Snakes and Stones

I am not religious, but, the Pagan Fair in Belmont NH 2024 looked like it would be interesting to visit. The Fair is relatively new, and I just happened to see an advertisement while browsing ongoing events in New England.

You might wonder what sort of attendees showed up? I did not see many, but, most of them looked fairly normal with the exception of tattoos, excessive amounts of jewelry, and some form of hair dye.
Everyone was very friendly, but, due to the low amount of patrons the vendors were very 'eager' to make a sale.
There was always someone playing an instrument or singing, some of them were quite good.

I found the entire experience to be enjoyable, but, the ragweed pollen was brutal....My gf and I had been hiking that morning at low elevation, and then the Fairgrounds themselves were completely surrounded by the wind pollinating weed.

On the way back from the Pagan Fair my gf took a picture of me dragging a big snapping turtle off the highway and I looked like a swollen caricature of someone having an allergic reaction to a bee sting.
36hrs and a pile of H1+H2 Blockers, and I look normal again, but, still feel like crap...Worth it though-No Regrets! :)
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I wanted to buy the black dragon wreath below ($40).
I had the cash in hand, but, my gf did not approve (which took me by surprise). I thought they were pretty cool...
The artist is AmberLee Smock. You can find her artwork on Facebook: Brindled Dragon Creations
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So, what did I buy?
I purchased a finished Pink Tourmaline in Quartz Matrix Sphere, and a Purple Dragon Pin.
The woman who sold me the sphere was playing with a short wave UVB light on her Volcanic Agate. Since she already had the light on-she held the sphere I was buying under it for fun. It glowed fiercely red in broad daylight-and we were both very surprised. She tested another pink tourmaline sphere that looked almost identical and nothing happened. She mentioned off-hand as I paid her-that if she knew it was *that* UV reactive that she would have marked the price up (lol...).
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:)

The pagans seem to share your love of stones. You should consider converting.

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Originally Posted by Homebody

The pagans seem to share your love of stones. You should consider converting.

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Nah, religion is tricky business. Not my 'cup of tea'. :)

Photo #393
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ked_pdr5la.jpg
This Botryoidal Chalcedony was pretty ugly to start....so I ran it through a bit of tumble/polish.
Botryoidal = Having a shape similar to a cluster of grapes.
I could have rounded it out completely, but, I wanted to retain some trace of its original formation/shape.


BP is a Het for Piebald...and sharp eyes may see another gene there, but, it is so low expression I'm not going to bother to label it. :)

Photo #394
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ked_sfqk52.jpg
66% Het Clown/66% Het Lavender Albino with a piece of Jasp-Agate from the Mid-West USA.

Got my hands on a short wave UV light (365nm) off of Amazon.
I wanted to take some Snakes and Stones photos, but, the light is irritating to the eyes.
Going to have to skip the Snakes on my shortwave UV photos, and I'm going to need to wear sunglasses while I'm at it. :cool:
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ked_nlvlt5.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ked_hkradu.jpg

Wow, that's AMAZING! SO beautiful...we'll let it go "this time" (that you omitted snakes). :D

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Wow, that's AMAZING! SO beautiful...we'll let it go "this time" (that you omitted snakes). :D

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Hahaha yeah. After 30 minutes of short wave light my eyes feel like they were sandpapered. I'm not going to use that light on my pythons unless I have their heads blocked.
I may post some interesting UV stone specimen pics when I have the time.

Photo #395
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GHI/Fire/Lesser with a tumbled/polished Thunderegg.

Breeders Notes:
Last night one of my distributors picked up a large group of hatchlings-it is a huge relief because I have been maintaining epic numbers of ball pythons for the last few months, and I'm exhausted. Next year I'm reducing the number of matings by 50%, however, I did keep a record number of holdbacks this year...so I guess it will be a temporary lull. :snake:

For 2024: I had about a 92.5% successful hatch on ~160 eggs from 27 clutches...(I still have Clutch #28 incubating). I lost two ball python hatchlings due to failure to thrive.

I am still maintaining the hatchling that got caught stuck escaping the egg shell and was pinched (the same one I had posted a picture of previously). I would like to say that is has made a miraculous recovery, but, miracles are a rarity. It is still in rough shape. I would like it to survive, but, I'm not expecting it to. It is overdue for first shed, and with the extensive level of internal bruising-I think any sort of manual manipulation on my part is out of the question. Even though it is slowly losing body condition-I think my best option is to wait. If it does manage to shed-then feeding/digestion will be the next hurdle.

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Originally Posted by Lord Sorril

I am still maintaining the hatchling that got caught stuck escaping the egg shell and was pinched (the same one I had posted a picture of previously). I would like to say that is has made a miraculous recovery, but, miracles are a rarity. It is still in rough shape. I would like it to survive, but, I'm not expecting it to. It is overdue for first shed, and with the extensive level of internal bruising-I think any sort of manual manipulation on my part is out of the question. Even though it is slowly losing body condition-I think my best option is to wait. If it does manage to shed-then feeding/digestion will be the next hurdle.

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Aw! I feel for the little one. I hope it pulls through.

Photo #396
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Hypo/66% Het VPI Axanthic and a piece of Agate from the Mid-West USA.
There are many people on the West Coast that can identify hundreds of types of agate and the specific mine where it was collected. I'm from New England...so I call it 'red-and-white'...:)

I also tried some more UV photos on a smaller scale.
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Note: With the amount of energy I am dedicating to the maintenance and care of my ball python collection (and vastly increased rodent production): I have a lot of lazy/uninspiring Snakes and Stones photos coming up...I figure I will regroup my efforts once I finish prepping and sending out my final batch of hatchlings.

Good news is: Out of all my hatchlings this year I only have three that are not eating. When I first started breeding ball pythons over a decade ago it was not uncommon for me to have 30-40% refuse food (usually entire clutches). You learn real quick how to assist/force feed with speed and efficiency when you have a small army to manage. :)

These are my favorites.
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