Thanks for the links but I didn't quite see what I was looking for. Most of them are honestly just hear say with only one that I could find where someone shared their story of a female needing surgery to remove the eggs which was actually posted on both Kingsnake and Fauna (pretty popular websites). One instance of a female slugging out posted on multiple (popular) websites (where it can spread fast to seem like a much bigger problem than what it really is) isn't much to go on. Reading all these threads makes it sound like there's been a huge amount of dead females because people kept trying to breed the unbreedable but if there really are tons of people with dead desert females, I think it would be beneficial right now if they would speak up. Show pictures or even just speak for yourself (or your snakes). What were the circumstances of the female (slow growth, small size, bred young, bred undersized)? What generation is she? What line is she from? What was she bred to? What temps was she kept at and do YOU think it's because of a particular reason (environmental stress from changing environments or change in feeding strategies)? What happened once she was bred and ovulated (had slugs or became eggbound)?
I know it's hard to talk about the death of a loved pet, especially when you may see it as being your fault. I truly believe less people would try it if there was more to go on. You know those pictures of black lungs that they show people to scare them away from smoking? That's the basic idea but this (to me) seems all too familiar with all the reading I've done on the Caramel Albinos (which I do own and hold out hope for) but again it is mostly all hear say. Only recently has anyone come forward to say that there are things you can do to avoid them from slugging out and kinking. Maybe it's the same with Desert females? Although, in the case of Caramels, the females aren't dying from being eggbound. People are basically shooed off of the forums when they want more than the one experience with these Desert girls, but I don't really blame them to keep asking if there's nothing else anyone can show them other than a single female with obvious deformities (it happens, even in normals). If someone is going to revive hope in this gene with pictures and "proof" then it's only right to counter it and revive (with facts and proof) the reasons why they shouldn't try it. I'll keep digging to see what I can come up with myself but if you have a first hand account then please do share it. Also, please understand, this isn't intended to cause a bunch of drama as I've seen on some of the other threads so please don't turn it into something it's not.
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