Snakes and Stones

Photo #430
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ked_huysgh.jpg
Thunderegg piece with a 100% Het VPI Axanthic/66% Het Orange Ghost + 1 possible Pattern Altering Gene (neither Enchi/OD/Het Albino/Lav Albino).
If I didn't know the parents for this one: I would have guessed Enchi/Het Lavender Albino (and been 100% wrong lol).

Fun fact: Thundereggs are volcanic bubbles that are formed by compressed gases in rhyolitic (silica-rich) magma. Some geodes are thundereggs, but, not all thundereggs are geodes. :)

So, I have the Special/Het Monsoon ball python I got two days ago in a quarantine enclosure. I noticed every time I walk by during the day he comes out of his hide and stares at me-when he should be sleeping.
These guys aren't complex thinkers: he either doesn't like his cage, his temps are not calibrated properly, or he is hungry.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ood_gpzuzl.jpg
I see...:)

He's got some very pretty coloration. And obviously, an appetite, haha.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

He's got some very pretty coloration. And obviously, an appetite, haha.

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Yep!
There are always a few things that I worry about when I get a new snake:
1. Does it have an infectious disease/condition?
2. Will it eat-has it truly been eating on its own?
3. Will this snake be a reliable breeder?
The first two can be determined in quarantine. The third one will be discovered later.
At least I can resolve my question #2 at the moment. :)

Photo #431
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ked_kyvgzo.jpg
Enchi/Het Clown with a piece of Jasper from the Mid-West USA.

Fun fact: This is the 81st ball python of the 2024 breeding season I have shown.
Of the ones I have displayed thus far: Only four are personal holdbacks-and the rest have been sold to distributors.
I cross my fingers and hope people are taking good care of them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lord Sorril

....Of the ones I have displayed thus far: Only four are personal holdbacks-and the rest have been sold to distributors.
I cross my fingers and hope people are taking good care of them.

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That's what I hated about breeding snakes- parting with them after raising them up, & hoping they remained in good hands.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

That's what I hated about breeding snakes- parting with them after raising them up, & hoping they remained in good hands.

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Yeah, I couldn't imagine breeding dogs or cats...I would be relentlessly harassing the new owners to make sure they were doing a proper job...:)

Photo #432
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ked_mlrwo4.jpg
Brazilian agate nodule tumbled whole with a Spider/66% Het VPI Axanthic/66% Het Orange Ghost.

Side Story:
I baked a cake 2 weeks ago , and I used a small amount of Betty Crocker frosting on the top (yes yes, I'm a guy and I like to cook--deal with it).
I wasn't sure what to do with the remaining nearly full container of vanilla frosting...according to the label it still contained about 1000 calories (mostly sugar): so I rotated it through my mouse stock cages (containing about 30 mice/cage).
I was surprised that they were reluctant to eat it, and even after exposure to several hundred mice-it took them ~10 days to finish off the small container.
Each stock cage of mice only ate a ~10% portion of the frosting/day, but, all of them became diabetic and their waste and smell doubled/tripled for the next week (super gross!).
This is the second week post-frosting, and my mouse stock cages have returned to normal-which indicates that the effects were only temporary.
Even though a percentage of their diet was frosting at one point, I saw no decline in the amount of regular food that was consumed...I suppose it only makes sense as frosting is nutritionally void.
Anyhow, I just thought I would share this anecdote for fun. :)

Much better (& almost as easy as opening a can) to make vanilla buttercream frosting from scratch- & no "Franken-food" ingredients. Do you really want to eat something that has a shelf-life of "practically forever"- that even microbes don't want?

Not sure homemade frosting would go over any better with mice though- they like what they like, & they must have thought that stuff was from the moon? :D

Mice are not the garbage-disposals that rats are...rats would have been thrilled to lend a hand, or rather, their tongues. When I had rats, I'd always let them lick out my "empty" peanut butter jars, & they got them spotless! :rofl:

BTW, there's nothing wrong with a guy that bakes & cooks...my brother is pretty good in the kitchen too, at least for some things- his specialties- & it gives his wife a break.

Vanilla buttercream frosting is my favorite, & very hard to mess up- I mostly don't even measure. Recipe is usually on box of confectioner's sugar or online- just conf. sugar, butter, milk (whole is best), vanilla, dash of salt. Set out to soften the butter- then blend & whip ingredients in electric mixer: roughly 1 box sugar, softened butter (about 1/3 -1/2 c.), 1 tsp. vanilla or a bit more if you want, dash salt, & enough milk to moisten to the right consistency- don't add it all at once- you want spreadable but not runny. I do not sift the sugar- no need. If you have too much, you can freeze the extra frosting for another time, but it's also good on graham crackers & other things. ;)

P.S. Nice snake & amazing agate!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Much better (& almost as easy as opening a can) to make vanilla buttercream frosting from scratch- & no "Franken-food" ingredients. Do you really want to eat something that has a shelf-life of "practically forever"- that even microbes don't want?

Not sure homemade frosting would go over any better with mice though- they like what they like, & they must have thought that stuff was from the moon? :D

Mice are not the garbage-disposals that rats are...rats would have been thrilled to lend a hand, or rather, their tongues. When I had rats, I'd always let them lick out my "empty" peanut butter jars, & they got them spotless! :rofl:

BTW, there's nothing wrong with a guy that bakes & cooks...my brother is pretty good in the kitchen too, at least for some things- his specialties- & it gives his wife a break.

Vanilla buttercream frosting is my favorite, & very hard to mess up- I mostly don't even measure. Recipe is usually on box of confectioner's sugar or online- just conf. sugar, butter, milk (whole is best), vanilla, dash of salt. Set out to soften the butter- then blend & whip ingredients in electric mixer: roughly 1 box sugar, softened butter (about 1/3 -1/2 c.), 1 tsp. vanilla or a bit more if you want, dash salt, & enough milk to moisten to the right consistency- don't add it all at once- you want spreadable but not runny. I do not sift the sugar- no need. If you have too much, you can freeze the extra frosting for another time, but it's also good on graham crackers & other things. ;)

P.S. Nice snake & amazing agate!

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Thanks!

Yes, I'm the head chef in my household. I tell my parents that times have changed and household chores based on gender are no longer applicable, but, do they listen? Of course not...they are still old-school...:)

Yes I'm sure rats would have loved to eat the generic frosting. Type II Diabetic mice are gross enough, diabetic rats would have been worse!

I rarely make cakes-I feel awful after I eat them due to a number of food intolerances lol.
My favorite was Pineapple-Upside-Down-Cake, but, Covid wiped out my pineapple taste receptors. Less calories means less cardio though...so...there is that....

Photo #433
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ked_qb5pjh.jpg
Fire/Het Clown with some tumbled/polished stromatolite.

In other news: Stable Diffusion 3.5 (Large Model) was released on October 29th 2024.
I downloaded it yesterday and I had to configure a new user interface ('ComfyUI') to run it.
I'm glad the new setup is simple to use...oh wait...ughhh...
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ked_ogujad.jpg
It really shines in creating text, and while it does draw snakes better than SDXL-it still gets confused with the body and tail and requires manual corrections.
SD3.5 is just a base model. Since it is open-source the user population will rapidly improve it....better models should show up soon...
I still plan to build an add-on using my Snakes and Stones photos, unfortunately SD3.5 currently runs 10X slower on my system than SDXL. :taz:
I'm going to wait a while first to find out if the community can speed it up a bit...it will take my computer weeks at the current rate, and I don't feel like renting a supercomputer for the sake of improving the realism on digitally generated snake images. :rolleye2:

In the meanwhile:
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ked_ru1atz.jpg

Dang, stop making me hungry! I love pineapple upside down cake too- & I definitely eat my share of sweets. Happily, I have a great metabolism & it doesn't show (don't hate me).

:hijackd: Hahaha! Back to the snake pics! :gj:

Photo #434
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ked_zduzmk.jpg
GHI with a chunk of petrified wood from Arizona, USA. :)