An Ordinary-looking Pair....
Tim Mensforth, of iPetz, was breeding reptiles on a commercial scale at a time when
the hobby was essentially in its infancy.
About eight years ago, we paired up a couple of
pretty ordinary-looking Darwin Carpet Pythons.
They were both about four or five feet long, but I
can’t tell you where they came from. Anyway, the
clutch included one Paradox albino and two Calicos
(which had a faded-out normal Darwin pattern with
white spots)
‘Everyone likes to think that they
will be the ones to crack
something new! ’
The next year the same pairing produced more
Calicos, so we thought we were really on to some-
thing. Unfortunately, then we lost the adults. We put
a lot of work into the animals; both the Paradox and
the Calicos were not right – like many other unusual
mutations – and had problems for years with
respiratory infections.
Finally after about three years we started mating the
Paradox male, but then we had to stop cooling the
snakes because they all got respiratory trouble
again. Today, I think we may still have one of the
snakes left in the collection. In retrospect, we
probably should have sold them. I’m old enough to
know better, but I guess it’s exciting and a challenge
- everyone likes to think that they will be the ones to
crack something new!
1. some unusual-looking hatchlings.
2. Paradox albino Darwin Carpet Python.
3. The Calicos had a faded-out normal
appearance with white spots.
4. Calico and Paradox albino Darwin Carpet
Pythons mating.
Images courtesy Tim Mensforth.
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