Granite

Granite is a recessive mutation founded by Bob Clark Reptiles.

I acquired a new Burmese python mutation said to have originated in Thailand. The new morph has very small, angular, golden brown spots on a yellowish background. The spots and ground color cover roughly equal amounts of surface area. Each scale of the light areas has a dark center. The ventral surface is unmarked. The spear-shaped marking of the head is greatly reduced and irregularly shaped. The remaining area of the head’s dorsal surface is light pinkish tan. Several of these snakes hatched from the same clutch of eggs. The grandfather of the snakes is said to have been identical to the babies in color and pattern. Indeed, I have a picture of that snake, skinned and tanned, and it is identical to the young snakes. The mother is said to have been normal in appearance. If both normal-looking parents of the babies were offspring of the original, now skinned adult, we could explain the occurrence of the trait as the operation of a simple recessive gene. I have named this form the “Granite” Burmese python for the fractured, broken aspect of the small spots on the snake’s dorsal surface.

The Albino, Green, Labyrinth and Granite forms are the only known genetic mutations of the Burmese python. The Albino “Green” and Albino Labyrinth have been produced. At the time of this writing, the Green Labyrinth combination and none of the combinations including the new trait have been bred. All three of these traits are mutations of pattern, and it is unknown how the combinations will be expressed. The amelanistic forms of these combinations also have yet to be seen. The Granite trait gives nine new possibilities when combined with existing traits and trait combinations.