"Granger" The Coral Pink Hypo
The Swiss Line produces brilliant yellow, high contrast offspring and also produced the first Hypomelanistic Black-headed Pythons hatched in the United States.
Our primary breeder male, Granger , was hatched out in Zurich, Switzerland by George Merahtzakis and is one of the original Black-headed python imports brought into the United States by Joe Robson of Living Jewels in April of 1994. The Living Jewels Blackhead collection (including Granger ) was purchased by Casey Lazik in 1997. Granger resided in Casey's Blackhead breeding program until early 2001 when he was sold to Brandon Weik of Summit Reptiles. According to Brandon (personal communication) this normal, nice looking adult male Blackhead unexpectedly went through an extreme color transformation while in his possession. The black pigmentation on the main part of his body was gradually replaced by pastel hues of red and pink and his high contrast banding virtually vanished. The black area beneath his chin also turned a milky white during this change and remains as a highly distinctive marker. This transformation took place rapidly during a series of several sheds over a three month period. When the transformation was complete Granger had turned into a magnificent "Coral Pink Hypo" Blackhead. In early 2002 Granger was sold by Brandon Weik to Joe Lewis at Rare Earth Inc. Granger remained at Rare Earth Inc. as a breeder until being acquired by Split Rock Reptiles in 2004. The first two photos of this stunning animal were taken by Paul Edwards while visiting Joe Lewis at his Rare Earth Inc. facility in Virginia several years ago.
"Olivia"
Olivia was captive born at the Rare Earth facility in June of 2000. The Sire and Dam who produced Olivia were purchased as a group (2.2) of baby Blackheads by Rare Earth from Jay Brewer at Prehistoric Pets in July of 1998 as Lazik captive bred offspring. It is important to note that these Lazik captive bred offspring were produced in 1998 and are probably directly connected to Living Jewels stock Casey had in his possession at the time as he had just purchased the Swiss line stock (including Granger ) from Joe Robson's estate in 1997. We believe that these1998 animals were part of a clutch which may have been sired by Granger as he was an active breeder along with another Swiss line male at Casey Lazik Reptiles between 1997 and 2001. Based on the timing and placement of the animals described above, it is very likely that Olivia is the granddaughter or a blood relation of Granger.
Olivia arrived at Split Rock Reptiles along with Granger and a pair of their 2003 offspring ( Annabelle and Winston ) in March of 2004. Olivia had been bred to Granger at Rare Earth and was gravid at the time of delivery. Three days after her arrival Olivia laid a beautiful clutch of 10 eggs. Olivia and Granger had been a dedicated breeding pair at Rare Earth during the 2003 and 2004 breeding seasons for good reason! The 2003 clutch ( Olivia's first breeding year) hatched out Annabelle , the first Hypomelanistic Blackhead produced in the United States! Olivia's 2004 clutch was incubated successfully and 10 beautiful baby Blackheads hatched in May of 2004 including another Hypomelanistic female ( Clementine ). Most of the offspring from this breeding were kept back for incorporation into the Swiss Line Breeding program and will be discussed later.
Olivia was given the 2005 breeding season off to re-gain some much needed weight from two consecutive years of breeding and egg laying. As the 2006 breeding season was approaching Olivia was being conditioned to breed by increasing her rat intake to three rats per week. In late October-early November she began shedding more frequently, often times turning light blue while she was opaque. At the conclusion of each shed cycle her pigmentation became lighter and her banding began to vanish as she ultimately went through the same color and pattern transformation that her mate Granger had experienced. This coincidental transformation and the production of Hypomelanistic offspring could be taken as evidence of blood relations between Granger and Olivia .The first photograph below was taken three days after Olivia's arrival and shows her normal coloration and banding before her transformation. The next seven photographs show her in the mottled stage in the middle of the transformation. The final three photographs show Olivia fully transformed and ovulating during the 2006 breeding season.
2003 Offspring of Granger and Olivia
"Annabelle"
Annabelle is the product of the first breeding of Granger and Olivia and was hatched at Rare Earth in 2003. Annabelle was the first Hypomelantic Blackhead hatched from this line and is a key animal in our breeding program. Annabelle is now a young adult and big enough to be bred. We have hopes that she will breed in 2008.
"Winston"
Winston is the sibling brother of Annabelle and was also hatched out at Rare Earth in 2003. Winston , being at least eight feet and having significant body weight was entered into the 2006 breeding program. Due to the fact that Granger was dedicated to Annabelle we decided to pair Winston to Olivia to see what kind of offspring they would produce. This pairing was successful as Olivia laid a nice clutch of 10 healthy eggs on April 12, 2006 which successfully hatched !
2004 Offspring of Granger and Olivia
"Clementine"
This prized animal was what we were really hoping for as the eggs began to hatch in May of 2004. All of the babies that hatched out were top quality animals but this one was absolutely stunning and definitely Hypomelanistic. We believe that deep fading of black to tan beneath the chin may be an indication of Hypomelanism. We have seen this on both Clementine and Chance. Hatching this animal provided us with a strong indication that there is something in the genetics of the Granger and Olivia pairing and gives us great hope for determining how this gene works and how to reproduce it with measured repeatability in the future. Clementine no longer resides in the Split Rock Reptiles collection.
"Chance"
This male is one phenomenal Blackhead. He possesses a quality we term "electric brilliance" as his ground color is bright, bright yellow. His bright ground color combined with his thin and almost perfect banding causes him to radiate brilliance. We suspect that he may also be a Hypo. Chance was placed into the 2007 breeding program and is now a proven breeder.
"Piper"
Piper is another example of the high quality stock produced by the Swiss Line. As a hatchling, Piper was just different and stood out from the crowd. Lighter in ground color than the bright yellows that Chance possessed, Piper's ground color was almost a white or light cream color. This ground color later changed to a nice bright yellow. Piper is another suspected Hypo in the group. Almost three years later he still maintains his bright and clean, high contrast appearance. Piper was entered into the 2007 breeding program and successfully produced eggs that hatched.
"Ingrid"
Ingrid was held back for future breeding because of her beautiful yellows and red colors and nice wide banding. We hope to breeder her in the 2008 breeding program.
"Chelsea"
Chelsea is just another example of a very desirable Blackhead-headed python. Chelsea isn't quite as bright as her siblings Chance , Piper and Ingrid but may have some of their qualities hidden away. We hope to find out more in 2008 by breeding her.
2006 Offspring of Winston and Olivia
Year 2006 was Winston's year to prove out as breeder for the "Swiss Line". This pairing produced a nice mix of pure Eastern baby Black-headed pythons as can be seen below.
Goergan Line
"Matilda"
We purchased an additional breeder female ( Matilda ) from Rare Earth Inc. in September of 2004. Joe Lewis of Rare Earth purchased this animal as captive born offspring from Dick Goergan Reptiles in September 1999. This acquisition allowed us to add more genetic diversity to our Black-headed python gene pool giving us the chance to out-cross between un-related lines. As 2005 was going to be Olivia's year off to regain body mass we used this as an opportunity to breed Granger (Swiss Line) to Matilda (Goergan Line) in 2005. Matilda now resides in the Australian Exhibit at the Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm in Lake Forest Illinois.
This acquisition allowed us to add more genetic diversity to our Black-headed python gene pool giving us the chance to out-cross between unrelated lines. As 2005 was going to be Olivia's year off to regain body mass we used this as an opportunity to breed Granger (Swiss Line) to Matilda (Goergan Line) in 2005.
Out-crossed Swiss Line:
Granger x Matilda 2005 Offspring
"Isabelle"
Isabelle was a complete surprise to us as Matilda's 2005 clutch began to hatch. The surprise was that Isabelle was Hypomelanistic! Aside from being Hypomelanistic, Isabelle has bright white milky blotches distributed over large areas of her belly. These are "paper white" blotches and are nothing like the clear, clean bellies seen on our previously hatched Hypomelanistic Blackheads.
"Roscoe"
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Roscoe is another fine example of a nice looking Black-headed Python. His good looks were easily inherited from his father ( Granger ) showing some key Swiss line traits like orange and red coloration and good clean banding. Roscoe also has a very small amount of milky white blotching on his belly and we are hoping to breed him to Isabelle in the future to see if this trait can be further developed.
Wagner-Hamper Line
We purchased a pair of hatchling Wagner-Hamper animals from New York Reptilia in 2003. These were our very first Blackheads and remain in our colony for increased genetic diversity and out-crossing opportunities. The male Fletcher and the female Cecelia are now both proven breeders.
"Fletcher"
"Cecelia"
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