Snakes and Stones Pr. 2

[Lord Sorril]

Photo #517

A Het Piebald ball python with a piece of Lapis Lazuli from Afghanistan.
I purchased several lbs of Lapis Lazuli years ago before the price skyrocketed.

Randomly: My gf asked me to photograph a neat moth outside...that is not a moth...that is a Tiger Bee Fly...

I would have liked to have gotten a better macro photo of its face, but I was too intimidated by a fly the size of a half-dollar to get any closer.

Fun fact: Tiger Bee Flies eat nectar and pollen as adults, but their larvae are strictly parasites of Carpenter Bees.
After a bit more research I learned they are completely harmless to people.

[Lord Sorril]

Photo #518

BP = Pastel/Lesser/Hypo, assorted stones (from mostly the western USA, with a bit of Eastern USA, Africa, Brazil, and India).

Also, I stopped by my local Village Silversmith (Hampton Beach, NH) in the Spring (2025).
Snapped a few quick photos with my cell phone (I did not buy anything).

[Homebody]

I love the rocks in the gumball machine. That's clever marketing.

[Lord Sorril]

I love the rocks in the gumball machine. That's clever marketing.

Yes I agree! Putting real stones in a vending machine is a great idea to teach kids about geology/mineralogy.
What I don't like are vending machines that dispense molded plastic and then has the gall to refer to them as real minerals...like this one I saw:







Photo #519

Piebald ball python hatchling pre-first-shed.
Stone is a large chunk of tumbled/polished agate with a large crystallized water band in the center (from the Northwest USA).

[Lord Sorril]

Photo #520

Het Piebald with a piece of Jasp-Agate (from the USA).
I'm certain there are people that can tell you (based on color/patterning) the exact mine this stone came from.

Breeders Note: It appears that most of my 20+ females that I used only 2 males on (1:1) are absorbing their follicles. I knew this was a definite possibility. Next year I'm going to mate these females at a 2:1 (male:female ratio). Unfortunately/(Fortunately?) I'm going to have an epic number of females breeding next season as my next wave reaches maturity...I'm going to need more incubators, more rodents, and more time/effort....*sigh*

Side Story: I was working on cleaning my snakes 2 days ago and I was staggering around from exhaustion (it is a lot of snakes+it has been in the high 80's). I accidentally bumped one of my enclosures and the latches shifted. I went in yesterday to feed off some rodents and my Dreamsicle ball python was gone-she pushed the door hard enough to offset the latches-and escaped! I searched all the usual places, but no luck. I stood in the center of my snake room and tried to think of anywhere I did not look. Ball pythons without fail will look for a dark cramped spot to cram their body into during the daylight hours. I knew the Dreamsicle is a fairly decent size now-so the number of tight spot options she had in the room were limited. There is a possibility that she left the room via the gap under the door, but, that seemed unlikely. Suddenly I recalled that I had moved my trash bin earlier and it seemed 'too heavy'. I lifted the trash bag out of the bin and yep, she was in there! It was odd though: she would have had to somehow scale up the vertical side of the barrel, go under the lip of the trash bag and then fall to the bottom of the barrel...an odd maneuver, but that is what she did.... I put her back in her enclosure and offered her a rodent before closing the door and she coiled it immediately...

[Bogertophis]

Love your "side stories"! I'm so glad you found your dumpster-diving Dreamsicle. I'd imagine she was drawn in by some lingering aromas? Funny what a motivated snake can do...

BTW, I feel for ya...that used to be me when I had a house-full (& I do mean FULL) of snakes..."staggering around from exhaustion". I'm old enough to know better now. I do still miss having rattling roomies, but it's very nice just having a few pet rat snakes these days in terms of upkeep.

[Lord Sorril]

Love your "side stories"! I'm so glad you found your dumpster-diving Dreamsicle. I'd imagine she was drawn in by some lingering aromas? Funny what a motivated snake can do...

BTW, I feel for ya...that used to be me when I had a house-full (& I do mean FULL) of snakes..."staggering around from exhaustion". I'm old enough to know better now. I do still miss having rattling roomies, but it's very nice just having a few pet rat snakes these days in terms of upkeep.

Thanks! Yes, I imagine she went into the barrel due to some lingering rodent smells...

My ball python collection is not much work most of the year, however, I have been spending so much more time on it lately trying to keep conditions optimum for females who may decide to lay eggs (e.g. spot clean 3X/day, change water 2x/week, full enclosure disinfection/week, offering all-you-can-eat/every 7 days). My snake room is not air conditioned, but, can easily reach 89F. When the temperatures outside are hot-higher temperatures=faster metabolism=more cleaning=more work...

Sometimes I think about scaling back my collection to maybe 100 ball pythons and 'taking it easy'. But, then I think: Life is short.

Photo #521

Hunk of agate from the mid-west USA with a Het piebald ball python.

Breeders Note: I also produced a super small Banana hatchling last week.
~25mm when balled up, these super small hatchlings make me nervous because it becomes a very fine line between non-eating and starvation.
If they get started properly though they will reach full size without issue.
I was going to add a photo here, but Ball-Pythons.net is not allowing it at the moment.
I will add a photo of the super small in the following post (if I can).

[Lord Sorril]

For whatever reason Ball-Pythons.net won't take my original uploaded image of the following tiny snake (shown below).
I mirrored the image in my server and for whatever reason it will accept the copy lol...

The photo above is without camera flash, and the photo below is with.
Banana ball python morphs bother my eyes because they always look different to me from varying angles/lighting.
Photo #522

I'm the first to admit I'm not very good at ID'ing Banana morphs.
This one was the offspring of a Banana/Pastel/Hypo x Lesser/HGW/50% Pos. Het Hypo.
So...based on the lightening of the bands, head coloration, and the weird patterning...I'm guessing this one is Banana/HGW, but I'm definitely not certain.
The stone is a small piece of Jasp-Agate from the Mid-West USA.

Note: I hatched two clutches from this breeding configuration. If you are wondering if I produced a Banana Soul Sucker (Banana/HGW/Lesser), the answer is no (doh!).

[Lord Sorril]

Photo #523

A chunk of heavily pitted agate from the Mid-West USA.
The face on this ball python looks kinda weird lololol.
I was unable to find much in the way of reference images, but, my best guess on this ball python is Banana/Pastel/HGW/Het Hypo.
I have Banana Pastels in my collection and they lack the 'diamond' banding pattern and the enhanced white coloration rising from the belly (shown below).


I think this one looks pretty nice.
This guy gets moved into my holdbacks for this season (2025).

[Lord Sorril]

Photo #524

BP = HGW/Lesser (aka Soul Sucker).
The stone is a piece of agate from the Mid-West USA. You can see the windows of my room reflected in the polish.

I also mentioned previously that I was planning on breaking up some pieces of Jade to tumble...
I managed to get a few thinner pieces to break under a sledge and chisel...my larger pieces though...ain't gonna happen...
Most lapidary focused users use saws and heavy power tools with diamond tips to work with Jade, I'm not so dedicated.
This is what 30 minutes of my sledge and chisel method (+sore arms) gets me on just one piece of Jade:

I know I promised myself I wouldn't tumble large stones because it takes many months...but.........
maybe I will make an exception for these...while Jade is the toughest natural mineral, it is not the hardest and can be worn down in a tumbler.

Oh, and btw, not all Jade is green, it comes in a variety of colors (including purple).