Where are the deserts?

[1nstinct]

I'm with you serpent, I would live to add a desert male, but just don't want to get the risk of producing a female heavy clutch of deserts and then be stuck with them. Don't get me wrong i would love to be able to have a wall of ball python enclosures but dot have them space or Money for 10 cages that cost 300 each, when I can get a rack and house 10 adults in a smaller area.

[WingedWolfPsion]

Oh, there's no way you'd be stuck with them--you can sell them at pet prices to good pet owners, making sure they understand that the animal should never be bred or placed with another animal. Just because they don't sell for $300 doesn't meant they wouldn't sell for $50, and that makes them no 'worse' than normals.

If someone discovered a morph that only reproduced itself 25% of the time, and 3/4 of the clutch were normals, no one would even BLINK--they'd love the thing. While there are considerations in terms of informing customers with this, I don't see it as significantly different.

[Gloryhound]

I think they will end up in pet stores before long. They are pretty snakes that definately look different than normals. Pet stores advertise albino ball pythons at $500, they could probably sell the female deserts at around $250 or so and uneducated people will buy them. Expect to see a lot of people coming in saying they just bought their first ball python and it will be a female desert being unloaded at a pet store.

[zach_24_90]

I've said all along and I'll stick to it that people try breeding them too small. Maye when they just make weight and you breed them they are more prone to getting egg bound. But you don't ever really see the 2000g+ females out there do you? I wonder why this is? Somebody's going to get one proved if not already and just hasn't come forward to the public.

[Mrl249]

I have only heard tales about female deserts not being able to breed. I don't know the whole story( if there is one) Would someone kindly explain?? Was it the first one brought in that couldn't breed? Almost like the spider head wobble for example.
Thanks
-M

[rabernet]

There's a HUGE long thread you can read here: http://www.reptileradio.net/reptiler...ny-Desert-News

And there have been females over 2000 grams bred who laid slugs or died a slow painful death as a result.

At this point, as much as I love the mutation, I'd never breed them - even the males. I wouldn't be able to guarantee that someone wouldn't still try to breed the resulting females, and I can't have that on my conscience.

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I've said all along and I'll stick to it that people try breeding them too small. Maye when they just make weight and you breed them they are more prone to getting egg bound. But you don't ever really see the 2000g+ females out there do you? I wonder why this is? Somebody's going to get one proved if not already and just hasn't come forward to the public.

There's no reason why someone would withhold information about a successful breeding while the market on them is tanking.

[Mrl249]

There's a HUGE long thread you can read here: http://www.reptileradio.net/reptiler...ny-Desert-News

And there have been females over 2000 grams bred who laid slugs or died a slow painful death as a result.

At this point, as much as I love the mutation, I'd never breed them - even the males. I wouldn't be able to guarantee that someone wouldn't still try to breed the resulting females, and I can't have that on my conscience.

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There's no reason why someone would withhold information about a successful breeding while the market on them is tanking.

Thanks so much I appreciate it!!

[heathers*bps]

I just saw a female desert on fauna last week going for like $1700. Sorry, but that is WAY more than I would pay for a pet.

Actually my personal preference is to just leave the desert gene to someone else.

[Dragoon]

The price will come down with inventory going up. If the desert projects drop off it is less likely the females will hit the low price people would like for a pet. Few produced will keep them scarce and with the female desert news more people don't want males either. Prices will probably hit the lowest they will ever be by the end of the year. If the prices drop very low people may just stop breeding them.

[WingedWolfPsion]

I just read a very interesting bit that was posted on the Reptile Report (can't remember which forum it originated on). Someone had a female desert that, of course, became egg bound, so he got snapshots of the surgery to remove the eggs. As it turns out, she had extremely tight strictures in her ovaducts, and that's what prevented the eggs from passing. They could not be manipulated out, surgery was the only option. Said they couldn't even fit a catheter through the strictures.

So, NO, this is not a matter of breeding deserts that are too small. It is not going to magically resolve itself if you change the temperatures, or the feeding schedule, or whatever. These female deserts have physical defects in their ovaducts, and that is why they are dying.

The infertility problem is probably in addition to that, not caused by it, as obviously not all female deserts die right away, and they are able to pass some slugs, so some of their ovaducts don't have strictures.