Hi all
I wanted to get on here and introduce myself, and at the same time give you a little tidbit I found recently.
I stumbled upon ball-pythons.net a few weeks ago looking at an animalplastics T10 cage review. I explored a bit and liked the community on this forum. Shortly thereafter I ordered a T10 for my three balls (OK, that sounds a little wrong, but ya know..).
I have been a longtime keeper of snakes of all types. I started my first collection of snakes while growing up in South Africa and kept mostly colubrids/non venomous and semi venomous reptiles. Boa constrictors were rare and expensive items in the country but I managed to obtain two. The female had become gravid but I unfortunately had to sell her before coming to America (she was a beautiful Colombian red tail).
One of the last members of my collection was a ball python which came to me in fairly decent shape but was undoubtedly wild caught. He had some ticks which I removed and he was one of the few balls I have come across which never lost his shyness as he grew older. He used to hide under the newspaper all the time and was a very tricky feeder. Before leaving the country I found him a good home with a local herpetologist and that was the end of snakes for years to come.
Until a year ago.... I purchased a gorgeous baby female ball who is one of the friendliest and outgoing snakes I have had. 6 months later two more balls were donated to me along with a large glass terrarium which I hate but made the best of until I ordered my T10. One of the two was a little underfed and he has had problems with his eyes and skin which I have slowly nursed back to normal (I love cod liver oil for treating the eyes, it really helps). He eats like nothing on earth and has put on a good amount of weight. The larger of those two has a scar just behind his head which looks very much like a rodent bite. He has two yellow spots on his nose which seems to be fairly uncommon among these snakes but I like the look.
Anyway, enough rambling.
I am fortunate to belong to a scientific institute which works with snakes and I know many eminent herpetologists. I was at the herp building the other day when I was discussing ball pythons with the curator and he took me over to a barrel to show me something.
As the lid came off I saw the surface of ethanol and below that a large ball python head. He grabbed the head and started pulling it out the liquid and my eyes almost popped out their sockets!:O
It was the largest specimen I have ever seen of a ball python, and as far as we know the only preserved specimen of this length. There have been reports of ball pythons at 6 feet in length but there is no specimen to confirm this. This one measured at 6'2 inches when alive.
Since I have been really sick with flu for the last couple of weeks I have been unable to go see him, but when I can I will ask if I can take some pictures and post them on here for all you ball fans to see.
Until then, keep em rolling ...
Davevh
