looked slightly different straight out of the egg, with
more of an orangey tinge than the pink of a normal
hatchy, but after its first shed the colour really
popped and the bright orange worm with blood-red
pupils was quite a sight to see.
Having now produced a few T+ Marbles, I have
seen the variation that appears in normal Marbles
flow into the double-visual animals as well. They
can vary from a deep, rich orange base colour to a
very light and bright orange, and the flecking can
vary from chocolate brown to a light caramel colour.
With a bit of experience it is very easy to pick them
straight from the egg. The orange colour together
with the pale head (where the dark pattern
sometimes occurs on normal Marbles) are th
strongest indicators.
axanthic results in reduced red or yellow pigment;
while pied specimens have areas devoid of
pigment. However, the Marble gene seems to be
doing a number of things at once, as it affects both
the colour and pattern of the animal, with changes
continuing throughout its life. I think that as time
passes and with more breeding there will be some
truly weird and wonderful Marbles produced.
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I honestly believe that the Marble gene is the most
interesting and exciting gene to work with at present
in the Australian reptile hobby. When discussing
these animals with people I feel that every state-
ment could be premised with, ‘In general...’, as
there does not yet appear to be a true understand-
ing of what this gene is actually doing. It baffles me
as to how a brown Children’s Python can turn into a
pink hatchling, which then changes to anything from
a yellow to white animal with random amounts of
flecking appearing over its lifetime. Most mutations
are fairly clear-cut in their influence on an animal’s
appearance: albino means no melanin is expressed;
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