T- Albino

There are NINE proven morphs which were kicked off towards 10 years ago when the John Weigel driven Snake Ranch brought us the albino Eastern Blue Tongue with the founder animals coming from the Newcastle NSW region and proving a straight forward recessive trait & working in the same manner as albinism in all other species globally.

Hyper Melanistic

Next up came the unrivalled jet black Melanistic Blue Tongue which was found near Bondi, Sydney by Professor Rick Shine and proven out to be an in-complete dominant trait (the only difference being from recessive that the het form of these animals are visible & in this case darker than normal wild type). These unbelievable blueys were then brought to us by Snake Ranch via the initial breeding work of Peter Harlow. To this day I receive double the requests for black blueys over any other available morph.

White Northern

Darwin was the next source of the third Bluey morph and John Robert Coward bringing us White Northern Blueys. These animals hotly debated as to their correct name visually falling just short of being leucistic but being way more than simply hypo melanistic with a complete lack of oranges & yellows with the best examples appearing pure white & varying to extremes of strong caramel banding with some cases exhibiting a black peppering as adults. Either way they offer something completely different to Albinism & Melanism and are a simply stunning addition & work in the same way as albinism as a genetic recessive trait.

Black Eyed Anery

Fourth on the list are Black Eyed Anery Blue Tongues which in simple terms are the opposite in appearance to albinos in that they are void of all oranges, reds & most yellows with a result of leaving just black & white scales in a variegated arrangement. One of the most striking characteristics of this mutation are the jet black eyes which are a result of the standard orange pigment being genetically removed from the iris. This morph was discovered by myself in a line of Kimberley Blue Tongues from a normal wild type pairing. By itself can vary from simply stunning to moderate but in combination with other morphs can & does as we’ll discuss later have astonishing results. Of further note there is another line of Black Eyed Anery Blueys that have since been proven by Beck Drescher in a line of Darwin locality animals with both lines having what appears to be a straight forward recessive mode of inheritance.

T+ Albino

Dave Mitchell of Rockhampton produced a simply stunning pastel appearing line of Darwin Northern Blue Tongues for the Fifth bluey morph which is punctuated with stunning lavenders and fluoro yellows. This morph is best described as T+ Albino (Tyrosinase positive) meaning that in simple terms that instead of melanin being totally removed as in the case of standard albinos (Tyrosinase negative albinism) it is only partially inhibited leaving lavender hues in place of all black colouration. After acquiring this small group of animals I was fortunate enough to replicate them via some outbreeding for the first time in the 2017 breeding season again with a recessive genetic mode of inheritance. And as the pictures show T+ Albinos rival the looks of any of the other morphs and are for sure the next ‘want & need’ for the bluey lover.

Genetic Reduced Pattern

Genetic reduced pattern are the sixth & seventh morphs to surface which as the title suggests are a pattern mutation as opposed to the previous five morphs covered being a genetic influence on colour. The first was a very small group of animals that I discovered in a Brisbane petshop and immediately saw some potential. It had the gut feel of a polygenic trait that would be hard to pin point but to my great surprise once again turned out to be genetic recessive and hence be able to be replicated. For the carpet python morph lovers out there this starts a combination opportunity with other genetic traits similar to those of the Jaguar & Zebra pattern morphs which have proven to produce mind blowing results in conjunction with albinism & axanthism. Further additions to pattern mutations & number seven on the list from Gabe Otter & myself were proven out in 2018 with an incomplete dominant form showing crazy RP phenotype at Het level with a simply stunning double copy super form that is totally patternless !!

Super Pinstriped Blotchies

Eighth on the proven morph list are ‘Super Striped’ Alpine Blotched Blue Tongues which originate from an animal I picked up from the late Rob McCarthy and proved out to be a classic clear cut incomplete dominant trait with quite striking visual hets showing a ‘red racing stripe’ appearance and a super form that takes on a fine pinstripe appearance which is virtually melanistic. Photographs of these animals simply go nowhere near expressing how stunning they truly are. The further opportunity with these animals lies in tandem with a line of Axanthic blotchies which proved out in the 2018 season and represent the ninth and final (for now !!) proven bluey morph.

Lava

Snake Ranch posed the question of ‘what would the Melanistic Albino Blue Tongue look like ??’ I for one was somewhat intrigued to say the least. I was quite surprised that I was first to crack this combination as a comparative late-comer into Blueys especially after navigating the claims that this had already been done to find that it indeed hadn’t. So by pairing a Black male to an Albino female in 2011 the first hets were made that carried the genetics for both traits. The result I later named ‘LAVA’ was simply breathtaking and for me was the point at which the rest of the hobby really took notice of how amazing Bluey morphs really can be. The molten hot looks are unrivalled (well arguably so !!) by any other morph out there and has become a target ‘must produce’ animal by other Bluey morph lovers.

Snow

There are half a dozen or so other ‘combos’ that have been produced another by myself combining the Black Eyed Anery gene with Albinism creating a ‘Snow’ which is essentially white with lemon or peach hues

Platinum

The ‘Platinum’ first created by Roger Kramer which brings together JR Cowards White Northern & the Melanistic bluey leaving an animal with a real eye catching polished silver look & since totally transformed with the addition of orange hues & Anery Black eyes with my own quadruple genetic program.

Alabaster

White Northern x Black Eyed Anery called ‘Alabaster’ created by Karen Russell which leaves a simply unbelievable result and identical in appearance to the Black Eyed Leucistic Ball Python.

Sunglow

The ‘Sunglow’ which is a combination of White Northern & Albinism leaving an almost totally white albino,

Blackout

The ‘Blackout’ which combines Anery & Hyper melanistic leaving a black eyed black animal with a subtly brilliant white underside

T+ White

The T+ Albino White Northern which has created an animal that has a ‘Sulphur’ colouration to it with flash pink tongues to boot

Moonglow

Finally a couple of triple & potentially quadruple visual animals with the ‘Moonglow’ offering a totally pearlescent white albino

Mercury

The stunning ‘Mercury’ which introduces the Black Eyed Anery to the Platinum morph. To make a more brilliant polished coloration & mesmeric black eyes.

Axanthic Blotchies

Axanthic Blotched Blue Tongue is something that is still being worked on as they only have small litter sizes. The Axanthics will/have been bred with the Super Pinstripes to hopefully produce another double homozygous animal to add to the bluey craze!

White Westerns

The White Westerns are a fairly new project that I recently acquired from Dave Mercieca This project brings with it a new species into the morph game, expanding out of the Tiliqua scincoides

Future Combos

The potential of morph blueys has well & truly been unlocked but in saying that there are countless combination opportunities still out there and a solid group of passionate breeders keen to create them. What will the Patternless Albino look like ?? or the T+ T- albino ?? Furthermore quadruple & quintuple combinations offer another level again. There are also other morphs been worked on in the hobby with Gabe Otter’s ‘Blonde’ project gathering pace and the increased incidence of anomalies such as the ‘Calico’ Blue Tongue. Blotched Blue Tongues also in my mind can go very close to matching the exploits of their scincoides cousins and offer something completely different again for bluey lovers, not to mention the mind blowing ‘White Western’ project that I hope to make headway on this coming 2019 breeding season. All this will play out over the next few seasons & I for one am excited to be a part of it !!