The origin story of the Mimosa Corn Snake
By Josua Hannink, Future-Morphs (the Netherlands), July 2021 (Updates: September 2022, February 2023, November 2023)
For years I have been working on a colorful line of corn snakes, which resemble the “Tequila Sunrise” found in the USA in the early 2000s. You can read more about this here: http://iansvivarium.com/morphs/?m=tequila_sunrise
Just like the Tequila Sunrise corns, I am still not 100% sure how this works genetically, but in this article I will explain everything I know about it.
Why the name “Mimosa”?
As far as I can tell at this moment (July 2021), my Mimosa corns are very similar in looks to Tequila Sunrise corns.
Tequila Sunrise is named after the cocktail: a mix of Tequila, Orange Juice and Grenadine, so I wanted to give my line a name of a yellow cocktail too, so I came up with “Mimosa”
A Mimosa is “a cocktail of orange juice and champagne, usually in equal parts”, according to the dictionary.
This is a fitting name, because most snakes from this line have distinct yellow in the head and neck (like orange juice) and some “frosting” in the saddles (like champagne bubbles).
The History
In 2013 I bought a baby “Hypo Tessera” bred by SnakeAround. Back then there were not a lot of these out there anyway, but this female instantly got my attention because of the busy pattern and nice color.
That year I also bought a male Ghost Motley Striped “Strawberry” from a German breeder, which I can’t remember the name of.
The female grew pretty quick (and is still a big girl) so I could already breed her successfully in 2015 and also in 2016, but the babies were not like expected. I did get some pretty babies and I kept some from each clutch, because there was something going on, but because of the ‘unknown’ genetics of mom, I was not sure what was causing this.
In 2017 I proved her out to be Ultramel Tessera het. for Hypo Anery and Motley. This was also the year I was really convinced something was going on. Both in 2017 and 2018 I got some babies that looked Frosted. Some looked like Red Factors. Some looked like Buf/Orange. But for people who know me, I am not a person to start screaming immediately that I have something new and exciting. So, I sold the babies as “cool snakes, might have Buf and/or Red Factor in them, but I am also not sure”
In 2019 and 2020 I kept breeding the same look, and I started calling these “+ line”, because I was convinced there was something extra in them. Althought it is not a bad name, it was confusing for people, so in 2021 I decided I needed to focus more on breeding “+ line” to “+ line” animals. So, before the breeding season, I dove into all my breeding data and I figured out which snakes came from + lines, which came from Red Factor lines, and which were a mix.
It took some time, but I could find out every lineage of each snake and I could make good breeding plans.
Although the breeding season is far from over, I hatched some clutches already so I can say for sure this look is ‘reproducible’, so it deserves a name, and in 2021, the Mimosa corn was born!
The Genetics
Let me start by saying that I am not claiming this is a “Morph”. It could very well be selective breeding, but I think there is something genetic going on.
The facts are that I did a lot of breedings with this line, both outcrossing and linebreeding (see below for all combos I made) and as far as I can tell, it is dominant OR incomplete dominant.
There does not seem to be a “super form” (like Super Hypo in Boa constrictors or Blue Eyed Lucy/Super Butter in Ballpythons).
I can tell for sure it is not simple recessive, because I reproduced this ‘morph’ by outcrossing it to unrelated morphs.
So if you want to get into this project because you like how they look, just get one animal, but if you are planning to breed them, I would suggest to get at least a (unrelated) pair.
The future of this project
Although I am convinced Mimosa is a real thing, this does not mean I will be charging crazy prices like it is the hottest new morph out there. Because it is not!
But if you like soft pinks, lots of yellows, greens, frosted saddles or busy patterns, this might be the thing that you like to have in your collection. Also note that Mimosa can be added to every other morph, so you can have a Mimosa Ghost, a Mimosa Snow Motley or an Mimosa Ultramel Tessera (to name a few examples of what I already made).
I won’t be giving any cool and hip names to any combos. I will just add “Mimosa” to any known names, to keep it simple for everyone and to show the lineage.
In general, the babies are good feeders and most adults become pretty large, so they are not a “weak” line and I did not find any deformities (like kinks) so far.
I did not make any future breeding plans yet, but I am curious what this will do to Lavender combos. I would also like to add other Hypo-ish morphs like Sunkissed and Lava, but the combinations are endless. It also matches GREAT with Red Factor!
Did you buy a Mimosa from me in the past?
Yes, that is very possible!
Over the years I sold a lot of snakes from this line, without knowing exactly what was going on. At the bottom of this article I wrote down all known pairings I did each year and I added years and clutchnumbers of Mimosas that I still have in my collection.
So, if you have siblings/clutchmates from my holdbacks, you also have Mimosa in your collection.
Also, if you have bought snakes from my “+ line”, you can call them Mimosa from now on.
And lastly, if you ever bought a “strange” looking snake from me and I told you I was not sure what was going on, then please send me the morph, clutchnumber and year of birth (or a picture of your certificate of origin) and I will try to check it for you.
Conclusion
Each Mimosa corn snake can look different, but most will have enhanced yellow in the head and neck, frosted saddles and busy patterns (specially in Tessera). Most of them also have lots of salmon/pink and maybe even green colors around the saddles and on the belly.
Is it a “morph” like Caramel or Motley? I do not think so.
Is it reproducible? Yes, I am 100% certain.
Is it a hybrid? I can’t guarantee, but I don’t have any evidence they are and if so, it is a VERY low percentage.
Do you need some in your collection? Hell yeah!
Update 2022:
In 2022 I did some more breedings to “outcross” Mimosa and I got some good results.
It started with a breeding from a Palmetto Ghost Motley x Female F4 Mimosa Ghost Motley Striped het. Ultra. This gave me all Ghost Motleys, some showing some potential with soft colors, but not a great look to be honest. Maybe this is due to the fact that female F4 has basically no pinks, she is just a nice frosted Ghost with some extra yellows. Not the best results, but I also did not pick the best Mimosa female.
I also bred Male M2 (1.0 Mimosa Red Factor Ultramel Anery Tessera 50% ph. Motley) to a totally unrelated 0.1 Honey Striped het. Amel 66% Lava. This became clutch 33 of the year and I got some Normals, Amels, Ultramels and all in Tessera. But these were not ordinary morphs, but from birth the showed busy patterns, specially in the head/neck on the non-Tesseras. The Tessera mostly have the busy Mimosa Tessera pattern. The hatchling also have way more yellow pigments in them which was visual from the first shed.
This is more proof that Mimosa is not simple recessive. I will keep 2.2 from this clutch to see how they develop and to breed Mimosa into Caramel and Sunkissed in the future.
The last ’test pairing’ for this year came in clutch 83, were I bred male M8 (1.0 Red Factor Mimosa Ghost Ultramel het. Motley) to my strange “yellow factor” Hypo Lavender Tessera het. Amel. This clutch gave me Hypo, Hypo Amel and Hypo Ultramel (all also in Tessera) and the babies look very colorful. They lean more towards red/orange colors, which could be Mimosa influence.
The female is really strange (in a good way), because Hypo Lavenders should not have so much yellow. But since she does not come from any proven yellow factor/yellow jacket lines, I can not say if this is genetic or just a random thing. From this clutch I will also keep 2.2 to see the hatchlings develop and later breed Lavender into Mimosa.
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The animals I have in my collection at this moment, or that played a role in the making of Mimosa Corns (2021 and 2022 not included yet)
Females:
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0.1 Mimosa Ultramel Tessera het. Anery, Hypo, Motley (F1)
CB 2013.
The original female, bred by SnakeAround. She unfortunately died of eggbound issues during the 2022 breeding season.
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0.1 Mimosa Ghost het. Amel, Striped (F2)
CB 2015, clutch 15
From breeding M1 x Red Factor Anery het. Amel, Hypo.
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0.1 Red Factor Mimosa Hypo Snow (F3)
CB 2015, clutch 24.
From breeding Red Factor Snow het. Hypo x F1.
Because of the “wrong” genetics of F1, combined with the awesome color of this female, I decided to keep her. She was one of the pinkest “Red Factor” Snow females I ever bred, because in Red Factor, the males are much prettier. In 2021 she proved to be homozygous Hypo as well.
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0.1 Mimosa Ghost Motley Striped het. Ultra (F4)
CB 2016, clutch 29.
From breeding M1 x F1.
Besideds a strange look, I had to keep a female from this clutch. I also kept her brother.
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0.1 Mimosa Ultramel Anery Tessera het. Hypo Striped (F5)
CB 2018, clutch 38.
From breeding M1 x F1. This female is SO strange (in a good way) that I had to keep her. She produced her first clutch for me in 2021.
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0.1 Red Factor Mimosa Ghost Motley het. Amel 50% Striped (F6)
CB 2018, clutch 7.
From breeding F2 x her brother. Although some Red Factor is still visable, also Mimosa is strong in this clutch. She produced her first clutch for me in 2021.
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0.1 Red Factor Mimosa Hypo Snow Motley Striped 50% Lavender (F7)
CB 2020, clutch 59.
From breeding M5 x F2. This girl is frosted, pink and green.
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0.1 Red Factor Mimosa Hypo Snow het. Motley 50% Lavender Striped (F8)
CB 2020, clutch 59.
From breeding M5 x F2. This girl is frosted, pink and green like her sister.
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0.1 Red Factor Mimosa Ultramel Ghost Motley (F9)
CB 2020, clutch 36.
From breeding M5 x F4. This girl is so pink and purple, it looks like a lavender.
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0.1 Red Factor Mimosa Snow Tessera 50% Hypo (F10)
CB 2020, clutch 70.
From breeding M4 x F3. The green and pink are strong in this girl.
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0.1 Mimosa Snow Striped 50% Lavender Hypo Dilute (F11)
CB 2020, clutch 42.
From breeding M3 x Snow Striped het. Lavender Dilute. The males in this clutch looked awesome, but I wanted a female. Althought she is not the pinkes, she does show yellows and greens and has a blotched pattern. Good female to have because she is outcrossed to an unrelated female.
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0.1 Mimosa Ultramel Tessera het. Anery 66% Motley 50% Hypo (F12)
Cb 2020, clutch 67.
From breeding a Red Factor Snow het. Motley x F1. This female is SO yellow/orange and totally reminds me of how mom looked as a baby. Also a good female to have because she is outcrossed to an unrelated Red Factor male.
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2021 females:
0.1 Mimosa Ghost Striped 66% Ultra clutch 34 (from M7 x F4)
0.1 Mimosa Ghost Ultra Striped clutch 34 (from M7 x F4)
0.1 Red Factor (25% Mimosa) Ultramel Ghost Zigzag 66% Motley or Striped clutch 65 (from M8 x F2)
0.1 Mimosa Ultra/Ultramel (Super) Tessera Motley het. Anery hom/66% Hypo 50% Striped clutch 75 (from M3 x F1)
0.1 Mimosa Red Factor Hypo Snow Motley ph. Striped clutch 44 (from M5 x F6)
0.1 Mimosa Ultra/Ultramel (Super) Tessera Anery Striped/Motley Striped hom/66% Hypo clutch 117 (from M3 x F5)
0.1 Mimosa (Red Factor) Ultramel Ghost Zigzag het. Motley or Striped clutch 79 (from M7 x F3)
0.1 Mimosa Ultra/Ultramel (Super) Tessera Anery hom/66% Hypo het. Motley or Striped clutch 75 (from M3 x F1)
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Males:
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1.0 Ghost Motley Striped “Strawberry” het. Amel (M1)
CB 2013.
The original male I bought from a unknown breeder. Unfortunately I sold him in 2016/2017 and I can not find pictures of him anymore.
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1.0 Mimosa Red Factor Ultramel Anery Tessera 50% ph. Motley (M2)
CB 2015, clutch 24.
From breeding Red Factor Snow het. Hypo x F1.
Because of the “wrong” genetics of F1, I thought this was a strange Red Factor Ghost Tessera het. Amel. This turned out not the case when I bred him in 2018.
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1.0 Mimosa Ultramel Anery Tessera Motley Striped het. Hypo (M3)
CB 2016, clutch 29.
From breeding M1 x F1. This was the male that made me sure something was going on! Still one of my top breeders.
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1.0 Red Factor (Mimosa) Snow Tessera (M4)
CB 2018, clutch 55.
From breeding M2 x Red Factor Anery het. Amel, Hypo.
This breeding produced obvious Ultramels, so I know M2 was not a Ghost Tessera, but Ultramel Anery Tessera. Super pink male, with strong Red Factor and some Mimosa background.
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1.0 Red Factor Mimosa Hypo Snow Motley (M5)
CB 2018, clutch 7.
From breeding F2 x her brother. Although some Red Factor is still visible, also Mimosa is strong in this clutch.
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1.0 Red Factor Mimosa Ultramel Anery Tessera Motley het. Hypo (M6)
CB 2019, clutch 44.
From breeding M3 x F2. When these hatched I wrote in my notes “Super nice animals. Is it Buf? Is it Red Factor? Also Striped was proven in this clutch for the female. This male has really soft pink, compared to his brother.
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1.0 Red Factor Mimosa Ghost Motley Striped het. Ultra (M7)
CB 2019, clutch 44.
From breeding M3 x F2. When these hatched I wrote in my notes “Super nice animals. Is it Buf? Is it Red Factor? Also Striped was proven in this clutch for the female. This male is super pink.
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1.0 Red Factor Mimosa Ghost Ultramel het. Motley (M8)
CB 2019, clutch 37.
From breeding Red Factor Snow het. Hypo x F4.
This breeding proved that the female was not het. Amel, but het. Ultra.
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1.0 Red Factor Mimosa Hypo Snow Motley Striped 50% Lavender (M9)
CB 2020, clutch 123.
From breeding M5 x F2. This guy is SUPER pink!
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2021 males
1.0 Mimosa Ghost Striped 66% Ultra clutch 34 (from M7 x F4)
1.0 Mimosa Snow (Super) Tessera hom/66% Hypo hom/het Striped/Motley Striped clutch 75 (from M3 x F1)
1.0 Mimosa Amel/Ultra/Ultramel (Super) Tessera Motley het. Anery hom/66% Hypo 50% Striped clutch 75 (from M3 x F1)
1.0 Mimosa Ultra/Ultramel Ghost/Anery (Super) Tessera Striped / Motley Striped Clutch 53 (from M3 x F5)
1.0 Mimosa Snow (Super) Tessera Striped/Motley Striped hom/66% Hypo clutch 117 (from M3 x F5)
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Update 2021:
Of course I had to keep some of my own Mimosa hatchlings for future breeding and to see how they will develop. Here are my holdbacks, ranging from about 4 months to 6 months old (pics taken December 2021). I am not 100% sure on all genetics yet, but these should be:
1.0 Mimosa Ghost Striped clutch 34
0.1 Mimosa Ghost Striped clutch 34
0.1 Mimosa Ultra Ghost Striped clutch 34
0.1 Mimosa Red Factor Hypo Snow Motley clutch 44
1.0 Ultra/Ultramel Ghost (super) Tessera Striped clutch 53
0.1 Red Factor Ultramel Ghost Zigzag (25% Mimosa) clutch 65
1.0 Mimosa Snow Tessera clutch 75
1.0 Mimosa Ultra(mel) (Hypo) Tessera Motley clutch 75
0.1 Mimosa Ultra(mel) (Hypo) Tessera Motley clutch 75
0.1 Mimosa Ultra(mel) Anery (super) Tessera clutch 75
0.1 Mimosa Ultramel Ghost Zigzag clutch 79
1.0 Mimosa Snow (Hypo) Tessera Striped clutch 117
0.1 Mimosa Ultra(mel) Ghost Tessera Striped clutch 117
Holdbacks from 2022 breeding season:
Clutch 33:
1.0 Mimosa Tessera het. Sunkissed Caramel Anery Striped Amel or Ultra
1.0 Mimosa Ultramel het. Sunkissed Caramel Anery Striped
1.0 Mimosa Ultramel Tessera het. Sunkissed Caramel Anery Striped
0.1 Mimosa het. Sunkissed Caramel Anery Striped Amel or Ultra
0.2 Mimosa Amel het. Sunkissed Caramel Anery Striped
Clutch 83:
1.0 Mimosa Hypo Ultramel het. Lavender Anery 50% Motley (Yellow Factor?)
1.1 Mimosa Hypo Tessera het. Lavender Anery Amel or Ultra 50% Motley (Yellow Factor?)
0.1 Mimosa Hypo Ultramel Tessera het. Lavender Anery 50% Motley (Yellow Factor?)
0.1 Mimosa Hypo Amel het. Lavender Anery 50% Motley (Yellow Factor?)
Pictures made on 01-02-2023, at approx. 6 months of age:
2023 breeding season:
In 2023 I bred with several Mimosa males and females and could find out the genetics on some of them. You can find all my pairings on https://future-morphs.com/pairings and view all babies on my Youtube page: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBiGfCOvsoqr-rF8p5x_00RcTheRwHgho
Do you like the Mimosa design? And do you want to support me?
Go to www.Future-Morphs.shop and buy a Hoodie, Vest, T-shirt or Tanktop.