Palmetto
Gene
The palmetto corn snake is a speckled white to cream morph of Pantherophis guttatus, named after the South Carolina palmetto association of its founding stock. Visual palmettos usually have a pale body scattered with individual red, orange, gray, brown, or black scales, giving a confetti-like appearance rather than the saddled pattern of a normal corn snake. Its originator classes it as incomplete dominant: one copy can give a brighter, hypo-like snake, and two copies make the speckled Palmetto. It can be combined with other color genes, which changes the color of the speckling.
A palmetto is still a corn snake in daily care. It needs secure housing, a steady thermal gradient, snug hides, fresh water, and appropriately sized mice. The pale color does not replace normal husbandry or require unusual feeding, though snakes with light coloration still benefit from shaded hiding places and low-stress handling. When buying or breeding, ask about outcrossing, feeding history, and the genes behind any combination palmetto. Early palmetto lines came from limited stock, so unrelated pairings are valuable for maintaining robust animals.
