Wild Caught and Captive Hatched

So Rex asked me a good question about Wild Caught animals.

Do I have any?


Yes.

I have not, however, bought gravid females from Africa or the like. I have gotten established WC females from people, animals that have been in the US for a few years. This is what we call Long Term Captive (or LTC).

And here is what I learned from them.

Sometimes, they do not adjust well to captivity. They do not eat well, they do not breed well, they just don't adapt. Some flourish! I know several people who love their LTC females. I personally have a female that I LOVE, and I have had for over six years.

But in general, I have had bad experiences with the WC animals that come in.

Ticks, emaciated, and sick come to mind, in animals that I have seen. 

Now, let us touch on the Captive Hatched baby animals that come in every year in mystery bags.

Have I bought them?

Yes!

But I got to go thru several thousand before I bought any. How? Well, I had friends that were importing animals for pet stores, and I got to go thru the babies for several years. But here is what I want to share with you all.

Africa is not stupid.

Africa knows what a morph looks like.

Maybe back 10-15 years ago, when people didn't know what to look for, did some Fires, Vanillas, Sables, etc fall thru the cracks and get sent in the boxes of thousands of baby ball pythons over here to the United States.

Now, however, with the internet and the ability to learn about morphs just as quickly as you and I do, the importers and breeders in Africa know what to look for, and charge a premium for new blood lines of morphs that they send out.

So now? I don't bother with the mystery bags, or even going thru the thousands of baby ball pythons anymore. I have found great normal animals that are just a smidge different, but nothing to really dink around with seriously.

Now, let me say that it is still worth it to dink around should you feel the compelling need to do so. There are new things out there! There will always be something new out there. And you should take advantage of the time you have to dink if you want to. The sooner you do, the sooner you prove things out!

But, to depend on finding a new thing in your mystery bag of hatchlings in Africa? I wouldn't bet on it.

So with that, I leave you to ponder what you will do with your dinkers and your money for hatchlings.

And good luck, my friends.

Have a fantastic day!

What makes a Blurry a Blurry?

Ah yes...

The Blurry.

I like to call it a Velvet as well.


Either way, it is a cool snake, one of my favorite not-particularly proven but still out there"morphs."

Now, why is it Blurry?

Well, here are a few photos of my gal to show you. She is a CH female I picked out back in the day, and there was a reason for it!

Blurries are defined by a few specific things.

-No Alien Heads-
-White Outlines around the pattern-
-Golden color with deep black contrast-

Now, I have seen Blurries/Velvets with some granite-y speckles, as well as a few spots here and there within the pattern, but this female is my ideal blurry, which is why she is in my collection.

This "morph" is a dinker. A Dinker is a "morph" that has yet to be proven out to be genetic, and although I have been working with this female for a while, I have yet to make something genetically Blurry.

And yes, the word Morph was in parenthesis because technically, in my own definition, it cannot be considered a Morph until it is proven genetic. Yes, this is my own definition, and I realize that there are plenty of people that may disagree.

Now I've been working with this line for a while, I have yet to breed animals together from this female back to each other. I kept several females from her clutches, and I am trying to decide what to do specifically to make something new. I have a "Het" blurry spider female that I produced, and I have her mother. I am attempting to breed this female to something Pastel and see if I can produce a Blurry Colorful something, but so far no luck.

We shall see. Plus, I know there are other people out there that are working with this particular dinker, so I'm pretty sure we will see some type of resolution out of this eventually.

So there you go.

I like them...

What about you?

Have a fantastic day, my friends!

Future future projects

Every day, I scan the forums for pictures of new things that I have been curious about. Morphs, combos, and new dinker animals are always shown off and shared on various websites, and I relish the opportunities to see the animals that people are proud of.

And to give me new ideas.

There are pairings that I never considered doing at all, but now am completely sold on producing.

A few examples include the Enchi Pied:





Yes, again with the imagination of melded imagery, but you understand. It is an amazing animal, and I am sorry I don't have any photos to share personally.

Another animal I want to make is the Silver Surfer, care of my friend Colin Weaver.

The Silver Surfer is the Hypo Super Pastel Black Pastel Lesser.... WHEW!!!

A few other animals that interest me that I don't work with are the Calicos as well as the Phantoms/Mystics. The more I see the combos that are out there and the people that are clever enough to think of these combinations, the more I try and figure out what I want to do in the future.

I have the intentions of working on a Spinner Snow, the Super Pastel Albino Pied, as well as the Super Pastel Clown Pied.

Those are just a few, and I know that most have yet to be done. So I hope to make the grade and make it happen!

And you out there in internet land, make it happen too! I'm sure you guys can think of some off the wall combo and make it happen.. and I will be cheering you on!

Have a great day, my friends.