Green Phase Hognoses
A Green Phase is a western hognose with a natural green cast created by breeding the greenest animals over many generations. You buy the snake in front of you instead of a guaranteed look. Because of this, breeding progress varies from a faint tinge to a deeply saturated line.
About the Green Phase gene
Because the Green Phase is a western hognose bred for a natural green cast instead of a look fixed by a single mutation, you are buying the animal in front of you rather than a guaranteed look. Breeders produce the colour by pairing the greenest individuals over generations. How far this has progressed varies from line to line.
Appearance
A Green Phase hognose shares the same range of grey, brown and tan as a normal. However, it is pushed toward green instead of yellow or red, which gives the saddle markings and ground colour a genuine green cast rather than the usual warm brown. This line started with wild-caught animals that leaned green. To concentrate and deepen the colour, breeders paired the greenest individuals over successive generations, just as other keepers have done with purple and red lines. The amount of green an individual shows still varies. A strong, saturated green across the back may be held by one, while another might barely clear a normal. Because some breeders also call a particular strain within these green lines green hypo, the two names turn up on similar animals.
Genetics
Green Phase is polygenic. Because there is no fixed mutation to inherit, there is no test, no het and no super. The colour is built up over generations by pairing and selecting the greenest animals, so no single gene carries it in a predictable ratio. A hognose either shows the look to whatever degree or it does not. This family includes Green Phase and Pos Green Phase. Breeders work it into other genes without giving the result a combo name of its own. A green-toned animal paired with Toffee, Anaconda or Albino is usually described by stacking those names.