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line of Special

A little Special history first. The Special gene was first discovered by Tom Baker.
He was breeding a male Mojave to a female in his collection. He realized
something special was going on when the Crystal was produced. This combo of
the Mojave and a new gene was just incredible. Nothing like it had been seen
before. Tom named this new gene the "Special".

With the History of the Special explained now we come to the NoCo Line of
Special. I had purchased a group of sub-adult females in 2005. While opening
the box one looked like a Mojave without the Mojave color. I immediately thought
this could be a phantom. Once she was up to size I used my lesser for her first
season. She laid 6 eggs in 2007. I was really hoping for something special in the
clutch and I couldn't have been more surprised to see a white head poking out a
day 55. After cutting all six eggs I had three normal looking snakes and three
white snakes. I couldn't have been more excited. Once they were out I had 1.2
hatchlings but realized they were not pure white. They had a slight yellow tint to
them. I knew that the white snakes RDR had produced were pure white. She was
not a Phantom. At this point I was thinking maybe she was a Het Vin Russo or
maybe a Mocha. The mystery would not be solved until the 2009-2010 season. I
was finally able to get the hatchling male back to his mother along with a sister
and a pastel. He was also accidentally mixed up with a hypo super Mojave that
season and had one copulation with a hypo Mojave female.

The hypo Mojave female was the first to lay for me from these pairings. Out of the
8 eggs it was a dual sired clutch. Both the hypo super Mojave male and the
mystery white male had sired the clutch. I was shocked and amazed with the
results. There was a mystery snake in the clutch. At this time I didn't know what
to think. It didn't quite look like anything i had seen. With a little investigation and
some help from forums this snake seemed to by a Crystal. It just seemed darker.
Finally later that year the original female laid eggs and I produced a Super
Special out of that clutch. I now knew what she was but had not realized how truly
special she was.

My first show to display this Super Special at was the NARBC show in Houston. It
immediately drew attention. He was so dark and orange. There was just nothing
out there like it. So over the next few months I did some research on the Special
and the Super Special. Comparing pictures of my Crystal and Super Special to
ones produced by Tom Baker. It was then that I realized it was the same morph
but one that produced a much darker combo.

The Super Special is truly a unique snake. Nothing else in the industry looks like
it. One of the first things I am asked when new people see it is what kind of clown
combo is that. So that is the story of the NoCo Line of Special. If you have any
questions on the Special, or are interested in getting in on this great project, just
drop me a note.