Arroyo / Rio Project Information and Photo Gallery
The Arroyo / Rio project began here in 2005, with the acquisition of a pair of aberrant African hatched sibling females. The two females grew quickly, and in 2008 we bred them to an unrelated, and oddly patterned, African hatched male. Both of the original females produced fertile eggs, and several of the babies that resulted looked identical to their mothers. We kept back all of the aberrant babies and raised them. We did not breed the original females in 2009, because we wanted to wait until 2010 in order to breed them back to their 2008 male offspring. In 2010 both females again produced eggs, and later that year, we were delighted to hatch the first homozygous or super form of the new gene, which we named the Rio.
The name Rio, meaning river in Spanish, very appropriately describes the pattern running down the spine of these remarkable animals, which is quite reminiscent of a meandering river, complete with oxbows. Not only is the pattern unique, but the rich coloration is a signature of the morph well. In keeping with that same theme, we named the heterozygous form of this new co-dominate morph the Arroyo.
As can be seen in the photos below, the few Arroyo combinations made so far are very exciting, and of course we expect the Rio combos to be even more so. Although still quite young, the Arroyo / Rio project has already created quite a stir within the breeding community. I am very excited to be working with these beautiful animals, and because the Arroyo / Rio gene displays such unique and incredible potential, I believe that it will, in the future, become an established staple within the industry, necessary for the production of a wide variety of valuable and sought after combinations.
Please enjoy this photo compilation!
2010 Rio babies... pre-shed
2010 Rio Babies... Pre-Shed. Not sure if the one on the far right is a Rio, or an extreme Arroyo.
2010 Rio Baby... post-shed.
2010 Rios at 2 months old.
2010 Rio... all grown up. This is our Breeding Male (father of the Arroyos listed for sale).
Arroyo Pastel Fire... produced in 2011.
Arroyo Fire... produced in 2011
Arroyo Fire Calico... produced in 2011.
Arroyo Granite Pinstripe... produced in 2011
Left to right: Arroyo, Arroyo Pastel Lesser, and Pastel Lesser... produced in 2012.
Please visit our Arroyo / Rio Availability/Pricing page for additional information.