Founders' Fund openNow taking pledges: Help finish the rack and bring home all 24 founder snakesBack the project →
Project Status

The Rack Is Built. The Founders Are Arriving.

We publish where the project actually is. Rack 1 is built and its cameras are recording. Our first founders are in quarantine, on camera. The Founders’ Fund brings home the rest.
Rack 1 onlineFounders in quarantineFounders’ Fund openFormal observation not started
Phase 0: Done

What We Built Ourselves

Before asking anyone for a dollar, we built the observation system and tested it on a bench: one camera over two tubs with test subjects (a rubber snake and a toy lizard). Then we built Rack 1 and retired the bench.

  • Rack 1: 20 tubs with heat and light, 12 MP cameras over each pair, recording around the clock
  • Cameras on a PoE switch with battery backup; video saved to a 4 TB drive
  • Live camera view on each animal’s page
  • Motion tracking per tub, with a clip of the day (prototype)
  • Tub ID labels the camera reads, with mismatch alerts (prototype)
  • Research records: weights, feedings, sheds, health, environment
  • Weekly check done from a phone: scan, speak, confirm
  • Public animal pages and data exports
  • Maintenance mode, so cleaning never counts as behavior
Phase I: In Progress

We Made It This Far. Now It Takes You.

Rack 1 is built with most of its cameras recording. 24 Kenyan sand boas: 20 unrelated lines plus 3 controls; the first founders are here. We are not waiting on a handout: we built the prototype and the rack ourselves and keep paying for the build out of our own pocket. Round 1 of the Founders’ Fund, open now, brings home the rest of the founders and covers their first year.

Back the Founders’ FundSee Where the Money Goes
See It Running

The Founders, Live

Meet the founders

Each founder has its own page: morph, breeder, records, and a live view when it is on camera.

Watch them live

Our first founders in quarantine, live. AI movement detection is still in development and not yet validated.

Follow the build

Lab Notes on what we built, what broke, and what it cost.

Roadmap

Eight Phases, Measured in Years

  • Phase 0 — Build the PrototypeDone

    The observation system prototype, tested on a bench with test subjects, then retired once Rack 1 was built. Validation continues on the real rack.

  • Phase I — Founding PopulationIn Progress

    Rack 1 is built with most of its cameras recording. 24 Kenyan sand boas: 20 unrelated lines plus 3 controls; the first founders are here.

  • Phase II — Quarantine & BaselineIn Progress

    Quarantine, then normal husbandry records for every founder. Started for the first arrivals, on camera.

  • Phase III — Pilot ObservationUpcoming

    Validate detection, environmental consistency, and data quality on the real animals; preregister the measurements.

  • Phase IV — Formal F0 ObservationUpcoming

    Begin the predetermined selection observation period.

  • Phase V — GrowthUpcoming

    Continue longitudinal observation while the founders mature.

  • Phase VI — First PairingsUpcoming

    Breed appropriate unrelated high-performing candidates.

  • Phase VII — F1Upcoming

    Observe the next generation under the same standardized system.

No study result exists yet. We are building the system that lets the results mean something when they do, and we will publish them whichever way they go.