Snakes and Stones Pr. 2

[Lord Sorril]

That puts you on the favorable side of the law of supply and demand. I imagine that's a rare occurrence these days for a ball python breeder.

Maybe.
Orange Ghost is allelic with regular Hypo. You would think it would be more common...

I really like a nice orange ghost. It was the second BP morph I ever owned (a good while ago!).

I guess other morphs outshine it now. But I do still like it by itself and in various combos.

Yeah, I remember when I first started breeding ball pythons Orange Ghost was a 'Big Thing'...now it seems everyone who was breeding Orange Ghost has shifted to Ultramel...I'm still Old-School.
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I wanted to do a really nice photo for #600, but my job has been savage. My company/team has been steadily eliminating skilled members.
As I am new--I have had very little free time for my photography these days as I am constantly working to avoid the ongoing cuts.

Photo #600

BP = Spider/Het Albino/Het Gravel or Yellow Belly
Stone = Green Aventurine (Brazil)
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Quick Update on the 2026 Breeding Season:

Out of 20 clutches, I am up to Clutch #19 hatching currently.
My last clutch #20 was collected late and will be several weeks before it hatches.

I've lost approx. 10 eggs this year so far (which is a lot for me --- mostly Spider + HGW together = Embryonic Lethal)
All of my hatchlings that are within expectation are eating (except one-my high light colored HGW/Yellow Belly - force feeding ongoing).

I have a new issue this year where randomly 1 out of 100 of my hatchlings has a regurge 2-3 days after feeding.
1% seems small, but I almost never had this issue in the past (and the smell = brutal...).

I did have one hatchling with a birth defect this year. It hatched out and then died immediately. A quick necropsy showed that the lower 1/3 of its body was underdeveloped: including the skeletal structure itself. This was a Het Piebald, the offspring of a Pastel/Piebald x GHI/Fire...the pairing was from two separate breeding lines. I am going to chalk this birth defect up to being a 'fluke'.
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In other news, I bought a frozen pizza from Walmart to try it out:

I thought it looked pretty good, but I took one bite and didn't like it, it was both a flavor and texture issue for me.
I fed a slice to every one of my stock cages of mice.
I went back the next day to check...every stock cage had eaten 100% of the pizza with the *exception* of the pepperoni...every pepperoni was only slightly chewed on the edges...

[Bogertophis]

Your job sounds very stressful & for sure, you need to keep your focus there, though we do love your photos. The one above is gorgeous.

I love pizza but I've never been brave enough to try a Marketside-Walmart pizza, though some people have said they're not bad. Thanks to your input, I think I'll pass. I can't imagine mice eating pizza no matter how good it was, other than the crust, but I can guarantee that rats would love it. (They're fun pets because they like & can eat most anything we eat.) You have strange mice.

Just what you need after a frazzling day at work is coming home to a regurge...gah, my sympathy. Also for the egg losses. With as many snakes as you produce, one known birth defect sounds pretty normal.

[Lord Sorril]

Photo #601

BP = VPI Axanthic/Hypo
Stone = Montana Agate

Fun fact: I use Lortone QT12 rotary rock tumblers to do the rough shaping of my stones (and a vibratory tumbler for polish). After 11 years I recently had to replace the motor on my first QT12 unit. When I took the tumbler apart every moving part was worn out and had to be replaced. Only the metal base and the barrel could be salvaged. Rock tumbling isn't the cheapest hobby in the world, but still a lot less costly than maintaining my ball python collection!

[Bogertophis]

Rocks are way less demanding for care, that's for sure.

That pretty stone's shape reminds me of a viper's head- just needs a tongue flicking out, some eyes & maybe some heat pits...

[Lord Sorril]

Rocks are way less demanding for care, that's for sure.

That pretty stone's shape reminds me of a viper's head- just needs a tongue flicking out, some eyes & maybe some heat pits...

Now that you mention it: It does!
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Photo #602

BP = 66% Het Clown/66% Het VPI Axanthic
Stone = Carnelian Agate (Brazil)