I purchased my Desert Female at the 2007 Daytona show from Stan Chiras. The first year she got up to 800 grams in weight before shutting down. The next year she got up to about 1100 grams before shutting down again. The third year she was around 1450 grams in weight at the start of 2010 breeding season but I decided to wait one more year before trying her. This year she was at about 1750 grams when I first started pairing her up on 1/10/11. She has been ravenous since she started breeding eating every time I offer her food. I took the following picture on Friday afternoon after a shed.



I took the following picture of her on Sunday morning 3/27/11 breeding with my Male Superstripe.



Quote Originally Posted by JayCee View Post
Just found this little tidbit posted in 2009.

Both Stan Chiras and Peter Kahl, unbeknown to them, were working with two separate imported Desert balls lines at the time. It was first assumed that the desert morph was recessive, because they resembled the desert ghost mutation. While comparing breeding efforts, they later proved that the Desert gene was a simple co-dominant mutation. In theory, 50% of a clutch should be Deserts when bred to a normal phase ball python.

In conversation, Stan explained to me that the Desert ball appears to be somewhat of a dwarf sized ball python that will not bulk up in size as some balls do. The male Desert I had purchased from Stan resembled more a corn snake than a ball python at its yearling size. Stan insisted for me to pair him up with some select females this season. “He may be little, but he’ll do the job”, he assured me.

We can only imagine what a super desert would look like if it proves itself to exist this season. In the meantime, we are proud to work with our Chiras line Desert ball. One step closer, in our pursuit of the Desert Spider.
I think Stan’s comments on the Desert possibly being a dwarf mutation might have been jumping the gun a little bit don’t you think.