Well, a few of us were discussing the Mega Hypo stuff, spawned after Doug and Ross did that great blog on the "Hobby Hondo".

I stated that I had one of the only Mega females in existence. Don Shore reminded me that he had TWO Mega hypo females (very uncommon) but one had died a year or so ago.

To be even more correct, Don Shores had 3 Mega hypo females at one point. (However, only the Mega Anery is left.)

The matriarch of the entire line, Mega Triple Het (Deceased) shown with the original “Mystery Male” (owned by Shannon Brown)



Head shot of the Mega Triple Het (sold to me from Don Shores):



Some of her offspring, Summer of 2007 (owned/produced by Terry M.):






A sibling female to the original "Mystery Male" Owned by Don Shores (Deceased)



Can you say FREAKIN DIFFERENT!!!!




A Mega Ghost or Mega Anery with a Mega Hypo sibling (looked like an Anery as a neonate), produced by Terry M. in Aug 2007 (Owned by Don Shores)

Then:


Now, with the same male sibling:



The REALLY interesting link between these unique 3 females is ALL of them exhibit the same blotchy hypo (missing pigment) effect. However, NONE of them showed this appearance as neonates and ALL of them were labeled as phenotypically "normals" (non hypo)!

Here are close up pics of the missing pigment, so you can see what I’m referring to:

The matriarch of the entire line, Mega Triple Het


Another of the matriarch, overexposed pic to show the difference:


Here are two pics of Don Shore's Mega Anery (or Mega Ghost):






Totally the same look!!!



Here’s a typical Hypo Hobby Hondo for comparison purposes:



Here is the Hypo above as a neonate:


Most of you all know that Hypomelanistic Hobby Hondos look the BEST as neonates and darken with age, some almost look normal as adults. The Mega animals however, have the opposite occur.

This female Mega of mine is unique in that she was definitely produced from breeding Mega to Mega (line bred). It will be VERY interesting to see what her “dark” pigment looks like in a couple years.



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I've been primarily focusing on outcrossing the Mega gene(s), because not many people have had success in breeding them, to try and strengthen this unique line.

Side Note: Keep in mind, to use a Mega X ANY Unknown (Hypo, Anery, Ghost, Hybino, Amel, Snow, Pearl, etc.) to get a phenotype of a true Mega, the other animal would either have to carry the Mega gene (dominate or recessive or polygenetic) or the Mega gene would have to be some sort of Co-dominant form of Hypo.

One of the VERY FEW folks to have any breeding success is a buddy of mine Rodney J.
He acquired one of the clutch mates to my Mega Line Tricolor Hypo (known as the mystery clutch that Terry M. produced).

Unfortunately, this is another one of the many Mega Line animals that is now deceased.

However, before he died, Rodney did breed it to this Snow het Hypo:


Here are two OUTSTANDING Tricolor Mega Line Hypo males from that pair (both now owned by Don Shores):


Rodney initially sold one male, from the above pic, to Don Shores and kept back the “lighter yellow” Tricolor Mega Line Hypo:


Here’s the “lighter yellow” tricolor as an adult:


Then Rodney bred the “lighter yellow” tricolor Mega Line Hypo back to a few different females (a couple Hypos and a Ghost) in 2011. Here’s him in action with a Hypo:

Here he is again with a very nice female extreme:

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pics of the offspring, but Rodney was overall disappointed with the results and sold (I believe) all the Hondos to Don Shores.

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Another fantastic Mega Line Hypo was produced by Jeff Alloway and Shannon Brown purchased it:

Another pic of him a little older:

Unfortunately, this male is also deceased.


Many of these Mega line or Mega Hypos (accurate terminology TBD on what is Mega or not) died as a result of classical brumation (a temperature cool down without light).

Personally, I do not cool any of my Hondos, I only reduce the light cycle, and I have had great success with breeding (so has Rodney, Doug Mong and I believe Don). I would NOT recommend cooling any Central America Milks, because I feel it is risky and unnecessary for successful breeding. (Just my opinion).

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Here are some of my favorite outcrossed offspring over the past two years that I’ve produced (yes all directly from my Tricolor Mega Line Hypo Het Snow):





You recognize any of these Cole?







I’ll end with this, I just love the variety!!!



-Rusty
Neonate pics of my Tricolor Mega Line Hypo Het Snow

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