WL: That’s right. Hypos were really big. Rob McLeod
had some and was mucking around with them. I
bought an offspring that wasn’t anything special, and
managed to prove that the trait was codominant – so
there is also a ‘super’ form. That was an excellent
moment; I was able to tell Rob exactly how his line
worked, and he didn’t believe me! iH: Tell us about some of your favourite breeding
projects.
iH: What about Jags Wayne, and what do you say to
people who won’t have a bar of them due to potential
neurological problems? WL: Well it’s a combination of three different traits:
the axanthic, albino and hypo genes. The ‘White
Moonglow’ is the super form of the hypo gene. The
‘Snow’ is a combination of axanthic and albino, but
with no hypo gene.
WL: I’ve been working with Jags ever since they hit
the country eight or nine years ago. And yes, there is
a problem, and it’s in every Jag. But it doesn’t show in
every Jag. I believe it is all triggered by stress.
iH: Is the problem intimately associated with the Jag
gene; is it a ticking time bomb?
WL: Well, a lot of people say so. But I have put the Jag
gene with axanthics, and there seems to be way less
incidence of problems. The hypo gene also may have
a positive effect, as hypos are pretty calm. You can’t
really say that a given snake won’t get neuro, but we
keep ours nice and calm, and I think that helps a lot.
‘Sunglow.’
WL: It took ten years to breed my first ‘Moonglow’,
and I finally cracked it four years ago!
iH: Explain to us, exactly what is this morph?
I also produced my first ‘Molester Zebras’ seven years
ago and have been working with them ever since.
These snakes have a totally messed up pattern, and
look more like Granites than Zebs. They originally
just popped up in a project I had going with Jarred
Sharp. They started out as pure black babies and then
got their pattern after the first shed.
Two years ago I made axanthic Molester Zebras. Now
I’m trying to make axanthic Super Zebras – it’s a bit of
a race with Jarred, and I have one more clutch in the
incubator yet to hatch.