"Snow Cone"

This is a very unique specimen and is owned by our good friend Greg Schroeder.  She is said to be captive born from an imported gravid Wamena type chondro.  No neonate or parental photographs are available.  This animal has undergone some interesting color shifts during the first year we have had her.  Most noticeably is the movement of green pigmentation from the nose to the lobes of the head.  A slight yellow cast has increased as well.  We are unsure of the genetics of this highly unusual animal but she will surely introduce some exciting genes to the captive chondro population.

Greg was kind enough to send this animal to us for the 2006 breeding season.  We paired her with two melanistic Wamena type chondros.  Both males, 02142 & 02143, are siblings and were produced by Freek Nuyt in the Netherlands.  Snow Cone produced a clutch of 24 eggs on 18 July 2006.  At the time of laying 23 appear fertile and we are hopeful for a successful hatch sometime in early September.

Below are some images of the female and her clutch.

This clutch began hatching on 7 September 2006.  Below are some images of the hatching process.

Unfortunately these were very weak and troublesome neonates.  As of January 2007 there is only one surviving offspring from the pairing.  Below is an image of that neonate.

Greg Schroeder now has the female in his possession and will attempt to breed her again.  We wish him the best of luck as Snow Cone is an animal that needs to be represented in the captive gene pool.  I'm sure Greg will post the progress of any pairings on the Morelia Viridis Forum.

Below is an image of the neonate in June 2007.

Below are a few images as it begins the color change process.