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  1. #1
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    Morph behavioral traits

    Ok, so I used to be into corn snakes and I LOVED blood reds. They were always rumored to be picky eaters. When I got into bps, my two big favorites were spiders and pieds. Pieds were supposedly picky as well, and spiders wobbled, so along with the prices five years ago, I was a little concerned to actually get into those morphs. I've also heard that clowns are supposed to be snappier than other bps. What are some of the other odd traits that may ore may not have anything to do with particular morphs? I'm not asking this to box in morphs as "fussy" or "nasty" because I've seen a lot of the ideas about them change.

    Heck, my het pied male USED to be a picky eater and now he only turns anything down when he's in shed. My newer pied girl is a legless garbage (rodent) disposal!

    I'm curious to hear what other morphs seem to have personality traits attached to them. Though I obviously understand in most cases, these are simply things that are proven to either be vague trends or simply rumors rather than absolute truth.
    1.0 Het Piebald (Lycaeus)
    1.0 Spider (V "Fawkes")
    0.1 Piebald (Fia)
    0.2 Pastel (Chalcomede & Daeneyrs "Dany")
    0.1 orangebelly (Secha "Veruca Salt")

    R.I.P my babies
    Texas luecistic ratsnake (Ripley) 0.1
    Ball Python (Ariadne) 0.1
    Ball Python (Montreal) 1.0

  2. #2
    BPnet Royalty OhhWatALoser's Avatar
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    each animal is an individual, no one morph is pickier, nastier, meaneier, nicer, *insert other adjective here*, ect. so don't believe anything anyone has told you otherwise.

    as far as odd traits, spiders got the apparent neurological issue, some say womas do also. caramel albinos tend to have kinking problems, super black pastel/cinny can duck bill, some BEL can bug eye.

    but as far as personality and how they act, that changes animal to animal, nothing to do with what morph they are.

  3. #3
    BPnet Veteran DC Reptiles's Avatar
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    I have quite a few different morphs and they really do vary by snake. Like my albinos, my older female and male are nice as can be, but my 2010 hatchling is nasty and was a picky eater out of the egg but now she kill anything but still nasty. My calico male use to be super nasty out of the egg and now hes calm as can be. My cinnys, pastels, yellow bellies, pinstirpe, hets and normals are great all around and have never had any type of issue with them. Now my granite girl is only a hatchling again and is super nasty but I think most of them grow out of it. As far as feeding issues go I've had a few go off but due to breeding. The only one that was an issue was my het albino girl went off feed for 7 months from the breeder I got her off of, and a month later after I got her she was and still is pounding down anything I throw in her cage. But I've heard about pieds being picky eaters. My pied male and het female will eat anything and my male is over 1000grams and my girl is 1100 grams. I'm sure you'll hear all different kinds of stories though
    DC Reptiles.com coming soon....

  4. #4
    Registered User JABA's Avatar
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    Re: Morph behavioral traits

    I have yet to see a Mojave that is not a tremendous feeder. The strike range and willingness to strike from long distance is incredible for my 2010 male.
    Although, I do agree that individuals clearly have distinct personalities that are not contained within a specific morph.

  5. #5
    BPnet Lifer snakesRkewl's Avatar
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    My 2000 gram clown male is as gentle as any ball ever could be and I know people who have pieds that eat every time offered and are as voracious as any other ball.
    Rumors about morphs being this way and that way are just that, rumors.

    I also used to think albinos were picky but now that i have a female albino in my house(breeder loan) that eats any rodent and in any way offered and is over 2000 grams, I've come to the conclusion that they are all individuals just like people.
    Jerry Robertson

  6. #6
    BPnet Lifer dragonboy4578's Avatar
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    Re: Morph behavioral traits

    Out of all my ball pythons, my piebald is by far my best eater. He never skips a meal. I really think that he would eat every day if I let him....
    “I drink a great deal. I sleep a little, and I smoke cigar after cigar. That is why I am in two-hundred-percent form.”Winston Churchill
    1.0 '10 piebald, 0.1 '10 het piebald, 01 '07 het. Piebald
    0.1 '10 lesser, 0.1 '10 albino, 1.0 '11 Black Pastel het. Albino, 0.1 '11 het. Albino, 0.1 '08 het. Albino, 0.1 '10 het. Albino
    0.1 '09 woma, 1.0 '10 Pewter, 0.1 '11 Lesser Bee
    0.1 '10 Super Cinnamon Woma, 0.1 '10 Mojave Spider, 0.1 '11 mojave, 0.1 Super Chocolate
    0.1 '10 Pastel Yellowbelly, 1.0 '11 Pastel Yellowbelly
    1.1 '10 yellowbelly, 0.2 '10 normal
    0.1 '08 Cinnamon, '08 Normal, 0.1 '10 Orange Ghost, 0.1 Black eyed lucy possible yellowbelly
    1.0 '11 Cinnamon Enchi, 1.0 '11 pastave
    0.1 '10 coral albino Boa, '10 1.0 Sunglow boa, 11 0.1 Motley boa
    0.1 '11 Central American hypo boa, 1.0 Central American Motley
    0.1 '11+T Albino Blood, 0.1 '11 poss het. +T Albino Blood

  7. #7
    BPnet Senior Member kitedemon's Avatar
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    It is an interesting thought. I know a zoo keeper whom has breed African Rock Pythons. He obtained one that was a lot less aggressive than he expected. armed with a temperament being genetic to some degree belief he went to a large us importer and as he tells it many many bites and hours of snake temperament testing came across a second A-rock that was also reluctant to bite. The second generation results are well against the grain so to speak. He has 4 young A -Rocks that are well very mellow animals, they are used in shows and have had thousands of kids climb and poke at them with no reaction on the snakes part. The offspring he has kept (many were sold to other zoos) have as of this summer (when we spoke last) never bite anyone outside the enclosure and only one bite at the home enclosure and at that was near feeding time.

    I don't think that temperament is attached to a morph phase but it could be a genetic trait breed able like a colour trait. It seems that some breeders will often have a morph that is this or that but they may also be related to a single animal and that animals disposition has been passed along with that colour trait, a un related morph does not have the same temperament traits at all.

    Pet idea I have no hard evidence for any of this but I actually would explore it if I had a larger collection, maybe in two years I'll try my calm male to the calm female I have and see if the offspring turn out to have easy going personalities too.

  8. #8
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    Re: Morph behavioral traits

    Quote Originally Posted by kitedemon View Post
    I don't think that temperament is attached to a morph phase but it could be a genetic trait breed able like a colour trait. It seems that some breeders will often have a morph that is this or that but they may also be related to a single animal and that animals disposition has been passed along with that colour trait, a un related morph does not have the same temperament traits at all.

    Pet idea I have no hard evidence for any of this but I actually would explore it if I had a larger collection, maybe in two years I'll try my calm male to the calm female I have and see if the offspring turn out to have easy going personalities too.
    This is interesting. My new pied girl seems to be pretty mellow and is a great eater. She will take live or FT, and if I leave FT in the cage, she eventually will eat it overnight. I'm doing my best to only buy good tempered, well-feeding snakes in the hopes of getting babies that eat well and have nice dispositions. It's easy enough with BP's to find sweet snakes, and it seems most breeders are able to condition babies to eat well. For the most part, it seems like my snakes act a little different with certain people, so it not only depends on the snake, but the people interacting with them as well.

    I've heard about duck billing and kinking. It's too bad to see that happen, but most good breeders seem to not have problems finding a good pet-only home for them, or keeping the oddballs themselves!

    I'm wondering if most of the rumors are from when there were only a few examples of each morph, back when the clowns/pieds/etc were imports fresh from Africa and more prone to wild caught behaviors.
    thanks for the responses!
    1.0 Het Piebald (Lycaeus)
    1.0 Spider (V "Fawkes")
    0.1 Piebald (Fia)
    0.2 Pastel (Chalcomede & Daeneyrs "Dany")
    0.1 orangebelly (Secha "Veruca Salt")

    R.I.P my babies
    Texas luecistic ratsnake (Ripley) 0.1
    Ball Python (Ariadne) 0.1
    Ball Python (Montreal) 1.0

  9. #9
    BPnet Veteran Serpent_Nirvana's Avatar
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    Re: Morph behavioral traits

    Quote Originally Posted by darkbloodwyvern View Post
    I'm wondering if most of the rumors are from when there were only a few examples of each morph, back when the clowns/pieds/etc were imports fresh from Africa and more prone to wild caught behaviors.
    thanks for the responses!

    I think this could definitely be part of it; I also agree with Kitedemon 100% that although I don't believe temperament is necessarily a function of morph, I DO think it is a highly heritable trait in snakes just as much as any other animal. So, I think it's highly likely that some of the original "founder" morphs' temperaments have been passed through a few generations, and it's taken a bit of outcrossing to breed it out of them (in cases where it's detrimental).

    I heard the "picky pied" story for many years, enough to think that it must have originated in truth somewhere. However, my pied girl loves eating, and lately it seems I've been hearing that more than the pickiness for pieds. So, I kind of wonder if a few generations of careful breeding to good eater normals and hets has allowed the pied lines to lose the picky trait.

    The other "trait" I've heard of fairly consistently is that spiders and their crosses are supposed to be generally good eaters that grow quickly, and so far that has seemed to have held fairly true across the spider-gene animals I've had. So, I hope that's one trait that isn't lost to out-crossing (if indeed it is a fairly common thing for spiders).

  10. #10
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    Re: Morph behavioral traits

    I'm not sure that there are any particular traits to any certain morphs in reference to behavior. Each snake is different. But I can tell you about mine personally. My lessers and pastels will strike a mouse from across the room, are ferocious feeders, and very bold and outgoing. My het caramels and caramels are pretty shy and a little picky when it comes to feeding. My spider has the obvious slight wobble which isnt a behavioral trait but a neurological trait, he seems to be a very good feeder but sometimes it takes him a little longer to get that good strike. One of my fire females likes to eat her mice backwards(also an escape artist). My black pastels will usually only eat every other week. My yellow belly's and het albinos are pretty outgoing and feed great, although my male het albino is a little aggressive. My ghost is a crazy feeder and will eat anything offered at anytime and he doesnt seem to notice people at anytime and just goes about his bussiness as if he is all alone. I just got my pinstripe a couple weeks ago but so far he has been extremely shy and has yet to show any interest in feeding, hopefully he's still just getting settled in.So thats what I've noticed with my snakes.
    Last edited by Domepiece; 03-01-2011 at 03:30 PM.

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