Ball python morph standards? Shows?

Lmao. Good luck with your reptile show. Cant wait to see who wins best of show.

as far as one of a kind snakes, the way this is dealt with in other species it that the animal can be entered as an 'unstandardized' breed. The owner of the snake, or owners of several snakes, would have to come up with a standard, and have it checked over by the judges and approved, and then they will be judged up to that standard. :)


h00blah as much as i love your enthusiasm and rational thinking, the voting thing won't work. That wouldn't make it a show where things are held to standards. As far as an online competition that would work wonderfully, and you could set up polls for people to vote. But for a real-time competition it would have to be pretty ridgid as far as standards and judges who are trained specifically to judge according to the standards, and not according to personal preference.

That is to say, can you imagine what would happen if the judging was left up to the crowd at a dog show?

And of course, animals would be sold and traded at these shows. What would the award ribbons mean to people? It would mean say there is a 'yellow' ball python, and the standard simply says 'this snake should be as yellow as possible' the ribbon that a champion snake wins says to everyone else 'look, i have put my snake up to a panel of judges, and it has been shown to be the most yellow snake out of all these snakes entered!' Does it mean that he's the best snake breeder in the world? No. But it does mean that their snakes are the most yellow snakes, and anyone looking for a beautiful yellow python, should look into the breeders lines.
It also wouldn't mean that other 'yellow' pythons wouldn't be sold either. In the mouse world, reds and yellows should be RED in colour, or extremely dark orange, but ideally red. Are there still tons of yellow and light orange mice out there, and people who love them and want them and seek them out? Of course! And there aren't mouseries which are going out of business because they aren't winning shows. That's nonsense. :P

Im wondering if a red mouse tastes the same as a yellow mouse

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Originally Posted by Rhasputin

I don't think there would be a 60 day quarantine, that sounds like an awful long time. Is that the standard for snakes?

It wold be just like any other event where snakes and other reptiles are brought into the venue. Do they require QT for reptile conventions?

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No, 90 days is the standard for snakes, but it should be 12 months, since some viral diseases can incubate for over 10 months.

No QT required for reptile expos...it's a risky venue. I handle snakes that have been to an expo more cautiously, and avoid transferring equipment or or food.

I'm not sure why we wouldn't judge reptiles on body conformation as well as color and pattern. If we fail to pay attention to that over time, we may wind up with some animals that don't look quite 'right'. The Crested Gecko people are already paying attention to crest structure.

People can pooh pooh this idea a lot, but I think it may be inevitable in the long run...for better or for worse. If people start doing it, well...who wouldn't take the chance to sell an animal they were planning to sell anyhow for top dollar, because it won a ribbon?

WingedWolfPsion thank you for some very interesting points and thoughts!

I pondered the idea of an online poll of some sort, but the quality of cameras and the potential of people photoshopping to enhance the look of their snakes is just too much for a contest thats just for fun....

And as jinx stated, seeing the morph in picture sometimes does the snake no justice... i think it could be a fun little side event for the vendors :p. maybe some vendors can chime in? :please:

Of course this is all hypothetical :P
I would definitely participate though haha :D

I tell ya what. Im gettin ready this morning to vend the nova expo. Ill ask other vendors their opinions and report back for ya guys.

Snake lab, if you're going to post nothing but inflammatory remarks, please do it somewhere else. :)

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Originally Posted by Rhasputin

Snake lab, if you're going to post nothing but inflammatory remarks, please do it somewhere else. :)

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I agree.. Randomly popping up to be sarcastic and not bringing anything to the table is just trolling... Take that elsewhere please :gj:

However, if you really are going to vend and ask what others think in an unbiased fashion, then that would be greatly appreciated.

How would the possibility of disease spread be addressed? What's to stop joe blow from bringing in a snake infected with IBD, Paramyxo, or any of the other fatal goodies? They may not even know yet that their animal carries some of those, but it can still be spread to other animals. That's a legitimate concern, or should be for anyone who does truly care about their animals and their wellness.

I can see how people might find this sort of thing fun, and if someone can come up with a way to run it safely more power to you, but I'd stay as far away from something like this as I could get. It's not worth the possibility of wiping out my entire collection because of another keeper's negligence. And let's face it, negligence and ignorance are out there.