To start off, let us begin by sharing how we planned this season. We began pairing late summer in hopes of triggering follicle growth in the females. We continued this off and on until we eventually witness courting in October. We also changed a few husbandry practices in hopes of improving outcomes over the last 3 seasons. While we always have a good number of courting and ovulations, we have struggled a bit with final results.
The actual breeding went from October to January. We attempted 9 pairings this season, and of those 9, it appears that we will only have 2-4 litters. The main objective this season was to move the Fire program forward while trialing some anomalies.
L121 – Aztec Paradox DH Carbon Snow x Aztec DH Carbon Snow
The objective here was to see if there was anything to the heavy “paradoxing” of the male by breeding it back to the mother. It was understood that there would be a risk of creating Supers and their associated issues, along with the issues associated with compound inbreeding. We decided to take on these risks due to the fact that both breeders we up in age and we lost the opportunity.
This litter dropped April 22, 2021 at 108 Days POS.
The results were worse than we had hoped. Of the 27 babies, 6 Super Aztecs were produced. The actual results were:
2 Carbon Snows
1 Carbon
1 VPI T+
2 Normals.
Once they have all had their first shed and meal, we will provide a writeup of their condition and any treatments administered. As of now, the Paradoxing of the male seems to stand as such, and the only genetic trait that was handed down was the intense color and clean contrast he produced in 2018. The one good thing that could come from this would be to provide the details of the trials to the general public. Click here for those results.
L221 – Labyrinth Fire x VPI Het Carbon
The objective was pretty straight forward. We were attempting to marry the Laby Fire and VPI/Carbon while simultaneously proving out the Aztec Carbon for being Het for T+.
The litter dropped May 14, 2021 at 112 Days POS.
Unfortunately, we missed on the Aztec Carbon. We did have a nice litter of Labyrinths, Labyrinth Fires and Fires! All are 100% Het VPI T+ and 50% Het Carbon.
There were a number of babies that had the large belly often seen with premature births. We put those with the most prominent enlargements into an incubator. Within 3 days, a few have reduced volume and were placed into their enclosures. We estimate that within a week, all will follow.
The sex ratio was 13.15 which is not bad. Because of the litter being only 50% Het for Carbon, we will be holding back half. There will be another attempt next season with a different pairing, and adding Aztec and Hypo in the mix. Another nail biter for sure.
The Male ratio on the Labyrinth Fires was low, so only a few will be let go, and they are already spoken for at this time. The rest will be listed after they have had their second shed. So far, they are active, feisty and as beautiful as anything in our collection to date.
They are still in their birthday suites, but here’s a link to see them as they are, before they shed.
Click this link to see them Post Shed. Please note that we will add pic updates sporadically. The full catalog will be shared once they have all had their first shed.
L321 – Aztec Carbon Snow x Fire PH Carbon
One of three pairings to prove out a few of the 2017 Fire holdbacks. One additional note is that we maintained these females to be around 4′ at the time of breeding. Hoping to see smaller litters with no ill effects on both the mother and babies. The male used in this particular pairing had Burgundy saddles against a creamy white background with crisp contrasts between the two. We are fairly certain that the Female is gravid with actual babies. But, time will tell. Her due date in July 20, 2021.
This litter dropped 7/15/21 with 11 perfect babies! While we missed on proving out the female, we hit Fires, Aztec Fires, Aztecs and Normals, all 100% Het Carbon Snow. So, we finally have something to compare to and hopefully identify markers. An Update will be shared once they have all had their first shed.