By Pedro Caixinha
Name of Line: Mosaic Line
Founding Breeder(s): Pedro Caixinha (Portugal)
Founding Animals: Mosaic
Notable Descendants: Halloween (PC16-05, Mosaic X Hirubilo), Jackpot (PC16-09, Mosaic X Hirubilo), Friday 13 (PC16-03, Mosaic X Hiruilo), Dark Shadows (PC16-08, Mosaic X Hiruilo), Witchcraft (PC17-03, Mosaic X Saudade), Iconic (PC17-04, Mosaic X Saudade), Iron Tusk (PCMT18-01, Mosaic X Honey), Blood and Thunder (PCMT18-02, Mosaic X Honey).
Characteristics & Traits: The most notable trait of this line is the high melanism of the descendants. Some of the animals keep more than 50% of black into adulthood. This blood line can also show some red scales even in adulthood like the founder male.
During the ontogenetic color change in the Mosaic Line animals, black scales are typically the first to develop, even before the green scales. From there, the ontogenetic color change happens scale by scale with a unique pixelated pattern.
Who is working with it: Pedro Caixinha (Portugal), Forrest and Desiree Fanning (USA), Todd Constable (Canada), Francesca Torazza (Italy), Standa Sipr (Czech Republic), Paul Chrusch (Germany), Filip Duhajsky and Jana Duhajská (Czech Republic).
Brief History: Mosaic was produced by Philipp Thun-Hoenstein in 2013 in Austria from a pairing of a male Highland mite phase male called “Krypton” bred to a high-yellow mite-phase female called “Black Rain”. Thun-Hoenstein sold a group of babies from that clutch to a breeder in Slovenia named Ales Mlinar that keep Mosaic and some siblings for 2.5 years. After deciding to keep only venomous snakes, Ales agreed on selling Mosaic to Pedro Caixhina in 2015.
In 2016, Pedro bred Mosaic to a large F1 Lereh-type female (Hirubilo) and produced a good clutch of fertile eggs that resulted in 9 healthy maroon babies. Halloween, Jackpot, Friday 13, Dark Shadows and some other amazing chondros were all produced in this clutch.
In 2017 Pedro wanted to see if Mosaic was dominant for red progeny and bred him to a yellow neo female Arubiak from 2011 called “Saudade”. Saudade was produced by Pedro from his first ever clutch of chondros and her mother was Pedro’s first chondro ever. Saudade x Mosaic produced six red/maroon babies and Mosaic proved his red dominance.
In 2018, Pedro paired Mosaic with a well known female from the Calico Line named “Honey” (SSBMPA 13-02, October X Wameniak). Honeys displays the “Calico” Phenotype and has been the most special pairing to Mosaic. Honey deposited nice fertile eggs but only 3 viable babies hatched from the pairing, with one dying shortly after. The two hatchlings that survived are turning into amazing juveniles showing the traits of both the sire and dam. Pedro has named the clutch “Mosalicos” since they are a combination of 2 amazing bloodlines, Mosaic and Calico.
In 2019, Pedro repeated the pairing between Mosaic and Hirubilo, and she gave him 25 fertile eggs; 21 of which hatched. The babies are still unchanged at this time, but Pedro expects some amazing results from them. Along with this pairing, Pedro had a second successful pairing in 2019 between Mosaic and a female Aru caled “Lil`Box” (MN11-01) who happened to be the first ever Chondro produced in Portugal! This pair ended with 8 healthy maroon babies, and since the female was a yellow neo, Mosaic once again proved that he only produces red/maroon/brown babies. These babies are currently in the beginning of their ontogenic change but some are showing some black scales and before they reach one year of age.
This year Pedro plans two amazing pairings with Mosaic. One is the repeat pairing between Mosaic and Honey, attempting to produce more “Mosalicos” and the other pair is between Mosaic and Eleanor (BE13-07, Dash-O-Pepper x Merlot). Eleanor is owned by Jomi Fernandes and is at Pedro’s on breeding loan. She’s a genetic powerhouse that includes Pepper Line, Lemon Tree Line, TW Blue Line and some other amazing lineage. Pedro strategically planned this pair dreaming about producing extraordinary black animals. Lets wait and see if he can get some babies from this two amazing pairs!
