‘Ghost’ Jag.
iH: When did you start keeping seriously?
WL: I got into various breeding projects fairly early. I
would get anything I could that was unusual in the
WL: When I got into my teen years, reptiles took a
hope that I could breed the trait. There was a lot of
back seat for a while. Then in 1996 I moved to Port
networking involved, and I kept my ear to the ground,
Lincoln to go fishing for a living. I went to St Francis
but there was also a bit of luck. I bought Coastals,
Island, saw my first Western Carpet Python and just
Darwins, hypos; I met Simon Stone at the right time
fell in love. I was out at sea and one of the guys asked
and got one of the first albino Darwin Carpet Pythons
me if I wanted a snake. He had a Water Python, which that he released, and I also got hold of axanthics. But
he gave to me. I started to keep a few snakes, but then along the way I got ripped off for some dodgy animals
back in 2000 I hurt my back fishing and couldn’t work. that were supposed to be het albino Black-headed
I needed something to do, and I loved snakes, so I
Pythons and het leucistic Children’s Pythons.
bought some more.
‘I bought Coastals, hypos, and one of the first
, but I also got ripped off for dodgy animals....’
I would buy young snakes, grow them up and breed
them. For example, I bought a pair of Coastal Carpet
Pythons, bred them, and then sold the juveniles to buy
more Water Pythons. Things grew quickly from there,
and after about five years I had 40 or 50 snakes.
iH: Were you always interested in morphs, and how did
you acquire the ‘raw materials’ for your morph
breeding?
At the time, I was working with heaps of different
Carpet Pythons – all the various subspecies – together
with Black-headed Pythons, Womas and Olive
Pythons. I did a lot with Murray-Darling Carpet
Pythons, and also kept Scrub Pythons, Lace Monitors
and Perenties.
iH: You mention hypos, but most people associate
hypomelanistic animals with selective line breeding,
rather than simple genetics.