A few more...

These are the last clutches to have hatched over this past weekend, and I am very excited to say that this first clutch is a first for Heather's Herps.

I have a Lavender Albino male, but had never hatched out any until this weekend.

YAY!

Not the best odds on the hets with 2.0, but I did get 1.2 Lavenders, which makes me very happy in terms of holdbacks.

Now again, the question is, should I hold everything back that I want?

That discussion is for a different time.

They are so cool looking! I wish I had an Albino hatchling to put next to them, but to no avail.

Oh well.

And this last clutch was supposed to be Pastel Yellowbelly to Spider, but apparently the Super Pastel Lesser got a hold of her instead.

One Bee died in the egg, and these guys survived.

1.0 Queenbee, 1.1 Bumblebee, 1.1 Pastel Lessers

Not too bad, eh?

I am looking forward to seeing these guys all shed out and glorified.
When that happens, more pictures for sure.

Have a great day, my friends!

Albinos, Lavender and Regular

I think I have mentioned this before. Lavender Albinos are tough to photograph. 

Yes. Very tough.

Above, we have a photo with no flash. You can see the contrasting colors rather well in this light. 

Below, we have some crappy flash. The Lavender Albino looks dirty...

It is very difficult to get the true colors to show up on a white background with an amateur photographer. 

Maybe if I break open the big ass camera and try again, eh?

Maybe later.. 

 So I decided, "Screw this!" and I took out a regular Albino for comparison.

Voila! 

You can see much better (yet not as good as I would like) the comparison between the Albino (the larger one) and the Lavender Albino (the not so larger one).

You can see the tones are different. The yellows are deeper in the Lavender, and the purple pops out a smidge more. 

And can I say, I keep spelling Lavender "Lavendar"? 

It's a failing of mine. I'm not sure why. 

Thank god for spell check. 

(If you look back, only the quoted word is spelled wrong... HAH!)

So why is this photo expose important?

Well, I know some people out there are not sold on the difference between the Albino and the Lav Albino. 

But as you can see, there are clear differences, and they do amazing and different things to other morphs. 

I can't wait to show you a Dreamsicle versus an Albino Pied. 

Give me like... 5 more years on that one, 'kay?

Hope this helps, and have a great weekend, my friends!

A few more YPBMC initiates

And we come to the last few males left in the rotation that are currently in with females and have yet to be seen doing anything productive. Above, we have the Bunchi het Hypo male, Butter Enchi to elaborate... He is plenty big, but has yet to show his stamina to me. Let me make a note that I am frequently not checking on him, so there may be instances where he really is doing what he is supposed to be doing, and I just miss it. This is true of ALL of the males in the YPBMC club... But until I see it with my own eyes, it didn't happen.

How's that for pessimism, eh?

And let me stress that I am not in any way coercing these males to do anything. Other than placing them in with a female, that is all I do.  I don't fight them, I don't spray them, I don't put goo on them. There are ways to try and assist in the preparation for breeding, such as misting them down, putting sperm plugs of a competing male on the female, putting in a competing male in with the current male and female... I am not interested in pursuing those avenues right now. It is the BEGINNING of the season, and I can't expect everyone to be ready as soon as I am in the room with a camera. But of course, it would be nice to see something. This Lavender Albino male I had very little hope for, just because he stopped eating for me a few months ago. But, he is producing tiny little plugs, so I put him in with a smaller Het female. No luck so far.

No big deal... I would love for him to breed, but such is the way of the breeding season. He is small. He may go, but he isn't right now. I think I may pull him out of rotation for a bit and feed him for a while, see if that helps anything. He may be this year's Homey, but with less expectations for performance. But I have a Het Male I can throw in should it be obvious after another month of no action. Lavenders this season? Yes, please! So of course, with another week almost gone, I have yet to do anything but complain. I haven't moved males yet to see if they want another female instead, I haven't done much in terms of breeding other than leaving them in there. But that is really all it takes. Rotation One should be complete this Friday, and then moving begins. And hopefully some breeding photos for you all to enjoy! Have a great day, my friends!

Good Times

This weekend was a good one. I have gotten a lot of things done, albeit not EVERYTHING I wanted to get done, as well as just enjoying my time with my friends and with Joel.

Other than cleaning and feeding the babies, I really didn't do much snakey, persay. I did get to do a few things, like get the clutches prepared, get the website updated, and plug in the second incubator, but other than that, really not too much.

So of course, I am going to share with you not so much snakey stuff, and more about things in general. Life is getting busy, as it usually does around this time of year. I'm getting ready for babies to hatch, prepping for the shows that I will be attending, and getting ready for the mass exodus of shipping when the babies hatch out. Usually, for a Ball Python breeder, June thru October are the busiest months for animals. This year will be no exception, although I am actually trying to get ahead of the game by preventing the little things from catching up to me when the time comes.

So I am doing all of this.. NOW.

And taking breaks in between as well.

Joel and I actually got a chance to see a movie together.

By the way, The Hangover II? Hilarious, disturbing, and totally worth seeing. There's a reason why they call it Bankok, hunny...

So there you go.

I hope you all had a good weekend as well.

And have a great day, my friends.

Market Analysis

Bryan asked:

"Heather, I'd like to hear about where you think the market is going, what things always sell and what you see becoming increasingly popular to work with. If someone was to have say either a $1000 or $5000 to invest in new animals, where would you put it" 

Well... This is a very interesting question, and I have to say that this answer is of course, from personal experience. 

Here we go. 

Things that will always sell?

Albinos and Lavendar Albinos. Pieds. Pastels. Mojaves/Lessers/Butters.

These morphs are always something that even Joe Blow wants to buy, because they are different, as well as look really cool with a decent price tag. Note that these are all under $1000 at this point, and yes, that seems to really help with the people who are not particularly into it other than to have a cool pet. 

Granted it is much easier to sell females of any morph than males, this is still the case.

What is becoming increasingly popular to work with?

Enchis, Mojaves/Lessers/Butters, Deserts, Pieds, Recessive Combinations. 

Enchis and Deserts are becoming more popular due to the combinations that they have been making, and the initial cost of them is becoming more reasonable. 

Mojaves and the BEL complex morphs are becoming overly in demand for the same reason. People can combine them into everything, and the demand is up. I want to make a point that this is not true of the Het Russos/Het White Diamond, which do not have enough distinguishing characteristics from a normal for most people to take them seriously.

Pieds are the most awe inspiring morphs for most people, and they want to combine them into everything. Again, same thing as the BEL makers, people want them to make more of them. This also segways into the recessive combinations, as Pieds combined with everything else is awesome, and combinations of het stuff is always a great way to go, although a bit more difficult to sell depending on who you are (aka your trustworthiness). 

Now if you have $1000 to invest? I would say get a recessive female or a co-dominant het for something female. Grow her up, get her big, and get a male in a year. (Save up for the male!)

If you have $5000 to invest? I'd suggest getting a few females on the lower end, and get a Desert male combination. That is the one morph I do not have and I regret not having. I see a lot of demand in it, granted not something I have any experience in selling, so I can't tell you how quickly they sell, but there seems to be a lot of interest in them.

Another way to go is get some of something newly recessive, maybe a Lavendar Albino male visual and a few het females.  

Or you can go big and get a double super female and grow her up and breed her to something awesome later down the line...

There are a ton of ways to do things, but I am all about recessives as a first pick up, as it is easier to get things done when you already have a few years invested in a legitimate het female.


So there you go, my friends. I hope this helps, and maybe you guys have any specific suggestions to Bryan out there as well? What do you think?

Have a great day, my friends.

Boys on break, What to do?

I realize I haven't been sharing much of the activity going on in terms of breeding, but to be very honest with you, there hasn't been much to share!

The boys have been pulled for a few days, and although they have had their respective female partners this past week, I didn't get any real clear locks out of the whole period of time. Therefore, there are no photos.

So....

What to do to pass the time?

The deluge of questions has tapered off, and I have not been overcome with a specific topic to discuss today.

So I took photos.

When in doubt, Heather, take photos...

So here we are.

Recessive fun for this blog. 

Why recessives? Well, cause they are awesome, that's why... 

This is my holdback awesome Genetic Stripe female that I produced (FINALLY) this year. I am super proud of the way she looks, and I have to say I can't wait to see how she develops into a breeder. Solid stripes for the WIN!

And these two boys are going to be big time breeders in the arsenal when the time comes. Above is my Pastel Pied male, and below, my Lavender Albino male.  I cannot WAIT to use these guys in projects. But, as my luck seems to happen, my recessive males (cough cough, CLOWN) tend to be a bit slow in developing. 

We shall see. These guys are on the puny side. They have some time to grow. 

By the way, that black spot on the Pied is not a mite, nor is it dirt. It is a birth mark, and I love it. Maybe I should name him Chip? I'm not sure...

And I could not get the best colors on the Lav boy. I'm going to have to play around with the camera some more. Not true colors on this one. It's tough to make work. 

Oh well.

Have a fantastic day, my friends!

That kinda looks purple to me...

Well, I have finally achieved a milestone in the want department of the collection.

My friends, I have finally gotten my Lavender Albino male. 

It was a tough road, as many people seem to have been snatching these guys up left and right. 

I only succeeded with the help of a friend. 

He is a late hatch, and I was told this guy was the best looking one out of the whole season. 

WOOHOO!!!

Now you may be saying to yourself.. "Gee, Heather is a bit crazy. This snake looks like a regular albino to me..."

Let me tell you, buddy. This looks like something different in person.

Let me show you!

This photo was taken with one of my regular Albino subadults, which we well know are pretty hot on their own.

Look at the color difference! The whites are white on the Albino, and the whites on the lavender are... well, Lavender!

I wish I had a smaller Albino to show you the difference, but I do not, not when this guy is in quarantine. 

So, I have achieved! And I am so glad to have him here!

Now what to name him...

I'm sure we will figure it out, right? 

Comment away!

Have a fantastic day, my friends. 

(P.S. I am still working on getting good photos of snake junk for you all to see)