For my first post here, I figured I would give and overview and some history on the Carbon project.
The Carbon gene is something we have been heavily focused on here at Image Reptiles and, as evidenced by this lengthy post, we are incredibly passionate about the project. Like a lot of projects, it originated from an interesting looking imported wild caught animal. To get the full picture we have to start back at the beginning.
Paul Miles owned and operated The Boa Barn for many many years, he was Pete Kahl’s partner on albino boas, he was the first to breed Boelen’s Pythons in captivity, and he was a pioneer in the Ball Python industry. I started working for him in 2006 or so, around that same time he went to the Daytona show and saw a different looking imported animal. He purchased the animal and brought it back to the facility, where I was working. The animal grew to be my favorite individual in his collection, he produced some Fire combos but that was more or less the extent of what he had done with it. When Paul decided to retire from the reptile industry, I purchased a lot of the collection, but I also purchased that entire project which at the time he was calling the “PMG” or Paul Miles Graphite.
At the time that I acquired the then labeled PMG project, the Nanny gene was getting big, so Carson and I were in talks about whether we thought the projects were actually the same gene. However in 2016, I produced a Mojave combo and it became evident that the two genes were in fact different. Since that time I have re-branded the project from PMG to Carbon. Graphite being a derivative of Carbon, I felt it was a nice nod to my mentor Paul and his project. After that 2016 year things have been really busy here at Image Reptiles, especially in regards to the Carbon project. To date we have publicly released the following:
- Super Carbon Fires or Covalent Fires
- Carbon Mojave
- Carbon Fire Mojave
- Carbon Fire
- Carbon Lesser
- Carbon Fire Pinstripe
There are quite a few other Carbon projects that I am really excited for that I am keeping close to the vest for now, and 2019 will be our biggest year yet.
Long story short, the future is looking bright for Carbon’s and I am really excited to continue seeing how it interacts with different combinations and seeing what others are able to do with it when they apply their vision to the project. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!
Original Carbon Female still breeding at Image Reptiles
Super Carbon Fire or Covalent Fire
Carbon Mojave
Carbon Fire Mojave
