Name of Line: Trooper Walsh Blue Line
Founding Breeders: Al Zulich, Trooper Walsh, Tim Morris
Founding Animals: AZ014, AZ015, TW8962, TR8834, TM9327-The Legend, TM9348-Tim Morris Blue Female (TMBF), and JH9618-Mr. Blue.
Notable Descendants: TW9347–Powder, TW9347–Carolina, TW0203–Skyy, TW – Mitey Blue, BG94121-Daddypants, TM02-Crazy, TM02-Blue Deuce, SSDB09-Jake, SSDB09-Frosty, SH05188, SH05086, SH11030, SH05079, CG1410-Everest, SH11029–Zeus, and so many more.
Characteristics and Traits:Trooper Walsh Blue Line chondros are characterized by their often-seen sky-blue coloration. There are a few ways their coloration is expressed, and hobbyists have coined several terms to describe and delineate between the levels of coverage, intensity, and the process by which the animal reaches its final blue coloration.
“High Blue” refers to snakes that have variable amounts of blue, yet much more than typical locality specimens. There are also female chondros referred to as “Hormonal Blue”. Hormonal Blue females are animals that become (and possibly remain) blue specifically in response to current or upcoming reproductive events. Next, there are animals known as “True Blue” chondros. This term describes snakes that end up largely blue as adults yet had an intermediate green phase prior to achieving their final adult coloration. Lastly, there is the much desired “Super Blue”. Challenging to produce and often considered the crown jewel of the hobby, Super Blues are characterized by their change from red neonate coloration directly to blue–70% or more–with no intermediate green phase. To date, all of these beautiful and ultra-rare Super Blue chondros have been red neonates and most have been males.
Who is Working With It: Dave Dendinger, Christian Stewart, Danny Brotto, Francis Gaton, Rich Culver, James Opdahl, Thomas Budway, Greg Waltz, John Irby, etc.
Brief History: Opinions vary about when and where the TW Blue Line began as well as which animals are considered founders or notable (based on currently available information), pedigree and history interpretation, memory, and personal or financial connection to particular animals. With lineage tracing as far back as the first chondros ever produced in captivity, the TW Blue Line is the most established, well-documented bloodline of green tree pythons in the world. So, the above lists of breeders and notable animals as well as the historical accounts discussed below are in no way exhaustive and, in many ways, it is the passionate community of keepers and their spirited discussions surrounding this bloodline that makes working with them so enjoyable and rewarding. With that said, a few things do seem to be consistently agreed upon and, with Super Blue chondros being considered the ultimate achievement within the line, I intend to focus and confine my discussion on things consistently shared within their complex lineage and history.
All Super Blue chondros have line-bred lineage going back to two wild imports noted on pedigrees as AZ004 Wild and LR47 Wild Blue. From these two imports came a pair of clutchmates, AZ014 and AZ015. These clutchmates were bred by Al Zulich and produced clutches in 1988 and 1989. Animals produced from these two “sib to sib” clutches included TR8834 and TW8962. TR8834 went on to sire TM9327-The Legend and TW8962 went on to be the mother of TM9348, the famous Tim Morris Blue Female (TMBF) as well her two well-known sisters, TW9330-Joan Collins, once owned by Greg Maxwell, and TW9347-Powder who went on to produce the famous TW9802-Carolina with Trooper Walsh.
While these animals were all amazing in their own right, many displaying considerable blue coloration, it was not until Tim Morris bred his two snakes, The Legend and TMBF, that we really started to see the magic the TW Blue Line had to offer. In 1996, Tim produced a large clutch of eggs from his female that he maternally incubated and, from that clutch came a neonate that went on to become John Holland’s legendary JH9618- Mr. Blue. Mr. Blue was one of the most exciting chondros seen at that time, quickly making his way through his color change to eventually become a stunning solid blue adult.
From there, pairings were planned to bring out that same intense coloration in larger numbers. In 1999 and 2000, Mr. Blue was bred to his mother, TMBF, and these clutches produced several standout animals including the well-known Mitey Blue once owned by Rich Culver as well as Azure, Goliath, Brotto Blue, and several more. However, it was not until 2002 when Trooper Walsh and John Holland paired Mr. Blue with his first cousin, Carolina, that we finally saw the results the chondro world had been waiting for. The forever-legendary Mr. Blue X Carolina clutch contained a large number of “Super Blue” chondros including animals known as Skyy, Little Boy Blue, Papa Smurf, Mojo, Blue Volcano and several others.
Also occurring in 2002 was the pairing of BG94121-Daddypants to his half-sister, the Tim Morris Blue Female. Daddypants was sired by the famous TW9131-Ol’ Yeller, one of the first Biak outcross animals in captivity, and his inclusion in the Daddypants branch of the Blue Line added much needed genetic diversity. It also added a colorful X-Factor of sorts making way for the increased occurrence of fluke high black and high yellow animals coming from the TW Blue Line. The Daddypants X TMBF clutch contained many standout animals including Ireland, Blue Deuce, Ice, and Crazy.
Mr. Blue and his early offspring went on to be line-bred and outcrossed over the years, further expanding the population of the Blue Line so more people were able to work with it. This allowed for more genetic diversity to make its way into the line to where we started to see better and better results as the numbers continued to grow. Rich Culver’s 2007 Mitey Blue x Dream Baby clutch made waves while Brad Johnson’s famous 2006 “Godiva” clutch and 2008 Skyy x Topaz clutch both produced excellent results and contributed significantly to reigniting the excitement surrounding the bloodline.
In 2009, the chondro world was shocked yet again when Christian Stewart of “The Barn” teamed up with Danny Brotto to breed two high-potency Blue Line snakes together, the extremely prolific Blue Deuce and a pure Blue Line female called Brotto Blue. It was within this pairing we saw a new never-before-seen level of potential from the Blue Line with the production of a snake known as SSDB09-Frosty. From the speed of his transition to the intensity of his final bright-blue coloration, Frosty was an anomaly in every way.
Rico Walder also went on to do great things with the line using his self-produced 50% Mr. Blue/Carolina male, SH05188. In 2011, Rico produced a large clutch using SH05188 and a Bluemax/Jarvis female known as SH05086. As several Super Blues began to emerge, this clutch went on to be known as one of the best, most consistent Blue Line clutches we had seen in many years. Some of the top examples from this clutch include the prolific male SH11030, now owned by Dave Dendinger, as well as the famous SH11029 male, Zeus, one of the nicest Super Blues ever produced and thought to be Rico Walder’s crowning achievement in the chondro hobby. This clutch also served as a turning point in Blue Line chondro breeding, as it demonstrated how high-quality Super Blues were achievable even through heavily outcrossed, genetically diverse animals, and how those results could be achieved in large numbers from large clutches.
From there, the Blue Line has exploded in every way. In 2014, we continued to see progress with the production of CG1410-Everest by Colin Guiley, one of just a few Super Blue females ever produced. Newer keepers have amassed extraordinary collections and, alongside veteran keepers, the Super Blues they’ve produced and the contributions they’re making to the bloodline are immeasurable. We continue to see excellent genetic diversity added to the line as more and more compatible outcross animals are discovered. This robust gene pool contributes greatly to the many successful Blue Line clutches we see annually today and, now with the largest population of blue snakes ever in circulation, we are seeing an appreciable and ever-increasing level of coloration intensity and clutch consistency within the line. As these extraordinary blue snakes become more prevalent, the excitement within our community of passionate keepers is at an all-time high, and participation in the now-worldwide Blue Line project has never been more accessible or enjoyable.
In closing, I would like to thank Tim Morris, John and Jenny Holland, Christian Stewart, Dave Dendinger, Danny Brotto, Rich Culver, Tim Schroeder, Frank Gaton and many others for their friendships and their willingness to contribute many of the pictures and much of the information that went into writing this. I really do appreciate you guys helping make this happen.
