Hypomelanistic Black-Headed Python

History

During the mid to late nineties I acquired several different bloodlines of Black-Headed Python, I was very keen to breed this species as I had always been fascinated by them. The first year that I had success was in 2000 from a pair of 18 month old snakes, I hatched some very beautiful but seemingly normal babies from that pairing.

In 2001 I hatched a pair of Hypomelanistic appearing babies from normal adults, I have since proven this line to be simple recessive. Not only do the babies lack black on their bodies but their heads are reduced in black also. It is worth mentioning though that a patch of brown on the throat or chin area alone is not an indication of hypomelanism, I have seen this on many normal babies.

The following year I was astounded to see 3 Axanthic babies hatch out of a clutch of 11 eggs from a different pair of normal appearing adults, this was also proven simple recessive in 2005 when I bred an Axanthic male to his normal appearing sister. Axanthics are white, silvery grey and black in colouration and fairly small as adults, although not to be confused with "Black and Whites" from Western Australia which are cream with dark brown or black banding.

Obviously I am keen to try to breed a "Ghost" from the Hypomelanistic x Axanthic combination. In 2007 I hatched a clutch from breeding an Axanthic to a Hypomelanistic for the first time, these double hets are the cornerstone of my Ghost project.