Toffee Belly Hognoses
The Toffee Belly morph gives a western hognose a warm caramel colour and a toffee-coloured belly instead of the black checks found on a normal. Because it is a different albino from the hognose Albino, the two stack into Toffee Glow rather than cancelling out.
About the Toffee Belly gene
Named for its belly, the Toffee Belly is a tyrosinase-positive (T+) form of albinism in the western hognose. This snake is a warm caramel colour. People buy it for its look by itself and, just as often, as the base for a long list of combos.
Appearance
The snake has a light golden brown to warm caramel body with a stable dorsal pattern. You can tell it is a Toffee Belly by the belly. Instead of the black checks on the underside of a normal western hognose, this one shows gold and toffee. This belly is the most reliable single cue for identification. Some animals carry scattered dark paradox spots, patches where the gene has left the black pigment in place. A few dark flecks do not rule a snake out.
Genetics
Because Toffee Belly is recessive, any snake without the visual looks like a normal western hognose. You can find the family on this site as Toffee Belly, Het Toffee Belly, 50% Het Toffee Belly, 66% Het Toffee Belly and Pos Het Toffee Belly. No super form exists.
This gene is different from Albino, the tyrosinase-negative (T-) albino. If they combine, a snake with a visual for both is a Toffee Glow. It is also separate from Evans Hypo, another T+ albino that looks similar. When those two are paired, it is sold as Ignition. The trade names you will meet are Toxic (Toffee Belly with Axanthic), Toffeeconda (with Anaconda), Candy (with Superconda), Thallium (Toxic with Anaconda), Mai Tai (with Sable), Pink Punch (with Superarctic) and Vanilla Cherry (with RBE Pastel). Every one is a multi-gene animal, so list it under the genes it carries.