Snakes and Stones

Photo #134
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...98efgpzney.jpg

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Gee, that Leland Blue is pretty dangerous to work with- even though it turns out really nice, it's a shame that it really did a number on your right hand. ;) :D

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Did a job on both hands, but, it is was just raw physical damage-so I could just pull the splinters out, patch it up, and laugh it off...very different from the bites of the twin-spotted assassin bugs I used to breed.

Photo #135
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...unwe5jb8cg.jpg
Petrified wood is always interesting, it comes in nearly all the colors of the rainbow (depending upon where it is found).

ID on the ball python:
If you guessed Mojave you would be right.
If you guessed Hypo Mojave, you would be more right. :)
Fun Fact: She is the mother of Clutch #4 (2021) that I linked the time lapse hatching video to on Page 27 of this thread. She is not Orange Ghost: so I have to be careful who I breed her with so I do not mix up my Hypos...

Photo #136
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...58m1pwnkjx.jpg
Super Pastel Lesser, some assorted agate (red), and imperial jasper (purple).
This stubborn girl is 6 years old and has not produced a single clutch of eggs. :)

Photo #137
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...pem9ulxnx5.jpg
Spider Black Pastel and some tumbled/polished broken geode pieces.

Photo #137 was the last of my 2020 photo set...ahhhh...now I can kick back and relax...Oh wait...hmmm...
OK, OK, let's do it all over again! 2021! WHOOO!!!
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ked_kobmao.jpg

No rest for the wicked, or so they say. :rofl:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

No rest for the wicked, or so they say. :rofl:

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I get very little rest-thus I must be very wicked.

Some people may consider it work...but, I consider the time spent on my rodents/snakes/stones my 'down time'.

Photo #138
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...kwebjtvnpj.jpg
First photo of 2021: Pastel Het Axanthic with some tumbled/polished bead glass.

Side Story: I held back three 66% Het VPI Axanthic females and raised them up and crossed them this year with a VPI Pastel Axanthic male (I also produced) and all three females failed to prove...! There are going to be a lot of plain/pastel Het VPI Axanthics in my 2021 photos...:P

As for bead glass: some say it is tough to tumble, and some people say easy...rounding out and removing imperfections in a rotary, and then finishing a vibratory tumbler makes the process easy (imo).

(Very Loud) Video below of me finishing the batch of bead glass that I used for Photos #'s 138-141, and #'s 150-153. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuClXLUhHj0

Photo #139
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...chz7nstu87.jpg
Blue-Eyed Leucistics work well in any photo. The problem I have is that all of them look the same...I guess I'm more of a pied guy myself...:)
Been producing Super Lessers (Het x Het) for a few years with no eye issues or other defects, I don't want to push my luck with HO x HO.

Photo #140
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...yf3cmrbvvq.jpg
HGW/Lesser (Soul-Sucker), some Bead glass (man-made), and some Banded Obsidian (natural glass).

Also, a little off-topic, but, a 'large' beetle fell down my chimney last night. I had to rescue it from the cats. Beetles larger than a quarter are uncommon in my area of the USA. :)
Here is a photo of the critter:
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...zed_wtw1ey.jpg

Photo #141
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...mjpze8ekuu.jpg

I made a hodgepodge glass photo to see how it would look. Meh, I prefer separating the colors and making a pattern, but, it is a lot more work. :)

My camera had a hard time with this piece of labradorite and subsequent flashback.
The refractive nature of the stone gave the light reflection from the top-down LEDs I used to illuminate it a blue tinge.

Photo #142A
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...rznxjcgfw4.jpg

Photo: 142B
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...e3pigglmiu.jpg

My dark room snake photo technique aside, under normal lighting:
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...y8iqqqvsfy.jpg

Many moons ago I posted that I was breeding a Lavender Albino to a Het Albino-Het Pied female to see what would happen.
Answer: A whole lot of nothing (not really surprised).
The clutch is still hatching, all are 100% Het Lav Albino with 50% chance each Het Albino & Pied. I grabbed a bunch for a photo (shown below).
Statistically: half of them should be Het for both Lav Albino and Albino.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...tch_biqa3h.jpg
A few of them have pied markers, a few of them have reduced patterns, and one of them has more reddish brown tones...I expect this will just fade out over time. :)

Photo #143
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...edurcnxuw5.jpg
Center: King Cobra Jasper (amusing name)
Corners: Quartzite
In between: Prairie Jasper

Photo #144
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...qvd9gwirvs.jpg
Prairie Jasper/Agate again.

Photo #145

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ked_t6wduf.jpg
A Lesser with a Kaleidoscope Prism Stone.

Kaleidoscope Prism Stone is known by many names. It is often mislabeled in an attempt to get less-skilled lapidary artists to purchase it for projects. This Utah stone consists of varying amounts of Agate, Amethyst, Azurite, Cuprite, Fluorite, Malachite, and Chrysocolla. Due to the varying hardness and value of the different materials...very few people attempt to polish it using tumbling methods...I just happened to get a few pieces super cheap in a bulk stone collectors collection I purchased. :)

Photo #146

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ked_pxxaot.jpg

Obsidian is semi-translucent so it is a tough subject as you can see imperfections a short distance into the glass. Piece on the left is silver sheen obsidian, piece on the top is banded, red is carnelian agate, and blue is sodalite.

I should have retaken this photo to get a more 'liquid' shine...but, I've been working on something very special at work and at the time I was not concerned with a few bad reflections in a few stones. :P

You're "forgiven". :D I suspect we are FAR less critical than you are, anyway.

Interesting clutch hatching today: Nice greys on a few so far with no Axanthic genes involved. :)

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ked_rd6dzy.jpg

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Originally Posted by Lord Sorril

Interesting clutch hatching today: Nice greys on a few so far with no Axanthic genes involved. :)

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ked_rd6dzy.jpg

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GHI Mojaves? :aww:

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Originally Posted by Snagrio

GHI Mojaves? :aww:

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Great guess! GHI Lessers. ;)

Photo #147
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ked_oro59y.jpg
Peach moonstone from India. It is a type of feldspar (like labradorite) and some pieces have iridescence if you can get the correct angle (which is very narrow). Unfortunately my camera 'auto-corrects' the iridescence on moonstone so it just looks like camera flash...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lord Sorril

Great guess! GHI Lessers. ;)

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So close. :doh:

GHI Mojave is a combo I've been looking at for some time, and it's one I could realistically get at some point if I wanted another BP (as in it'd be affordable :P).

Photo #148
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ked_y6hdio.jpg
Sagenitic Fluorite, aka Flower Fluorite
I couldn't round it out completely in the tumbler, I noticed that the stone was weakening at several points and was approaching its breaking point-I wanted to keep it one piece so I dry polished it in my vibe and called it quits. Given the challenges that working with fluorite offer: I will call this one a win. :)

Photo #149

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...arjxla7quv.jpg

A Lesser with some Chrysocolla with Chalcocite (Copper Ore).

Chrysocolla has a mohs hardness that varied between 2.5 and 7.0 (so basically everything from you can scratch it casually with a fingernail up to-you can scrape it all day with a steel nail and not make a mark). The varying hardness is due to different compositions of minerals including: Azurite, Cuprite, Limonite, and Malachite.

This particular batch of Chrysocolla from the mine in Morenci, AZ was very soft, shaped poorly, and due to the softness of the stone resisted a shiny polish.

Here is a photo of a piece of rough material:
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...7qjpsxhemv.jpg
You can see the powder flaking off in my hand just from holding it.

Photo #150

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...u4adl28q05.jpg

Firefly with tumbled/polished blue bead glass.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lord Sorril

Photo #150

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...u4adl28q05.jpg

Firefly with tumbled/polished blue bead glass.

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Snake galaxy. :O

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Originally Posted by Snagrio

Snake galaxy. :O

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Clever! I didn't think of that. I was just building a spiral pattern at the time. :)

Photo #151

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...pqnngk78lo.jpg

Tumbled and polished 'red and white' bead glass and a Het OG/66% Pos. Het Axanthic.

That's so cool,ove the galaxy one too[emoji106][emoji106]

Sent from my ELS-NX9 using Tapatalk

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Snagrio

Snake galaxy. :O

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Very similar to what I was thinking/seeing. It reminded me of the season cycle of the big dipper around the North star.

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Originally Posted by richardhind1972

That's so cool,ove the galaxy one too

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Thanks Rich! These glass bead photos are a real effort to set up and photograph. After I build the pattern I place the snake in a hide in the center and when I have the camera poised and ready: I will lift the hide and take as many photos as possible before the snake ruins the pattern. The red and white one above I think I got 6 photos total before the tail flicked outward and scattered half the pattern.

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Originally Posted by nikkubus

Very similar to what I was thinking/seeing. It reminded me of the season cycle of the big dipper around the North star.

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As most artists do: I will totally take credit for the concept even though I had absolutely no intention of doing so....yeah yeah...the big dipper...stars and stuff...totally what I had in mind when I made the pattern...;)

All the work you put into these is greatly appreciated! love your pictures!

Your snakes, stones, and photos are all beautiful pieces of art individually and collectively. I’m a novice photographer and my question is how do you get your snakes to sit still for your pictures especially with those stone props in place? I have the hardest time photographing things, especially my snakes, when they’re in constant motion.

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Originally Posted by AutumnVanilla

All the work you put into these is greatly appreciated! love your pictures!

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Thank you!
I do enjoy messing around with the snakes and documenting the stones I tumble: so it is fun all around for me.

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Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

Your snakes, stones, and photos are all beautiful pieces of art individually and collectively. I’m a novice photographer and my question is how do you get your snakes to sit still for your pictures especially with those stone props in place? I have the hardest time photographing things, especially my snakes, when they’re in constant motion.

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I'm a novice photographer tooooo! The only photography related thing I know is the Rule of Thirds: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds (which I tend to ignore) :)

I know a lot of people use phone cameras and I've seen some super sharp pictures out of the new iPhones, but, I'm old-school where I stick with a separate camera for photos. My last camera was a Nikon DSLR and one of my ball pythons knocked it out of my hands and it conveniently fell four feet into a bucket of water and met its costly demise. For the last few years I've had my trusty Olympus TG-5 and it has seen quite a few tough adventures and is still working great. I remember there is a Youtube video of a guy testing how much abuse the TG-5 can take and still function--https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qTcrk7G-0M In the last few years I've done a lot worse to it and it is still taking working well today--the big drawback to the model itself is that it has no long distance zoom. I can show you a lot of long distance blurry wildlife photos--which could be a moose, could be a bear, or could even be a squatch...

Yes, in my experience ball pythons are usually not thrilled about being photographed and are either on the move or curled in a ball. There is a short period of time when they decide to 'make a run for it' and uncurl from a ball and assess the layout of the environment (lots of tongue flicks): that is the time to get the best photos--I snap as many as I can before the snake starts getting defensive about being redirected away from its escape route. Older ball pythons are usually not as nervous as the younger ones and are going to behave according to their personality (for better or worse), I find my poor-tempered adults to be the most challenging to photograph.

Of course some of the younger bps are perpetually stuck in 'feed mode' until they grow larger...they are going to be bite anything that moves with a heat signature (like my hands):
https://youtu.be/EJKu96_TXus
If they behave like this I just have to wait a month or two:
I don't sell biters until they calm down so there is no rush for me to take photos of them until they are older.

Photo #152
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...cg1o441ucl.jpg
Pastel Leopard

Photo #153
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...dllfqfgpzj.jpg
Mojave Het Ghost.

Photo #154
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ifwrbkbrth.jpg
Some local granite...due to the mixed hardness of the material it is often tumbled to a mottled polish--unless there is a fine-grained formation or a particularly large composition of one type of mineral.

Photo #155
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ked_jiajw0.jpg
Bornite is a copper iron sulfide ore, it looks gold when freshly exposed, and tarnishes into iridescent colors giving it the common name 'Peacock Ore'.
The amount of copper and iron can vary significantly in each piece, this particular piece was heavy on copper sulfide which made it problematic to polish.

Photo #156
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...rmulqmno4p.jpg
Rose Quartz, Blue Aventurine, a few pieces of Californite, and a piece of jade.

Photo #157
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...g26ge9bxqj.jpg
Tumbled/polished dinosaur bone.

Photo #158
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ked_srwbjc.jpg
Some gnarly agate with pits. Pictured below is the original stone.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...rhnsrrplk7.jpg
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...drhxgdedcg.jpg
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ikt0nypzb3.jpg

Photo #159
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...mcxli7aub0.jpg
Granite from Massachusetts

Photo #160

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...wgf4zzo6gr.jpg
No tumbling the pits out of this stone.
Overexposed this photo a little with the camera flash to try and show the translucency of the stone.
Caught a little bit of the quarter and a tiny bit of the snake.

Photo #161
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...4tzl62x6yv.jpg
This stone is a little odd. I've tumbled a lot of rocks, but, this is the only one like it so far.

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Originally Posted by Lord Sorril

Photo #161
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...4tzl62x6yv.jpg
This stone is a little odd. I've tumbled a lot of rocks, but, this is the only one like it so far.

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Wow, I wonder what that is? Sorta looks like a ball of yarn? :cool: What a strange rock. If you find out what it is, do let us know?

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Wow, I wonder what that is? Sorta looks like a ball of yarn? :cool: What a strange rock. If you find out what it is, do let us know?

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Sure, you bet! I will figure it out sooner or later. :)

Photo #162
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...r3nsklmsgr.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lord Sorril

Photo #158
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ked_srwbjc.jpg
Some gnarly agate with pits. Pictured below is the original stone.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...rhnsrrplk7.jpg
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...drhxgdedcg.jpg
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ikt0nypzb3.jpg

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If I may input a request, I'd love more "pre-tumbled/polished" pics like this. It's neat to see the difference with the minerals between their natural and cleaned up states.