iH: Your Jungle Pythons are legendary.
What made them so special?
PK: The story goes like this. About 25
years ago, I went for a drive with my son
to Palmerston, and on one of the side
roads we found a little Jungle Python
male. It ate straight away and I was keen
to get a female. I mentioned this to a
friend of mine at Babinda crocodile farm,
and within a week he called me and said
he had what I wanted. I drove there
straight away and picked it up. It was a
young female, and I had to wait a couple
of years before she was big enough to
breed. I still have her today, although
she’s not breeding any more.
At that time no-one had any Jungle
Pythons. And I can’t explain it, but the
captive-bred animals were better than
anything you could see in the wild. When
I did get some babies, someone told me I
should ask $800 for them. I bred a lot of
Jungle Pythons, but I never had enough,
and for a while I did very well out of
them, until other breeders caught up. You
can still find the ‘Krauss line’ advertised
today.
iH: At what stage did you move to
Mareeba?
PK: I was at Upper Barron for 15 years
and then moved to Mareeba when my
circumstances changed, so I’ve been here
with my wife Milli for more than 30
years. Then about 17 years ago, I had the
opportunity to sell my toad business to a
friend from Victoria.
iH: You’ve cut back on breeding now.
PK: Yes. I’m 80 now and I do it for
sheer enjoyment - to try to answer some
questions. I still have Black-headed
Pythons and Womas. I’ve bred Womas
from Western Australia, South Australia,
Queensland and the Northern Territory. I got the South
between individuals. I would like to achieve regular
Australian ones from Ron Waters. And I’m still breeding successful breeding every year if I can.
Olive Pythons. I’ve got Neil Sonnemann’s blood line, and
Troy Kuligowski gifted me a male white Olive Python, so
now I have a pair of albinos.
iH: What else do you want to do? 1. My first clutch of eggs from the Rough-scaled
PK: I’m focussing on Perenties. I only bred one animal
this year, and I think my old male may be past it.
Perenties are a challenge, and there are always things
going on which make it interesting. For example, they are
cannibalistic, and you don’t ever know what will happen Pythons. I can still remember the excitement of picking
out that pair, but you can’t give them away these days.
2. I collected Cane Toads for 28 years.
3. I bred a lot of Jungle Pythons, but I never had
enough.
3.