iHerp_Australia_-_May_-_June_2018

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)

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!

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.

2 x qtr page ads

‘Everyone likes to think that they

will be the ones to crack crack

something new!something new!’ (^) 1. 1. some unusual-looking hatchlings.

2. 
   
   
   
   2. Paradox albino Darwin Carpet Python.
   
   
   
   


3. 
   
   
   
   3. The Calicos had a faded-out normal
      appearance with white spots.
   
   
   
   


4. 
   
   
   
   4. Calico and Paradox albino Darwin Carpet
      Pythons mating.
      Images courtesy Tim Mensforth.
   
   
   
   

1.1.

2.2. (^)
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