HM Issue #8 - June 2020

Herpetoculturemagazine.com

erpetoculture agazine Issue #8 -

June 2020

The

Chondro Issue!

Specializing in Morelia & Old World Ratsnakes.

@uwabamireptiles

This Issue...

Pg. 3 Blue Line History

Pg. 11

Cover Photo By Justin Smith

Pg. 27 Kofiau Chondros

Pg. 37

Remembering Andrew Aman

Remembering Forrest Fanning

Pg. 14

Pg. 44

Industry Spotlight David Brahms

Pg. 17

Choosing Holdbacks With Harlin Wall

Pg. 25

Product REview: Govee Data Loggers

Pg. 46 The Designer Chondro Handbook

Morelia Spotlight: The Sickness

Copyright Š 2020 by Herpetoculture Magazine all rights reserved.

This publication or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Eighth Edition www.herpetoculturemagazine.com

Editor's Note Welcome to the all Chondro issue of Herpetoculture Magazine! This issue is the first of many anticipated annual species or topic specific issues. With Justin and I being Morelia guys at heart, it was only fitting that chondros be the first issue like this. We have some amazing content in this issue.

How to pick holdbacks, lineage history, and much more brought to you from guys with many years of experience. Once again, I would like to personally thank the contributors for taking the time to share their knowledge with the rest of the hobby. Without people in the hobby willing to share their experiences, there would be no magazine. As always, if you would like to see something specific or would like to contribute, just reach out. So without further ado, sit back and enjoy the Chondro issue!

Justin Smith & Billy Hunt -Publishers-

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Contributors

Bill Stegall - Contributor -

John Irby - Contributor -

Harlin Wall - Contributor -

David Brahms - Contributor -

Ian Bessell - Contributor -

Ari Flagle - Contributor -

Matt Morris - Contributor -

Ken Diehl - Contributor -

Mark Heger - Contributor -

Marcial Mendez - Contributor -

Pedro Caixinha - Contributor -

David Dendinger - Contributor -

Tim Morris - Contributor -

Brian Kusko - Contributor -

Pia & Cody Bartolini - Contributor -

Ryan McVeigh 2 - Contributor - 2

t o G s ’ ? o s e u h e l W Blu of the B dros! e n y r o h T The Histor Blue Ch

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Name of Line: Trooper Walsh Blue Line Founding Breeders: Al Zulich, Trooper Walsh, Tim Morris Who is Working With It:Dave Dendinger, Christian Stewart, Danny Brotto, Francis Gaton, Rich Culver, James Opdahl, Thomas Budway, Greg Waltz, John Irby.

Founding Animals: AZ014, AZ015, TW8962, TR8834, TM9327-The Legend, TM9348-Tim Morris Blue Female (TMBF), and JH9618-Mr. Blue.

Notable Descendants:TW9347–Powder, TW9347–Carolina, TW0203–Skyy, TW-Mitey Blue, TM 151.94-Daddypants, Crazy, TM02-Blue Deuce, SSDB09-Jake, SSDB09-Frosty, SH05188, SH05086, SH11030, SH05079, CG1410-Everest, SH11029–Zeus, and so many more.

Characteristics and Traits

A Brief History Lesson

Trooper Walsh Blue Line chondros are red neonate coloration directly to blue--70% or characterized by their often-seen sky-blue more--with no intermediate green phase. To date, all coloration. There are a few ways their coloration of these beautiful and ultra-rare Super Blue chondros is expressed, and hobbyists have coined several have been red neonates and most have been males. terms to describe and delineate between the Opinions vary about when and where the TW Blue levels of coverage, intensity, and the process by Line began as well as which animals are considered which the animal reaches its final blue coloration. founders or notable (based on currently available “High Blue” refers to snakes that have information), pedigree and history interpretation, variable amounts of blue, yet much memory, and personal or financial connection to more than typical locality specimens. particular animals. With lineage tracing as far back as the first chondros ever produced in captivity, the TW There are also female chondros referred to as Blue Line is the most established, well-documented “Hormonal Blue”. Hormonal Blue females are bloodline of green tree pythons in the world. So, animals that become (and possibly remain) blue the above lists of breeders and notable animals as specifically in response to current or upcoming well as the historical accounts discussed below are reproductive events. Next, there are animals known in no way exhaustive and, in many ways, it is the as “True Blue” chondros. This term describes passionate community of keepers and their spirited snakes that end up largely blue as adults yet had an discussions surrounding this bloodline that makes intermediate green phase prior to achieving their working with them so enjoyable and rewarding. final adult coloration. Lastly, there is the much desired “Super Blue”. Challenging to produce and With that said, a few things do seem to often considered the crown jewel of the hobby, be consistently agreed upon and, with Super Super Blues are characterized by their change from Blue chondros being considered the ultimate 4

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Discover focus cubed habitats on

achievement within the line, I intend to focus and confine my discussion on things consistently shared within their complex lineage and history.

All Super Blue chondros have line-bred lineage going back to two wild imports noted on pedigrees as AZ004 Wild and LR47 Wild Blue.

From these two imports came a pair of clutchmates, AZ014 and AZ015. These clutchmates were bred by Al Zulich and produced clutches in 1988 and 1989.

Animals produced from these two “sib to sib” clutches included TR8834 and TW8962. TR8834 went on to sire TM9327-The Legend and TW8962 went on to be the mother of TM9348, the famous Tim Morris Blue Female (TMBF) as well her two well-known sisters, TW9330-Joan Collins, once owned by Greg Maxwell, and TW9347-Powder who went on to produce the famous TW9802-Carolina with Trooper Walsh.

While these animals were all amazing in their own right, many displaying considerable blue coloration, it was not until Tim Morris bred his two snakes, The Legend and TMBF, that we really started to see the magic the TW Blue Line had to offer. In 1996, Tim produced a large clutch of eggs from his female that he maternally incubated and, from that clutch came a neonate that went on to become John Holland’s legendary JH9618- Mr. Blue. Mr. Blue was one of the most exciting chondros seen at that time, quickly making his way through his color change to eventually become a stunning solid blue adult.

From there, pairings were planned to bring out that same intense coloration in larger numbers. In 1999 and 2000, Mr. Blue was bred to his mother, TMBF, and these clutches produced several standout animals including the well-known Mitey Blue once owned by Rich Culver as well as Azure, Goliath, Brotto Blue, and several more. However, it was not until 2002 when Trooper Walsh and John Holland paired Mr. Blue with his first cousin, Carolina, that we finally saw the results the chondro world had been waiting for. The forever-legendary Mr. Blue X Carolina clutch contained a large number of “Super Blue” chondros including animals known as Skyy, Little Boy Blue, Papa Smurf, Mojo, Blue Volcano and several others.

Also occurring in 2002 was the pairing of BG94121-Daddypants to his half-sister, the Tim Morris Blue Female. Daddypants was sired by the famous TW9131-Ol’ Yeller, one of the first

The litter that produced Mr Blue (breeding occurred 1995-96 & litter deposition was April 1996) was done maternally - as was 4 of the 6 litters the blue female produced. And yes, she produced 6 litters...

Mr. Blue at 10 months

Mr. Blue at 1 year

Mr. Blue at 3 years

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Biak outcross animals in captivity, and his inclusion in the Daddypants branch of the Blue Line added much needed genetic diversity.

2008 Skyy x Topaz clutch both produced excellent results and contributed significantly to reigniting the excitement surrounding the bloodline.

It also added a colorful X-Factor of sorts making way for the increased occurrence of fluke high black and high yellow animals coming from the TW Blue Line. The Daddypants X TMBF clutch contained many standout animals including Ireland, Blue Deuce, Ice, and Crazy.

Mr. Blue and his early offspring went on to be line-bred and outcrossed over the years, further expanding the population of the Blue Line so more people were able to work with it.

In 2009, the chondro world was shocked yet again when Christian Stewart of “The Barn” teamed up with Danny Brotto to breed two high-potency Blue Line snakes together, the extremely prolific Blue Deuce and a pure Blue Line female called Brotto Blue.

This allowed for more genetic diversity to make its way into the line to where we started to see better and better results as the numbers continued to grow. Rich Culver’s 2007 Mitey Blue x Dream Baby clutch made waves while Brad Johnson’s famous 2006 “Godiva” clutch and

Papa Smurf

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Blue Volcano

It was within this pairing we saw a new neverbefore-seen level of potential from the Blue Line with the production of a snake known as SSDB09-Frosty. From the speed of his transition to the intensity of his final bright-blue coloration, Frosty was an anomaly in every way.

Below are some famous animals from pairings circa 2002

Crazy

Mojo

Frosty

Rico Walder also went on to do great things with the line using his self-produced 50% Mr. Blue/ Carolina male, SH05188. In 2011, Rico produced a large clutch using SH05188 and a Bluemax/ Jarvis female known as SH05086. As several Super Blues began to emerge, this clutch went on to be known as one of the best, most consistent Blue Line clutches we had seen in many years.

Some of the top examples from this clutch include the prolific male SH11030, now owned by Dave Dendinger, as well as the famous SH11029 male, Zeus, one of the nicest Super Blues ever produced and thought to be Rico Walder’s crowning achievement in the chondro hobby.

This clutch also served as a turning point in Blue Line chondro breeding, as it demonstrated how high-quality Super Blues were achievable even through heavily outcrossed, genetically diverse animals, and how those results could be achieved in large numbers from large clutches.

From there, the Blue Line has exploded in every way. In 2014, we continued to see progress with the production of CG1410-Everest by Colin Guiley, one of just a few Super Blue females ever produced. Newer keepers have amassed extraordinary collections and, alongside veteran keepers, the Super Blues they’ve produced and the contributions they’re making to the bloodline are immeasurable. We continue to see excellent genetic diversity added to the line as more and more compatible outcross animals are discovered.

This robust gene pool contributes greatly to the many successful Blue Line clutches we see annually today and, now with the largest population of blue snakes ever in circulation, we are seeing an appreciable and ever-increasing level of coloration intensity and clutch consistency within the line. .

Zeus

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As these extraordinary blue snakes become more prevalent, the excitement within our community of passionate keepers is at an all-time high, and participation in the now-worldwide Blue Line project has never been more accessible or enjoyable.

In closing, I would like to thank Tim Morris, John and Jenny Holland, Christian Stewart, Dave Dendinger, Danny Brotto, Rich Culver, Tim Schroeder, Frank Gaton and many others for their friendships and their willingness to contribute many of the pictures and much of the information that went into writing this. I really do appreciate you guys helping make this happen.

Jake

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Azure RC-08.12

Mitey Blue

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RC-13.04 IceCube

Follow John Irby on Facebook & Youtube at Mid-Atlantic Arboreals and on IG @midatlanticarboreals

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Specializing in GTPs and arboreal boas

See our available animals at morphmarket.com/stores/sjreptiles

/SandJReptiles

sjreptiles.com

@sj_reptile

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Green Tree Pythons & Andrew Aman February 6, 1966 – March 25, 2020

By Matt Morris & Ken Diehl As some of you know Andrew Aman unexpectedly passed away recently. Many of the “old timers” knew him but many of the newcomers have not heard his name. He was a near and dear friend of mine and I would like to this opportunity to let the people relatively new to green tree pythons know a little about him and what he contributed to the community.

I first met Andrew in 1st grade and by fourth grade we realized that we had very similar interests and we became good friends from that time on.

He had a passion for the outdoors and the natural world in general and over the years we spent as much time camping, hunting and fishing as we could.

Around 1979 he really started to get into reptiles and kept a handful of different species until 1984 when he graduated high school.

After high school he decided he wanted to try his hand at breeding a few different species and over the years was successful with Ball Pythons, Corn Snakes, Amazon Tree Boas and White’s Tree Frogs. Along with the breeding pairs of animals, he also kept a few reptiles around that were not for breeding and one of these was a Green Tree Python.

In 2005, when his lone pet chondro died, he decided he really wanted another one. In his search for a new one he discovered the Morelia Viridis Forum (MVF) and was hooked on green trees. He spent many hours doing research and asking questions and he soon had 4 imported adults from Shiloh Hawkesworth.

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After he found the MVF and the wealth of information and helpful people it contained, he began to show me pictures of Mr. Blue, the Computer chondro and others in an effort to convince me

that I had to get a chondro. That went on for around two years and after his first eggs hatched, he gifted me a neo. Well, I soon sold all my other snakes and have been doing Chondros ever since.

Andrew produced a couple of locality and mixed locality clutches then headed in a new direction for breeding and started doing designers. He produced clutches in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2014.

Andrew was passionate about many things but the chondro addiction hit him hard. He was very meticulous in his research and acquired some very nice genetics in his collection. Although all of his clutches had some great looking animals, Andrew had three stand out clutches. The 1st one was in 2008 between Yok (OSHY) and Naree (Merauke). The result of this pairing was very unexpected and ended up producing some amazing high yellow animals. To the right are pictures of two siblings and the parents.

The other two standout clutches were from a repeat pairing that produced some very melanistic animals.

This was a pairing between a melanistic OSHY male called Black Chip from Mark Robertson and a Signal Herp blue line female sibling to 05188. There are only a few pictures of the adult animals from this clutch because most of them went to collectors in Europe.

He frequently contributed to the MVF often and pictures most of his animals and clutches can be seen there with a little digging. Over the years he made many good friends on the forum and made a few road trips to Daytona to meet them in person and talk snakes! He was also kind enough to host several Texas chondro BBQ’s at his home and many chondro heads from all around Texas enjoyed his hospitality.

Over the last few years, he reduced the number of chondros he had in order to focus on his family which was very important to him. He made a great effort to make sure his kids had a better home life than he and his brothers had. He was a great father and his effort was successful!

On our last fishing trip together, somewhat ironically, we had a discussion about what would happen with our animals if something were to unexpectedly happen to either of us. This subject is often an overlooked issue with snake collections and can be a big mess if not handled in the right way.

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In this case it was a verbal agreement but it would have been much better to have it in writing and easily accessible by loved ones so they would know what to do with the animals.

Through this agreement, I was able to care for the snakes at his house until I could get them moved to my house. This took a lot of stress off of the family and the snakes were in no danger of being neglected for a long period of time. I now have Andrew’s remaining three green tree pythons, 2 males and a female.

My plan is to breed these animals and when successful put his ID numbers on them and get them out to the green tree community as a tribute to Andrew and his passion for green tree pythons.

Thanks for all the good times and memories, rest in peace my brother. - Matt Morris Andrew Aman February 6, 1966 – March 25, 2020 - From Ken Diehl -

First, I wanted to thank Justin Smith for acknowledging Andrew’s passing, and communicating his friends’ thoughts in this manner. I have known Andrew for close to 12 years, in that time we’re not only shared our passion for Green Tree Pythons but so many other activities that seems to be a trend with my close friends.

We took trips to Big Bend, West Texas and shared our experience of the majestic solitude of that area.

We had dinners, pool parties and barbecues, we went camping and fishing recently and really enjoyed each other’s company. I remember us going down to Freer, Texas to road cruise for Mexican Milk Snakes, found a clean adult, banded female, we were both very excited but he talked me out of taking it home. He said I had too many serpents already and that I should focus on Green Trees.

Andrew was passionate with his breeding colony of Green Tree Pythons with an astute understanding of genetics, documentation and breeding. His legacy in so many aspects will be maintained with his offspring of Chondros he has produced over the years. I miss him more as time goes by, his passing is all our loss.

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Industry Spotlight David Brahms of Specialty Enclosure Designs

When we decided to do an all chondro issue of the magazine, the first person that came to mind for the Industry Spotlight was David Brahms. For those who aren’t familiar with David and what he does, let this be a formal introduction to a hobbyist who took a new age technology and found ingenious ways to apply it to the animals we keep in the hobby. This made him an easy choice for this piece as he’s single-handedly moved the hobby forward through technology!

In this Q&A we get the story of how Specialty Enclosure Designs 14 came to be and more.

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would be when it comes to the keeping of arboreal snakes and reptiles in general. No longer would I need to wait for larger companies to pay attention to the needs of us niche keepers.

HM: Were you keeping chondros before you started the business?

DB: I acquired my first GTP around 2013 and quickly started thinking of things I thought would make the animals more comfortable in their enclosures, and also assist me as the keeper.

After I started building my collection and the animals started to grow I acquired my first 3D printer in 2015 and it didn’t take long before I started using that technology to develop products specifically for these incredible animals.

HM: What made you start Specialty Enclosure Designs?

DB: The concept of starting Specialty Enclosure Designs was created out of the need for husbandry equipment that was geared specifically for arboreal reptiles.

Previous to this endeavor I typically used items that were meant for other appl ications and repurposed them for this hobby. This never sat well with me because things never fit the way they should or the colors didn’t match etc. By utilizing 3-D printing I was able to start a cottage scale manufacturing operation that has continued to grow along with the overall interest in arboreals since 2016.

HM: Do you come from an engineering background and what made 3-D printing click in your head as something that could help the hobby?

DB: My official “day-job” title is New Product Development Manager for a company that produces materials used in Aerospace, Ballistics, and Industrial Safety. I’ve always enjoyed mechanical engineering and design and originally started using 3-D printers as a way for my son and I to have fun working together learning this evolving technology. After we learned the basics, I quickly realized how useful this method of manufacturing

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“I quickly realized how useful this method of manufacturing would be when it comes to the keeping of arboreal snakes and reptiles in general. No longer would I need to wait for larger companies to pay attention to the needs of us niche keepers.”

HM: When did you get into GTPs? DB: Ever since I started keeping reptiles as a kid (some 41 years ago) I have always wanted to keep GTPs. It wasn’t until 2013 that I decided to take the plunge and I haven’t looked back.

HM: What does your collection consist of now and how has it changed over the years?

DB: When I decided to get into keeping and breeding GTP’s the animals that always drew me in were the ones that originate north of the Central Cordillera. Based on the new taxonomic classification these would be Morelia azurea and more specifically I really liked the Morelia azurea pulcher subspecies that come from the Manokwari area.

With this in mind I have kept the focus of my collection on the Manokwari locality and for the most part have stayed the course. In addition to that locality I have also included Wamena, Biak, and some Aru (viridis) in the collection.

My goal is to focus on breeding and maintaining locality bloodlines but will also potentially cross localities if there appears to be a possible interesting outcome from the pairing.

HM: How do you think the community can continue to innovate in ways like you have with S3D? DB: That’s a great question and one I find hard to answer. There’s no telling where things will go from here but as long as people are willing to keep an open mind and try thinking outside the box a little I am sure things will keep evolving.

There are many aspects of GTP husbandry that we do not have completely figured out that will require people to try new things and experiment. That’s one of the things I like most about keeping these animals….if it were super easy and everything was figured out it wouldn’t be as much fun to keep them.

HM: What would be your advice for someone who wants to take the plunge into chondros?

Check out the awesome products from S3D at Specialtyenclosuredesigns.com DB: This is an easy one but not often taken to heart by the new keepers. Listen to those who have carved out the path before you and take their advice. It will make you a happier keeper, and more importantly your animals will live longer healthier lives. Don’t just listen to those who blast social media with their presence... rather seek out those who actually have the experience when it comes to dealing with various health issues, have been successful breeding and raising babies, and have a great reputation in the community. Remember the loudest voices aren’t always the ones you should listen to.

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g n i t c e n l e e e S r G e t s a a n s o n e o N h t y l P l s a e k W e c n i l r a r T a b H d th i l W Ho Producing and hatching a clutch of Green Tree Pythons is a magical blessing, when it all goes according to plan. All the blood, sweat and tears you have expended are finally rewarded!

However, you are now also haunted with a somewhat daunting conundrum. Which animals should be selected as your future breeding stock. And which do you let go?

In a perfect scenario, it would be wisest to delay selling ANY of your neonates, allowing them at least a year or two of growth, before making your hold-back selections.

This method has multiple benefits for the savvy breeder. Exercising this option will give you the ability to determine gender, which allows you to manage the sex ratio of your colony and fine tune the management of your future breeding plans.

You gain a better idea of how each individual snake is developing in regard to their transition through ontogenesis. Over the years, witnessing a multitude of animals progressing through the color change helps to give you a bit of an edge for selecting the winners! Experience will teach you the most.

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Keeping your neonates until they are raised to this age will also provide you with more information regarding each snake’s feeding habits and overall health. It takes the progeny past the delicate neonatal stages and onto the more established juvenile stages of life. Thus, providing you with a better selection of hold-backs, while at the same time, providing your customers with well started animals.

You will know which snake is a good feeder, as well as which is a bit fussy and may require some finesse. Offering animals that you have more background information on will allow you to help your customer choose an animal that better suits their level of experience. This also allows you to provide customers with more informative health and behavioral histories for each individual snake.

These are qualities that both you and your customers will appreciate.

A few thoughts about selling neonates...

Any neonates that are to be sold should, at the very minimum, have consistently taken no less than 10 meals (voluntarily) before they leave your care. Younger animals should go to more experienced keepers who understand the risks associated with purchasing young and potentially more delicate snakes.

Neonates are not very forgiving of simple mistakes, often made by the novice keeper.

Selling younger snakes to customers, who already possess a considerable amount of experience with this species, helps to provide a safety buffer for the animal’s well being…well as for your reputation! Selling younger animals to less experienced keepers will require that you be willing to offer some serious support. A worthwhile seller will generally also provide the customer with a health guarantee of a set length of time. These are rather minimal standards which we should expect of our community.

Having said this, life is not always a perfect scenario. You can’t keep ‘em all! Sometimes (especially with larger numbers of hatchlings) you may need to sell a few well started neonates earlier than the “One Year” mark... just to keep your sanity! So, who do you keep?

When selecting hold-backs, I used just to pick those that really stood out from the crowd.

They looked “special” as babies...so logic would say that they should become spectacular as adults too!

(Throw logic out the window.)

Although I would certainly say that you should select the crazy looking babies, there is often more to the formula. Some things we can almost predict...and there will also be some unexpected surprises. Anything that is extreme should certainly be considered a hold-back. Ultra heavy patterns...as well as seriously reduced patterns.

This applies to both red and yellow neonates.

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Many people concentrate on dorsal pattern a hidden treasure trove of genetics, and head-stamp pattern. This is fine...but which might only appeal to those who don’t forget to check out the lateral patterning have studied a fair number of pedigrees. and the ventral patterning too. Sometimes you may notice unique tongue colors. This is a trait that can be a potential marker or clue to underlying genetic anomalies, When selecting from yellow neonates, we often associated with color and pattern. sometimes see “Blaze Phase” babies. Blaze phase neonates display a heavy maroon Another characteristic that should be given pattern that seems to have been airbrushed consideration is eye color. Uniquely color on. They can really look impressive. Or eyes and/or pupils can provide clues about the you may encounter “Rotten Bananas’’ potential for unexpected future results. I am These snakes look like they could not talking about genetically inheritable traits. decide if they wanted to be red or yellow...

We see evidence of the same phenomenon in as they display an almost paradox like lots of other species of snakes. This logic can pattern of both colors at the same time! also be applied to Green Tree Pythons...(or any other species of snake for that matter). While both of these neonate pattern/color types can look impressive, as a general rule, Although there are no guarantees or they have consistently matured to appear assurances when it comes to selecting indistinguishable from normally colored and neonates that will mature to knock your patterned siblings. Their neonate appearance socks off, the idea is to utilize every visual does not usually seem to enhance or influence clue at your disposal, in order to give yourself the way the animals look after ontogenesis. the best odds of picking a winner or two.

“Blaze” Neonates

The overall color of the snakes can be worthwhile to pay attention to when selecting hold-backs. When it comes to red neonates, often the darker colored babies and those that appear nearly patternless or almost black, are held in high regard for developing that “Eye Candy” appeal when they mature.

Sometimes this holds true and other times you end up with a very nice “plain green snake on a perch.” Chaotically patterned red or yellow neonates with a lot of static gibberish will often mature to impress!

Keep in mind that there can be a considerable amount of variation within a single clutch.

Even when you are breeding amazing looking designers, with heavy pedigrees, it is still possible to produce some offspring that mature to look rather dull. This does not mean they don’t hold value. Some of the most impressive looking designers have been produced by breeders who understand the potential of pairing snakes which may appear “less than impressive” but possess

Photo Courtesy of breeder Harlin Wall.

A “Blaze” neo The “rotten banana” neo

Photo Courtesy of the breeder, Buddy Buscemi.

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Know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em It is often said that Biak locality types take longer for their color change to complete, than do other localities. Sometimes as long as 5 years before the color and pattern stabilizes. Although I used to subscribe to this theory, my perspective has changed over the years. Regardless of locality type, some animals take longer than others to go through the initial change from red or yellow to the predominantly green color scheme associated with adults.

This holds true for all the different locality types and also for designers (mixes of different localities). It even varies for sibling neonates! I say “initial color change” because, if you watch the color progression beyond this first shift from neonate color through to the adult stabilized colors, you will begin to notice that most individuals of ANY locality continue to change color hue and pattern intensity throughout the first five years of life.

They all take a long time for their colors to finally stabilize. We just seem to notice it more with Biaks because of the stark differences between bright yellow and green.

The changes in hues and intensity between blues and greens, or the slow development of a few additional white or black scales may not stand out as much or seem as noticeable.

I once selected a yellow neonate Jayapura with a very heavy maroon dorsal pattern. It

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had an unbroken stripe from the back of it’s head all the way to it’s tail...along with loads of maroon pattern on the lateral aspects of its body. I was sure that it would mature to display loads of killer blue, heavy with pattern and an eye grabbing stripe. It was a keeper! After the initial color change, at around one year of age, it assumed a very somber dark green color that nearly obscured any noticeable blue dorsal pattern. I was sadly disappointed.

So, I decided to sell the animal. About four years later, I received a photo from the customer who purchased it. I was impressed with the snake in the photo! Initially, I did not realize it was the same animal I had sold her. As soon as the customer started to tell me that she had purchased it from me, I realized that I was learning a valuable lesson.

I had sold that Jayapura before it really started to display it’s full potential. It was still in the process of completing the secondary color and pattern stabilization phase of ontogenesis. This lesson has caused me to reconsider who gets sold...and who is kept as a future breeder. It has also earned me a bit of a reputation of being a hoarder! HA! As soon as you sell something you regret having let go...you too will have joined the ranks of the hoarders club! It is easy to sell something that you later wish you would have kept.

This is a lesson that is taught to each keeper

over time...it can be a tough lesson to learn! It is a lesson that the best among all reptile keepers must learn. I recall a conversation with my late friend, Rico Walder. He told me that a lady brought a Green Tree Python over to show him.

He said that when he opened the container and peered in, the animal was absolutely stunning!

He asked how much she wanted for the snake.

She replied saying, “It’s not actually for sale”...

To which he answered, “Everything can be for sale, if you agree on a price...what do you want for it?” She said, “I’d never feel good about selling you this animal.” And Rico said, “Seriously??? After all the nice deals I have worked with you over the years??? You would not consider giving me a shot at this snake?!?!”

That is when she said, “Of course not, I just would not feel good about it, Rico. Mainly because I purchased it from you!” He was shocked!

Soon enough, they were on his computer looking over the clutch photos of this snake and all it’s siblings.

She looked at a few of the standout, “eye candy” examples and asked “What became of all of these?” He said, “Oh, I kept all of the really pretty ones...would you like to see how they all turned out?” Then he Above are images of a yellow neonate took her back to see a number of rather plainly Jayapura X Aru. Both the Sire and Dam of colored green snakes coiled on their perches! this animal were yellow as neonates. This You just never know! His selections paled in animal was one of the standouts among all comparison to her prize! Rico said that this of it’s yellow neo siblings. It was selected experience really changed the way he went for the intensely heavy handed patterning. about selecting his holdbacks. He said, “I like Below is a photo of the same snake as to pick some crazy cool looking animals... an adult. The heavy pattern noticed as some rather common looking animals that don’t impress me much. And I like to pick a neonate was all transformed into this a few that seem to be the average between blue pattern seen in the adult photo. Most the two extremes...just to hedge my bets!” people associate blue with red neonates... but you can also select for blue patterns as The bottom line…You will be holding more animals well as overall coloration when breeding back to help insulate yourself from regrets. yellow neonates. This animal is a prime Years later, after Rico had passed, I was on the phone with an accomplished breeder by the name example of the potential for a selectively of Mel Bernal. I started to tell her this tale of bred for blue pattern project, originating “Rico’s Selection Technique”…when she stopped from a yellow neonate pedigree. me right in the middle... and then finished the Photos courtesy of breeder, Richard R. story for me.

She was the lady in the story!

Corcoran It was a heartfelt moment. A memory shared that I am sure is unforgettable for both of us.

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Zeus (mentioned below) If you look at enough photos of neonates and compare them with pics of the adults they grew to become...it can be surprising to see how they started out. Some of them may look rather common, and you would never have guessed that they would be “THE ONE!” Look at a neonate photo of Zeus. He was pretty as a neo... but not necessarily the one you may have guessed would turn out so amazing. Now, to play it from the other side of the fence.

Everything from that clutch did turn out pretty darn cool! It can be difficult to select which jewel will shine the brightest when surrounded by a treasure chest of jewels waiting to be polished! Raising your own neonates up provides illumination that a simple photo cannot. It fosters a connection with each individual animal, building a value that goes well beyond dollar signs. While it would be nearly impossible to include every tip and trick of selection in such a brief article, I have included a number of photos which I hope might help get your wheels turning.

Putting in your time is the only way to gain firsthand experience. By the time you start feeling like you are beginning to get a little better at it...you may find yourself wishing you could travel back in time and start all over again. The beauty of our hobby is all about the journey, rather than any destination. You’ve got to put the time in...so just enjoy the process!

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A very unusual color and pattern variant. Note the abnormal eye coloration. This animal was produced by Clyde Clause. He named it OddJob. A very fitting name indeed. This animal likely displays the most extreme example of melanism I have ever seen in Green Tree Pythons. Photos Courtesy of Clyde Clause.

-More Examples explained-

These photos document the progression of a yellow neonate male Sorong Locality Green Tree from one year until approximately 4 years of age. This snake was selected for high yellow potential, based on the reduced lateral pattern. Photos courtesy of owner, Connor Jones.

A Jayapura Red Neonate Selected for darker coloration. Now peppered with retained melanism. The lower lateral margins became bright yellow in this animal. Blue intensified as it aged and it maintained this overall appearance as an adult. Photo Courtesy of T. Phillips & Harlin Wall

A red neonate Lereh Locality Green Tree Python. This animal displayed nearly purple, deep burgundy coloration along with nice bright white patterning. For an adult (non-designer) pure locality animal, this specimen exhibits an extreme amount of melanism. Photos courtey of Harlin Wall. Animal owned by Daniel Trinka.

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MORELIA SPOTLIGHT

BILS 15.17 AKA The Sickness

By Bill Stegall

The Sickness (BILS 15.17) was produced from a mildly melanistic male named Jeager (MM.07.05) bred to a Bushmaster imported Highland type (Wamena) female. There were 20 red and 3 yellow neonates that hatched from the clutch. The Sickness stood out from his clutch mates because of his darker rich red coloration and a decreased amount of patterning. As the clutch underwent its ontogenetic color change (OCC) the majority of animals exhibited a small amount of melanism.

Only The Sickness went on to display a vast amount of melanism as its final adult coloration. The Sickness was bred for the first time in 2018 to a stunning high blue Cyclops locality type female. The clutch contained 17 eggs all that hatched successfully yielding 17 red babies.

At the time of this writing 3 babies have begun their OCC and all 3 are exhibiting a high degree of melanism.

The story of The Sickness is every designer GTP keepers dream come true. We are all looking for that magic pairing that can produce a standout animal like The Sickness.

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The Sickness as a neonate (above) and as a juvenile (below)

Right: Sire - Jeager Left: Dam- BM Wamena Type Below: The Sickness

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The Kofiau Island Green Tree Python in the Pet TradE

By Matt Morris

About the Island...

Kofiau Island is located in between the north Moluccan island of Halmahera and the Bird’s Head (Volgekop) Peninsula of West Papua. It sits in the middle the Raja Ampat archipelago which encompasses more than 9.8 million acres of land and sea. Raja Ampat translates as ‘four kings’, and describes the four largest groups of islands: Waigeo and Batanta in the North, Salawati and Misool to the South. There are approximately 610 islands in this archipelago but only about 35 are inhabited.

Kofiau or Wallo Island, as the locals call it, is the smaller and least visited amongst the major islands in this area. There are approximately 32 islands (including the Boo Islands) of various sizes surrounding the main island. There are around 55,735 acres of land and 206,802 acres of marine area that include fringing reefs, barrier reefs, atolls, and mangroves, and some of the highest marine diversity recorded anywhere on the planet.

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The Kofiau Chondro...

The first yellow Kofiau Island chondros are thought to have been brought into the U.S. by Cal Zoo Supply or East Bay Vivarium around late 1996. Those first yellow snakes caused quite a commotion with in the gtp community as well as private collectors. Not much info was known about them in the beginning and for a few years, controversy and debate surrounded these unique locality animals.

Some were being called yellow Manokwaris at first, either because the importers did not know what they were or they were given a purposely misleading name, as some do in order to keep special locality types under the control of a specific exporter or collector. Later the name, “Canary” chondros was used, it described the color of the first all yellow adult animals that came in but it was also used as a sales gimmick by importers to describe these animals. Eventually the location that these animals were coming from was divulged but even today, the all yellow individuals are still called “Canaries”.

Characteristics This insular form of green tree python is known for a few things; - Most have a very calm disposition - They typically have bright yellow eyes from hatchling to adult.

- The throat and ventral scales of the neck display yellow coloration. Belly can be white or yellow - Neonates are always born yellow and are notoriously hard to get feeding.

Neonate Coloration Neos are always born yellow. The neonate dorsal pattern consists of larger, irregularly shaped marks with dots and/or dashes in-between. The dorsal pattern can be broken or connected to form a stripe of sorts. This pattern is typical dark red or burgundy but slowly turns to lavender as ontogenetic color change approaches and a few white scales can start to appear at this time as well. From mid-dorsal to the belly scales, there is very little pattern other than a few small spots. Neo tails are usually mottled grey/white with various amounts of burgundy and black.

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Adult Coloration When these first started coming into the US they were thought to keep the solid yellow coloration throughout adulthood, and many were sold with this claim attached to them. As many of these yellow animals developed a green wash or went all green, many buyers felt “taken” and others lost interest because they went green. Over time it was discovered by a few die-hard keepers that only a small percentage, maybe 5% or less, would keep their yellow coloration for life. No one can “guarantee” which one is going to stay yellow. Some will change to green or green/yellow at 16 months, some at 6 yrs., and for some females, after one or two reproductive cycles. It is hard to know when they will or if they will change.

Photos courtesy of Harlin Wall

Color shifts Another unique characteristic of Kofiau green trees is their ability to change colors at various times. For some it is only once for others it could be many times throughout their lives. Not so much with the type 1 animals, more so with the yellow/green wash and the all yellow animals (Type 2 and Type 3). These changes are not as dramatic or as fast as say a chameleon but can take place overnight or over a few days.

They can shift from yellow to mustardy yellow with a light green wash and then back to yellow. The amount of green wash can vary in amounts, sometimes it will be almost solid green with no yellow in it. Many keepers have observed them changing colors at different times; seasonally, due to feeding, shed cycles, reproductive cycles, and temperature cycles. It is unknown at this time if the gtps from Kofiau are the only ones to do this or why it happens.

Many yellow females will change to green after their 1st or 2nd clutch and a few may get a green wash or turn blue, only to change back to normal after the cycle is over. Chuck Vogel has all yellow males that always develop a sprinkling of green scales during breeding season/introductions, and then most disappear in the off season. These color changes may become less common with age.

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The three forms Type #1 Green body with blue dorsal pattern and various amounts of white speckling along the spine.

This form is hard to recognize as Kofiau unless you know the importer well or hatched it out yourself. Many of these have been sold as something other than Kofiau and when they are labeled “Kofiau” they are questioned. These typically don’t shift colors as the type 2 and 3 Kofiau’s are known to do. Adult tail coloration is a mottled blue /gray with various amounts of black.

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Type #2 Yellowish/green with a light blue to greyish dorsal pattern and various amounts of white speckling along the spine. Sometimes the yellow will turn a mustardy yellow with a slight green hue which some refer to as “dirty birds”. These can shift from darker to lighter shades at various times. Type 2 females can change to a “hormonal blue” when in a reproductive cycle. Adult tail coloration is a mottled blue /gray with various amounts of black.

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Type #3 These are the Kofiau that everyone was looking for in the beginning, an all yellow animal from start to finish. They are also the rarest of the three forms. These animals are almost all yellow with small amounts of green scales here and there. The dorsal pattern can be different shades of lavender, grey or white with various amounts of white speckling along the spine. These are typically animals that are six years of age or older and for females, had at least two clutches. This type has been known to shift from yellow to green and back to yellow. Type 3 females can change to a “hormonal blue� when in a reproductive cycle. Adult tail coloration is a mottled blue /gray with various amounts of black.

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Oddballs White Canaries – The “Grey Sunday” Project There were four known” white canaries” and it is unknown when or who coined the term but that was what they were called on the Morelia Viridis forum. It is still unclear whether this coloring is hormonal or genetic.

Jost Bruning a breeder from Holland acquired 2 pairs of young imported Kofiau green tree pythons. He sold a pair of these at the Houten Reptile expo in 2007. Christos Issaris bought the male and his friend Stefan Thomsen bought the female. These were a typical yellow Kofiau juvenile color at first then a few months later began to turn pale until they were almost white. Jost’s animals changed as well and it is thought that they were all clutch mates.

After both animals had turned to white, Christos and Stefan were sitting around talking about how unique they were and decided to do a joint project together in order to attempt to see if this trait could be passed on. This conversation took place on a gray, rainy Sunday and thus the project got its name.

The pair that Jost kept in Holland laid eggs but due to incubator problems none of them hatched. He then sold the adults and their status and where they ended up is unknown.

Christos and Stefan’s pairing produced 20 eggs with 11 Neos hatchings in 2012. 10 babies survived but most if not all of these past away before they reached maturity.

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The Black-Headed Canary The Black Headed canary was a very Melanistic Kofiau island green tree python.

The BHC along with Artic Blue, were originally imported by Don Keseric from Alam Nusantara Jayatama (Alnusa). Alnusa is an Export Pet trading business in Jakarta that was established in 1999 by Danny Gunalen. It has since been sold to an unknown buyer.

Gary Schiavino purchased the black headed Kofiau from Don in April 2006. His exact age was unknown but he was a mature male ready to breed. He was treated for parasites and quarantined before being sent to Rico Walder at Signal Herp for a breeding loan.

He was given the ID# 06013 at Signal Mountain where he produced four clutches. Three of these were with Kofiau females and produced a total of 24 pure Kofiau neonates. The other one was an out cross with an Ed Bradly Biak that produced a mixed color clutch of 12 maroon and 10 yellow neonates. The Black headed canary passed away in Oct 2009.

How many are left?

Kofiau Island is a small, irregularly shaped island about 17 miles long and about 6 miles across at its widest point and totals only 55.6 square miles. Because the island is so small, it does not have the capacity to carry the same number of species as the four larger islands in the Raja Ampat archipelago possess. For the animals and plants on the island, its size also makes ecological equilibrium a delicate thing. Natural disasters such as fire or typhoons can be very detrimental to certain species populations but over time and left alone most will return to equilibrium.

Man’ s influence on islands such as introducing non-native species such as pigs or goats, clearing of land for monoculture crops like Coconuts, harvest of timber and the collection animals for the pet trade can dramatically affect island species, sometimes to the point of extinction. The small size and the lack of reliable information from this very remote island has led to much speculation on the number of green tree pythons that remain.

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After the initial uproar around 1997, the gold rush was on and the demand for all yellow Kofiau Island green tree pythons increased dramatically with some of these all yellow animals selling for $7,000 each. There was a steady supply of Kofiau green trees up to around 2006-2008. Some yellow but most were greenish yellow, then the supply dramatically slowed down. There are a few different theories to why this happened.

One theory suggests that because Kofiau is such a small island, over collection of gtps has resulted in a dramatic decrease in the islands’ gtp population and is the reason for the lack of imported animals. A thorough population study would be needed to prove or disprove this theory.

The second theory is that they are most likely “commercially” extinct. That means that it is no longer worth the effort for collectors to make the long trip there to collect specimens because it cost too much to collect the animal or the animal they were collecting are no longer in high demand. It can take between 12 and 18 hours to travel the 100 miles from Kofiau to Sorong Island and back on a regular boat or ferry.

After it was discovered that most will turn green, a lot breeders and collectors lost the desire to have them and the demand severely dropped. From the exporters stand point, most of the yellow animals have most likely been collected and it is not worth all the trouble for a green snake that they can get elsewhere, easier and cheaper.

The third theory and most likely, the most accurate is that is a combination of several factors. The islands gtp population is most likely stable but supplies of animals can fluctuate in Indonesia for a lot of reasons, new laws and regulations, cost associated with getting the animal to market and demand for certain types of animals just to name a few. The locals most likely bring them to the mainland when they have enough to make it worth the trip, so Kofiau gtps still trickle into the pet trade markets but not in large numbers. The all yellow ones command the higher prices and they still occasionally come in. There were 3 yellow Kofiau imported to Europe in early 2016 and were around $2,000.00 each. These were supposedly the first all yellow adults to be offered in Europe in 10 years.

It’s hard to tell the exact effect that the harvest has had on the population of Kofiau island chondros since no recent surveys or firsthand accounts could be found. Hopefully and there are enough green tree pythons left on Kofiau for the population to recover.

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Photo courtesy of Harlin Wall

The Future of Kofiau Island Green Trees Pythons For whatever reason you choose to believe as to why Kofiau gtps have stopped coming in, the fact is they have for all practical purposes, stopped being exported in large numbers. Nowadays only a few come in every now and then and these are usually sold as individuals. When these imports are bred, they are usually out crossed with a different locale or a designer gtp rather than doing a Kofiau to Kofiau breeding.

When Rico Walder passed away in 2014 and Vladimir Odinchenko in 2015, the majority of captive bred Kofiau stopped being produced.

With those sources gone, keeping a captive born option of this unique insular race of green tree pythons going for hobbyist falls to the few animals in the collections of gtp keepers that are scattered here and there across the US, Europe and a few other places. It is imperative that these breedings should be well thought out and managed by those doing the breeding. With breeders like Chuck Vogel and a few others focusing on Kofiau Island green trees, they will still be produced in the “pure� form and hopefully be around for years to come.

For more info on Kofiau and the chondros on it check out these links: - http://www.nature.or.id/en/publication/forestry-reports-and-guidelines/indonesian-forest-resourcemonitoring.pdf - http://www.nature.or.id/en/publication/forestry-reports-and-guidelines/jagd-2014-primary-forest-cover-lossin-indonesia-eng.pdf - http://birdsheadseascape.com/download/fact-sheets/Kofiau%20MPA%20Fact%20Sheet%202012.pdf - https://www.nature.org/science-in-action/science-features/17-indonesia-raja-ampat.pdf - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X12003451 - http://gtpkeeper.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Lyons-and-Natusch-in-press-Wildlife-laundering-1.pdf - https://www.conservationgateway.org/Documents/Report_Kofiau_RUM_2006-2011_FINAL_ENG2.pdf - http://www.snipview.com/q/Rodents_of_Papua_New_Guinea?alt=Rodents_of_papua_new_guinea - http://ecologyasia.com/verts/png-snakes.htm Dan Mulleary- Kofiau trip 2017 TRAVEL VLOG EP.6 | KOFIAU 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW_NOJBnkTA TRAVEL VLOG EP.7 | KOFIAU 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UieHI1lBKKk TRAVEL VLOG EP.8 | KOFIAU 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVQh0eyOaYs

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Living #ZooDreams

Remembering Forrest Fanning

June 6, 1985 ~ March 1, 2020

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On the first of March, 2020 the reptile hobby/industry lost a modern icon, Forrest Fanning. The news of his passing shook the hobby, affecting not only his close friends and family, but also the people who had only met him in passing. He left behind a son, a wife, and a legacy that will never be forgotten in herpetoculture.

We felt that the chondo issue was fitting for this piece and we asked people who were close to him to contribute in his memory. He may be gone but his passion was contagious and will be remembered by all. Now we’re all continuing the #zoodreams.

From Ryan McVeigh Forrest, as many of you know, passed away suddenly March 1st. He was a loving husband to Desiree and a devoted father to his 1 year old son Lars. Des and Forrest founded and ran Reptek and Cold Blooded Café. Forrest was also Vice President of DragonWood Conservancy and co-founder of the Abronia Alliance.

Forrest was born and raised in Rapid City, South Dakota. He grew up with his 4 brothers and sisters and always loved reptiles. This is where he met and fell in love with Desiree. When he was 15 he had his first Burmese python and when he was younger he was always out looking for snakes and frogs. He grew up near Reptile Gardens and spent a lot of time there with Desiree as a kid. When he was 18 they moved to Florida, then shortly after to Reno, NV for Des’ school.

He got into ball pythons there and began breeding his own rodents. This is where his passion really kicked off. After that they spent time in Vegas, where he met his best friend Cody Bartolini and they dove heavily into green tree pythons and began a small rodent colony. When Desiree graduated from UNLV, they moved back to Florida and Forrest hooked up with Robbie Keszey where Desiree and Forrest both volunteered and learned about crocs and venomous, along with running Robbie’s rodent breeding. In 2011, they met Terry Cullen through Robbie and Terry became a major mentor to Forrest. He continued to grow the rodents, ball python, and green tree projects

and was breeding them on a larger scale. In 2012, Forrest and Desiree started Forrest Fanning Reptiles, LLC and that was the last time they worked regular jobs. This was Forrest’s passion and love. He loved the rodents just as much as reptiles and loved to collect and consume as much literature as he could get his hands on.

Forrest was a driven, caring, and inspiring person. Many people don’t know he battled with epilepsy since he was 17. He was always looking for more things to read and learn and had a passion for growing his knowledge and sharing it with others. We shared a dedication to driving the hobby in a positive direction, improving husbandry knowledge and standards, and always learning and improving everything we did. Most of my conversations with Forrest were him calling me with a huge dream and idea for the hobby, and me having to explain why it’s harder than he thinks to do it, but “I’M IN!” We used our drive and vision to coordinate different paths where we could both make major impacts while chasing the same goal of bringing this hobby together and raising the standards for animal care. We also shared a vision of getting zoos, conservation efforts, and the hobby at the same table to combat world problems as a team.

This was a big dream for us, and one I will continue to work towards with others we shared that vision with from all over the world. For those of you whose lives were touched by Forrest in some way, never forget it. Never forget how quick he was to help, to mentor, to educate, and to be a positive light in a hobby that often has dark moments. Take a bite of life and live to conquer the world every day. That’s what Forrest did, and I will continue to do. If we all put that effort and passion into the things we love, this world would be a VERY different place.

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- Riley Jimison -

“As we go through life we meet many people. Some of these people leave an impact on our lives and some people leave as quickly as they entered. When Forrest first stepped into my life he made an immediate impact and I knew instantly that we had a connection. Forrest had an insatiable and full-throttle love for reptiles. He knew where his passion was working with all these amazing animals and he dove in head-first and never let anything stand in his way. The way he pursued his dreams was contagious for those of us fortunate to call him our friends and be around him.

Beyond his love for reptiles was Forrest’s love for sharing this love with those around him. He was always bursting at the seams with infectious excitement and drive for conservation and appreciation of everything reptilian and it was impossible to ignore. Everyone around him felt that sense of love and connection as if we were all one big family. Forrest became an instant friend and supporter of mine and in turn I of him. He was like a big brother to me and I will always remember his big cheesy grin and live with his relentless love for reptiles and unending pursuit of his dreams. I will live forever with my ZooDreams.

I love and miss you Forrest. #ZooDreams”

- Brian Kusko -

“Forrest meant a lot to me both as a friend and as an important player in herpetoculture.

My world and the world of reptile keeping is not, and will not be, the same without him. Forrest was always quick to smile, give you a pat on the back and a hug.

He was more passionate about, not just reptiles, but herpetoculture itself than anyone else I’ve ever met. I believe that Forrest was to be a major figure in bridging the gap between private keepers and the zoological world. Losing him has felt like a step in the opposite direction. Those of us that Forrest left behind have some very big shoes to fill. I will always miss him terribly. “ 39

- Cody Bartolini -

“As many folks may know, or who have listened to the various podcasts Forrest and I have been on, you may have heard how we met and got our start in reptiles. But for those who haven’t.

Forrest and I met 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada at a little reptile pet store in an indoor swap meet called the “Snake Shop”. We hit it off right away and quickly became best friends! It wasn’t too long before we were roommates and building up the collection.

We both had a preexisting interest in Chondros before we met and at that time neither of us had personally kept them, but once we became roommates we went Chondro crazy! Acquiring our first Green Tree Pythons together, we quickly caught the Chondro bug and we were off to the races!

In 2008 Forrest, Desiree and I traveled to Florida for our first ever Daytona National Reptiles Breeders Expo. After that experience it wasn’t too long before we up and moved to Florida in early 2009! With both of us having professional goals of making a living in Reptiles.

Forrest as a reptile and rodent breeder, me as a herpetologist in a zoological institution.

Over the years while we were working on growing our professional lives. Forrest and I built up quite the private Chondro collection with some serious one of a kind specimens represented within. Dream, Pure Lemon Tree, TW Blue Line, Greg Maxwell Calico among other well known designer lineages. We had a lot of fun, but with that came a lot of challenges and some not so fun times as we sacrificed comfortable livings by putting in everything (money, living space, going out with friends, having fun and the list goes on...) as we learned and grew our businesses and careers in the respective areas of our field.

Luckily we both had amazing women by our sides to hold everything together when things fell apart and support us through all the craziness like Desiree and Pia! The real backbones to many of the successes we earned over the years. As time went on we accomplished goal after goal as we grew ourselves, our collections, businesses and professional careers. We’ve met so many amazing people in the Herpetological field the list of ALL who helped grow and develop us is too long to count!

Thank you to every single person who took the time to pour value into us through our journey.

Because of meeting Forrest and Des, and moving to Florida I was able to make my way into professional Herpetology by breaking into the zoo field which eventually led to me finding the love of my life and now beautiful wife Pia. So many great things happened due to Forrest and I meeting at the “Snake Shop” that fateful day. And it’s crazy to think what life would have looked like for me if I had not met Forrest that day... Forrest succeeded in every professional goal he put his mind to; founding his amazingly successful rodent business Cold Blooded Cafè as well as the reptile side of the business, RepTek. As Forrest matured in the field he became more

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and more interested in the conservation of in parole species such as abronia and co-founding the Abronia Alliance with Nick Gordon from the Toledo Zoo. In addition, sitting on the board of the Dragonwood Conservatory which focuses primarily on Crocodilian conservation. Arguably, Forrest’s greatest accomplishment overall was becoming the sire and loving father to their son Lars.

Forrest was an incredibly smart, well rounded in life (for his age) and extremely intellectual person. One of the reasons why we got along so well right from the start! And, on the flip side, because of that intellect, argued about literally EVERYTHING!! After a decade plus of friendship Forrest was more like a brother than a best friend. It’s impossible for me to describe the emptiness in my heart with him gone. When Des and Forrest moved Indiana from Florida to start Cold Blooded Cafè we didn’t get to see as much of each other as we would have liked. But would still spend hours talking on our weekly phone calls.

Forrest was that person who understood and accepted me no matter the circumstance, and vice versa. We could talk about anything and everything! It wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows but we always pushed through the hard times. I’ll miss all of our conversations, debates and arguments. They’ll never be another one like you man! I’ll keep that Forrest FIRE going! The world took you too soon, until we unite again... Follow your #ZooDreams!!

Cheers - C

- Bill Stegall -

“On March 1, 2020 the Reptile Community lost one of its most influential and revered members, Forrest Tyler Fanning. He leaves behind a wonderful wife Desiree, a Godsent child, Lars, and countless friends that considered him family. Forrest and Desiree own and operate the successful rodent supply company Cold Blooded Cafe as well as the reptile organization Reptek which specializes in rare and endangered species. In Forrest’s own words he was “a collector that wishes to be a serious and dedicated keeper whose main goal is to help establish, reproduce, and advance the state of animal husbandry as we build this ‘invisible ark’ in captivity.”

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Forrest had a vast wealth of knowledge covering an amazingly broad spectrum of reptile species.

He had a passion for crocodilians, monitors, and arboreal reptiles. His knowledge of Green Tree Python history and animal lineage is legendary. In addition to his knowledge and passion for reptiles, people were attracted to Forrest because of his magnetic personality. He had the gift of making you feel like the most important person in the room when you spoke with him. As much as a reptile intellect Forrest was, he was also incredibly playful and truly a loving person.

One of Forrest’s life goals was to open a conservation zoo which he referred to as Zoo Dreams.

With the help of his friends, family, and the Reptile Community his Zoo Dreams will come true.“

- Ari Flagle -

Passion,excitement, enthusiasm these are just a few of the words I use to describe Forrest Fanning. We met online discussing Varanids several years ago and Immediately I felt the interest and passion about Herpetoculture and Herpetology that filled the messages we passed back and forth.

When we finally met in person standing in a crowded room of an expo we literally fed off each other’s excitement. People tried joining into our conversation as we rattled off various Latin names but we remained totally focused in our discussions. We had only known each other for only a few years however we grew close in that short time. I was deeply saddened when I received the call that Forrest had passed away. The world has lost an incredible person that’s legacy will continue. I will always be happy for the time we shared and honored to call him a friend.

- Ari R Flagle Projectblackpython.org

- Ian Bessell-

It isn’t very often that you meet somebody who exudes the type of energy and enthusiasm like Forrest Fanning did. Whether it was wildlife conservation, his rodent breeding business, his reptile collection, his obsession with power tools or his love for his wife Desiree and son Lars everything Forrest did was with the highest level of enthusiasm. I was first introduced to Forrest by his best friend Cody Bartolini, who described him as obsessed with Green Tree Pythons, especially the old-school designer lines. Cody told me that he knew Forrest and I would hit it off, and boy was he right!

The first time I spoke to Forrest on the phone we had a conversation that literally went on for hours, and did not end until well into the early morning hours. It turned out that Forrest and I shared a love for not just Chondros but Corrallus Tree Boas as well. In particular, we both shared an interest in the Kofiau Island locality animals and we went on to collaborate on some Kofiau breeding projects together. It was always amazing to me how he could rattle off the lineage and background of even the most obscure GTP bloodlines right off the top of his head. Forrest was obsessed with reptile literature and was a bit of a walking encyclopedia when it came to all sorts of animal information on species that ranged from turtles to crocodilians to Abronia to tree monitors. He also loved talking about his rodent breeding business almost as much as GTP lineages. He would often pick my brain about my days selling lab diets in search of ways he could make continual improvements to his own operation.

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Finally, I got to meet Forrest in person during a trip to the Indianapolis area. We met at my hotel and then drove up to TK Chondros to visit Tye and Rachel Keys.

I remember my visit came at a time that Desiree was out of town and even though Forrest had his hands full managing the business operations alone, he still made the time to connect with me. This was also the first time I got to see his reptile collection which was even more impressive than he had modestly admitted to on the phone.

I had never seen so many different Abronia species, and that was on top of his amazing collection of Chondros and Emerald Tree Boas. It was no wonder that he went by the name of @ZooDreams on social media because he literally had his own personal zoo.

Forrest had an infectious personality, and a smirk that made you want to smile along with him. I think Lars already has this look down pat! At heart, Forrest was just a big kid who loved collecting reptiles. Every time I talked to him he would tell me about how he finally had acquired enough Chondros or ETBs or Abronia and was now going to focus on selling a few to keep things more manageable. Then undoubtedly within a week or two I would see an unboxing video or post on his IG story about some new acquisition that he just couldn’t live without and was super excited to finally have in his collection.

Forrest was a regular fixture at all the major reptile shows and expos around the country. Walking the floor of a reptile show or expo with Forrest was like watching the proverbial “kid in a candy store”! One of my favorite photos of Forrest is one I took of him carrying a stack of baby crocodilians at the Tinley Show. He has that smirking smile on his face and looks so excited to be sharing his animals with the public.

He was incredibly passionate about crocodilian conservation and education. I have lots of fond memories of spending time with Forrest, Desiree and more recently, Lars at all the major reptile events. Whether it be hanging out at his Cabana at the Daytona Reptile Breeders Expo, his PreTinley BBQs, the big Chondro keeper dinners in Arlington, or his surprise appearance at Southeast Carpetfest; no reptile show or gathering will ever be the same without him.

Forrest, you will ALWAYS be missed, but NEVER forgotten! #ZooDreamsForever

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Special thanks to all who helped make this memorial piece possible - HM

\\ Product REview // Govee WiFi & Bluetooth Thermo-Hygrometers

By Ian S. Bessell of S&J Reptiles - Photos by Alyse Bessell When you suffer from the illness known as “Chondro Addiction� one of the many symptoms you will exhibit is the constant need to adjust, tweak, secondguess, and overthink just about every aspect of your husbandry regiment on a regular basis.

There is no known cure for this particular affliction, and your only hope is short-term relief from purchasing either a new animal or a new piece of husbandry equipment. Recently while preparing my incubator for an expected 2020 clutch of eggs I found myself in this very situation, and decided to take a closer look at my temperature monitoring equipment.

Being a Chondro breeder I of course tried to imagine all the ways I could improve hatch rates if I could only better monitor my incubator temperatures. I already had an assortment of the usual tools of the trade such as digital proportional thermostats and handheld infrared temp guns. I had tried a variety of commonly available indoor/outdoor wired probe thermometers, assorted small digital thermometers available online or at reptile shows, and even an old-school glass thermometer.

However, when it comes to thermometers I had never found one that I was truly happy with until now.

the packaging and devices appeared very sleek and modern. Both units interface with the App which allows data logging along with functions such as alerts if temperature conditions are outside set limits.

Setup of both units was super easy, only took a few minutes, and batteries were included too.

I decided to place the H5051 Wi-Fi unit in the main chamber of my incubator since it has a nice large LCD screen that displays both temperature and humidity in real time as well as a mounting bracket that provides a couple of options for display.

The temperature units can be adjusted between Fahrenheit and Celsius. Using Wifi the H5051 unit interfaces with the Mobile App on my iPhone which allows me to monitor conditions inside my incubator from any place in the world I have internet access.

I placed the H5074 Bluetooth unit inside two of my egg boxes since they are rather compact (about the size of a key fob) and do not have a screen that could be damaged by the high humidity. This will allow me to observe any slight temperature variations between the two egg boxes. I also will be able to see any difference between the main incubator chamber and At the advice of a fellow reptile keeper on social media the egg boxes especially in later stages of incubation I decided to order a couple of the Govee units even when the eggs start to produce heat of their own. though I wasn’t familiar with the company or their products. Govee (www.govee.com) is a relatively new German company founded in 2017 that manufactures intelligent devices with three main product lines: lighting, home security and thermometers.

Their products are fairly inexpensive and readily available on Amazon plus their Mobile-App is free to download to your smartphone. I started off by ordering 2 units, the H5051 Wi-Fi ThermoHygrometer and the H5074 Bluetooth Thermometer & Hygrometer. The devices arrived quickly and both

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The thing about the Govee system that I like the most is actually the functionality of the Mobile-App including the data-logging feature which displays by device. I really like being able to view both current and historical temperature and humidity data for each device including min, max, and average values.

The data logging is charted graphically and can be displayed by hour, day, week, month or even year which will really be cool to look at over different seasons in the future. I was so impressed with the performance of the first two units; I quickly ordered several more of the H5074 Bluetooth units to utilize in a number of other applications in my collection.

The small size and light weight of the H5074 Bluetooth unit provides an endless number of new options for recording temperature and humidity data throughout my collection.

Using the small lanyard included with the H5074 I was able to suspend one device from the perch of a newly setup PVC cage for my son’s GTP named “Feisty Pants”.

By logging data for a few days before placing the animal inside the cage I was able to make some small adjustments to daytime and night-drop temp settings on the thermostat to compensate for the lower ambient temps in his bedroom.

In another application I used a thumb tack through the lanyard and was able to suspend one of the H5074’s from the ceiling of my main snake room to collect data so I can better understand my ambient temp/humidity as well.

I have been using the two Govee models for a couple of months now and I continue to be very pleased with both the units and the Mobile-app. I am really enjoying the ability to see the additional data on my incubator, egg boxes and select cages all on my iPhone at any time. I can also see the Bluetooth unit being a helpful tool when setting up new cages or racks that need some fine-tuning before adding animals.

I look forward to collecting more data over the coming weeks and months. I hope that having this type of data will prove helpful in making even more minor adjustments and tweaks to my husbandry routine to help provide a little short-term relief from my “Chondro Addiction” symptoms. So overall, I would highly recommend the Govee units and believe that they can help all keepers with monitoring temperature in incubators, cages and racks to improve husbandry.

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The Handbook To Designer Line Chondros

Heger - Caixinha - Mendez - Dendinger 46

The Calico Line written by Mark Heger Name of Line: Calico Line Founding Breeder(s): Trooper Walsh and Greg Maxwell Founding Animals: Computer Chondro, AquaGirl, and Calico Jr. Notable Descendants: Mr. Black, October, Mandango, Bruise, Splash Characteristics & Traits: Calico Line animals often display a pixelated appearance, a distinctive contrast on their necks, and a mite-phase or speckled appearance.

Who is working with it: Marcial Mendez, Buddy Buscemi, David Dendinger, Mark Heger, Collette Sutherland, Christian Stewart, Luca Sepe, Pedro Caixinha, Vita Cernoch, Eddie Appell, and others

Brief History: In January of 1993, Trooper Walsh produced a clutch of maroon and dark brown

babies. One of those babies developed into a very unique adult with a pixelated pattern. Greg Maxwell purchased this animal and named it “The Computer Chondro” because the coloration reminded him of the pixels on a computer screen. Maxwell would later pair The Computer Chondro with his sister clutchmate, AquaGirl, in 1999 and produced another pixelated snake from the pairing, proving that the trait was inheritable. Maxwell coined the breeding “The Calico Project” and he named the unique snake “Calico Jr.”, as he looked like a miniature version of his father.

Being that Calico Jr. was produced from a sib-to-sib pairing, he is considered 100% calico. Calico Jr. was bred to 2 different females and produced 3 successful clutches with them; two clutches with “LemonGirl” (2001 & 2004) and one with “Day Dream” (2006). Offspring from these 3 clutches were the first generation of 50% calico GTPs. Since then, the calico line has been bred and outcrossed to many other designer lines and localities, and despite being diluted the calico line continues to produce remarkable looking phenotypes!

(Left to Right) Mr. Black, Calico Jr., Day Dream, Mandango, October, Aquagirl

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The Albino Line written by Marcial Mendez Name of Line: Albino Line Founding Breeder(s): Founding Animals:

Damon Salceies, Trooper Walsh, Marcial Mendez

VPI / Bushmaster Meraukes, Floyd, Midas, Versace

As neonates, the differences between normal chondros and albino chondros can be very subtle, and to the untrained eye they can be easily overlooked as “normal”. It is not until the animal begins to mature and undergo ontogenetic color change that the differences in appearance become more apparent. Generally, there are three traits to look for when identifying an albino chondro:

Characteristics & Traits:

1)Red pupils - 2)Pink / unpigmented tongue - 3)A complete lack of black in the pattern It should also be noted that the “red baby” form of an albino chondro can be a very dark red / maroon.

However, even with these dark babies there will be no black in the baby pattern.As albino chondros mature, they change to a golden yellow color (this seems to be what replaces areas that would typically be green), with varying individual scales and patches of white, orange, and red (the areas are where a “normal” animal would have colors other than green that make up any pattern). To date, less than 10 individuals are known to have completed their color change, and these have all been either pure locality (Merauke) or one generation removed. The true potential of the albino gene will not be realized until animals crossed with various designer bloodlines survive to maturity.

Brief History: In the late 1990’s, Dave and Tracy Barker of VPI acquired a group of imported

Merauke locality animals from Bushmaster Reptiles. VPI bred these animals and produced at least one clutch. Both Damon Salceies and Trooper Walsh acquired offspring from this breeding. Damon received a reverse-trio (two males and one female) and Trooper acquired a single male. Damon raised this trio and bred them in the 2001/2002 breeding season. It was from this breeding that the first known albino (“Floyd”), a male, was produced. Several years later, Trooper bred his VPI Merauke male to one of its offspring to produce the second known albino (“Midas”), also a male.

While Floyd did live to maturity, for reasons that remain unknown (aside from rumors), Damon’s line of albinos stopped with him, and there are few, if any, known descendants from this line still in the hobby.

Floyd’s fate remains unknown.

Although Trooper’s albino “Midas” lived to adulthood (7-8 years), he did not produce any offspring.

However, Midas’ father (the VPI Merauke) did produce several clutches and, since he was a het albino, all offspring from these clutches are possible het for the albino gene. From one of these clutches in 2001 came “Versace”.

Marcial Mendez had acquired Versace from Trooper prior to Damon producing Floyd; however, knowing the lineage of the animals, as soon as news of Floyd became public, Marcial knew that Versace was a possible het, and he started his own albino project. Versace, a strong breeder, sired numerous clutches.

Marcial held back most of the female offspring from these clutches with the plan to breed them back to Versace. After producing several clutches with no albino offspring, Marcial produced his first albino chondros in 2013, thereby proving Versace as a 100% het. Unfortunately, both of the 2013 albinos were poor feeders, never fully established, and died. Since then, several more albinos from this line have been produced, but unfortunately none have survived to maturity.

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As of this writing, Versace is still alive and breeding at the age of 19, and Marcial has held back a sizeable collection of 50% & 66% possible het albinos that are mature and ready to breed. The next several years will be crucial in determining the long-term viability of the albino chondro project. It should also be noted that there are reports on social media of albino animals in Europe, although their origins are unknown.

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The Mosaic Line written by Pedro Caixinha

Name of Line: Mosaic Line

Founding Breeder(s): Pedro Caixinha (Portugal) Founding Animal: Mosaic Halloween (PC16-05, Mosaic X Hirubilo), Jackpot (PC16-09, Mosaic X Hirubilo), Friday 13 (PC16-03, Mosaic X Hiruilo), Dark Shadows (PC16-08, Mosaic X Hiruilo), Witchcraft (PC1703, Mosaic X Saudade), Iconic (PC17-04, Mosaic X Saudade), Iron Tusk (PCMT18-01, Mosaic X Honey), Blood and Thunder (PCMT18-02, Mosaic X Honey).

Notable Descendants:

The most notable trait of this line is the high melanism of the descendants.

Some of the animals keep more than 50% of black into adulthood. This blood line can also show some red scales even in adulthood like the founder male. During the ontogenetic color change in the Mosaic Line animals, black scales are typically the first to develop, even before the green scales. From there, the ontogenetic color change happens scale by scale with a unique pixelated pattern.

Characteristics & Traits:

Who is working with it: Pedro Caixinha (Portugal), Forrest and Desiree Fanning (USA), Todd Constable

(Canada), Francesca Torazza (Italy), Standa Sipr (Czech Republic), Paul Chrusch (Germany), Filip Duhajsky and Jana Duhajská (Czech Republic).

Brief History: Mosaic was produced by Philipp Thun-Hoenstein in 2013 in Austria from a pairing

of a male Highland mite phase male called “Krypton” bred to a high-yellow mite-phase female called “Black Rain”. Thun-Hoenstein sold a group of babies from that clutch to a breeder in Slovenia named Ales Mlinar that keep Mosaic and some siblings for 2.5 years. After deciding to keep only venomous snakes, Ales agreed on selling Mosaic to Pedro Caixhina in 2015. In 2016, Pedro bred Mosaic to a large F1 Lereh-type female (Hirubilo) and produced a good clutch of fertile eggs that resulted in 9 healthy maroon babies. Halloween, Jackpot, Friday 13, Dark Shadows and some other amazing chondros were all produced in this clutch.

In 2017 Pedro wanted to see if Mosaic was dominant for red progeny and bred him to a yellow neo female Arubiak from 2011 called “Saudade”. Saudade was produced by Pedro from his first ever clutch of chondros and her mother was Pedro’s first chondro ever. Saudade x Mosaic produced six red/maroon babies and Mosaic proved his red dominance.

In 2018, Pedro paired Mosaic with a well known female from the Calico Line named “Honey” (SSBMPA 13-02, October X Wameniak). Honeys displays the “Calico” Phenotype and has been the most special pairing to Mosaic. Honey deposited nice fertile eggs but only 3 viable babies hatched from the pairing, with one dying shortly after. The two hatchlings that survived are turning into amazing juveniles showing the traits of both the sire and dam. Pedro has named the clutch “Mosalicos” since they are a combination of 2 amazing bloodlines, Mosaic and Calico.

In 2019, Pedro repeated the pairing between Mosaic and Hirubilo, and she gave him 25 fertile eggs; 21 of which hatched. The babies are still unchanged at this time, but Pedro expects some amazing results from them. Along with this pairing, Pedro had a second successful pairing in 2019 between Mosaic and a female Aru caled “Lil`Box” (MN11-01) who happened to be the first ever Chondro produced in Portugal!

This pair ended with 8 healthy maroon babies, and since the female was a yellow neo, Mosaic once again proved that he only produces red/maroon/brown babies. These babies are currently

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in the beginning of their ontogenic change but some are showing some black scales and before they reach one year of age.

This year Pedro plans two amazing pairings with Mosaic. One is the repeat pairing between Mosaic and Honey, attempting to produce more “Mosalicos” and the other pair is between Mosaic and Eleanor (BE13-07, Dash-O-Pepper x Merlot). Eleanor is owned

by Jomi Fernandes and is at Pedro’s on breeding loan. She’s a genetic powerhouse that includes Pepper Line, Lemon Tree Line, TW Blue Line and some other amazing lineage.

Pedro strategically planned this pair dreaming about producing extraordinary black animals. Lets wait and see if he can get some babies from this two amazing pairs!

Mosiac- the founder animal

Iron Tusk

Honey x Mosiac

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Witchcraft

Halloween

“Forrest” Mosaic X Hirubilo (PC19-1-01)

The Tiger Stripe Line written by David Dendinger Name of Line: Tiger Stripe Line Founding Breeder(s):

Rico Walder of Signal Herpetoculture

Founding Animals: SH00111 (PNG x Sorong) and SH01049 (Biak) Notable Descendants:

SH04095, SH09123, SH10060

Characteristics & Traits: Tiger Stripe chondros are known for their golden yellow coloration, often with scattered green scales and bright yellow diamonds along their backs. Their diamonds can be outlined with lavender-colored scales.

Who is working with it: Marcial Mendez, Justin Wilbanks, Rod Love, Eric Rollins, Jason

Brumley, Ryan Reisner, David Dendinger and others.

Brief History: In July of 2004, Rico Walder hatched a clutch of twenty babies from a PNG/Sorong

cross bred to a Biak. Six of the babies were yellow and the remainder were varying shades of red.

Several of the red babies had elongated black lines on their sides. Because of these markings, Rico dubbed this clutch the “Tiger Stripe” clutch. Several of the snakes in this clutch retained a significant amount of yellow as they matured. The standout of the clutch, SH04095, was special in that she was one of the first high-yellow chondros that was red as a hatchling.

In 2009, Rico paired SH04095 with a “Moken”/”Scarab” male named “Thong” and produced a clutch of thirteen babies, most of which were dark red. In 2010, Rico paired SH04095 with GM0732, a nearly solid-yellow male that was red as a hatchling. Their clutch of sixteen babies included three that were yellow, six that were red and seven that were brown. One of the babies, SH10060, was a deep brick red with glowing orange triangles. As she got older, SH10060 went through a prolonged color change. Her coloration slowly faded from red to dark orange before finally turning a golden yellow when she was about five years old. One of her offspring, VV1613, is still an orangish color at four years of age.

The Tiger Stripe line is very intriguing. While the original 2004 clutch is the only one that had babies with the namesake markings, the line has proven to predictably produce extremely dark red babies that turn into stunning high-yellow, multicolored and gold adults. Outstanding results have also been achieved when the Tiger Stripe line has been paired with snakes with Calico and “Merauke Outcross” lineage. There have only been about a dozen clutches involving the Tiger Stripe line and, to my knowledge, no one has ever bred two Tiger Stripe animals together.

SH10060

Tiger Stripe line yearling mid-color change

V1812 - SH10060 x Calico/ 52 Blueline male

In The Incubator...

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