POLYGENIC SELECTIVE BREEDING AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE RETICULATED PYTHON INDUSTRY.

DID THE FRACTALUS LINE SET A NEW STANDARD FOR BREEDING? 

For a long time i looked at pics of wc retics in indo and the philippines with their crazy colors and patterns.  I hoped someday id be able to produce stuff like i was seeing in those pics. 
There was one snake in particular that i considered to be one of the best looking retics every found.  It was this sanana island.  

It doesnt have the best colors but its pattern is somehow sharp, aberrant, and consistent.  All at the same time. 

My goal was to use the localities i have to eventually make  retics like that.

It took a few tries with different wc ternate pairings but i was able to do it.

After that i wanted to take it further.  I wanted see what all i could do to pattern.  So i started the apokalupto line which is three wc bloodlines.  After seeing apokaluptos, i wanted to really focus on pattern structure more than anything.  I used two of the three bloodlines of apokalupto.  I already had a 1.1 of those bloodlines so i did some line breeding and created fractalus.  

This is what i wanted.  Patterns so crazy they look better then all the morphs. 

Once you understand variation of pattern and color you see in morphs isnt coming from the morphs themselves, but is the results of the morphs effect combined with the traits that create the phenotype look, the need for polygenic selective breeding is clear.

You cant use a morph to make itself look better.

This is the mantra of selective breeding.  

Any improvements made in morphs are results from the morph interacting positively with different gene that control color and pattern.

The philippine localities are by far the most impressive.  The retics from luzon are probably the best looking retics in the world.

Another goal of mine is to try and mix the localities and traits i have to make retics like luzons.
 

Believe it or not.  I have clutches in the incubator that will produce retics that look like those luzons.

A great looking wild type will always beat a morph.  

A great looking wild type will always improve the look of a morph. 

What does all this mean?  

Well for one thing selective breeding has caused my ternates to go up in value in the 7 years of producing them.

That was with no hype, expensive marketing, or having to lie about how small they stay. 

There has been no ROR style marketing of ternates, halmaheras, or mindanaos.  

They have all proven themselves to have an inherent value outside of their rarity. 

Which is their ability to manipulate morphs in a way other localities cant, and their reproducible traits both within pure and morph breedings.

This means morphs are no longer the only way to manipulate colors and patterns. 

We now have a way to manipulate morphs with traits that control color and pattern.

Fractalus line has unequivocally proven the following. 
Pattern structure, back diamond shape, back diamond count, side pattern, rosette count, pattern color outlining, side banding, and color spectrum, are all now reproducible options for selective breeding. 

They are as much apart of retic breeding as morphs are.  They are significantly more important than morphs for selective breeding, increasing aesthetic value, and stabilizing prices.

This will change the way retic pricing works.  Pricing will have to be more on an individual basis for each animal. 




  



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