A secondary question: Is there anything I can do to minimize the chance of getting bug-eyed baby ball pythons?
Some online suggestions for minimizing the probability of congenital anomalies in a human baby:
Eat a healthy diet
Maintain a healthy weight.
Get 400 micrograms of folic acid daily
Avoid exposure to harmful substances, including secondary smoke
Take a daily vitamin
Seems to me that many of these suggestions for a healthy human baby would be true for ball pythons, too.
Dave Barker of VPI recommends avoiding obesity in ball pythons.
Besides humans, breeder trout, chickens and pigs need higher levels of vitamins than nonbreeders. Do breeder ball pythons? IMO, highly likely.
Adequate folic acid minimizes the risk of brain and spinal cord defects in humans. The embryonic retina is an outgrowth of brain tissue. Folic acid in found in some green leafy vegetables, nuts, beans, and citrus fruits. Do ball python embryos need folic acid? If so, how much? The ball python's standard diet in captivity is usually rats or mice. How high is the folic acid content in rats and mice? Do African rodents gut load themselves with greens at a time when ball python follicles are developing? I sure don't know the answers.
So there is some food for thought. Good luck.
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