Gorilla has been one of our favorite project at NBK Reptiles for years, one of Brian Papuccyian favorite gene (probably because he looks like a Gorilla himself lol). As much as we have been impressed by some Gorillas we have hatched in the past, nothing came close to what we discovered this year.
Gorilla is another gene that was selected in the 2010s by NBK team through African imports. It is a dark mutation with some crisp colours, sometimes with greenish hues.
Here’s a single gene Gorilla besides a regular from 2021
single gene around 400g
In the last couple years we kept our Gorilla breeding to a minimum trying to get a good grasp of what we had in our hands. In The last 10 years not too many combos were made, from what I remember, the HRA Gorilla was produced and did not make a Red Axanthic looking snake, but more of a HRA with a wide and maroon dorsal stripe, interesting but not crazy yet.
In 2021 we did try to see if the Gorilla had the potential to make some Pewter like combos when paired with Pastel. We did Gorilla x Enchi Pastel Ivory
(unfortunately I can’t find any picture of those babies in my phone dammit…) To be completely honest, they were a bit disappointing at the moment. No Pewter like combos and not even a dulled out Pastel from adding a dark gene (I expected something like Pastel and HRA interaction). We ended up with a Pastel Enchi Gorilla YB and a Pastel Gorilla YB. We kept them for a year and they held pretty good contrast in general, with deep rich blacks and vivid yellows and orange. We ended up wholesaling these snakes to focus on the newer generation of Gorillas we could make… that was a mistake when I look back at it now.
Here are the discoveries we made this year, you’ll understand what I mean!
So coming in 2023 we had little hopes for the project and tried to do different things with our 3 breeder females Gorillas.
They did NOT disappoint…
here is a GHI Gorilla versus a GHI
This is mind-blowing!
GHI Gorillas
The Gorilla added a very interesting amount of darkness in the GHI. They display more banded patterns than the regular GHI and a much wider dorsal stripe with deeper and more rich black pigments.
Same banding and wider dorsal with the GHI Gorilla Fire
GHI Fire (No Gorilla) Much less banded pattern and brighter
Those blew me away but the Blackhead version is what really opened my eyes.
Blackhead and Blackhead Gorilla (both Het Lavender)
The richness of the blacks on that Blackhead Gorilla is just nuts!
So what do we know now?
Gorilla is not a Black Pastel or a GHI. It’s not SUPER visual on it’s own and in every combos. Does it mean it should be disregarded? Absolutely not!
Where is Gorillas place in our future and the industry’s? Personally I think Gorilla needs some more work to really understand it’s full potential. I really like what I have seen this year with those dark combos, really really like it. Our next step is definitely going to see if we can make a super form of the gene. We have tried in the past but ended up with results similar as Super Leopards, more intense expression, but nothing concluding. We will be working on that in 2024.
I think Gorilla can be used as a darkening gene, but not an overpowering one. That’s why I think wholesaling the Pastel combos we made in 2021 was a mistake. By not seeing a significant impact, I thought the gene was just too subtle to be really interesting. Here’s where I was wrong. The Gorilla Pastel combos were disappointing because we expected the gene to work like the other dak genes we are familiar with. Instead we had a dark gene that kept vibrant yellows without dulling them down. Now that I look at it with perspective, I want to explore that Pastel avenue once again, but with a different eye on them.
My curerent understanding of the gene is that Gorilla can be used as a darkening agent in both dark combos to increase and bolden the blacks, but also as a contrats highlighter in more vibrant combos.
The project is so young, its hard to see where this gene will bring us, but my interest has never been greater!
2024 will hopefully bring us more answers and more amazing combos.
please let me know what you think of the gene and it’s potential.
cheers,
Antoine Seguin
DPR coldblood, NBK Reptiles breeding manager
