Another pet project.

Well, here is another dinkin around project of mine. A few years ago a woman came to our herp society saying that she needed to get rid of all of her snakes very quickly and was there anyone who would be willing to take them. Since she had a lot of ball pythons, I agreed. (she's also the one I got my female burm from) She also had this one male ball that she told me she had bought as a wild caught axanthic and she swore up and down to me that it was a real morph. After seeing the animal, I was skeptical and still am. But he is a different color then any of my other snakes and he hasn't changed that color at all in the time I've had him so I don't think he's an IMG type snake. So, who knows? I figured I give him a shot at breeding this year. The babies were actually a bit different too, darker then normal (but not THAT much different) so who knows if that means anything at all? Here are some pics of him and his babies. Let me know what you think. Is he an old browned out axanthic? Or just slightly odd?

Here is one by himself.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ns/axanth2.jpg
Here he is next to a more normal colored ball.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ns/axanth3.jpg
Three of his babies from the first clutch. They are a bit darker then usual.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...axproject3.jpg
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...axproject6.jpg
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...axproject8.jpg
The only surviving baby from the 2nd clutch. She has a kink in her neck so I don't know what I'm going to do with her. I guess I'll have to see if she feeds and sheds well. The other three in the clutch died full term with various spinal deformities. Not sure why, I think the temps spiked a bit towards the end of incubation.
But at least you can see that the color and pattern are similar to the other babies from the other clutch.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...roj1kinked.jpg

I'm not sure if there is anything here or not, I've been calling it my pseudoaxanthic project. At worst I'll just be raising more baby snakes which is always fun in itself.

Mark

Too me it almost looks like you got something there... Somethin dark for sure...

try him with a Het ?

Mark, She is very good looking, and there is def something up with her colors...:gj: It will be exciting to raise the kiddos up! Do you plan on breeding him back to one of the females from him? That could get exciting! :please::)

Anywho, she is a good looking snake there Mark! :salute:

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Originally Posted by Royal Tartan

try him with a Het ?

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Het for which line though? I don't have any female axanthic hets and if I were to get one I wouldn't even know which line to use.

That last baby is the prettiest of them all. They all look like normals to me, but what do I know? :oops:

Mark do you plan on breeding him back to one of his daughters...beings if he is something, they are carrying that gene now?

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Originally Posted by Mindibun

That last baby is the prettiest of them all. They all look like normals to me, but what do I know? :oops:

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They probably are, but thats what 'special' projects are all about, seeing if there really is anything interesting there or not. Worse case scenario is that I get to produce more baby snakes which is never a bad thing.

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Originally Posted by Jerhart

Mark do you plan on breeding him back to one of his daughters...beings if he is something, they are carrying that gene now?

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Yes, thats the plan. Unfortunately I only got the two females, and that last one has a kink in her neck so I'll probably not be using her. I might have to breed him again next year just to make sure I have a selection of females to breed back to him.

I like the patterns on the babies alot

I think he's more axanthic than a lot of "true axanthics" I've seen. Neat looking boy.
The babies are reminiscent of black pastels to me. Not the same, but sort of some of the same busy dark pattern.
Seems like a good dinking project for sure.