By Mark Heger
Name of Line: Calico Line
Founding Breeder(s): Trooper Walsh and Greg Maxwell
Founding Animals: Computer Chondro, AquaGirl, and Calico Jr
Notable Descendants: Mr. Black, October, Mandango, Bruise, Splash
Characteristics & Traits: Calico Line animals often display a pixelated appearance, a distinctive contrast on their necks, and a mite-phase or speckled appearance.
Who is working with it: Marcial Mendez, Buddy Buscemi, David Dendinger, Mark Heger, Collette Sutherland, Christian Stewart, Luca Sepe, Pedro Caixinha, Vita Cernoch, Eddie Appell, and others
Brief History: In January of 1993, Trooper Walsh produced a clutch of maroon and dark brown babies. One of those babies developed into a very unique adult with a pixelated pattern. Greg Maxwell purchased this animal and named it “The Computer Chondro” because the coloration reminded him of the pixels on a computer screen. Maxwell would later pair The Computer Chondro with his clutchmate sister, AquaGirl, in 1999 and produced another pixelated snake from the pairing, proving that the trait was inheritable. Maxwell coined the breeding “The Calico Project” and he named the unique snake “Calico Jr.”, as he looked like a miniature version of his father.
Being that Calico Jr. was produced from a sib-to-sib pairing, he is considered 100% calico. Calico Jr. was bred to 2 different females and produced 3 successful clutches with them; two clutches with “LemonGirl” (2001 & 2004) and one with “Day Dream” (2006). Offspring from these 3 clutches were the first generation of 50% calico GTPs. Since then, the calico line has been bred and outcrossed to many other designer lines and localities, and despite being diluted the calico line continues to produce remarkable looking phenotypes!
