Snakes and Stones

[Lord Sorril]

Photo #326

BP: 66% Het Clown with some local Granite-y Stones.
A few years ago: I was experimenting with different types of granite in my area for a while to see which ones would tumble and polish nicely: not many.
Most of my rejects I have been leaving in a pile beside a secluded hiking trail in a local forest. The pile has been getting bigger over time.
I went to drop some off today and I was surprised to find that someone had collected all the stones in the pile and left a plastic tube with an enthusiastic thank-you note inside...Cool!
I like to think of them hiking 2 miles back to their car with 50lbs. of poorly polished granite on their back. Although I do suppose the stones would look nice in a walkway or something...

[Bogertophis]

Photo #326

BP: 66% Het Clown with some local Granite-y Stones.
A few years ago: I was experimenting with different types of granite in my area for a while to see which ones would tumble and polish nicely: not many.
Most of my rejects I have been leaving in a pile beside a secluded hiking trail in a local forest. The pile has been getting bigger over time.
I went to drop some off today and I was surprised to find that someone had collected all the stones in the pile and left a plastic tube with an enthusiastic thank-you note inside...Cool!
I like to think of them hiking 2 miles back to their car with 50lbs. of poorly polished granite on their back. Although I do suppose the stones would look nice in a walkway or something...

They must really want those stones...sweet that they left a note. I guess they weren't as "ugly" as you thought? Your BP ain't too shabby either.

[Lord Sorril]

They must really want those stones...sweet that they left a note. I guess they weren't as "ugly" as you thought? Your BP ain't too shabby either.

Thanks!
I'm just glad someone liked them enough to collect them, although New England doesn't have the best selection of rocks available...so pretty much anything unusual is a good thing...

Montana though...they have some nice Agate...
Photo 327A

The stone looks scratched up, but, most of those are inclusions-since Montana Agate is semi-translucent a camera flash lights everything up.

Photo #327B (Backlit)

BP: Pastel/Mojave/Het Axanthic/Het Hypo

[Bogertophis]

...

Photo #327B (Backlit)

BP: Pastel/Mojave/Het Axanthic/Het Hypo

That's a great look...& especially for the Halloween season.

[Lord Sorril]

Photo #328

Snowflake obsidian from Mexico with a 100% Het YB or Gravel BP.
The 'snowflakes' are actually silica sand that was melted into phenocryst patterns at high temperature.
In the realm of metaphysics this stone is said to have wide ranging properties (from anti-demonic to enhanced introspection).
In the realm of my physics: it looks nice.

[Bogertophis]

You're making me homesick for where I used to live in the Mojave desert. I had lots of snowflake obsidian in my yard there- the previous builder-owners were rock-hounds & even left piles of mostly unopened geodes. I actually had a 9'+ saguaro cactus too- they're not supposed to grow outside the Sonoran desert (AZ) but they had planted that one & it thrived in the high desert of So. California.

[Lord Sorril]

You're making me homesick for where I used to live in the Mojave desert. I had lots of snowflake obsidian in my yard there- the previous builder-owners were rock-hounds & even left piles of mostly unopened geodes. I actually had a 9'+ saguaro cactus too- they're not supposed to grow outside the Sonoran desert (AZ) but they had planted that one & it thrived in the high desert of So. California.

That is really cool!
With crazy inflation these days you could have sold those unopened geodes from some good scratch now...

The only type of stone I would actually miss in my area would be white milky quartz and pink chert, all the granite-y type stones in my region have 'character', but, I'm not particularly fond of them.
Photo #329

BP: 66% Het Clown

In other news, my final ball python clutch (2023) in incubation has started hatching today 27OCT2023.

Many of my ball python females that did not lay eggs this season-have grown ridiculously large instead.
I'm getting a good workout now on cleaning days: Snake-Lifting

[Lord Sorril]

Some photos from the 03NOV2023 New England Reptile Expo today:










Banana Black Pastel Calico


Fire Blade Grail




So...........What did I buy? I got this pin for my gf (that is all):

[Bogertophis]

Where's all the buyers? It looks awfully empty in there... Thanks for sharing.

[Lord Sorril]

Where's all the buyers? It looks awfully empty in there... Thanks for sharing.

Hahaha, no worries! The New England Reptile Expo is always packed with buyers. ~30 minutes after they start letting people in: it became wall-to-wall humans, and as such it was our time to leave. I snapped my photos before it crowded up.
My gf and I were among the first non-vendors to enter. We rush-in and make a quick scan of all the available critters. She was looking for high-red ornate frogs and I was looking for Axanthic ball python morphs for comparison.
I did not see any Axanthic ball python morphs and she did not find any Ornate Frogs...so...a bit of a disappointment...but, you never know when you will get lucky!
The Fire Blade Grail ball python IMO was the most spectacular ball python at the expo. The intense color of that one was beyond the capability of my camera and almost blurred my vision. I think the $6K price tag was fitting, it made Super OD Piebald hatchlings look drab in comparison...