Blind Determination

I can never say it enough: I just neglect this blog

But I did want to do a little something on my newest ball python additions. Due to space concerns, diversity interests, and my little pastel project I told myself I'd hold off on ANY new ball pythons for now. There's always the exception... and... well... Meet Stevie and Ray!!

Ray, male classic

I've always been in love with the eyeless snake that's become a sort of "mascot" for one of the members on ball-pythons.net (I'll use BP.net for convenience from now on). Technically, it's a deformity, and we're really not sure what causes it still. It doesn't seem to be genetic, repeated pairings have not yielded masses of baby eyeless ball pythons. Some people are worried about it being a sign of mass inbreeding. However, if that were the case I'd think we'd see a lot more issues in corn snakes, which are so numerous and bred so widely that snake inbreeding would probably be much more of a concern.

Stevie, female classic

My theory is that it happens with fluctuating incubation temperatures, but I have nothing to back that up other than seeing a correlation of thermostat troubles, hot/hard to manage summer, and then a slew of eyeless babies that have been showcased this year.Without somebody running a study on it I don't think we'll ever know.

Whatever the case may be, I am so excited to have my own eyeless pythons. I inquired after seeing a breeder post pictures on BP.net of an eyeless from one of his clutches, and he said that if she could eat on her own, and didn't have significant issues living, that he'd be happy to let me give her a home. Weeks of getting a PM or two saying things along the lines of "Not hopeless! But still assist feeding" happened, and then a surprise message saying he'd hatched out another eyeless baby, and if I wanted to I could have him too.

Anecdotal accounts from my boyfriend may include squee-ing, but you won't find me admitting it.

I will never breed these snakes, as it really seems like an ethical no-no to me. I have plenty of completely healthy snakes that can do that for me. They're very inquisitive little buggers, though Stevie is continually having feeding issues. Ray isn't so bad, eats like a champ! Anything with a heartbeat, or moderately over room temp seems like game to him. Anything.

Ball Python Ring, I think it could catch on!

It's friggin adorable to me, and I think he'll grow out of it once he can differentiate the smells, and isn't starving all the time. I've been tagged before by the bigger snakes, but none of them were under the impression I was edible. Every time it's been:
*WHACK!*
"Wait... What is this? This isn't rat, this won't even fit in my mouth!"
*Spit out hand and look rather offended, maybe eat rat, maybe sulk*

Still, it hasn't ever hurt one bit. The first couple of close calls when I just had Monty and Ember put me on my toes, but when I was finally hit once, I was more surprised that I didn't feel, well, anything. For anyone out there wondering: Yes, snakes have the ability to bite, most of the time it'll be your fault, and anything that has a head smaller than 5" and nonvenomous will probably be less painful than a hornet bite (Youch!)

The feeding day idea didn't work out so well, but I think I'll try and stick with it. Everyone's on different feeding schedules at the moment, and different levels of sick (Ember has an escape story I still have to write up and document. 2 weeks out of the house, came home alive, and for the most part indifferent). Until next time!