Wrought Iron

Welcome to the Forge…

The word "Incredible" is simply an understatement when I think of one of the most unique and extreme-looking Blood Python morphs in existence—the Wrought Iron. 

This morph is off the charts and, put, one of the most beautiful “base morphs” out there. Their design is very complex; The Wrought Iron displays a pin-stripe pattern on top of a dark dorsal stripe base that runs from the head to the tail. The lateral pattern is very busy with solid, inky black marks that vary in shape, “floating” in the midsection, which looks like actual Wrought Iron (hence the name). Towards the bottom, the black marks fade into gray, and the lighter background is flooded with tiny dots. 

The face marks are also very unique. The snout is entirely black with thin colored lines that run from the nostrils to the back of the head, and they’re typically neon red. The upper posterior lip has a withe mark frequently saturated with red pigments. To top that off, the superior pattern on the head creates a set of two inward triangles that converge in the middle. 

 The Wrought Iron (WI) is an incomplete dominant mutation. The Homozygous (Super) phenotype appears to have a busier pattern, compared to a regular WI, with a broader dorsal pattern, and the lateral marks are reduced in size and quantity compared to normal WIs. Unfortunately, severe health issues have been associated with Super WIs, and to this date, all Supers hatched have perished shortly after hatching.  

That being said, as a brief note, the WI project had a rough start. Some WIs presented an abnormal eye scale of unknown cause. Forcing VPI to hold back the project indefinitely until this issue can be better understood.

Back in 2022, VPI and The Scarlet Society joined forces to create a breeding program for research and scientific purposes, in hopes of finding answers to this issue. Three years later,  and after a couple of very successful breeding seasons, we now have a much better understanding of the morph, its capabilities when combined with other genes, and the abnormal eye scale issue. 

For more insights into our journey with the Wrought Iron, visit our Blog section. There, you’ll find a series of detailed write-ups covering in-depth our progress, results, and the latest updates on this project.

We look forward to forging the next chapter with this phenomenal morph, and hopefully, in the not-so-distant future, you can share the excitement of seeing one of these marvelous snakes in YOUR collection."

 The Scarlet Society.