Thoughts on this normal girl?

I've had this girl since September. I got her from the breeder I got Xavier (my bumblebee) from as a bonus for him forgetting to ship on the planned day. Really nice of him by the way. He did it as an apology and I didn't even know he had done it until the package was in the mail. Anyways, as far as anyone knows she is a normal bred from a WC/imported female, but the bigger she gets, she keeps getting more and more of this orange coloration on her sides. I've seen normals with a fair bit of yellow, but never with this much orange. What do you guys think of this girl? I think I definitely want to try her out breeding with my spider combos and see what happens.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...0314-04107.jpg

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...0314-04106.jpg


Cool belly pattern as well.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...0314-04100.jpg

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...0314-04101.jpg


And here she is from just a normal view.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...0314-04098.jpg

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...0314-04096.jpg


She hasn't been officially added to the Ball Clan yet, but I'm starting to think I don't want her going anywhere. Her name is Mercedes.

Opinions? Thanks for looking.

Looks like a high gold normal to me. Pretty girl.

Shes pretty for a normal but it kind sounds like the guy pawned her off on you. For a pet awesome for breeding it seems like a bad idea in my opinion cause of the cost to feed and house her for her to only help put out more normals which people seem to be giving away these days. But you never know

BPs are like flowers to me. I honestly think they are all beautiful. Some more bright or unique than others but none are dull or boring. I think you have a beautiful girl there. I really like her belly markings.. Sexy.. ha..

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Originally Posted by MonkeyShuttle

Shes pretty for a normal but it kind sounds like the guy pawned her off on you. For a pet awesome for breeding it seems like a bad idea in my opinion cause of the cost to feed and house her for her to only help put out more normals which people seem to be giving away these days. But you never know

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I'm sure the guy did pawn her off on me. But she did not cost any extra. I actually did pawn her off on a friend at first, but they were starving her to the point that she was emaciated and weak so I brought her back home because I truly believed she would have starved to death if I had not. I brought her back home at the end of January and I have gotten her up from 91 grams on January 26 to roughly 200 grams as of yesterday afternoon. She has shed twice since I brought her home, and I just noticed that orange increasing with each shed so it made me curious if that could be something that might contribute to my fires or spiders in the future.

At this point, probably just because of her first few months, I guess I'm a little protective of her so if I decide to get rid of her, I would only give her to someone who I was pretty sure would take care of her. She was honestly in pretty sad shape six weeks ago.

Its so stupid that some people get pets (no matter the pet) and they don't take care of them.

This was her a few days after I got her back, after one meal.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...after1meal.jpg

And this is her as of right now.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...0314-04108.jpghttp://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...0314-04111.jpg

I personally think she looks much better now. :D


The camera doesn't do it justice but she has made a HUGE improvement. In that first pic, she actually had difficulty holding herself up. She would hang limp from my fingers. Now, she is back to normal strength and looks healthy again.

She is very pretty, but honestly, I don't see anything in her except a very nice Normal.

She certainly is a lovely normal. One of the wonderful things about normals is the enormous variation in them. I've seen a few with that same warm orange on their sides. I've always found it beautiful. And I don't see any reason why she could not contribute desirable traits to her future offspring. Certainly, people will tell you not to breed normals or single gene animals because of the overabundance of normal baby ball pythons that flood the market every year. But even so, there are always people looking for normals. Many small pet shop owners visit reptile shows looking to buy up the normals for re-sale in their shop. And there are always people looking for a first snake who may not be willing to invest a few hundred dollars right away until they are sure they can properly care for a snake.

Many people with large, expensive collections of multi-gene animals started off with a normal or two. You may not want to breed all normal females to all single gene males and end up with dozens of normal babies. But to breed a few special normal females to specific males to enhance desired traits... what's wrong with that?

Gale

Pretty. 👍
But I don't think you do what he did and ship an animal without telling you. What if you didn't have any space for it? It's a live animal, not a sticker or a sample.. It's sad that people value normals so little because they are so cheap..:/
Glad you took care of it!

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Originally Posted by kikkimea

Pretty. 
But I don't think you do what he did and ship an animal without telling you. What if you didn't have any space for it? It's a live animal, not a sticker or a sample.. It's sad that people value normals so little because they are so cheap..:/
Glad you took care of it!

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Yeah, truly I didn't really have the space for her which is why I originally gave her to my friend. But then when I saw that she was starving to death a few months later, there was no way I could leave her. Babies just don't have the stores saved up to go without food for weeks on end, so you can't just not get around to feeding them on time.

I wasn't rude about it, I was just like "I need to borrow her for a while. It looks like she will die if I don't take her today." And I wasn't lying to them. Her backbone was starting to protrude, her neck was about as the thickness of an ink pen, and I could drape her over my finger and she would hang limp instead of retracting her head and wrapping around with her tail like most ball will do in that position.

But she has made SO much progress. Two sheds and several rat pups later, you'd never know there had been anything wrong with her. Plus she's getting a lot prettier with that orange. I guess I'm getting a little attached to her now, so I guess I'll just have to wait and see what her future holds.

Well done! I probably wouldn't have been as forthcoming with that kind of neglect, so good for you :) I need to learn to take the high road once in a while:)

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Originally Posted by Ball Clan

I'm sure the guy did pawn her off on me. But she did not cost any extra. I actually did pawn her off on a friend at first, but they were starving her to the point that she was emaciated and weak so I brought her back home because I truly believed she would have starved to death if I had not. I brought her back home at the end of January and I have gotten her up from 91 grams on January 26 to roughly 200 grams as of yesterday afternoon. She has shed twice since I brought her home, and I just noticed that orange increasing with each shed so it made me curious if that could be something that might contribute to my fires or spiders in the future.

At this point, probably just because of her first few months, I guess I'm a little protective of her so if I decide to get rid of her, I would only give her to someone who I was pretty sure would take care of her. She was honestly in pretty sad shape six weeks ago.

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I agree with Monkeyshuttle...and yes, it will cost you extra. Every time you have to feed, not to mention clean up after it. Also, the breeder just assumed you were prepared to care for an extra snake? What if you had no extra space or enclosure for it? That breeder is a donkey...

for breeding, its not really worth it.

for example, on facebook i keep getting an ad from BHB reptiles. they sell 3 normal hatchlings for 50 dollars, and you can choose the gender. so if you want normal female hatchlings, you can get them from a big and reputable breeder for 17 dollars each. the offer got posted repeatedly over quite a while. they did not sell out quickly.

but then, if you have the free space for another female and you have a really good male and right now you dont have the money for a good morph female to fill the slot, why not? but then, basic single gene female morphs are affordable enough, and you can only hit new combos you do not yet have and can only advance when it comes to the number of genes when both parents contribute to the genetics.


good job on taking her in and getting her back in shape, i guess i would try to rehome/sell her to a good future owner as a pet. at least they get more valuable as they get bigger.

its sad that even such a beautiful female normal (she really is pretty) is so low in value nowadays, but its just the reality of the situation, and no individual can change it.

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I agree with Monkeyshuttle...and yes, it will cost you extra. Every time you have to feed, not to mention clean up after it.

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I'm not sure there is any need to take issue there. Right now I have plenty of rats. I have 2.6 breeders all producing pretty well (knock on wood) and it's not hurting me at all to spare a rat pup or two every couple of weeks. No offense, but if economics become a problem, I'm pretty sure I will be the first to know.

As for what I actually will breed in the next couple of years, it really depends on what I produce this year. If Diablo (check my sig) produces me enough fire and spider combos to build up some good funds, I will look into a more potent female to bring aboard. Or if I am lucky enough to hit a super fire female (Diablo x Fiona), then obviously I will be hanging onto her. Either of those possibilities would bump little Mercedes out, if not one or two others. However if I whiff on the odds then I'll stick to what I have until I produce or can afford something better, and in that case, if Mercedes' upkeep is not a burden, I don't see any harm in keeping her around.

It all depends on a lot of things, but I am enjoying her right now, and as long as that's the case, she's worth plucking the occasional rat pup out of the breeder bins. ;)

She could also be a great girl for pairing with a male super morph with her color influence. What would be cool if you had a diamond in the ruff like the orange dream. Doesn't look to epic as a single gene but pair it with anything or make a super and you have some pretty exceptional combos.