Ghost Corn Snake

I believe Bill & Kathy Love were the first ones to come up with a Ghost Corn. Combining 'A' Anerythrism with their newly discovered Hypomelanistic trait was a natural progression, and this produced an animal that was a paler rendition of the 'A' Anerythristic. This combination, like so many in the corn snake, is a synergistic combination of traits that produces an animal that is surprisingly attractive and one that I find catches my eye more than one would at first suspect. But the removal of the reds and oranges via 'A' Anerythrism, and further filtering out some darkening pigments using Hypomelanism often allows hues to show through that can be amazing in their variety. Some specimens, to be sure, can appear to be only slightly lighter (or perhaps even not at all) than a typical 'A' Anerythristic, whereas others (sometimes sporting the name of 'Pastel Ghost') can be a silver colored snake with bold pink blotches on it. Some of these have to be seen to be believed.

And as more and more outcrossing of all of the various cultivars take place, some of the Ghosts that will result just from random combinations will produce animals that are truly difficult to predict, much less fully understand. Ghosts that have come from the Lavender gene pool are substantially different looking from ones that will come from the Butter/Caramel complex. And these are, in turn, different from those that might result from some confusing results of 'A' Anerythrism showing up among the Charcoal Ghosts. And in all of these we have the further wild card of xanthism showing up, sometimes in extreme amounts, just to sweeten the pot.

Of course, the corn snake being what it is, NONE of those subtle variations will likely be visible in the babies when they first hatch out. Which can be maddening! As most certainly there will be gems sold off for mere pocket change that will dazzle some unwary new owner with each and every shed.


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