This morph was first produced by Steve Hammond of Exceptional Exotics in
1989. In 1993 the trait was proven genetic by Steve Hammond when he
produced a litter that included sixteen arabesque. In 1997 Steve Hammond
discovered that the morph was co-dominant when he bred it into his
"Sunburst" line, which was totally unrelated to the original
arabesque bloodline. The following year Peter Kahl bred and arabesque
female to an albino male, the result being nearly half of the babies
exhibiting the arabesque trait, making them heterozygous for albinism.
The original arabesque line shows hyper-melanistic (increased melanin)
traits. There is typically intense black speckling throughout the body,
the belly is strongly marked in black as well as the head and the tail
blotches are black. The linear pattern is typically connected by narrow
saddles. The ground color is generally a light cocoa with a highly
contrasting dark pattern. Steve Hammond has also produced a line of
arabesque boas known as "sunburst" arabesque that have little to no
black speckling and intense orange, pink and gold hues. In the very near
future we should also see "albino arabesques".
Article compliments of: Chris Romine and Steve
Hammond
Photos compliments of: Jeremy Stone, Chris
Romine, John Skipper and Gary Mirone.
