Thoughts on this normal girl?

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Originally Posted by kikkimea

Pretty. 
But I don't think you do what he did and ship an animal without telling you. What if you didn't have any space for it? It's a live animal, not a sticker or a sample.. It's sad that people value normals so little because they are so cheap..:/
Glad you took care of it!

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Yeah, truly I didn't really have the space for her which is why I originally gave her to my friend. But then when I saw that she was starving to death a few months later, there was no way I could leave her. Babies just don't have the stores saved up to go without food for weeks on end, so you can't just not get around to feeding them on time.

I wasn't rude about it, I was just like "I need to borrow her for a while. It looks like she will die if I don't take her today." And I wasn't lying to them. Her backbone was starting to protrude, her neck was about as the thickness of an ink pen, and I could drape her over my finger and she would hang limp instead of retracting her head and wrapping around with her tail like most ball will do in that position.

But she has made SO much progress. Two sheds and several rat pups later, you'd never know there had been anything wrong with her. Plus she's getting a lot prettier with that orange. I guess I'm getting a little attached to her now, so I guess I'll just have to wait and see what her future holds.

Well done! I probably wouldn't have been as forthcoming with that kind of neglect, so good for you :) I need to learn to take the high road once in a while:)

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Originally Posted by Ball Clan

I'm sure the guy did pawn her off on me. But she did not cost any extra. I actually did pawn her off on a friend at first, but they were starving her to the point that she was emaciated and weak so I brought her back home because I truly believed she would have starved to death if I had not. I brought her back home at the end of January and I have gotten her up from 91 grams on January 26 to roughly 200 grams as of yesterday afternoon. She has shed twice since I brought her home, and I just noticed that orange increasing with each shed so it made me curious if that could be something that might contribute to my fires or spiders in the future.

At this point, probably just because of her first few months, I guess I'm a little protective of her so if I decide to get rid of her, I would only give her to someone who I was pretty sure would take care of her. She was honestly in pretty sad shape six weeks ago.

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I agree with Monkeyshuttle...and yes, it will cost you extra. Every time you have to feed, not to mention clean up after it. Also, the breeder just assumed you were prepared to care for an extra snake? What if you had no extra space or enclosure for it? That breeder is a donkey...

for breeding, its not really worth it.

for example, on facebook i keep getting an ad from BHB reptiles. they sell 3 normal hatchlings for 50 dollars, and you can choose the gender. so if you want normal female hatchlings, you can get them from a big and reputable breeder for 17 dollars each. the offer got posted repeatedly over quite a while. they did not sell out quickly.

but then, if you have the free space for another female and you have a really good male and right now you dont have the money for a good morph female to fill the slot, why not? but then, basic single gene female morphs are affordable enough, and you can only hit new combos you do not yet have and can only advance when it comes to the number of genes when both parents contribute to the genetics.


good job on taking her in and getting her back in shape, i guess i would try to rehome/sell her to a good future owner as a pet. at least they get more valuable as they get bigger.

its sad that even such a beautiful female normal (she really is pretty) is so low in value nowadays, but its just the reality of the situation, and no individual can change it.

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I agree with Monkeyshuttle...and yes, it will cost you extra. Every time you have to feed, not to mention clean up after it.

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I'm not sure there is any need to take issue there. Right now I have plenty of rats. I have 2.6 breeders all producing pretty well (knock on wood) and it's not hurting me at all to spare a rat pup or two every couple of weeks. No offense, but if economics become a problem, I'm pretty sure I will be the first to know.

As for what I actually will breed in the next couple of years, it really depends on what I produce this year. If Diablo (check my sig) produces me enough fire and spider combos to build up some good funds, I will look into a more potent female to bring aboard. Or if I am lucky enough to hit a super fire female (Diablo x Fiona), then obviously I will be hanging onto her. Either of those possibilities would bump little Mercedes out, if not one or two others. However if I whiff on the odds then I'll stick to what I have until I produce or can afford something better, and in that case, if Mercedes' upkeep is not a burden, I don't see any harm in keeping her around.

It all depends on a lot of things, but I am enjoying her right now, and as long as that's the case, she's worth plucking the occasional rat pup out of the breeder bins. ;)

She could also be a great girl for pairing with a male super morph with her color influence. What would be cool if you had a diamond in the ruff like the orange dream. Doesn't look to epic as a single gene but pair it with anything or make a super and you have some pretty exceptional combos.