#normal morph ball python

[palatteflags]

Nature, Country, Sunsets, a normal morph ball python, and a 'moving onto a new chapter' quote, Javi x Boone from Twisters based moodboard For @kai-ninjago :) Hope you like how this turned out!

Want one? Send an ask~ -mod Jay

[skykittywhatchamahcallit]

Oh what beautiful worms

[kragehund-est]

it's easy to say "ban harmful breeding practices!" when the outcome is an animal you deem ugly or weird. make sure to raise awareness and bring that same energy for animals that look unremarkable or even beautiful. not all issues are as noticeable as a wheezing pug, but they can be be just as painful for the animal.

for example, unless you have some background knowledge, these animals might not look like anything special. do you recognize them?

satin coat guinea pig: these guinea pigs have glossy coats due to their hollow hairs that catch the light. that same gene also give them calcium absorption issues, leading to poor bone health and severe pain.

double merle coat aussie shepherd: when a dog has one merle gene, it has that beautiful blue merle coat aussie shepherds are famous for! if you breed together two dogs with this gene, 1/4 of their litter will inherit TWO copies of the gene, and will very likely be born deaf/blind.

scottish fold: these are a charming breed of cat with their ears folded over! that's because their cartilage isn't formed properly, leading to severe joint issues.

spider morph ball python: this morph (coat pattern) is known for its beautiful drippy pattern. the gene that gives them this pattern also causes the nervous system to develop improperly. many of these snakes are unable to live normally due to "spider wobble" syndrome that causes them to writhe and corkscrew uncontrollably.

scaleless bearded dragon: some enthusiasts like the unique smooth look of scaleless reptiles, unfortunately, a lizard that needs to sun itself without the natural protection of scales will end up burnt. also prone to infections, skin lesions, etc.

hybrid macaws: the ethics of breeding macaws are already extremely iffy. crossbreeding macaws? well this has most of the same issues but 10x worse. the extremely simplified argument is "we can't even breed pure macaws ethically, and you're breeding hybrids just for looks? you are scum"

[kedreeva]

Sorry about the color mix up. I appreciate the reply and additional info! I guess bc I know nothing about peafowl (and the fact i dont breed any type of animal), I'm having a hard time understanding how being sterile would be unethical. I do somewhat get the shortened life span. I really would like to understand this, I just sometimes need stuff explained like I'm 5.

Up front, there's no "somewhat get" to a shortened lifespan being caused by a mutation in captive populations. If an animal is capable of living 20+ years (and some live 30+ or even 40+!) and some non-essential mutation is causing them to live 7-9 years, it's flat out absolutely unethical to breed that mutation, full stop, regardless of anything else going on. That's indicative of a MAJOR problem in their genetics. There's NO ethical reason to breed that because humans like how it looks. So, even without the sterility, these birds would 100% be unethical to produce.

The short answer on sterility is this: we don't know WHY they are sterile, but they shouldn't be, and that means something has gone wrong. When something goes wrong with an animal, and it's something genetic that can be passed on, the ONLY responsible and ethical thing for a breeder to do is to stop using that animal for breeding and closely monitor any already-produced offspring for signs of the problem, and likely not breed them, either.

The longer more complicated answer is this: sometimes it's possible to separate the problem from the aesthetic when it comes to morphs, like it was for cameo + blindness, but sometimes it's NOT, like it wasn't for spider + head wobble for ball pythons. In those instances, it's... difficult. Because you're LIKELY going to produce animals that suffer the same problem as their parent(s), in the attempt to separate the problem from the aesthetic, and sometimes that's ALL you're going to produce. As a breeder, it's your absolute responsibility to NOT release the offspring into the general population, where the problem may be replicated without control, and to keep or cull the affected individuals if the problem cannot be separated from the aesthetic, or AT BEST find them guaranteed pet-only homes that will NEVER breed them.

Sometimes the problem IS purely aesthetic or harmless, like it was for pied in peafowl, and sometimes it's not, like it was for vitiligo in peafowl. The problem comes when you ASSUME a mutation is the first, and treat it like the first when it's really the second. This has caused FAR reaching consequences in the peafowl community, and I'm sure in others, where now the autoimmune disease that first bronze had has been passed into genpop by folks who thought they were breeding a harmless new variation of pied. Hybrid animals are often sterile (not in peafowl though, hybrid cristatus-muticus birds are fertile) because of a mismatch in chromosome pairing numbers, and often that's harmless. So, in some cases sterility is not an issue because it's the expected result or is otherwise harmless... but in the case of peafowl, it's NOT an expected result and we don't know if it's caused by something harmless or not.

Some species, like mice and horses and cattle and dogs, genetic testing and DNA mapping done with millions of dollars has proven that while some stuff isn't purely aesthetic, it also doesn't cause harm to the animal in a way that affects quality of life or that can be adapted for in captive care. For example, in chickens, the frizzle gene causes curled feathers in single copy and an absence of feathers in double copy. This gene is considered ethical to produce IF the breeding is done responsibly by putting a single copy bird over a zero copy bird, which produces smooth coats and frizzle coats, but it is unethical to produce double frizzles (called "frazzles") because frazzles cannot thermoregulate, can easily sunburn, and easily suffer skin injury during normal chicken activity.

For peafowl, we have NO genetic testing. We do not have the genome mapped. As far as I know there's a research group working on it (mostly for green peafowl though, in conservation efforts), but that's not remotely finished or available to the public to test anything. We don't know where any of the morph mutations sit, or what is causing them or if they do anything beyond just change the color. Sometimes color mutations are the result of malfunctions in enzymes. For charcoal specifically, we don't know what the mutation does, besides what we can observe on the outside- the birds have half or less the lifespan of normal birds, poor feather quality, and the hens are sterile. Is the sterility harmless like it is in some hybrid animals, or is it actually a major organ failing? Is it the only major organ that fails due to this mutation, or is it just the first sign of their shortened lives? Is it some deficiency in something the birds need to be healthy? Does it hurt the bird? We don't know, but we do know the mutation and the problems (multiple, please do NOT forget that this is one OF MORE THAN ONE problems) can't be separated, and so until we do know why and whether it's harmless or not, the ONLY ethical response to seeing a problem in a major organ's function linked inextricably to a mutation in color is to not propagate that mutation. If someone wanted to fork over the millions it takes to sequence and map genomes and then determine exactly what is going on with peafowl, that would be nice and good, but I don't see that happening. When I win the lottery big, I'll be doing it, but til then we can only follow normal breeding guidelines

Also, to put this into perspective... peafowl mature sexually around 3 years old. They are chicks until the turn of the new year following their hatch. They are yearlings that year, and immature 2yo next year. They aren't actually considered fully grown until 6 years old, and should live another 14+ years. Charcoal birds die a 1-3 years after full maturity. Is it a coincidence that they fail to thrive shortly after full sexual maturity, or is it linked? Again, we don't know. We don't know if the sterility is fine or if it's just a symptom of something worse.

Even without the sterility, though, charcoal has enough issues it would be unethical. If it was JUST sterility, with no other deleterious effects, then maybe it would be different. But it's not.

[fellowshipofthenoodles]

Dizzy got some new stuff for her enclosure! Because of her wobble, we have to make sure everything we get for her is extra secure, and things she can grab onto easily for balance.

At the end you can see her corkscrew a little before she can right herself - this is normal for her, especially as she was a little stressed from having been handled and having new things in her home.

*Dizzy has the spider gene in her morph, which causes neurological issues like wobbling, corkscrewing and stargazing. Every single spider morph has this gene. Spider morphs are unethical to breed, and we would never support it. Dizzy is a rehome.

[id: Dizzy, the brown and cream ball python, exploring her enclosure. She starts coming over the top of her water bowl, pauses in place for a few seconds before her head goes backwards and she arches away before righting herself]

[autisticarachnid]

Tell me about Salem's snake Ripley, please?

omg gladly !!

salem got their snake during the summer between fourth and fifth year, so June 1988. they named the snake after ellen ripley from Alien, though their snake is a boy! salem specifically got a boy, as female ball pythons grow bigger than the males. salem fully upgrades their tank in seventh year to the US equivalent of a 120 gallon tank- basically, 4ft by 2ft by 2ft. however, they manage to get a custom built tank sometime around 1992-1994 through a friend, and the tank is more around 6ft by 2ft by 3ft.

ripley is a ball python, specifically of the normal morph. in the late 80’s, there weren’t many morph options- nowhere near the 3000+ known morphs today- so salem happily got ripley as he is!

salem eventually gets more reptiles, but ripley was their first and their beloved baby <33

[unigalvacron]

Question- anyone familiar with ball python morphs? I'm trying to test my knowledge... the first two pictures are of my presumed normal female, Athena. She also looks like she's maybe het for pied considering the tracks near the base of her tail.

The last two are of a newly rehomed/adopted snakes named King. He looks like a variant of normal... however there's just something is telling me there's something else in there. The webbing pattern and skull like figure (on his head) give me spider mix perhaps?

Thoughts? Opinions?

[unknown-lifeform]

I love seeing people who make posts like "X characters if they were cats" or "X characters if they were dogs" and so on, because every time I think about something like I end up thinking of like. X characters as pasta dishes. X characters as ball python morphs. X characters as where would they be distributed on a Streckeisen diagram. Normal stuff

[blackcvrds]

a snake like this maybe… spider morph is very common they all have a wobble of different degrees and it gets worse when they’re stressed and they get stressed about it getting worse - spider morph is very common (much more than black and white ball pythons) because people think it’s pretty and the wobble is cute but it’s very hotly debated within the snake community and some places ban them. I think it would be neat and thematic in story for megumi to rescue one/buy it from someone who was going to dump it outside with a wobble thematically about as as bad as his neurological issues. like. maybe he’s having trouble figuring out how to deal at first and the snake’s adapting to a new environment and they’re both having trouble but then they learn and get used to it and manage things and it stops being a huge intrusive part of life and is a normal thing to deal with.

i am holding this very closely and tenderly to my heart, yes, canon, megs has his wobbly snake and they figure it out together. im gonna cry

[paranoidgemsbok]

One thing that WAS funny about longlegs is when they were doing Scary Imagery with snakes but like. They just used chubby normal morph ball pythons. Like that's not an agent of evil that's just buppy

[cyanocoraxx]

Hello! You have cool snakes and know a lot about them too, could I have some of your advice? I've recently been really into snakes, and seen tiktoks of how happy their owners are with them, it makes me really jealous and wishful for a snake companion of my own.

Except I know NOTHING about them, their care, needs or expenses. My experience with pets is a typical low to average maintenance dog, that's it. Never handled reptiles in my life. BUT SNAKES ARE SO ENTICING, and supremely cute too

I was wondering if you have any advice for a complete beginner on what kind of snake to get that's easy and as I said, for beginners (if it even works that way, I don't know a lot about snakes). If you have any resources and such.

Or even like, a checklist to see if I'm even eligible to own a snake (it could be hard idk). Want to know if it is even within my capabilities, the lifestyle needed and stuff like that.

Could you also give tips on their body language? I remember you mentioning in one of your posts that body language is important, and I wouldn't want to mess up. I want the potential cutie to like me after all.

Thank you anyway for your time! Appreciate it <3

so sorry for the late response i wanted to sit down and give a proper thought out guide and just haven't had time <3

checklist for eligibility:

you will need: a terrarium/vivarium, a heating device (heat mat, ceramic emitter or heat bulb), a thermostat (to control the heating device), a water bowl, a hide, substrate, and enrichment (sticks, leaves, decoration etc). make sure you have all of this on hand before you bring your pet home

you'll need to be comfortable or at least willing to feed your snake frozen prey, which means being able to consistently provide mice or rats (most common). most reptile stores will stock frozen!

depending on the species you want you'll need space for a vivarium. if you want a snake that can grow to be 4ft for example you'll need a space to put a 4ft viv.

you'll need to have time to regularly spot-clean their enclosure, which means binning their waste and removing shed skin. a full clean out once a month if not bioactive.

best "starter" snakes (imo):

rosy boa (2-3ft long, 25 years+)

royal python (3-6ft long, 20-30 years+)

corn snake (4-6ft long, 15-20 years+)

rosy boa - these little noodles don't get enough credit! they stay very small, they're very docile, and easy to care for. due to them being so small they only need small prey items which won't take up a lot of space in your freezer. they're very good eaters. downside is they're less common than royals and corns so depending on where you are you may struggle to find one near you. they can also be more food-motivated than royals and when they have food on their mind they can be a little more bitey - but with their tiny size, i promise you can't even feel it (from experience)

royal/ball python - a very common snake that can be found in most reptile shops. they're well known for being extremely docile and easy to handle as well as being super duper cute. they live longer than corns and rosys. downside to royals is they can be "fussy eaters" which can make new owners nervous - they're known for going off their food for months. they will also need larger prey items as they grow, so if you're not keen on keeping larger mice/rats in your freezer this is a downside. they're also more sensitive to improper temperature and humidity than corns.

corn snake - very common so can be bought easily! they also tend to be some of the cheapest snakes, especially if you want to get a "normal/wild type" morph. due to them having a large range in the wild they can tolerate a wider range of temperatures and humidity levels. corns are much more active than royals and rosys, so if you want a snake you can watch do its thing then a corn is a good shout. with this being said, they can be more "squirmy" when being handled compared to royals and rosys as they kind of struggle to stay still.

however, you're not limited to a choice of just three species. as long as you research your snake thoroughly and make sure you have everything you need, you can keep whichever you prefer. my first snake was a brazilian rainbow boa which is a more "intermediate" species and "not suitable for beginners" but he's been great. with their more extreme humidity requirements, i just made sure to keep a hygrometer on hand (to measure humidity) and provided plenty of moss, a large water bowl, and regular mist spraying. never had an issue <3

basic body language:

it's important to note that when a snake is preparing to shed its skin it will be vulnerable. its eyes will cloud over and its skin will feel irritated. we call this being "in blue" because the snake takes on a milky blue colour. during this time your snake might become defensive and this is normal. you should leave a snake in blue alone.

signs of a calm snake: short tongue flicks, loose and relaxed body, moving slowly, fluidly moving towards stimuli, curiosity, regular breathing. a calm snake may sit in an "S" position but it will not be coiling up or fixating on you.

signs of stress in snakes include: long and slow tongue flicks, tail rattling, tail wagging, hissing, striking, open mouth breathing, regurgitation, body flattening, gliding (moving very quickly away), coiling with the head raised (preparing to strike)

this is a very obvious example of a defensive corn snake: their body is coiled into an "S" shape, the head is raised. it takes this position so that it can 1. have a clear view of you 2. to strike upwards/forwards at you if it feels threatened 3. to look bigger to frighten you off. this is a snake who doesn't want to be touched at ALL

let me know if you need anything else <3

[captainofthenautilus]

snake update! (at last)

So! I joined my university’s reptile physiology research lab a few months ago (it’s been really cool and fun and fulfilling so far but that’s a separate post). And one day, my professor (/faculty advisor/interim dean/whatever the appropriate title is idk. everyone just calls her by her first name anyway) sends this message in the lab groupme:

[image id: a screenshot from June 8, 2023 at 1:40pm where the name and profile picture of the sender have been redacted for privacy and replaced with the word “Professor.” There is an image of a normal morph ball python in its enclosure, followed by a message that reads, “Baby ball python available. Free, comes with cage. This is a 20+ year commitment. Who wants it?” end id]

as far as I see it, the story is that a kid (~17yo) got the snake, but couldn’t keep it since his dad’s lease specified no pets 😔 so the family reached out to my advisor to try and rehome it.

now see, I love snakes, but I don’t know as much about ball pythons as I do about corn snakes (I was researching snake care and doing all the planning for Ophelia for *years* before I actually got her, which is what led me to being so passionate about herpetology in the first place), so I was hesitant to volunteer, especially on such short notice.

I didn’t want to make an impulsive decision and regret it later, so I messaged a whole bunch of people (including my girlfriend, my mom, my housemates, several online friends, and other people in the lab), but everyone I talked to about it encouraged me to get the snake, citing the fact that I already have experience with keeping snakes (I’ve had Ophelia since October) and that I actually had the capacity to take it in (other people wanted to, but couldn’t due to circumstance).

so I volunteered.

[image id: a screenshot from June 8, 2023 at 3:08pm where the name and profile picture of the sender have been redacted for privacy and replaced with the word “Me” with a message that reads “I’ll take him!” end id]

I had also volunteered to go to an outreach event with my advisor just a few days later, so we stopped by after the event to pick up the tank and I was able to bring her home! the tank fits perfectly on my desk right next to Ophelia.

[image id: two glass terrariums placed next to each other on a large desk. end id]

I had assumed it was a male since that’s how other people were referring to it, but based on the length of it’s tail I think it’s a female. I also tried the “popping” method and didn’t see any hemipenes, but I’m not too experienced with that so I could be wrong. All this to say, I originally named her Horatio, but the name didn’t really stick.

(for the record, I’m not against giving a female snake the name of a male character, gender is a social construct and the snake literally would not care, but she just didn’t seem like a Horatio. I did the same thing with Ophelia when I first got her.)

this is already a long post, so I’ll cut to the chase.

Behold, Gertrude!

[image id: two pictures of the same normal morph ball python from the image at the beginning of the post, this time being held by OP. In the first picture, the snake is resting, curled up in the palm of OP’s hand. In the second picture, the snake is in a more active position and is climbing around OP’s wrist and lower arm. end id]

[seraphimdove]

my uncle, very clearly trying to scare me: and she had a massive ball python! (proceeds to describe size domestic ball pythons don’t grow to)

me: oh! what morph was it? :0 domestic ball pythons are often such sweeties! :3

him: :/ where did you learn about this? this isn’t normal girl things.

[omg-snakes]

Is yellow blushing on the side of the belly a common thing with normal ball pythons? I have one normal and one yellowbelly sunset, and my yellowbelly definitely has checkering on his belly for sure, but my normal doesn’t. Her blushing is so strong though, and I haven’t seen that on any other normals. I’m out of town so I currently don’t have a picture that isn’t of her face or her bioactive, but it’s a soft yellow, almost a golden color, and it blushes from the side of her stomach to about 1/3 the way up her side. Otherwise she looks like a regular normal. Could she have other genetic her influences that are only showing up now? For reference, she’ll be turning 6 this August.

Hello friend!

That's an excellent question and I'm sorry to say I don't know the answer. I'm afraid I have not studied ball python genetics and I'm not well versed on their morphs. I'm sorry that I can't be more help!

@i-m-snek breeds ball pythons. They might have a better idea, or know someone who does?

I hope you find the answer you're looking for!

[bufomancer]

Niobe is so gorgeous- I have nothing against morphs but I personally can’t imagine paying a premium for a fancy colored ball python when normal morphs are already fabulous.

[jerseydeviil]

Please tell me about your ball pythons

SURE THING!!! only three of them are actually mine, so i'll be posting those guys first. there's also a bullsnake (who is also not mine) but we'll get to that. i also only have (poor quality...) baby pictures currently OOPS bear with me. we've got... JASPER he's a normal ball python, and the first snake i ever got!! i got him in october of 2018, so he's a few years old by now!! he is the friendliest and most handleable out of everybody i've got. he's about... two or three feet long now i think?

DANDELION (or dandy for short) he is a banana pastel ball python, and he's a little feisty LMAO. he has bitten me and drawn blood before. i got him in june of 2020, so he's also a few years old!!

OPAL she is a pastave (pastel + mojave) ball python, and she is the newest addition to my personal collection! i got her in december of 2022, and she is INCREDIBLY shy, but handleable. she is also the best eater out of all of them.

NOW ONTO THE ONES WHO ARENT MINE!! SOBA this guy is my best friend oz's snake, and he's a banana fire morph. he is absolutely massive, and kinda sucks at eating, but he's getting there!! he's pretty friendly, if i'm honest. i like him :)

STRING CHEESE this guy is also oz's!! we aren't entirely sure what his genes are, apart from super stripe (and possibly woma? we've noticed he has a wobble/corkscrewing problems, but i don't think it's IBD, because he is a FANTASTIC eater for me, he's super active and healthy otherwise, and we've had him for a WHILE now.) he's an escape artist, and actually got out of his tank for like a day and hid inside of a heater on the wall. it was annoying.

FRIDA i do not have a picture of frida handy, but he's a normal bullsnake (also oz's) so honestly just google a pic LOL. he's a great eater, and in normal bullsnake fashion, he is feisty. hates being held LMAO. he's named frida after frida kahlo, because of the little unibrow marking :3 he is also super teeny tiny right now... super young guy.