Caramel

What Caramel looks like

Homozygous Caramel. Shifts coloration to warm golden-brown and caramel tones. Background becomes a warm toffee-brown; saddle marks appear warm brown rather than dark gray-black. Overall warm, earthy coloration. Dark eyes.

Shifts overall pigmentation toward warm brown and caramel tones. Homozygous Caramel animals display a warm golden-brown to caramel background color with brown saddle marks. The typical orange-brown of wild-type shifts to a warmer, more uniform brown-caramel tone with reduction of contrasting dark pigment elements. Melanin is retained but appears in warmer brown rather than dark gray-black tones. Caramel is a distinct locus from Albino, Axanthic, and Evans Hypo. The mutation appears to affect the balance of eumelanin and phaeomelanin, shifting pigmentation toward brown/yellow-brown rather than removing pigment classes entirely. Participates in combo morphs including Lemon Ghost (Caramel + Evans Hypo; exact genetic basis may vary by breeding line) and various Anaconda combos.

How to identify it: Warm golden-brown to caramel background; saddle marks warm brown rather than dark gray-black; overall warmer, more uniform coloration than wild-type. Distinguished from wild-type by the yellowing/browning of the base and reduction of dark contrast. Distinguished from Evans Hypo by the shift toward yellow-brown tones rather than a general lightening.

How Caramel is inherited

Caramel follows a recessive inheritance pattern, carried on the Caramel allele (locus CARA).

Combo morphs with Caramel

• Lemon Ghost

  Double recessive Evans Hypo + Caramel. The melanin reduction of Evans Hypo combined with the warm golden-brown shift of Caramel produces a clean lemon-yellow to golden animal. The reduced melanin from Evans Hypo allows Caramel's warm tones to show more cleanly, producing the characteristic lemon/golden ghost appearance. Genetics modeled as Evans Hypo + Caramel; community definition varies.