5,000 ball pythons later...

 

Finally got back to the huge (and I do mean huge) reptile show in Hamburg, PA, that’s held a few times a year, but we prefer the October show. They are the biggest/oldest show to showcase venomous snakes, and that was the main attraction, for us anyway.

 

The venomous contingency has been getting smaller and smaller. Many reasons probably account for this, including Pennsylvania coming down a bit harder on laws protecting some of the species; older/experienced adults are getting out of it, as they (we?) retire, have children or grandchildren; or heaven forbid, lose interest?

 

This year was a bit of a surprise, and a disappointment as many of the vendors we expected to see just weren’t there. Perhaps they were at other shows? There does seem to be a growing trend of larger shows all across the US, with lots of name recognition (NARBC for example) that, we assume, draw bigger crowds with their profusion of advertising, corporate sponsorship, etc, etc.  Although to clarify, NARBC does not allow venomous.

 

That being said, the other interesting factor we looked forward to at the Hamburg show, was the absolute variety of animals you could see in person as opposed to reading about on a price list, and ordering but with just faith in your fellow herper. ( We’ve all read the horror stories of the disgruntled buyer and/or the far less than honest seller.) Only this time it was all ball pythons…an absolute minimum of 5000! Just a few (maybe even as few as a couple) years ago it was corn snakes/leopard geckoes/bearded dragons. Now a sea of ball pythons.

 

Okay, I’m not knocking them. They’re wonderful, small pythons. The variety of color and patterns amazing. The prices too, can be amazing. Especially for some that appear to be colored quite normal, but they may have “XYZ” genes, so “If you breed them to…”, well, you get the picture.

 

We didn't leave empty handed.  There were some animals we couldn't pass up!  But we did not bring home any ball pythons...

 

Love knows no seasons...

Found these two on the pavement of the parking lot at the Nature Center, oblivious to cars, and almost everything else going on around them.  Mind you, it's October 10th.

Didn't most of us think that reptiles mated in the spring?  Maybe this was purely recreational?  The female doesn't seem all that interested.  Or perhaps she's just embarrassed to be exposed like this in the parking lot, and not a more intimate surrounding!

 

Notice the wet spot near the animals.  I'm not an amorous turtle expert but I do wonder if the male did that to mark his territory as if to say to any other male turtles in the area "Stay away, she's all mine."  Or perhaps the female was leaving her own mark with a "Come hither" attitude? 

 

I gently removed them to a leafy hillside close by so they could resume their activities.  

 

 

Hybrid, Cross-bred, why bred or rye bread?

I am so confused as to why people do certain things with reptiles, such as cross-breeding animals that would probably never meet in the wild, let along breed.  I'm assuming it's to get different color morphs, but then the animal is not a "pure" anything!  Kinda like "designer dogs" which are just mutt puppies.  Except this is much more common among mammals than reptiles, and mostly due to inattendant pet owners. 

I'm not going to mention the particular cross-bred animals I came across on the internet today, because I don't want to ruffle any feathers, or should I say scales?  I was at a reptile show a couple weeks ago, and I also saw some cross-breds there.  They were (---x---)  and the prices are rather high for essentially "mutts!" I don't want to narrow down the particular species which may identify the person who did this.

To clarify, these are NOT hybrids.  According to Webster's, you would have to cross two genetically dissimilar animals.  Think cornsnakes and kingsnakes.  And yes, this has been done. 

There was talk a few years back that all the different forms albino milksnakes available were from crossing various milksnakes with one or two albinos, even though they might not have been the same species. (Think sinaloe crossed on thayeri, just for an example.  Don't know if it was ever done.)  There is talk that some of the odd, grey cornsnakes (are they called "black"?) are from crossing Great Plaines Ratsnakes on common cornsnakes, to get that black gene and dilute the red. 

The downside of the cornsnake brouhaha, is that true "Okeetee" corns are far and few between, and unless you caught one in North Carolina, at the Okeetee Hunt Club, chances are you just have a red cornsnake with no particular locality to call home.

I'm a purist.  I prefer to know the background of my animals.  But then I'm not looking for the next designer boa to make my fortune.  I just want the best animals I can afford. 

Let's get kinky!

Gotcha!

So, the other day, there was a picture on Facebook of a snake, and of course the person who posted the pic was all upset as to what type of snake, etc, etc.  The majority of responses (or so it would seem) were from people who said anything from a cottonmouth, to a black rat snake, and of course "the only good snake is a dead snake." There was a very obvious answer as to the type of snake being pictured.  That being the way the snake "kinked up" when viewed.

Today, after coming home from a trip to town, we found this guy on our sidewalk, next to our well house.

A bit kinky, wouldn't you say?  A very typical attitude for a black rat snake that knows something is going on.    Here's another shot as it was trying to get away, back to the hole it came from.

The most interesting feature, to us anyway, was that this snake was less than 2 feet long and almost solid black already.  Many black rat snakes, in this area, keep their pattern until they're upward of 3-4 feet or more.  This little guy should be a beauty in adulthood.

 

As for the "kinking", perhaps they want more "spring" in their step when they try to get away from their perceived threat?