Dutch Hypo Hognoses
A western hognose whose usual charcoal patterning washes out to grey and lavender, giving it a softer, almost pastel look next to a normal-coloured animal. Breeders don't fully agree on how the mutation should be classified, so its genetics are still debated in the hobby.
About the Dutch Hypo gene
Dutch Hypo is a recessive gene that lightens a western hognose snake's usual near-black markings to a soft grey or lavender wash, without touching the pattern underneath. The appeal is a western hognose that keeps every blotch and band of a normal animal but trades the sharp black-and-tan contrast for a muted, almost pastel finish, which is also why it turns up so often stacked with other genes.
Appearance
The clearest tell is in the areas that would normally run near-black on a western hognose: on a Dutch Hypo they wash out to grey or lavender instead, most visible along the flanks and across the belly, while the blotches themselves keep their usual warm, golden-brown tone rather than fading with them. That drop in contrast between dark ground colour and blotch is the single most reliable way to call the gene at a glance. How far the grey wash runs, and how warm or cool it reads, varies from animal to animal and by line.
Genetics
Dutch Hypo is inherited as a simple recessive, so an animal needs two copies to show it visually. The catalogue carries the full line: 50% Het Dutch Hypo, 66% Het Dutch Hypo, Het Dutch Hypo, Pos Het Dutch Hypo and Dutch Hypo itself. None of the het stages carry any visual tell; a single copy looks like a normal western hognose, so a het claim rests on parentage or a test breeding rather than the eye. Some breeders treat Dutch Hypo as the same underlying mutation as Evans Hypo under a different name, others keep the two apart, and the hobby hasn't settled it either way. Who first produced it, and when, isn't documented well enough to state.