#my snakes

[turbulenceoflies]

my snake peanut climbing on tittyrilla + bonus peanut being cute after I put him back

[dogpantry]

kori’s shed. big girl !

[the-mighty-python]

my busy busy man 🧡

[solid-snakes]

The sweetie girls Truffle and Cookie!

[solid-snakes]

You interrupted her bath

[wheremyscalesslither]

Harvey has been laid to rest.

[dogpantry]

oopsie 🤭

[ruthlesslistener]

On a happier note compared to my usual posts- look who finally arrived! I bought this girl well before I went broke from the move (mid Feb), but shipping her in had to be delayed because both me and her breeder moved into new places that required a lot of TLC. Between that and the plague of bad luck that had been afflicting me as of late, I'd opted to wait to be safe before picking an arrival date of April 1st.

Her morph combo is pastel *spotnose confusion. In terms of breeding plans, she's going to be paired to Darius to make some spotnose leopards, though I'm still waiting to see what her personality is like for long-term breeding goals. Ball pythons are not my primary breeding focus, and the plans I have for them is to breed for personality, not appearance, so that means that I'm going to be producing very few clutches and holding back a lot of animals from each clutch to determine who best fits the personality criteria before I pair again to minimize the bloat on the snake market + maximize my chance to produce the animals I want (the goal is to breed for outgoing, relaxed, inquisitive snakes that are active and personable, like Juniper and Toast are). So this girl is going to be primarily a pet, not just a breeder. From how curious she's been so far, I have high hopes for her!

I have no idea what to name her. Contenders are cute nonsense names like Daffodown-Lily vs the usual food-based name like Lemon Poppyseed, though I'm starting to lean more towards a mixture of the two like Miss Lily Lemon Poppyseed. I like long, silly, nonsense names for my snakes because I often participate in volunteer outreach programs with them, and it's very difficult to be afraid of an animal with a long, silly, nonsense name compared to something like Stryker or Tempest. She is absolutely gorgeous though, and I'm extremely happy I got her, even though I sometimes wish I had known just how bad the circumstances would be before I bought her.

(*Note for transparency's sake: spotnose is a gene known for causing wobble syndrome when in the homozygous form. This animal is heterozygous, and any pairing I make with her or her offspring carrying the gene are likewise going to remain heterozygous (and thus unaffected). Additionally, buyers who purchase offspring with the spotnose trait will be made aware that they should not breed their snakes with another animal carrying the spotnose gene to avoid creating an animal with the wobble syndrome.)

(I don't have ethical issues breeding animals that are unaffected carriers of a syndrome, but I do have a problem with knowingly generating animals that ARE affected by a genetic condition. Breeding should always focus on maximizing the animal's quality of life, and that is a standard that I will be firmly adhering to in my breeding goals moving forward, including the retention of any/all animals I produce that I am unable to find homes for, and the openess to accept animals I have produced if they need to be returned after they have moved to a new owner.)