Grab Bags?

[Orlandoflor]

Been hearing about these bags you get in trying to get some weird morphs. I know they are all normals and it's almost impossible to get a new morphs then it got me wondering where can someone get one of these.

[R&DP]

If you get on FaunaClassifieds Look up Josh@outbackreps, He works with Outback reptiles. Last spring they where offering grab bags, imported from Africa. They are mostly normals, but you could also get yellowbelly's, broken stipes, pastels. you never know what you could get. Maybe all normals, it's a gamble.

[joepythons]

I myself would not bother wasting the money.Thats unless you like mite or tick infested stressed out to the hilt never going to eat for ya ball pythons.They are picked thru no matter what they try to tell you.So why not spend money on established CLEAN Captive bred ball pythons?

[PweEzy]

Ya if people claim that they haven't been picked thru, I call BS. If someone goes thru the effort of importing the animals, why wouldn't they look thru to see if there is anything that looks semi special. Just saying...

[SlitherinSisters]

I myself would not bother wasting the money.Thats unless you like mite or tick infested stressed out to the hilt never going to eat for ya ball pythons.They are picked thru no matter what they try to tell you.So why not spend money on established CLEAN Captive bred ball pythons?

Good point. That's exactly why I stay away from imports. I don't want to deal with health issues or a snake that refuses to eat...It's a great concept, but I have no doubt they have been picked through and the best/most unique are sold for 50k to the big breeders. I don't doubt there are pastels in the bags, they probably look like crap! If you keep your eye out you can find some pretty neat/unique patterned normals at shows and online.

[josh@outbackreps]

Wow!!

I am glad people like Joe know it all !!

The true on these babies bags have been posted in other threads on her in the past, and I have gone over great detail on imports in general.

Just to be clear :

There are no mites in Africa!

C.H Babies do not have ticks either, they are not in the wild, the are hatched in a "captive" situation in West Africa. Being a loose term this could mean a large incubation room at a exporters facility, or it could be a large pit/ dug out area with damp bedding for the eggs to hatch. Either way they are not crawling around getting ticks or parasites. They hatch and are shipped generally before they are 3-4 days old.

These animals feed very well, and when compared to domestic have about the same feeding response and growth rates. The big perk on these animals is they introduce new bloodlines to existing animals on the market.

On the subject of them being picked threw in Africa : We have never stated that these baby bags will have ghost, albinos,pieds, phantoms, or anything like that. That would be stupid to say, the collectors in Africa are there to make money.
If a animal is visual that they see it being crazy then they will sell it as a special. ($50,000 not so much..)

What you can get in the baby bags is nice broken stripes, dark aberrant animals, granites, yellow bellies, high golds, odd patterns and a lot of potential morph animals. Potential morphs being animals that are different but not know what they might really be.

By sending out aberrant and fancy animals in the normal groups they are creating their own demand for their product. Baby ball volume increases by people wanting to get to see whats in the unopened bag. Letting a few nice animals go when packing bags makes sense for the exporter as it creates a demand for babies, and specials as well.

As for the bags here, babies come in at around 2500-4500 per order.


With them comes 500 Savannah's, 200 Niles, 200 fat tails, and a 100 or chameleons. The time it takes to sort soak and set up all the lizards, and fancy balls alone is back breaking. When 2500-4500 babies come in we pull the bags from the crate, (unopened) smell the bag to make sure there are no obvious DOA animals (about 1 out of every 1000 animals is DOA) and put it into a shipping box for FedEx to pick up.
The time to pick threw the bags, pull a animal that we are going to try to retail, pack the bags back up, ship the babies out and not get any happy customers is not worth it. Even if there was a albino in the bag it would not be worth while.

Babies are shipped in such volume that they need to come and go before the next group arrives.
We buy specials every year in large volume so picking threw a "normal" bag is like going to a snake show with lavender albinos and pied but only putting a normal baby male on your table..not only does it make you look bad, and upset your clients but also is far from profitable.


Like them or not, c.h and wc have their place in our industry and they ll can do very well when the right care is taken with them.

[Misfit]

Mites and ticks are one thing... then there are parasites. :/ They're a whole different deal and the likelihood of internal parasites of any kind is a possibility.

Granted, I don't know this industry and my opinion is based off of vet assist work with dogs, cats, etc. Parasites are parasites though, so I just think that'd be one thing to definitely worry about.

Either way, I don't support any kind of animal mill, be it dogs, cats, or snakes. That is, essentially, what it is. I'm not trying to be offensive, or start an argument. Just throwing out my opinion, and I acknowledge that it's not as knowledgeable as most out there.

[redstormlax12]

Granted, I don't know this industry and my opinion is based off of vet assist work with dogs, cats, etc. Parasites are parasites though, so I just think that'd be one thing to definitely worry about.

So are you stating your a vet tech? I actually work in a vets office while im in college for pre-vet, granted im only a freshman, but have already assisted in surgeries, administered medications, along with assisting in procedures every day.

I will tell you now a parasite is not a parasite. Parasites are extremely host specific organisms. A very small percentage of parasites, diseases, viruses, etc. are actually zoonotic, meaning they are able to be transfered to humans. So if your worried about contracting a parasite yourself from the imports than the chances are nil to none. That being said, internal parasites are treated on a regular basis, and the herps you have in your collection now most likely have some parasites residing in them at the moment, but they are not able to thrive because of the immune system.

Honestly there is not much to worry about with the parasites. Yes some are actually able to thrive in humans, but most are not. Parasites are very specialized organisms.

[Misfit]

So are you stating your a vet tech? I actually work in a vets office while im in college for pre-vet, granted im only a freshman, but have already assisted in surgeries, administered medications, along with assisting in procedures every day.

I will tell you now a parasite is not a parasite. Parasites are extremely host specific organisms. A very small percentage of parasites, diseases, viruses, etc. are actually zoonotic, meaning they are able to be transfered to humans. So if your worried about contracting a parasite yourself from the imports than the chances are nil to none. That being said, internal parasites are treated on a regular basis, and the herps you have in your collection now most likely have some parasites residing in them at the moment, but they are not able to thrive because of the immune system.

Honestly there is not much to worry about with the parasites. Yes some are actually able to thrive in humans, but most are not. Parasites are very specialized organisms.

Eek! I didn't mean getting a parasite from a snake. I meant that mites and ticks aren't the only worry for the health of the snakes you could get from grab bags. I was just throwing out there that they could have parasites, too and that could be an issue.

I'm not a vet tech, but I was a vet assistant. That's why I said assist. :] Just shortened it, sorry for the confusion. I helped a bit with simple surgeries, but mostly was the fecal-slave and shot-giver. I worked at an animal shelter for a year-ish doing this, so that's my experience. I'm heading toward pre-vet too, maaaybe.

Sorry about the mix-up. I'm not worried about my personal health, but the health of the critters. :]

[hud556]

Been hearing about these bags you get in trying to get some weird morphs. I know they are all normals and it's almost impossible to get a new morphs then it got me wondering where can someone get one of these.

Check your local weekend reptile show. Somebody always seems to have a giant crate full of imported ball's you can rummage through (same goes for blood's and Sav's).