Sub-Saharan ball python help!

Maybe it's just the result of letting a bp grow out naturally in an open environment over many years? I don't think there are that many 15 year old captive hatched normals in the trade. Maybe after many years of growing, some of which without laying eggs, ball pythons just get to the '6-7 feet' that all the wildlife fact descriptions say they can and all the hobbyists say they can't based on their own anecdotal evidence?

I am unfamiliar with sub Saharan. do they just get bigger or is there some other reason to collect one? How is it any different than any other wild caught bp?

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Originally Posted by scooter11

I am unfamiliar with sub Saharan. do they just get bigger or is there some other reason to collect one? How is it any different than any other wild caught bp?

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They seem to be bigger and have large clutch sizes. Also I have a 10 year old female and she is big, around 5'8" but I don't think she compares to some others.

Yeah my Volta girl is just shy of 6ft as well.

The easiest way to tell the difference between a normal from the other localities vs. one from the northern Volta Region is head size. It is hard to capture in pictures but in person it is quite obvious that there is a difference even with smaller animals 1000-2800g. So yeah, they are just large normals and they grow larger then the other localities. They also are rumoured to grow at a faster rate then other localities, usually when most female normals hit 1000g these are 1300-1800g. However, they are sexually mature at the same time rate. They typically throw clutches over 10 eggs even when they are younger. My girl was 3200g gravid and had 11 fertile eggs. Now that she has laid, it looks like her standing weight was right around 2400g. I do understand that other localities can put these numbers out when they are that size though, it just isn't as common. The genetics seem to be a polygenetic thing, so we will have to linebreed to keep the Volta genetics in our designer mutations but in theory you can create designer mutations which have more size and higher egg production. Meaning eventually you'd be able to have better odds of hitting new mutations, like we see with other pythons like retics.

Pictures or it isn't true! :P I will have to pull our "Volta" girls, some of our large girls and a young girl to take comparison pics, weight, length and head size. I have never measured any of ours, but I doubt they are over 5'. I have never seen a ball python anywhere near 6'.

http://images20.fotki.com/v355/photo...uno0144-vi.jpgHosted on Fotki

Very big head.


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Originally Posted by MrLang

Maybe it's just the result of letting a bp grow out naturally in an open environment over many years? I don't think there are that many 15 year old captive hatched normals in the trade. Maybe after many years of growing, some of which without laying eggs, ball pythons just get to the '6-7 feet' that all the wildlife fact descriptions say they can and all the hobbyists say they can't based on their own anecdotal evidence?

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You should check out google images sometime. Most of those pics would be quite difficult to shop.

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

Mine is not 6 foot but she is very close 5'8 maybe 9" she is 3850 gm as of last shed last week.

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That would be a very skinny ball python. I have a female that is 5'1'' and she was 4830 at time of ovulation, I also have a het ghost that is 3900g that is shorter than 5'1''. Any ways there is a breeder in flagstaff that him and i will be doing some trades for his volta with my larger ghana babies. I also have a lesser from my female that is about 2500g and got well over 1900g in 18 months. Here is a picture (not my pic) of a volta owned by carlos rojas http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k8...ps79ed956b.jpg

This is my smaller het ghost that is 3900g, it would be interesting to see a bp that was 5'9 inches and only 3800g
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k8...ps1da99595.jpg
and my big girl in a cb 70 for a size reference
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k8...ps4a0195a8.jpg

not to bore you all with more pics, but here is the first time she bred. I paired her with a 750g lesser and she pretty much man handled him and forced him to lock lol
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k8...dlesser003.jpg