Cinder Corn Snakes
Cinder swaps a corn snake's reds, oranges and yellows for cool greys and browns, and the adult carries narrow, jagged saddles on a pale grey body. It is suspected to be sex-linked, and visual females were rare to hatch in the early years, so plan a project with that in mind.
About the Cinder gene
Cinder replaces the corn snake's red, orange and yellow pigment with cool greys and browns, leaving a muted, brick-toned saddle pattern. This recessive gene was first produced by Rich Zuchowski in the early 2000s from a line that traced back to a Florida Keys corn snake.
Appearance
A cinder hatchling has a normal build and starts out pale grey with grey or dark brown saddles. These saddles are narrower with jagged edges and a thin dark border, and there are more of them than on a normal corn snake. As the snake grows, the saddles pick up brownish and reddish tones before they fade back toward a paler grey by adulthood. The belly has split checkers that can thin out further or fade with age. Adults often look slightly underweight with a more prominent spine and appear leaner than a normal.
Genetics
Cinder is a recessive trait. One copy of the gene means the snake looks like a normal corn snake, but it takes two copies to show the trait. The carrier forms are Het Cinder, 50% Het Cinder, 66% Het Cinder and Pos Het Cinder. The visual is Cinder, which is also known as Ashy. It sits in no allelic complex. This trait makes Peppermint when paired with Amelanistic. It makes Hypo Cinder, also called Hypo Ashy by the hobby, when paired with Hypomelanistic.
Known issues
Breeders found it rare for homozygous cinder females to hatch early in the history of the gene. While homozygous females are now established in the hobby, the skew is worth planning a breeding project around because Cinder is suspected to be sex-linked.