Personal Opinions on Spiders

[JodanOrNoDan]

My Spiders that actively wobble when excited or during feeding seem to suffer no ill effects other than the occasional weak/missed strikes, 99.5% of the time they are asymptomatic.

Any Spider morph I produce with passive wobble gets culled immediately regardless of value/genetics. I'm not for weakening bloodlines or propagating defective pets.

So you cull every one of them?

I have been away from the board for awhile. When I decided I needed to get back on here I made a decision to halt rumors and stop the propagation of false facts. When I know the facts, I am going to speak and when I don't I am going to shut up.

Spider Morph

I have quite a few at this point, and have hatched many more. I originally avoided this animal because of many of the falsehoods surrounding it. The following is what I believe to be the truth.

1. Spider is a defect. There is no debating that. It is most likely a neurological problem that demonstrates itself by the snake not being able to keep its head oriented.

2. It cannot be bred out other than by crossing it to a blackhead, and then you end up with a snake that no longer looks like a spider. This indicates the visual changes are "hard linked" to the neuro defect.

3. Spiders have less eating problems than other bp's. False. My numbers show the same ratios as other morphs.

4. Spiders like different temps than other BP's. False.

5. Spiders are better behaved than others. False. Jerk spiders come in the same ratio as other jerk snakes.

6. Non-wobbling, severe-wobbling. etc. No such thing. If they are a spider they wobble. I can get a severe wobbling snake to stop and I can get a non-severe wobbling one to demonstrate a severe wobble.

7. Younger spiders in my observation have less muscle definition in the neck which makes controlling the head more difficult. Visual wobble decreases with improved muscle definition.

8. They absolutely do eat, poop, and breed to the same degree as any other bp. There is no indication that they are in pain or even care that they have an issue.

9. The degree of the wobble is in direct proportion to how excited and or stressed the animal is.

10. Spider x Spider is fatal. Maybe not 100% proven but close enough in my book. I don't do the breeding.

11. Spider cannot survive in the wild. This is kaka. The original spider was wild caught.

The following is my opinion, so take it for what it is worth. My favorite animals happen to be spiders. Not because of what they look like but because they are "better" pets. Let's face it, bp's display little to no indication about how they are "feeling". The defect in the Spider bp gives you a not so subtle visual indicator into the snake's mental state. A corkscrewing spider is either upset about something or it is really flipping hungry. When I experiment with husbandry, I almost always use spiders because I know when something is wrong. If the animal is displaying more than a minor twitch something is up. For jerk spiders, it is very easy to tell when the animal wants to tag you.

So for those of you who believe you have minor wobbling animals, congratulations, you are most likely have a "happy" animal. For those who think they have severely afflicted animals, if it is not feeding time and the animal is going ballistic there is a problem.

It is because of these things, that I not only believe spiders should be bred (outside of spider x spider) but they are also the best first ball python for beginners. They take a lot of the guesswork away. You can tell when the snake is "happy" or it is uncomfortable with its current situation.