the photo gallery on a community like http://CornSnakes.com, figure out what morph you like best, and go through a reputable breeder. You should be able to find a couple breeders in your area if you don't want to go through the hassle and expense of shipping. (CornSnakes' classifieds section is a good place to start for this.)

BTW, "Albino Reverse" Okeetee is redundant... Since "Reverse" already refers to the Amel (aka "albino") gene being present. Just "Reverse Okeetee" is fine. :)

Also, if/when you browse Ian's Vivarium, you'll find Ultramel and its variations listed under "Hybrids." There is a lot of belief that the Ultra gene originated from a hybrid crossing of Corn snake and Grey ratsnake. There's no way to prove one way or another, so many people will list them as hybrids just to be safe.

Hope this is helpful!!
 

jstec

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If u want the dark red I would go with the ultramel or albino okeetee the hypo will be brighter then what u want if I had to choose one I would pick the albino though it may be brighter as a neonate it will fade to darker reds and oranges with white as an adult
 

StudentoftheReptile

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If you want dark red, why not look into bloodreds? Is pattern important? Lol...you may just want to wait and find a herp expo near you and see for yourself before buying something off Craigslist just because it is there.
 

Floof

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Oh, excellent idea. I forgot about bloodreds. Student is right--the best dark red corn snake you can get is a high quality "old school" Bloodred. Even better are good Bloodred Stripes... Yummm.

Those are one that you definitely have to go to a good breeder for, though, and see pics of the parents if possible. A poor quality diffused ("bloodred") can look almost like a normal corn, where the highest quality Bloodreds have little to no pattern and a deep, well, "blood" red coloration. :)
 
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