28/06/2021
RedZep Cornsnake. The first 100% pure Albino Okeetee. Hatched in the USA out of a "normal" Okeetee clutch.
For the first time in Europe, limited offspring available soon.
The "story behind" from the original breeder:
RedZep project.
Red Zeppelin is the name Howie Sherman and I came up with for an albino line of pure Okeetee locality corn snakes. This lineage produces exceptional albinos. They are large, robust and distinctive with rich color saturation. Many, mature into stunning adults with deep red and clean white pattern elements set upon a deep orange to red ground color.
The Red Zeppelin project started in 2001 when Howie observed a single albino female had emerged from a clutch of 28 eggs from a pair of his locality pure Okeetee corns. These snakes had bred before without ever producing an albino. Overall, neither of us thought this event suggestive of a het to het breeding and suspected a spontaneous mutation of some sort.
In the following years, Howie was unable to breed this unique animal and eventually turned the project over to me. After a few failed starts, I found the female was cycling oddly and finally began production. In 2014, hoping to eliminate any doubt that these were pure Okeetee albinos, I conducted a test breeding to an original strain amel corn. Unfortunately, the two strains proved compatible. While this was not the bulletproof confirmations I was looking for, I still believe these to be a pure line of albino Okeetee corns. This is based off the history of the breeders, the unlikely ratio seen in the originating clutch, the distinctiveness of the line and, above all, Howie's reputation and passion for producing some of the finest true to locality Okeetee corn snakes around.
There has been some speculation that another "red modifying" gene, might account for the extreme red on red phenotype observed in many Red Zeps exhibit. At this point, I am unsure of this potential as no pattern of inheritance has emerged. I believe all Red Zeps are equally capable of producing the same phenotypic extremes seen in the parent Okeetee stock.
The last thing that should be said about Red Zeps is their distinction from other cultivars in particular "Reverse" Okeetee and "Fluorescent" corns. These distinctions follow:
Red Zepplelin Corns -Originated by Howie Sherman. Albino corns derived from locality pure Okeetee stock.
Reverse Okeetee (RO) Corns - Originated by Bill and Kathy Love. Generic amel corns selectively bred to have patterns reminiscent of those found in the Okeetee population. RO corns are not typically hyper-pigmented and they NOT locality animals.
Fluorescent Corns -Originated by Rich Zukowski. Upon learning that OR corns were not of Okeetee lineage, Rich set about improving on the theme by repeatedly backcrossing them into actual Okeetee stocks (smart). Fluorescent corns also exhibit excellent coloration but, like RO corns are not locality stock.
In the world of corn snake morphs the lineage is one among many that promise to be a shockingly hyper-pigmented red on red albino. They have the advantage of being locality animals and bring with them all the size and vigor associated with their parent Okeetee stocks.