Albinos

Well, admittedly, Joel is not the most involved with the snake stuff.

He knows what he likes, he knows what things look like, but he is not too clear on the genetics of some animals, and usually when we have discussions regarding snakes, he will have at least one question:

"So how do you make that??"

So we had a discussion over an e-mail from a customer that was a little confused regarding Albinos...



Caramel Albinos
Albinos
Lavendar Albinos



Again with the arbitrary name behind the name. People cut if off, but the name formally still has Albino in it, so people think it may be a combo morph.

Joel didn't realize that.. I'm sure he wasn't the only one.

None of these are compatible with each other. You breed any of these together, you will get double hets.

The biggest things that people wanted to have fail is Lavendar Albinos and Albinos. They are not compatible... people were relieved.

So Albinos, one of the key recessive morphs of Ball Pythons, have several variations, if you care to consider it that way. The one good thing about the naming is that at least all the "Albinos" are actually all recessive morphs.

So bottom line, not all Albinos are created equal.

HR2811

Well my friends, I have been calling, watching the skies and waiting. Apparently, things are happening not quite as planned, but things are happening.

The Python Bill, HR2811 has passed committee.

What does that mean?

The bill was amended just to include African Rock Pythons and Burmese Pythons as injurious species to the Lacey Act. Originally it was intended for ALL pythons.

Well... USARK is attempting to get an amendment to the amendment to make sure that captive born and bred species are not included into the new bill.

Is this okay?

Well, in my opinion, I'm not quite sure how to feel. I feel great sympathy for Burm and Afrock breeders to whom this affects. But, there is a reason why personally I do not deal with the species in question, and my personal concerns spill over to how I feel about the bill. I think this is the wrong way to go, as it is very difficult to see it come to fruition and not become a domino chain of other legislation. But I do think that there needs to be some kind of control over larger species in the hands of people who do not know what they are doing. THEY are the reason why this is even an issue in the first place!

So.... with my own musings aside, I still believe much needs to be done to protect the rights of all reptile owners and breeders.

Also, if you want to follow the blog of some of my friends that have been in the thick of the fight, please feel free. Here is the link and there is a lot of information regarding what is happening, much more in detail, as these men are on the front lines in Washington D.C.

Thank you, Gentlemen!

So I beseech you, my loyal readers and newly found friends, please do your research, support USARK and PIJAC in the fight to prevent more legislation that will harm our hobby and our love for reptiles!!!

Have a fabulous day, and remember... the fight is not over.

Buzz Buzz Buzz!! Bees!!

I LOVE THESE QUESTIONS!! Thanks again, Jackie!

Alright my friends:

Bees.

Let us begin at the beginning. Spider combos are AWESOME. I don't care who you are, and if you don't like the Spider neurological issues, you can't help but appreciate what the Spider morph does with other morphs in combinations.

And because they combine so well with others, they have started a trend of calling things Bees.

It began first with the Bumblebee... The humble Spider and Pastel Combo.



And when that turned out to be incredible and awesome, people decided to plug the Spider in with everything else under the sun. Why not? That is the funnest part of breeding is seeing what comes out of the egg in a new combination!

So, people threw the spider in with:

Pastel
Lesser
Black Pastel
Cinnamon
Hypo
Pastel Lesser
Enchi
Pastel Woma
Super Pastel
Genetic Stripe
Butter

Which turned out to be named:

Bumblebee (Pastel x Spider)
Lesserbee (Lesser x Spider)
Blackbee (Black Pastel x Spider)
Cinnabee (Cinnamon x Spider)
Honeybee (Hypo x Spider)
Queenbee (Pastel x Lesser x Spider)
Stingerbee (Enchi x Spider)
Wannabee (Pastel x Woma x Spider)
Killerbee (Pastel x Pastel x Spider)
Motleybee (Genetic Stripe x Spider)
Butterbee (Butter x Spider)

Now, what I don't understand is why only these are Bees, and some of the other Spider combos are not Bees, persay.

The Axanthic Spider is just that... the Axanthic Spider. As is Spider Woma, Spider Mojave, Spider Pied, Desert Spider and the Spider Albino.

Simple, right? But what really makes it confusing is the other names for Spider combos.

I'm wracking my brain to remember if Sables Spiders have a special Bee name..

Pinstripe Spiders are called Spinners, which goes along with the Spider theme somewhat, but makes it just difficult to remember.




The Spider Fire is called the Spider Fly, which is also bug related...

Its just rather interesting the themes of naming particular morphs.

As always, what I list is more than likely not the complete list out there of all the Spider combos and names, as I am sure I'm forgetting something. BUT! Its pretty comprehensive of the stuff that has been out for a few years.

So, I hope this helps get you guys clear on the Bees of the hobby.

I love these Q's: Ringers! (And Serious Talk)

To my friends, keep the questions coming! I should have another clutch hatch in a few days, but until then, answering questions is really very entertaining for me, and I hope it serves its purpose.

This one is for Marcus.

Ringer Ball Pythons... What makes them, why do they happen, and why do we care???



Now, lets begin with the first question.. What makes them?

Luck. Pure luck. Although, there are some associated morphs that tend to throw more ringers than others. I personally have had many ringers in my Black Pastels, and also have seen many ringers coming out of Het Pieds. The ringers I see are mostly towards the vent area of the animals. I very rarely see any around the head portion.




Why does this happen? I'm sure there is some absolutely fascinating information regarding melanin and scale color, but I don't know the answer, and most people, if any, do either. But I'd like to point out that ringer areas are either orange or white only.




Why do we care? Cause it looks awesome!!!

Most of the ringers you see are not genetic, persay, but a fluke, but there are people working with them to prove them out. The Normal I posted just hatched out with some Enchis, and she is the only ringer in the group of normals. She is the only ringer at all in the normals I have produced so far. She's pretty cool! She has a G on her butt. And the Black Pastel, she is part of the line that I said throws ringers. It's only the Black Pastels... Wiiiierd.

So I hope that answers some questions on Ringers.

Now, I wanted to touch on a few things, one of these being HR2811. Currently, our government is trying to ban pythons in these United States. It is IMPERETIVE that we do our part to stop the legislation being put in regarding our hobby. Please visit this link for more information, and please make a stand and call all of the congressmen listed to tell them how you feel. Make your voice HEARD.

And although it doesn't tie in much, the Pewters have shed! YAY!



Have a great and empowering day. Make your feelings KNOWN!

Het Reds

This one is for Krystal!

Thanks for bringing this one up, as it is a topic I've wanted to touch on, but haven't gotten a chance to do so.

Here we go!

Het Reds are a VERY stubtle morph. And because they are so subtle, most people choose not to work with them much. If you showed this snake to someone who had no idea what it was morphwise, they would say Normal.

Here are the two girls I have from proven lines...



They are beautiful in their own right, but they are rather plain. If I told you they were normals, I have a feeling people wouldn't really question it.



And what is also fascinating is that there is so much variation in the base morph. These gals are Het Reds, but look completely different! And it is kind of hard to pinpoint some Het Reds compared to Normals. There are some tricks, including the lines inside the alien heads, a slightly off color compared to normals, and floating donuts, black backs, but that doesn't guarantee it to be a Het Red. Confused yet?



So to touch on Krystal's question, people would rather use Het Reds in Combos rather than make the Super, which is why you don't see many Red Axanthics around. Me? I'm planning on making a Super next year, because I think it would be a great morph to plug in to so many different things.

Something I did last year on accident was to create the first Black Pastel Het Red. I am not using a proven line, so I need to make sure that everything is on the up and up and that it is reproducable, but Ralph Davis and I were the only ones that made them last year, and I was first in producing my Chipo.

Why did I do it? Well, I thought a Black Pastel would look great going with my "normal" female, who had some traits of Black Pastelness as well... So I did the pairing. They do look somewhat similar, don't they?

(Photo of Black Pastel next to Het Red -neither are related to Chipo-)



And look what came out??? She is one of my favorite morphs, really. I love the colors, and she just keeps getting better and better...



So next year, I will try the pairing again to make sure the Mom really is a Het Red (my own line), but it is pretty much solid that she is, thanks to Ralph doing the same breeding.

But again to touch on Krystals comment, Het Reds are great, you just need to make sure you really have them from a proven line, and that you use them how you will. Supers are great, they have a great color, but I don't have any photos from the personal collection to share.. But I will eventually!!!

Hope that helps, and shoot me more questions!!!

Have a great day, my friends :)

For Kelli: Cinnies versus Pewters

ALRIGHT!!

Thank you very much, Kelli, for asking this question.

So, what is the difference between Cinnamon Pastels and Pewters?

Let us touch on the Pastel issue for a second.

LOTS OF MORPHS HAVE THE TITLE PASTEL BEHIND IT FOR NO GOOD REASON.

I don't particularly understand it myself, but let me begin by listing off some morphs that have Pastel in the name, but don't actually have Pastel in them.

Black Pastel
Cinnamon Pastel
Enchi Pastel
Chocolate Pastel

and I may be forgetting a few.

So, what has happened over the years is that the Pastels have been lopped off of the name so that they are not as confusing other than the Black Pastel, which is the common name.

And to add to the confusion, Regular Pastels have a prename that has been lopped off.. Jungle. Jungle Pastels are just Pastels with a quirky pattern.

Got it???

Cinnamons are a base morph, as are Black Pastels and Enchis and Chocolates, so when Pastel is added to the back of the name, you can generally assume that people are talking about a combo.

Here is my Cinny, and the next photos are of some Black Pastels.



Black Pastels are awesome, and yes, Cinnies and Black Pastels are considered very similar in morphness. We can go over the differences another day.



Now a Cinnamon x Pastel is a Pewter. You know whats the worst? Some people call Pewters, Pewter Pastels as well. ACK!!! This is why people get confused... really.



Here are the differences in Pewters themselves. Some are more dark like Cinnies, and some are more Pastel like Pastels. It really depends, but both are Pewters! Can you see the Cinny pattern in the Pewter, but a different and more yellow and muted gold color?? THAT is a Pewter or Cinny x Pastel.



I hope that this makes sense, and if you need clarification, just let me know!!! I will take better pictures of the pattern for a Cinny versus Black Pastel blog coming up.

Blue Eyed Leucistics 101

Okay.

I'm going to make this short and sweet and to the point, and hopefully cover a lot of the general questions that people are asking themselves.

There are LOTS of BEL makers:

Mojave
Lesser
Butter
Het Russo (Het White Diamond)
Mocha
Phantom/Mystics*

There may be a few more, but they are not commonly associated with BELs or maybe Heather is just too tired to remember. More than likely the latter.

So, the basic BELs are the ones not highlighted. We will get to the Phantom/Mystic genes later.

All of the Basics can be combined in their respective combos to create the Blue Eyed Leucistic. Some consider the White Diamond to be the brightest white Leucy, some consider the Super Lesser to be. It is really a matter of opinion, and to be honest, until I create them all on my own, I am going to reserve judgement.

What I wanted to touch on is the Mocha/Latte factor. Mochas are often forgotten as a BEL maker, and they are less available than most, but they also make stunning white BELs as well. Here is a photo from Reptile Images recent clutches. (Thank you, Tim)



The Super is called a Latte. Very cool stuff!!

Now the Phantom/Mystic thing is pretty new, but as I understand it, they, combined with SOME of the BEL makers, will make BELs. I honestly can't say that I am 100% comfortable educating people on this particular morph, considering I am not 100% familiar with it myself. I hope that maybe someone else can chime in on this, or maybe we can wait and see when people do more breedings.

So, if you are interested in Blue Eyed Leucistics, this is a good place to start.

I hope this answers some questions!!!

Making it Short and Sweet

I'll be writing up a Leucy blog today, but later on, as I actually have stuff to do today that will make it kinda hard to do it now. So hold on to your hats, my friends. It'll be a great ride!!

Blaaaaah

So there is nothing hatching, nothing really super exciting happening in the snake room other than animals starting to feed seriously again. Of course they are eating now, when its super hot, and when I am on a budget. Jerks.

But hey, I can't really be mad at that. I'm glad they are eating. Means that recovery is on the way!

So, I need more topics to discuss while there is some time to wait between hatchings, and right now, all I have is a request about Leucistics. I will touch on that tommorow, as I need to get some photos together and a few other things.

So if you have any topic requests, let me know! I need to have something to talk about..

Today is cleaning day and feeding day, and ultimate clean day because trash day is tommorow. It is VERY hot in the snake room these days, and I always cringe at the fact that I need to go into the room during the day.

Problem is, today is a big day, as I am going to rearrange the snake room, clean it, reorganize the tubs and snakes, and it will be an all day affair. Thank goodness for help.

So I am drinking a lot of water, turning on the air, and getting ready to traverse into the room o' hot.

So, that is all for now, I will get more interesting things going this week, I promise. Happy Hump Day!

A Dedication

To Kikkoman, my last Hedgie...

You brought me joy, were pleasant and sweet natured.

When wet, you smelled like soy sauce. But you never cared...



You showed people that Hedgehogs are not just Blue Animated Video Game Characters.

You were a beautiful creature, always a loving friend.

And now, you are in a better place.

RIP, sweet Hedgie.

Sables and Crystals

The Sables are out!!! Looks like we got 2.3, and for color reference, I put one of the normals in the mix. I love these guys. Dark morphs aren't all the rage, but they are super cool in my opinion. I can't wait for Super Sables in a few years.



So last night I went over to my friend Tom Bakers house for dinner. Had a great time, and of course, took pictures. Since I've been there a few times before, I only took a few pics, but I think you guys might like them!

Above is an adult Pastel Ivory! He was bright pink when I took the photos, and I'm wondering if you can see it in the photos.

Below is a hatchling Pastel Super Special. I really like the subtle color on the white body of the animal, and the fact that this animal is a breeding POWERHOUSE.





And some hatchling Crystals for your enjoyment. I love these guys too.. They are just so beautiful!



And my favorite, a Pastel Crystal breeding. YAY for more Specials and stuff!! Isn't that female HUGE??? Gotta love it. Tom's season is usually about three months after mine, so he'll have hatchlings in November to January.. It's kinda weird, but he does it that way.



Anyway, the next few clutches on my end aren't due until the end of this week or so, so I will be attacking some of the questions that people have asked me to. Brandi, your Leucistic question has not been forgotten!!!

Until next time, my friends!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Today is a very important day. Today is the day that my mother was born, and without her, I wouldn't be here today. Happy Birthday, Smoj. I love you!!!

And on top of that, I have had a lot of little hatchling births as well!!

Lets begin by talking about the Pewters. They are all out, and GOODNESS if they aren't super awesome!!!



It has been said that Pewters from Pewters are much sexier than Pewters made from the basics. Now, I have to say I have yet to make Pewters from the basics, but these Pewters are blowing my MIND!!! I didn't expect this many, but I also didn't expect them to be so amazing in color!!



I loved these photos, and trust me that there will be plenty more later when they have shed..



The Sable clutch is also pipping, and as of right now, it looks like we have 1.3 Sables and 1.1 Normals, with a few more normals, and one more Sable in the egg. I am loving these Sables. They are just so cool looking compared to normals right out of the egg.



So Happy Birthday Mom, Happy Birthday the Joel's Sister Julia, and Happy Birthday Hatchlings!!!

Here's to a great day!!

Pippage, Sadness... Reality

Next clutches are pipping, the first of which is the Pewter clutch.

Last night, this is what I saw...



WOW! Four??? That's awesome! With one more egg to hatch too!



I went to bed happy! Four Pewters out of six eggs, Pewter to Normal!

This morning I woke up, checked, and the other egg had pipped. FIVE!!! WOW!!!

But something was wrong. Everyones head was out except one egg...

I poke and prod with no response from the snake baby..

So I do what I do when I think its dead..

I pull it out.



And yes, it was dead. Sad sad sad...



So, another awesome clutch, but with bad luck mixed in as well... I'm sad to see such a beautiful animal die in the egg, having pipped a little but still die.

One of those things you argue FOR cutting on this case... Maybe had I cut, it would have survived... But, nothing can be said now. It has passed on.

But the other babies are doing well! Lets see them when they come out!!! They are looking HOT!

And hopefully the Sable clutch will pip soon too.

Sausage Fest

Well, people thought I killed the odds on getting 5 out of 6 albinos from Albino to Het?

Well...

Lets top it by saying 5 out of 6, with one still in the egg, are all BOYS.



Here are all the guys.

I thought I was mistaken at first...

I popped them all again just after taking this photo to be sure.

Now, if the last Albino in the egg is a boy as well, I'm going to really be shocked.

I have never had a straight sex ratio in any of my clutches EVER. Maybe one girl here, a boy there, but never one clutch just with one sex.

Penes are everywhere in that clutch, man!!

I'm surprised, kinda dissapointed (I needed a few girls), but all in all just shocked!

Talk about a wierd clutch...

EDIT: Last one is out.

THEY ARE ALL BOYS.

Total count, 1.0 Het, 5.0 Albinos... What are the odds????

Clutch Counts and Updates

Another New clutch on the ground





We have only a few more to be laid, and then we are done for the season. BUT!!! Eggs are hatching..

So let us recap our hatchings:

Clutch Number #1: 1.1 TSK Axanthics het Albino

Clutch #2: 1.0 Enchi, 0.1 Black Pastel, 1.1 Normals



Clutch #3: 4.3 Het Pieds

Clutch #4: 2.1 Enchis, forgot the sex ratio on the normals (7 Normals)




Clutch #5: 0.2 Black Pastels, 2.2 Normals



And the pipping clutch for Albinos so far is 1.0 Het Albino, 1.0 Albino. Isn't he beautiful???



Hopefully the Albino clutch will finish pipping, and we can have a final count and a group shot.

More to come soon!!!

SURPRISE!!!

Well, things are hatching, and I have to say, I've been thrown for a loop.

I have been getting some random animals in these eggs, first being the Enchi in the Black Pastel clutch.

AND in the 10 egg clutch paired with the Enchi, I got 2.1 Enchis, and the rest normals. Not the best odds, but hey... I'm not going to complain that much.



And the lone gal...



And the other clutches hatching?

The Black Pastel clutch seems to have two Black Pastels, and four Normals.



Of course the egg that has no head out is the other Black Pastel...



But what really threw me for a loop is THIS



I got home from doing some errands, and I see these all pipped! WHY ARE THEY YELLOW???

Apparently, the female took from the Albino, not POG. Which is alright, because my poss het PROVED!!! With FIVE ALBINOS!!!

It is interesting how things work...

I am not upset, as she is now a proven het, but it would have been nice to get some Ghosts out of it. But Albinos work!!!

So there should be a few more pippers in the next few days, but I will get sexes out and we will go from there.

SURPRISE!!!!!!