Snakes and Stones

Hi All,

I noticed the forum has been a bit slow lately.
I enjoy seeing photos.
In addition to casually breeding ball pythons as a hobby: I also tumble and polish rocks.
I am not a 'professional' ball python business, rock tumbler, or photographer...I just like to have some fun.
I have gathered a large number of photos--each photo showing a unique individual snake and a different rock (or set of) unless noted otherwise.
I will add a new photo every few days...If the 2021 breeding season goes as planned: I should have a near inexhaustible supply.
I'm not a rock expert, but, some of them I can identify.
I know 99% of the genotypes of the snakes pictured through proof breeding. If you should disagree: That is fine by me. :)
Everyone is also welcome to post photos of their own snakes in this thread or discuss topics: I will continue to post photos at a regular interval.
I have used many methods for keeping ball pythons over the years, many of them are non-traditional and continue to be...
All posters: Please be respective of alternate methods of keeping.

Here we go!

Photo #1

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/tmTmkwX.jpg

Awsome photo[emoji106][emoji106]
The blue stones look awsome against the python

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Beautiful photo Sorril! I know it's a little off topic, but would love to hear how you got into rock polishing, and a bit about you process if you have time.

I like the color contrast.

Thank you Richard and TrinityBlood. Some of the photos I take are better than others--sometimes I don't like a photo...but, it grows on me over time.

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Originally Posted by Hugsplox

Beautiful photo Sorril! I know it's a little off topic, but would love to hear how you got into rock polishing, and a bit about you process if you have time.

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Thank you, for the compliment!


I don't mind rambling about rocks: A lot of people I know that tumble rocks do it as a precursor to making jewelry...once the rock has been smoothed and polished they will use tools to carve grooves into the stones or drill holes and put a metal setting in it. There are a lot of specialized tools to accomplish this--all the way up to automatic faceting machines. Luckily I am not interested in making jewelry. I am also not a 'purist' that wants every stone absolutely round and without flaw. :)


As for my tumbling origin story: When I was young, very young (just barely walking): my sister got a cheapo rock tumbler kit (similar to the National Geographic ones that are currently sold as kits). My sister was very dedicated to maintaining the device and cleaning it every week. Over the course of months she finished polishing a few small batches of stones. The final product was like treasure to us, gleaming polished rocks with awesome patterns. My sister would insist that our family go on day trips to quarries and mines looking for rocks she could tumble--my parents found it amusing and humored her. I visited a lot of interesting places deep in the woods of New England. Unfortunately the cheap tumbler motor burnt out on her device within a few months and the replacement burnt out soon after...my parents did not know anything about them and figured that all motors would wear out relatively quickly due to constant use and it was not worth replacing them. Decades later (a few years ago) for my birthday (out of the blue) my sister gave me all of her original tumbled stones...I looked at them and they were TERRIBLE. My perception must have been mixed with my imagination as a kid. The rocks were full of pits and the polish was dull. I was shocked and disappointed. I was determined to reshape them into how I had seen them in my mind (or destroy them in the process). With great trial and effort I succeeded: in doing so I found it addictive to take something ugly and turn it into something beautiful---each stone like an individual unique work of art.


The process of rock tumbling itself is relatively straightforward: Take rough rocks, toss them in a tumbler with coarse Silicon Carbide (normally 60/90 grit) and some water, tumble them until they are rounded and desired imperfections are removed, then use increasingly finer grits to remove any scratches. At some point you switch from Silicon Carbide (cuts) over to Aluminum Oxide grit (smooths) and continue to work your way down through progressively finer grits until you reach the polish stage. There are many types of final polish--some are better at getting a shine on some stones more than others. Of course there are an inordinate amount of variables in this process, and it is not uncommon for beginners to be terribly discouraged by cheap kits that include inferior quality grit and mixed hardness stones which give you little/no chance to tumble them together without issue...

I like it all- your beautiful snake, rocks & photo that ties them together. :gj: Thank you for sharing & please don't stop. ;)

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

I like it all- your beautiful snake, rocks & photo that ties them together. :gj: Thank you for sharing & please don't stop. ;)

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Thank you! :)

Photo#2

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/7u4XYUt.jpg

Unique idea! They look great!

Photo #3

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/DnCnV5A.jpg

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Originally Posted by Lord Sorril

Photo #3

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/DnCnV5A.jpg

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Is that tiger's eye Sorril? I'm loving this thread!

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Originally Posted by Hugsplox

Is that tiger's eye Sorril? I'm loving this thread!

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Thank you!

Yes it is tiger-eye, this is blue/gold variegated tiger eye with very little blue. I buy a lot of nice rough blue/gold pieces from a guy who has mining rights to an area in South Africa. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lord Sorril

Thank you!

Yes it is tiger-eye, this is blue/gold variegated tiger eye with very little blue. I buy a lot of nice rough blue/gold pieces from a guy who has mining rights to an area in South Africa. :)

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Lucky you! :D

Photo #4

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/sIHDr36.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lord Sorril

Photo #4

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/sIHDr36.jpg

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This BP looks like a model posing the way the tail is curled up under the face. My favorite one yet. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lord Sorril

Thank you!

Yes it is tiger-eye, this is blue/gold variegated tiger eye with very little blue. I buy a lot of nice rough blue/gold pieces from a guy who has mining rights to an area in South Africa. :)

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Lucky you!

I spent a few years in Afghanistan and was lucky enough to pick up a few really nice pieces of Lapis, Jade, and Tiger-eye. Costs next to nothing over there but beautiful pieces.

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Originally Posted by Hugsplox

I spent a few years in Afghanistan and was lucky enough to pick up a few really nice pieces of Lapis, Jade, and Tiger-eye. Costs next to nothing over there but beautiful pieces.

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Cool! Any plans on working them (cutting, cabbing, wrapping, tumbling, polishing)?

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Originally Posted by Lord Sorril

Cool! Any plans on working them (cutting, cabbing, wrapping, tumbling, polishing)?

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They already were when I got them. Nothing super fancy, a few spheres that I thought were fake at first until the guy showed me one he was working on. My wife put them up on our mantle and they've made a great conversation piece.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hugsplox

They already were when I got them. Nothing super fancy, a few spheres that I thought were fake at first until the guy showed me one he was working on. My wife put them up on our mantle and they've made a great conversation piece.

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Neat! I always thought the sphere making process was fun to watch...Too labor intensive for me though! :)

Photo #5
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/tL8CTzF.jpg

Photo #6

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/VxsHMVE.jpg

Photo #7

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/wBS1f4D.jpg

You're making it really hard to pick a favorite here, but this one's pretty high on my list. Both the snake & the stones.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

You're making it really hard to pick a favorite here, but this one's pretty high on my list. Both the snake & the stones.

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Thank you, I like that photo too! The feldspar in conjunction with the Black Pastel Spider reminds me of a thunderstorm. It is also interesting that I gathered these rough stones myself while tilling my gardens. Massachusetts does not have the best selection of natural material for rock tumbling...so I take what I can get...:)

And don't pick a favorite just yet! There is a lot more to be seen: I'm currently tied for my personal favorite between Photos #13, 58, and 103. Some of the photos are definitely better than others...uncooperative snakes and uninteresting rocks make a poor combination. I would redo some of my less interesting photos, but, I am totally overloaded at work and the next laying season is fast approaching.

Photo #8
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/3e3n2uX.jpg

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Originally Posted by Lord Sorril

... I would redo some of my less interesting photos, but, I am totally overloaded at work and the next laying season is fast approaching.

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Not to worry, we'll "take what we can get"! :D They're all worth seeing, & all are unique.

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Originally Posted by Lord Sorril

Photo #8
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/3e3n2uX.jpg

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Nice "study in textures"...he looks like he's wondering "did I come from one of these?" :snake:

Photo #9
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/Mf4TMNz.jpg
Most of my 2020 photos were taken at the beginning of last year.
Still have a few pythons left to photograph.
I look back at these photos and it is amazing how fast some of these snakes have grown. Tempus fugit. :)

Photo #10

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/BRfGrKT.jpg

Photo #11
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/bhPxNuH.jpg

https://youtu.be/DRIMNN8pvzk

So gorgeous! Loving the pictures, such a talent :)

Photo #12

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/pWDMsoh.jpg

Photo #13

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/etqBOaC.jpg
Color photo: Black Tourmaline in White Quartz -- paid too much for the rough stones, but, knew it would make a nice picture. ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lord Sorril

Photo #13

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/etqBOaC.jpg
Color photo: Black Tourmaline in White Quartz -- paid too much for the rough stones, but, knew it would make a nice picture. ;)

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Where's the snake? ;) :sweeet:

Absolutely breathtaking, loving this one.

This picture is definitely special! Beautiful snake and stone combination :) Thanks for giving us something new and interesting to look forward to. :)

Thank you all for the compliments! :)

Photo #14
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/73YOIA1.jpg
Blue Variegated Tiger Eye-tumbled off the top layer on this chunk.

What a wonderful story and photos! I remember as a kid going to those displays in gift shops that had the big bin of tumbled rocks, and you could fill a bag for a small amount of $. I had quite a collection and it was so fun to sort them and just hold handfuls of them. :-) Thanks for bringing back that good memory, and sharing yours.

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Originally Posted by FollowTheSun

What a wonderful story and photos! I remember as a kid going to those displays in gift shops that had the big bin of tumbled rocks, and you could fill a bag for a small amount of $. I had quite a collection and it was so fun to sort them and just hold handfuls of them. :-) Thanks for bringing back that good memory, and sharing yours.

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You bet!

I was pretty excited as a kid to see a stone display in a gift shop too. Usually they look like something like this:
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/QIRxcSE.jpg
However, this is to lure you in...depending upon what 'grade' of stones the gift store has purchased for resale, most times the stones I see for sale look like this:
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/nXgWqtX.jpg
Which IMO is just a little better than fish tank gravel. :P

Good boi do good pose with good boi posture (and a good girl doing a somewhat good job taking da photos)https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...59732dbe89.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...a526ea768c.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...87f7a10043.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...1cde7ca82a.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...608024192e.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...8a6e68b3e0.jpg

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The "kid in me" still loves rocks & I usually go to a gem & mineral show every year, & of course, come home with some too. :D

oh yes, last year on my birthday we went to a fun children play place (I will not say the name for privacy reasons! who knows who gonna research.) and in the gift shop they had one of the stands with the rocks with the bag and I begged my mom to let me get one. long story short we got one and I already lost da bag. I think I still have a rock around my room somewhere. I
m to lazy to find it I'll just wait 10 years for it to show up somewhere.

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Originally Posted by BeansTheDerp

Good boi do good pose with good boi posture (and a good girl doing a somewhat good job taking da photos)

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Hahaha, Good job on the photos!

I had to work a 12 hour shift today with no lunch....my eyes think that stone looks like a big piece of bread. :)

lol! it's a geode that we got last year. he took a liking to it after finding it in one of my drawers while exploring and crawled up on it so I decided to put it in his terrarium and he has dubbed it his favorite rock. so I thought "hey why not take a picture of him and his rock for the forum!" hope u get lots of sleep! and food!
by the way I had to use black paper for the background because I have no dark black area in my room. I think it worked better than expected though.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

The "kid in me" still loves rocks & I usually go to a gem & mineral show every year, & of course, come home with some too. :D

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I always see celebrities buying fancy cars with their wealth. If I was super rich I would be going to these gem shows and hauling back some 'large' pieces. Not exactly Nicholas Cage level of spending (e.g. 15 Million dollars on a Dinosaur skull), but, I would still bring back a few nice display pieces. :)

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Originally Posted by Lord Sorril

I always see celebrities buying fancy cars with their wealth. If I was super rich I would be going to these gem shows and hauling back some 'large' pieces. Not exactly Nicholas Cage level of spending (e.g. 150 Million dollars on a Dinosaur skull), but, I would still bring back a few nice display pieces. :)

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then u could take all da photos :cool:

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Originally Posted by BeansTheDerp

then u could take all da photos :cool:

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If I bought all the stones already finished there would be no challenge and no sense of accomplishment. :)

true true, but u could always try to recreate ur photos

I miss going to gem shows. It's been forever. I wouldn't know the first place to look where to even find a schedule or anything. So much stuff at those that I would have never thought existed before seeing it. I fondly remember being absolutely blown away with watermelon tourmaline. I had no idea at the time that they could grow like that with different colors vs multi-colored stones that you see more commonly where it's several little layers or speckles of color. Since then, I have become quite fond of fluorite with the huge variety of purples and greens, every one looking unique. I've got a small collection of tumbled stones and pieces of crystals but probably nothing like you have! And I have never tried to polish or cut anything myself. I have enough hobbies as it is :P

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nikkubus

I miss going to gem shows. It's been forever. I wouldn't know the first place to look where to even find a schedule or anything. So much stuff at those that I would have never thought existed before seeing it. I fondly remember being absolutely blown away with watermelon tourmaline. I had no idea at the time that they could grow like that with different colors vs multi-colored stones that you see more commonly where it's several little layers or speckles of color. Since then, I have become quite fond of fluorite with the huge variety of purples and greens, every one looking unique. I've got a small collection of tumbled stones and pieces of crystals but probably nothing like you have! And I have never tried to polish or cut anything myself. I have enough hobbies as it is :P

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There's one that comes to my town every year for 2 days (over a weekend), except with this pandemic, it's probably off again. :tears: But I'm a devotee, as is a friend of mine who makes & sells jewelry.

When I previously lived in the So Cal desert, we had one every year there too, & the house I owned there was built & occupied before me by "rock tumblers" & they left piles of geodes in the yard. :cool:

I probably shouldn't have moved...it was a very special place, & I never got around to breaking open any of the rocks they left. There was snowflake obsidian & "Apache tears" laying around, & all sorts of things. And don't get me started on the cactus plants. In addition, they built huge red-rock terraces in the hill that the house sat atop. They freaked out though with the big earthquake we had (Landers quake of '92), moved out of state & put this house up for sale that they built & had planned to stay in forever. No one else was buying houses for a while after that...it sat there waiting for me to come along & fall in love with it. Yeah, I probably should have stayed, part of me is still there with the coyotes & the rattlesnakes, but life gets complicated, doesn't it?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

There's one that comes to my town every year for 2 days (over a weekend), except with this pandemic, it's probably off again. :tears: But I'm a devotee, as is a friend of mine who makes & sells jewelry.

When I previously lived in the So Cal desert, we had one every year there too, & the house I owned there was built & occupied before me by "rock tumblers" & they left piles of geodes in the yard. :cool:

I probably shouldn't have moved...it was a very special place, & I never got around to breaking open any of the rocks they left. There was snowflake obsidian & "Apache tears" laying around, & all sorts of things. And don't bet me started on the cactus plants. In addition, they built huge red-rock terraces in the hill that the house sat atop. They freaked out though with the big earthquake we had (Landers quake of '92), moved out of state & put this house up for sale that they built & had planned to stay in forever. No one else was buying houses for a while after that...it sat there waiting for me to come along & fall in love with it. Yeah, I probably should have stayed, part of me is still there with the coyotes & the rattlesnakes, but life gets complicated, doesn't it?

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That place sounds so cool. It sure does get complicated and things change so much so fast. Who knows what is going to happen, or when we will be able to have big conventions again in some of these states where it's banned right now.

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Originally Posted by nikkubus

Since then, I have become quite fond of fluorite with the huge variety of purples and greens, every one looking unique.

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I like fluorite as well. It is a challenging material to work with though because it is relatively soft...to cut/polish effectively specialized tools would be required (which I don't have). There are many different 'varieties' of fluorite from different locales. Photo #6 is Mexican fluorite in a Quartz matrix. Quartz is substantially harder than the fluorite so it wears down slower and the fluorite grinds away in the tumbler and creates uneven pieces. I know a lot of people who tumble rocks will avoid fluorite completely, the hobby itself tests ones patience, and soft material compounds the level of difficulty/aggravation. I do find rock tumbling is significantly less taxing on my patience based than double-triple recessive ball python morph projects. :)