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Dan Wolfe Herpetoculture Newsletter
February
2010
Greetings
Dearest friends and
fellow herpers, my beloved Danny has acquiesced to allow me a moment to wish you
all a very Happy Valentine’s Day. Although I am utterly repulsed by the daily
commercials, with which we are bombarded this time of year, that repeatedly
assault and insult us with their claims that the only way to “do”
Valentine’s Day well and show our true love for our partners is to buy her
jewelry and/or flowers, this season of l’amore remains my utmost favorite.
Valentine’s Day is my opportunity to express love and appreciation to my
friends, family, business associates and fellowman. It’s wonderful! I
go through my day with love in the air and a smile on my face. I’ve refined my
hobby of collecting Valentines to an art form; and just so you know, you have
all been collected…my new Valentines. I
hope you, too, are able to surpass the ridiculous sensationalism of the media
and simple enjoy love for love’s sake, sharing its warmth with others. Isn’t
it grand in all its splendor, all its various forms, and all its possibility? I
wish you and all the folks out in the abyss of cyberspace all the best of love
and happiness.
Happy Valentine’s day, from our
happy home to yours. J
Sandy XO
The Fine Art of Being
Heard
As reptile lovers, at some time or
another, we've all been in a position where we've been pressed to try to explain
to a non-reptile person what it is that draws us to want to spend our time with
scaly creatures. Children are generally easy to reach. They are not nearly so
firmly entrenched in cultural biases and misinformation. Adults on the other
hand, can be challenging. One problem I've encountered with adults, is that they
will often ask a perfectly good question, such as, “Why would anyone want to
breed snakes?”, but then shut down before they can hear the real answer,
having made up their own minds about the answer before asking the question.
Conflicting information does not match with long held prejudices, and causes
them to go into lock down mode. Attention quickly shifts elsewhere. What I've
learned however, is that you can often reach even stubbornly rigid adults. The
trick is to first build a bridge, to find common ground, so they can begin to
suspect that you may be sane, before you go on to present more challenging
information.
Recently, at a social function, I
found myself talking to a lovely, conservative, 80+ year old, blue-haired
grandmother. During our conversation, she eventually found her way to asking me
what it was that I did for a living. We
had been having a delightful conversation up until that moment, but when I told
her I bred snakes, I was sure, judging from the look on her face, that I had
lost her. I quickly went on to tell her that I had always loved nature and
growing things. I had, in the past, kept a meticulously maintained vegetable
garden; that as a kid, we had always had dogs, cats, and other animals... and
that I had also managed to raise two human children to adulthood. I told her
that I could have just as easily become a farmer, rancher, aquaculturist, or
beekeeper, and that observing, exploring, and facilitating the unfolding of
nature was what I truly loved. I
told her that working with, and attempting to maximize the inherent potential of
nature, requires one's absolute best. Our relationship with these natural
systems had to be one of true balanced symbiosis or they would be doomed to
failure, and that I enjoyed finding ways to refine that delicate balance. When I
finally paused, her faced brightened, she smiled, and said that it was truly
amazing how God provides for us all, and that it was so nice that I was doing
something I really enjoyed. Wow!
At a time when our rights as reptile
keepers are being constantly challenged, it is more important now than ever that
we start building bridges. It has become increasingly clear that
we cannot continue to operate as though we are in a vacuum. We are not.
Forces beyond us are having a very real effect on our rights to have and enjoy
reptiles. We must reach through the obscuring fog
of ignorance and fear. We must begin to replace tired superstitious
beliefs with fresh understanding. We must help people to understand that the
workings of nature are not sinister, but glorious, and cause for great
wonderment; that the inherent potential of what nature provides is boundless;
that we always benefit by looking closer - not stepping away. The closer we
look, the more we realize the infinite nature of the possibilities before us.
The dynamic fields of quantum physics and micro biology are discovering just how
intimately we effect and are effected by all that surrounds us, and this
understanding is in the process of totally reshaping how we perceive nature, the
world around us, and the world within us. It
is unfortunate that the average person has very little exposure to what is
happening on the cutting edge of these sciences.
We who spend time with, and look
closely at reptiles, are the experts in this field. We need to be heard... well
above the voices of the ignorant. School presentations are an excellent way to
reach young minds, and curiously enough, it is often the enthusiasm of children
that can reach parents and other adults, and thereby possibly reshaping the
attitudes of society one individual at a time.
Take the time to educate your neighbor. Fear and ignorance are formidable
adversaries... but passion is also powerful stuff... and down-right contagious
:-)
Shop
Things in the snake building are going
well. It appears we are on course for another exciting and productive season.
The females are fat, and breeding is progressing well. While things here are
busy, I still manage to find time to daydream about the new things we hope to
produce this year. The odds can make hitting on some of the multiple combo stuff
difficult, but with enough clutches, our chances are good that we may make some
never before seen snakes... hopefully they will be gorgeous even beyond what
I've imagined! We will keep you up
to date, and hope that you will also share your exciting projects with us as the
season unfolds.
Parting Shot: 09 Pastel Calico Fruit Cocktail
Until
next time, from our family to yours, may the Ball Python Gods shine many
forked-tongued blessings upon you.
Dan
& Sandy
Dan Wolfe Herpetoculture Newsletter
January 2010
Greetings to all in the
New Year!
Aloha from sunny Montana! Sunny yes -
warm no. Clear skies in January spell sunshine and cold. Yesterday morning I
woke at 6 am, and walked outside to a crystal clear sky full of stars... and
minus eighteen degrees! Personally I'd rather have the sun and cold than the
warmer overcast days. How do equatorial reptiles fit into this scheme? Quite
well, as long as you provide plenty of insulation, good seals on doors and
windows, and a reliable heat source. I'm pretty sure I could grow oranges in the
reptile room if I wanted to... with the current cold spell in Florida maybe
that's not a bad idea?
Future Directions
Each year we pick up a couple new
mutations to add to our breeding programs. We've never been interested in having
the whole "stamp collection" of ball pythons. Of the 120+, different,
proven, individual base color and pattern mutations of balls, we currently only
have sixteen represented in our
collection. I would say that we are very picky about what we choose to work
with, and when we do acquire a new animal we're also fussy about who we get it
from. This month I'd like to showcase the new ball morphs we acquired in 2009,
and give a little credit to the breeders of these fine animals.
Ultramel:
We bought this incredible animal from
Eric Crider. Eric imported him from a breeder in the UK. He believes that,
eventually, we may find that the Ultramel and the Crider, (his own line of very
similar looking ball pythons), are one and the same gene. Within the ball python
community, there is still exists some confusion surrounding the Ultramel. The
first of these snakes to come out of Africa, were initially thought to be a new
line of Caramel; however, this has been proven not to be the case. Breeding
Ultramels to Caramels resulted in producing phenotypically normal, double
recessive heterozygous offspring. As you can see from the photo, Ultramels are
extremely bright and clean animals. Gorgeous in their own right, the future
combinations to made with them promise be mind-blowing. Although our male is an
09, he already weighs over 600 grams. We have our fingers crossed for late 2010
babies.
Desert:
Pro Exotics provided us with this
top-notch 08 Desert male. The Desert morph, not to be confused with the Desert
Ghost, has proven to be dominant or possibly co-dominant. Robin, at Pro Exotics,
has said that if there is a super form, they are in position to produce it in
2010. Although the project is still relatively young, Pro Exotics has already
made some wonderful combinations with the Desert. This is one gene that seems to
combine well with just about everything…and we certainly have a couple new
combos in mind for the future. Already
our new male has been a hit with the ladies, and follicles are in the works!
Granite Pin:
In case you haven't noticed, Brian
Taylor, known to you Reptile Radio fans as B.T., has produced some remarkable
Granite Pinstripes, this last couple years. He started out with an aberrant
looking male that he acquired from a breeder who sold it to him as a normal
Pinstripe. The male turned out to carry not only the Pinstripe gene, but also
that of a new line of Granite... one that combines very nicely with the Pin to
create these busy and very delicately patterned beauties! We were fortunate
enough to talk him out of a couple of these gems in 2009. I've never been a big
Pinstripe fan, but I am in love with these!
Champagne:
Could this snake have a more
appropriate name? Rich, sexy, and it even has the
bubbles! This promises to be a fun project. I see a couple obvious new
combos that will need to be done. Thanks Brad Boa!
Shop
Things here have been progressing
nicely toward another good season. Most of our males are breeding in earnest
now. The first half dozen or so females have good size follicles developing.
Spring is still a long way off, but some of these girls just can't wait! I
personally like that over-achiever attitude! We just added some new caging in
the rodent building so there will be no shortage of food this year... bring on
the bambinos!
We hope that you also are enjoying
your reptiles, and are poised for success in whatever your projects may be in
2010.
Until
next time, from our family to yours, may the Ball Python Gods shine many
forked-tongued blessings upon you.
Dan & Sandy
Dan
Wolfe Herpetoculture Newsletter
December 2009
Warmest
of
Ho-ho-ho-ho-holy smokes
this has been a crazy, wonderful, busy year for us! This time of year holds
special meaning for most of us, but on a functional level, here at the snake
shop, it’s a time of major transition; a shift from a million in-your-face
things, that require immediate attention, such as emails, phone calls, preparing
shipments, setting up new babies, etc. – to a more relaxed pace. There is
suddenly time for reflection on all that has occurred during the year, as well
as time for contemplation of the upcoming season. Part of this reflection is of
a practical bent, such as catching up on the books and assessing the
business’s financial position, but along with that is a slow realization of
all that has been accomplished during the last year. We realize, too, that above
all else, we are extremely grateful to be doing that which we love, and for the
opportunity to be doing business with some exceptional people. We want to take
this opportunity to thank all of our customers for their patronage. We never
forgot that it is because of you that this operation continues to provide for
our family. I often say, “If we take good care of the snakes, they will take
good care of us”, but none of it would be possible without you, our
customers… Thank You!
When is cold a good thing?
I remember looking at a
ball python that I was taking care of for a friend, who was away on vacation in
the mid 1980’s, and thinking: “these are such amazing animals, it’s a
shame that they come into the country in such large numbers. They are truly
under-appreciated”. Well no more! There are many people here now to sing their
praises! And we do! While the annual importation of thousands of babies
continues, I know that these animals have the potential to wake up minds, young
and old, to the value and beauty of nature.
Sadly however, there was a
lesson I learned in the early years of my fascination with reptiles. If
something exquisite, say a box turtle, has a very low price, many people who
purchase them will fail to realize their true worth. This is a sad commentary on
many of our species, but time and time again I’ve seen this principle hold
true. When I began contemplated breeding reptiles as a full time endeavor, I
knew that mass producing reptiles, and offering them for sale at low prices,
would likely put many of them into the hands of people who would not see them
for what they are, and would not care for them properly.
So from the start, I have been striving to produce only high demand
animals. I’ve been producing and selling select high-end reptiles for 20 years
now, and I can tell you, I have had nothing but the highest regard for my
clientele. These animals are wanted, appreciated, and very well cared for.
Grown
Up Time
Just to mix things up, I
thought that rather than posting a new batch of baby photos, (which, like any
proud parent I am prone to do at the slightest hint of opportunity), I’ll
present a few photos of some favorite older animals.
I hatched
this het. Albino female in 1999. She is without hesitation my favorite Ball
python. She is intelligent, gentle, and inquisitive. She has been the star of
the show at all of our school and other educational presentations over the
years.
This girl
hatched here in 2004. She is one of three of what I have termed Black Lace.
I’ve had some difficulty determining the genetics involved, but I now believe
that the Black Lace is the homozygous form of a new co-dominate gene. I had
originally thought it was a recessive trait, but though it is subtle, I can
visually differentiate the heterozygous form. All this to say, I expect to
produce more of these beauties this coming season!
This female
is a hold-back 08’ FireFly. She is an absolutely breathtaking animal! She
currently weighs 1680 grams. I
don’t think she’s ever skipped a meal. I
won’t say who her suitor is, but I will say it was a very difficult decision
(on my part).
This little
darling is another 08 hold-back. Believe it or not, her colors are actually more
stunning in person. She is a Pastel Calico from the Flora & Fauna Calico
line. She is already 1440 grams (and still very hungry)… but she’s just big
boned!
Once again, thanks for a
wonderful, successful 2009. We wish you all a warm, family filled, Christmas
season.
Until next year, from our family to yours,
may the Ball Python Gods shine many forked-tongued blessings upon you.
Dan & Sandy
Dan
Wolfe Herpetoculture Newsletter
October & November 2009
Greetings!
This
is
Have
a beautiful day,
P.S.
Happy Halloweeeen!!!!!!!!
P.S.S. Here’s Dan…
Pastel
Goodness
Is it possible for a person to have too many Pastel females? I really can’t think of another morph with greater combination potential. Just look at all the amazing stuff we’ve made with it so far: Bumble Bees, Killer Bees, Lemon Blasts, Super Lemon Blasts, FireFlies, Pastel Calicos, Pastel Pieds, Pastel Clowns, Killer Clowns, Pastel Super Stripes, Pastel YellowBellys, Pewters, Silver Bullets… the list goes on and on. It seems that the Pastel is one of the first things to be combined with any new morph, and rightfully so. The Pastel gene simply does great things. To be sure, the Pastel is an interesting and unusual mutation. It is a form of hypomelanism, yet it is more than that. It also has a tendency to add intensity to the yellows and oranges. Furthermore, having hatched hundreds of Pastels and Pastel combinations over the years, I can tell you that it can also have some subtle, or not so subtle, effects on pattern. Certain morphs, when combined with the Pastel, seem to accentuate the pattern deviations – the Super Pastel Calicos recently produced here are but one example. There are many things in the ball python world that, as of yet, defy any attempt at understanding, in terms of the known genetic models. Yet for me, trying to make sense of it is half the fun, and can of course be very profitable as well. J
Pastel Calicos with Super Pastel Calicos
One of our favorite Pastel combinations is the FireFly, or Pastel Fire. FireFlies are incredibly clean and bright ball pythons. The Fire gene is also a form of hypomelanism, however it manifests in a different manner than the Pastel. Whereas a hatchling Pastel starts out as a bright snake that tends to brown with age, some more / some less, the Fire starts out a bit lighter than a normal hatchling but lightens considerably as it ages. In fact, it seems to me that the net effect of what the Fire gene does is stop and even slightly reverse the browning-out process. Many breeders, myself included, see the Pastel Fire combination as one of the best ways to improve the color, and to clean up practically any ball python, allowing us to have adult ball python morphs that will, at a minimum, retain vivid juvenile colorations. FireFlies allow us to bring the “Peter Pan” effect into our projects, and keep our snakes looking youthful forever. Some of our most exciting new projects this coming season will be those involving FireFlies.
09 FireFlies
08 FireFlies at 1000 to 1500 grams
So,
hats off to the Pastel! An essential ingredient in many award-winning ball
python recipes, with undoubtedly, many more to come!
3rd
Annual Snakes in a Box Photo
Until next time,
from our family to yours, may the Ball Python Gods shine many forked-tongued
blessings upon you.
Dan & Sandy
Dan
Wolfe Herpetoculture Newsletter
September
2009
Greetings!
September Salutations slithery serpent specialists! Yikes!
Just saying that got my keyboard all wet. L Things here have been crazy-busy lately… but very good! Lots of new
little mouths to feed. Hope this finds you in a similar predicament.
This month’s topic may be a little less technical /
informational, and a little more…”I’m just super excited about this and
had to share it with you”. As
I’m sure most of you are painfully aware, ball python breeding projects can
take a while to get rolling. Not only that, but by their very nature, each
project has it’s own way of unfolding. Some bear fruit relatively quickly,
others will take longer. The scenario usually works something like this: Once
we’ve paid our dues - once we’ve cleaned those cages for the 432nd time, fed
each snake for the 334th time, and gone through all of the wickets in the right
order at the right times, if all goes well, we may just find ourselves with
fertile eggs. Then as we wait for them to incubate, we put on our brave faces
and poker hats… and we pray. We all know what the odds should be, but we also
know that in the short term it rarely works out that way. Sometimes we strike
out. Sometimes we get the paint jobs we were looking for, but the sexes are all
wrong. But sometimes, every blue
moon or so, we get the dream clutch … a royal straight flush! All our good
karma comes flooding forth, celebrations break out all over Mudville, and the
Cubs win the World Series (okay, maybe I went a bit too far). Suffice it to say
that there are no math formulas that apply, expect the unexpected, and accept
the ultimate rule, and often twisted humor of those supreme beings who juggle
and deal our hopes and dreams like lottery balls… the ODDS GODS!
Currently, I feel that I’m in good standing with those
powers, and that of course brings me to the topic for this month’s newsletter.
All Things Calico
As many of you know, I have been working with the Calico trait for several years now. I have been in LOVE with Calicos ever since I first saw them on Doug Beard’s table at the 2004 Daytona Expo. There were a couple different lines of Calicos at the time, having originated from captive hatched African imports, and while many people were, at first, focused on the higher white animals, what captured my attention and imagination, was the variability, and the bright orange coloration and aberrant patterns displayed by Doug’s Flora & Fauna line.
An adult Calico produced here in 2006
In 2006 we began producing our first Flora & Fauna line
babies. The variability of the offspring was truly incredible. I noticed that,
from our one breeder male, we were producing Calicos that ranged the full
spectrum, not only in the amount of white displayed, but also in the intensity
of the orange coloration and unusual patterning.
Pair
of 09 Calico babies – notice the differences in color and pattern.
I found it also interesting that even though the offspring
from our Calico male ranged widely in overall appearance, those from each clutch
looked fairly similar to each other. Since then, I have found that the Calico
babies produced by each female tend to look the same year after year.
Therefore, it appears that the non-Calico parent has a huge influence on
the coloration of the Calico offspring, maybe more so than the Calico parent.
Understanding of this concept should aid in the long term refinement of this
trait and future combinations thereof.
In 2007 we produced our first Pastel Calicos. For me, it was
love at first sight! It seemed the Pastel and Calico genes were simply made for
each other. I have long wondered if it is my imagination, but to me, it seems
that the Pastel gene accentuates the aberrant patterning of the F&F line
Calicos.
Some of this year’s Pastel Calicos. The two in front have yet to shed. It’s amazing how their colors change over the first few weeks and months.
These
2008 Pastel Calicos, ranging in size from 800 to 1200 grams, give some idea of
the potential variability of this combination.
So all of this brings me to the reason for my recent peak of
excitement, and the catalyst for this writing. I had been looking forward to
producing our first Super Pastel Calicos all season.
2009
Super Pastel Calicos (shown with a Pastel Calico for comparison)
Are these eye candy, or what???
The first Super Pastel Calico (SPC) was produced in 2008 by
Mark Bailey. In my opinion his SPC looked exactly as one would suspect that it
should – a somewhat lighter version of a Pastel Calico… nothing more,
nothing less. So I was more than a little shocked (and completely delighted)
when these hatched. After the first one hatched, I considered that maybe it was
some sort of fluke, but then another one hatched from a different clutch a few
days later. All three snakes in the photo are shown pre-shed. I expect them to
display more yellow/orange coloration once they’ve shed. I have a feeling that
by three or four months of age these will be primarily orange, yellow, and white
snakes. Right now they look as if someone has taken an eraser and rubbed out
most of the pattern. The appearance of these two snakes has added a whole new
dimension to our Calico projects. We are thrilled! I believe that we have only
scraped the surface of what this powerful mutation can do!
Well, that’s the latest excitement here, and I couldn’t
wait to share it with you! I hope you’ve enjoyed it.
Until next time, from our family to yours,
may the Ball Python Gods shine many forked-tongued blessings upon you.
Dan & Sandy
Dan
Wolfe Herpetoculture Newsletter
August 2009
Greetings!
Salutations, fellow
Squamata lovers. I hope this summer has treated you well, and that the fruits of
your breeding efforts have exceeded all expectation. We look forward to seeing
lots of beautiful snakes, as well as friends, both new and old, in
Just
a Peek
Although I am aware of
people who cut their eggs much earlier, I don’t cut eggs until day 55 or 56.
Let me preface this by saying that incubation temperature is the major
determinate of how long incubation takes - higher temperatures result in shorter
incubations. We incubate our eggs at 88 to 89 degrees. There is some variance,
but at that temperature our babies would typically pip on day 56 or 57, so by
cutting the eggs we are only disrupting them a day or two early.
Another way to get a sense
of how far along the development of the clutch has progressed, is by checking
the adhesion of the eggs. About three days before I cut them, around day 52 or
53, the eggs begin to loose their adhesion and can be easily separated.
So, down to the
nitty-gritty. To cut the eggs I use
a sharp pair of small pointed scissors. I make a crease at the top of the egg,
and while holding the scissors almost parallel to the surface of the egg, so as
not to push downward and possibly injure the baby, gently push the very tip of
one of the scissor blades into the shell. Once I have a small hole, I angle the
scissors so that the tip of the blade rides directly under the surface of the
egg, sliding them to make a cut about 3/4ths of an inch long. If I need more
visibility, I make another cut, at an angle away from the first cut, to form a
V. If done properly at a late enough stage of development, there should be
little to no blood. At the stage we cut, the blood vessels have either begun to
detach from the shell on their own, or are easily separated from the shell, as
the scissor blade slides along the under surface of the shell. In my opinion,
the less blood the better. I’ve seen people use a razor blade to cut the whole
top of the egg off, basically severing every vessel that was attached to it. I
believe this is unnecessary and risky. If the baby snake is unable to respire
sufficiently, via blood flow to the shell membrane, then it will be forced to
attempt to breathe prematurely – thereby compromising the health of the
hatchling. Another concern I have about cutting off the top of the egg, is that
with the shell removed, the baby snake might feel exposed and vulnerable. If the
baby becomes stressed, there is a higher likelihood that it will leave the egg
prematurely, exiting the egg before the yolk is fully absorbed. I may be
anthropomorphizing a bit, but I believe that when some strange and curious
creature wielding bright lights and sharp tools violates that most sacred of
spaces; the egg, the reptilian womb, the embryonic cocoon, it probably causes
stress to the neonate. So we should do our best to minimize the disruption while
we seek to quench our curiosity. And whatever the cause, a baby found outside
the egg dragging a yolk around is a less than desirable outcome.
Even with my best efforts,
every year I have a few babies that opt to bail ship before the yolk is fully
absorbed. When this happens, rather
than chance having the yolk rupture, I find it best to confine the baby by other
means until the yolk is full absorbed. The method we use is to place the baby,
along with the remaining egg liquid, into a small vented deli cup. The cup is
then placed in the incubator and left undisturbed for 24 hours. Usually this is
enough time for the yolk to be fully absorbed. On occasion, a small bit of the
material that encased the yolk will remain outside of the snake’s belly. This
usually does not present a problem, and will generally dry up and fall off
within a few days after the baby is properly set up in a snake box.
Cutting eggs is a bit like
the pre-Christmas reconnaissance many of us engaged in as kids – anticipation
and excitement has been known to get the better of us. For all you non-cutters,
I admire your self-discipline. But
for me, after months and years of work toward a much anticipated end, getting to
peek into those presents, even if only a day or two early, is well…hard to
pass up.
Shop
We’ve been hatching
clutches almost daily for the last several weeks. The Odds-Gods
often have a strange sense of humor, and it amazes me how wildly one’s luck
can change from moment to moment and clutch to clutch. So far we’ve hatched
about 30% of this year’s crop, and overall we’re having excellent results.
Here are a few recent photos:
08 Albino Pied Female Shown with an 09 male
08 FireFly Female Shown with an 09 FireFly Male
09 Pastel Mystic with 09 Mystic
Until next time, from our family to yours,
may the Ball Python Gods shine many forked-tongued blessings upon you.
Dan & Sandy
Dan
Wolfe Herpetoculture Newsletter
July
2009
Greetings!
Happy Independence Day! The
weather here has been absolutely delightful, and even with all the exciting
things going on in the snake building, it’s been difficult to stay inside.
What a wonderful dilemma! Here in NW Montana, the summer days are long. Right
now, we’re getting something on the order of seventeen hours of sunlight each
day – not quite
Rats! Part 2
Last time, I talked about
our rat and mouse setups. This month, I’d like to discuss the day-to-day
maintenance routines that keep our stock healthy and productive. Once you’ve
been working with the rodents awhile, certain patterns become evident and
we’ve integrated our activities with those patterns in an effort to make
things as efficient as possible.
Before we dive in, let me
preface by saying: in order to keep a rodent colony strong and healthy it is
imperative to cull the weak and diseased. This may seem harsh to someone who has
not worked with a large rodent colony, but it is one of the big secrets to
success. Additionally, rats and mice generally have more babies than they could
ever hope to raise to adulthood. In nature, babies like adults, fall prey to a
variety of predators. One of our jobs, if we are to keep the colony healthy, is
to mimic the culling and pruning that would take place in nature.
A good place to begin is
cleaning day, which for us is Tuesday. We start with two racks worth of clean
boxes filled with clean pine shavings. Two
large holding tubs are placed on one side of the rack to be cleaned, and clean
boxes with clean shavings are placed on the other side.
We then put the rats in the first box into one of the holding tubs. A
fresh box is inserted into that slot, and rats from another dirty box are moved
into that one and so on… When going through the boxes of rats I note the
health of each animal. Any animal that behaves at all abnormally or has visible
tumors is placed in the second holding tub to be euthanized later. Nothing gets
wasted in our rodent breeding operation. Those rodents that are, for whatever
reason, not judged suitable for our snake feeding requirements, and are not of a
quality that we can sell frozen, are donated frozen to a local raptor
rehabilitation facility – and they are very happy to get them!
Any young rats that exceed
the size that we can use for our snakes (Ball Pythons) are either saved back as
future breeders or placed into the second tub to be euthanized and frozen.
Animals selected to be future breeders must be healthy and represent
excellent genetic stock. Not only
should they appear robust, but even small details such as the appearance of the
coat should be scrutinized. Any discernable defect, no matter how small (a
kinked tail or misshapen ear for instance) should be rejected. In a captive
situation, many of the natural forces that continuously orient animal
populations toward health and vigor are missing, and so we must be diligent in
filling that void. Constant attention must be paid to removing weaker, less
vigorous animals.
In addition to the duties
of cleaning day, we must refill the water reservoirs every 3 to 4 days, check
daily for any problems (i.e. Floods), and on Saturdays, I go through each and
every box and pull any additional pregnant females. Pregnant females are setup
three to a box. After a day or two, they sort out the pecking order and things
generally settle down to become a shared maternal bliss.
We love all animals,
including rats and mice, and we do our absolute best to ensure that our feeder
rodents are treated as humanely as possible; however, in the end, our rodents
nourish many snakes and many raptors - did I mention how much I love raptors?!
I could probably fill up an
entire newsletter every month with the details of rat farming, but save for a
very few of us whose livelihood depends on such matters, I don’t think many
readers would willfully endure such torture. So I’ve compressed and
abbreviated much of it. If you any questions about any of this, please shoot me
an email.
Shop
Etc…
Who
is that old bald guy?
SSSandy
and sssnake…
The
next generation of snake lovers!
Until next time, from our family to yours,
may the Ball Python Gods shine many forked-tongued blessings upon you.
Dan
Wolfe Herpetoculture Newsletter
June 2009
Greetings!
That grandest of seasons is upon us! Eggs are starting to hatch, and already new creations from the ball python morph machine are starting to show up on the forums. Each year brings forth new examples, fleshed out from the realm of seemingly endless color and pattern possibility. We hope to be able to contribute, by adding one or two new morph fashions of our own this year, as well as some bigger, better, brighter selectively bred examples of our current favorites. I ask you: how else can you have this much fun without breaking the law?
Rodents:
the other red meat
Rodents are the life blood of a snake colony. You can do everything else right, but if you do not have a good dependable supply of rodents available, your success as a breeder will be limited. All of the professional breeders - I know have, at one time or another - had to learn this very important lesson the hard way. We take our rodents very seriously! With that in mind, I’d like to dedicate some space in this and the next newsletter to the art and science of rodent production.
Housing
Rodents
For prospective rodent
ranchers, the first order of business is the provision of proper housing. For
all but the smallest rodent breeding operations, I would recommend using a rack
system. While it’s possible to
raise rodents in individual lab-type cages, rack systems are much more labor and
space efficient. Most rack
manufacturers offer individual levels, having as few as three of four boxes.
Racks use automatic water systems which are vastly superior to water bottles.
There are currently several manufacturers offering very functional rodent rack
systems of quality construction and design. Two of the most popular brands are
Freedom Breeder (http://www.freedombreeder.com)
and ARS (http://www.arscaging.com/welcome.html).
Both companies deliver a quality product, however both are a bit pricey. For
mice we use Freedom Breeders, however for rats we have opted to construct our
own racks. The racks we build are of wood construction and have proven to be
very functional. The only real advantage that these racks have over those
commercially available is that we are able to build racks at fraction of the
cost. I haven’t built one for a couple years, but I believe that my entire
cost per 18 box rack was somewhere under $200 (and that includes the boxes). The
primary requirements for building your own racks is a cursory understanding of
basic carpentry, and some basic carpentry tools, including a table or radial arm
saw. Years ago Ralph Davis provided some very detailed photos showing each stage
in the construction of the rodent racks he builds. Rather than reinventing the
wheel, I modeled my own racks after his. You can still access Ralph’s step by
step photos by following this link:http://www.ralphdavisreptiles.com/interactive/journal/archives/oct-03.asp
Ralph does not provide any
dimensional data so you will need to come up with your own. The key is to first
find the boxes you want to use, and then design the rack around them. For our
rat racks, we use Van Ness brand Large Cat Litter Pans. We choose to use cat
litter pans for several reasons: 1) On the interior, they have a smooth bottom
and sides, so that rats cannot chew out. 2) They’re durable. 3) They’re
inexpensive. 4) They’re available locally at Target and Walmart. The only real
downside I see to using the Van Ness boxes, is that the sides are slightly
convex, and because of that the rack side rails must fit snuggly or they can
fall.
I won’t delve into the
actual construction of the racks, but I will offer a few tips based on
experience. If you have a table or radial arm saw, you can rip the lumber into
any dimension you need. I use 2 X 4 studs for the rack legs. Everything else is
ripped from 10 foot 2 X 8s, or 2 X 10s. Starting with these larger boards is a
very cost efficient way to go. You can make a lot of the smaller rack pieces
from one of these larger boards.
Of critical importance is
the gap between the top edge of the plastic box and the wood support above it.
If the gap is too wide the rats will quickly chew through the box – starting
at the top edge and working their way down. I recommend a gap of not more than
3/16ths of an inch.
For wire mesh, we use half
inch galvanized hardware cloth – available at Home Depot.
If you are building mouse racks you will need mesh with smaller holes, as
juveniles can easily escape through the half inch mesh.
We order the automatic
watering system components from a company called Klubertanz (www.klubertanz.com).
The components we use are: 3/16” Flex Tubing, A202 Tank Connectors, 3/16”
Vari-Flo Valves, and 3/16” Barbed Tees. We make our own water reservoirs using
32 quart Sterilite boxes. To use the box as a water reservoir, you only need to
drill a hole near the bottom of the appropriate diameter to fit the tank
connector.
As a rule, you will
occasionally experience ‘floods’. Floods happen when a valve sticks open,
allowing water to drain into the rodent box. It is for this reason that we
don’t recommend using a live water system for rodents. Ideally the water
reservoir should be of slightly less volume than the capacity of one rodent box,
so that in the event of a flood, the damage will be contained to that one box,
and won’t flood the whole room. Because of the possibility of floods we
recommend checking your rodents at least once per day. Most floods occur as a
drip and therefore with diligence can be caught early.
In addition to proper
caging, rodents must be kept within certain environmental parameters. We’ve
found that rats and mice do best when kept in temperatures between 65 to 75
degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures
outside of those parameters may be tolerated in the short term but are not
conducive to long-term health and reproduction.
Another factor that must be
considered, especially in larger breeding colonies, is humidity. Rodents add
lots of humidity to a room. When conditions become humid, things not only
becomes toxic smelling, but as the air in the room becomes more and more
saturated with moisture, the urine in the bedding fails to dry, meaning that the
bedding stays moist. Moist bedding mixed with fecal matter smells bad, grows
mold, and is just plain unhealthy for all involved. We use two different methods
to address the humidity issue. First, when outside temperatures are favorable we
opt for direct ventilation, by opening windows, etc. When outdoor temperatures
are prohibitively cold, or too hot, we use dehumidifiers to remove excess
moisture. Dehumidifiers do add some heat to the room, so in the summer we must
also use an air conditioner in order to maintain correct temperatures. It
sometimes becomes a balancing act, but with experience you will learn how to
maintain that balance using the least amount of time and energy.
A good high quality feed is
essential fuel for a high output rodent colony. We
have our rodent feed specially milled locally to custom specifications. I
don’t have direct experience, but I have heard from others that Mazuri makes a
quality feed. I think you typically get what you pay for, so I wouldn’t cut
corners when it comes to feed.
Next month, I’ll discuss
the day to day maintenance of our rodent colonies.
Shop
Talk
Our breeding season always
seems to run a tad later than most of the rest of the ball python breeding
world. We have the first dozen clutches safely in the incubator, with many more
on the way. Beginning next month, we should start having some baby photos to
share. I love this time of year, but when eggs are due to hatch, I’m like a
six year old on Christmas morning! I can’t wait to see what’s inside - and
forget about sleeping! I force myself to get out and enjoy some summer
activities, just so I can stay out of the incubators. If only there were a
support group for those tortured souls who must deal with the excruciating
process called incubation. Okay, let’s all take a deep breath in… now breath
out… let go… let go of the tension… find the space between your
thoughts… now let those spaces
grow… grow until there’s nothing else… just pure blissful space… be in
the moment… feel the moment… Maybe I’d better go check the incubator just
one more time.
Until next time, from our family to yours, may the Ball Python Gods shine many forked-tongued blessings upon you.
Dan & Sandy
Dan Wolfe Herpetoculture
Newsletter
May
2009
Greetings!
Unlike those poor unfortunates that do not
have snakes, and who must resort to bathroom meditation, I like many of you, do
my best thinking when I’m alone with my snakes. Today, I had the luxury of
having a bit more time than usual to relax and really enjoy working with the
snakes. I was slowly going through all of this season’s breeding females
– assessing their health, and doing some palpating. As I was checking the
follicles of a particular female, I noticed that she had a bit of wood shaving
embarrassingly stuck in the space between her teeth and lip - a remnant from
yesterday’s meal. This particular female, a beautiful Pastel girl, has been
here since birth and is an extremely calm and gentle animal. In order to assist
her, I grabbed a small pair of tweezers, and as she extended herself toward me,
I slowly and gently grasped her behind the head. She remained calm, relaxed, and
trusting as I easily removed the shaving from her mouth. It made me think… how
is it that I deserve the trust of this creature? How intelligent of her to
comprehend the true nature of our symbiotic relationship.
I wish more people had a better understanding
of snakes. It is only our initial fear that prevents us from seeing their true
nature, just as it is their initial fear that prevents them from seeing our’s
(that is if our nature is to take care of, rather than to harm them). It is only
through familiarity that we are allowed the possibility to perceive the truth.
With our guards down, we are able to see them for the sensitive and intelligent
creatures they are. Hopefully they could say the same about us.
Also, it seems that we humans tend to make
the egocentric and false assumption that because we are the intellectual giants
on this planet, the less like us a creature is, the less intelligent it must be.
How intelligent can a creature be that has no legs? I’m not talking about
intelligence of design – all creatures have that. They are all tried and true
– tested over countless millennia - winners of the “you can fill a niche”
award. No, I’m referring instead to the intelligence that allows learning and
reasoning, which may possibly be distilled further to mean the ability to notice
and predict patterns in the world around them. Ball pythons, despite the fact
that they have no legs, are actually pretty good at that, at least more so than
I think most non-snake people would guess. The simple fact is that once a snake
loses its fear, it will begin to respond positively to kindness and proper care.
However like humans, each snake varies in its ability to move beyond fear. We
have a few adult ball pythons that, despite or best efforts, continue to be a
bit tense and high strung, and at the other end of the spectrum, as goofy as it
may sound, we have snakes we consider to be old friends.
As keepers and breeders of these animals, it
is our responsibility to facilitate their ease of transition from fear to trust.
Newly hatched snakes generally start out fearful, and for good reason – in
nature larger creatures eat smaller ones. The expression of their fear varies
between offensive and defensive behavior, yet the root cause of the behavior is
the same. During routine interactions with them, they begin to learn of our
intent. If they see that we are responsible for good things, such as gentle
handling, food, water, and the like, and are also responsible for the removal of
bad things, like bodily waste products or the occasional wood shaving caught
between the teeth, then it only makes sense for them to accept us into their
lives - and of course that’s when the fun begins!
Speaking of educating people about reptiles,
I am very excited about a unique new educational concept created by our friends
Carl Barden and Denisse Abreu. Carl’s company, Medtoxin, has been a supplier
of venom to research labs and anti venom producers for fifteen years. His newest
venture,
For more information visit their web site: http://www.reptilediscoverycenter.com
The YouTube video is simply amazing. I love
seeing the grace and ease with which Carl handles some of the deadliest snakes
on the planet. We wish Carl and Denise the best of luck, and look forward to
seeing them and the new operation in August.
Rodents
If you are keeping ball pythons, you must at
some level deal with rodents. Rats and mice constitute a critical step in the
conversion of sunshine into ball pythons. Because we reside in NW Montana, a
land of many cattle ranches but very few rodent producers (at least
intentionally), we have, of necessity, become proficient at raising rats and
mice.
Like others who have been breeding ball
pythons for a while, we have learned the critical importance of having a solid,
dependable supply of feeder rodents. Because balls, especially the babies,
generally prefer to eat live versus dead rodents, we as professional breeders
find it much more cost and time efficient to offer live food. To feed a large
colony of pythons, from hatchlings to adults, it is essential to have rodents of
all sizes in good supply. To do this, we have found it necessary to over-produce
our rodents by about 30%. In other words; we must produce an average of 30% more
rodents than we actually need for our snakes, in order to insure that we always
have enough rodents of all sizes available. To help defray some the cost of
rodent production, we sell our surplus rodents to local snake keepers and
wildlife rehab centers.
Because rodents are such an important part of what we do, I’d like to dedicate some space in the next newsletter or two to the topic of rodent husbandry, with hope that those of you breeding your own rodents, or considering it, may find something of value, or be inspired to share your secrets with us.
Until next time, from our family to yours,
may the Ball Python Gods shine many forked-tongued blessings upon you.
Dan & Sandy
Dan
Wolfe Herpetoculture Newsletter
April 2009
Greetings!
The short, dark, quiet days of winter are finally over!
Robins pull worms from the recently thawed earth, and Meadow Larks sing
in our fields once again. The valley snow has all but vanished, and the pungent
aroma of recently thawed cow manure carries in on warm breezes from the
neighboring dairy farm. Here and
there among last year’s dry brown foliage, bits of new green growth have
appeared. Spring has finally come to
northwest
Today in blistering 65 degree temps, I ventured forth in sandals, shorts, and a T-shirt – exposing as much pale, translucent skin as possible to the April sun. Everywhere I went there were people outside, not necessarily doing much of anything; standing, talking, walking – just being outside. You folks from northern latitudes, that have four seasons, know what I’m talking about. Those first few warm days of spring, when people put on shorts for the first time, are a celebration of blue veins and pasty white flesh, of finding things in the back yard that have not been seen since last October, when a young man’s thoughts naturally turn to… ball pythons! And when a ball python’s thoughts turn to… making more ball pythons!
Eggs
Last month I shared with you details concerning the construction and operation of our incubators. This month I’d like to follow up with a discussion on the incubation of ball python eggs. We started up the first incubator a week or so ago, and our first clutch for 2009 arrived just a few days ago.
We incubate ball python eggs in quart Iris tubs. As mentioned last month, because our incubators are designed to maintain the desired level of humidity, there is no reason to restrict air flow in the egg boxes, and I am a big fan of ventilation (no pun intended). We use a soldering iron to melt LOTS of holes in our egg boxes.
For an incubation substrate we like large particle vermiculite. Although there are many viable alternatives, vermiculite is inexpensive, readily available, and has always worked well for us.
To set up a new clutch of eggs, we put 800 grams of dry vermiculite into the quart Iris tub. To that we add grams of 80 to 90 degree water, and mix well. Before placing the eggs on the vermiculite, a shallow depression is created in the vermiculite. The mother snake is carefully removed from the eggs and placed in a separate holding box. Before removing the clutch from the snake box, I use a small pen light to candle the eggs for viability. Any viable eggs that are not adherent to the clutch are marked with a pencil, so that the original orientation can be maintained during the entire incubation process.
The eggs are carefully placed in the Iris tub. Vermiculite is then pushed up against the eggs leaving at least half of each egg exposed above the vermiculite. Sometimes, eggs on the top of the clutch are not in contact with the vermiculite at all, those eggs tend to shrivel a bit more than the others during incubation, but we have not encountered any real problems because of it.
I then make a label for the clutch. The label shows the parents IDs, the number of fertile eggs in the clutch, the date the clutch was laid, and the date when the eggs are due to hatch. Each label is double laminated in clear packaging tape and placed in the box with the eggs. The tape protects the label from the effects of high humidity during incubation.
Once the eggs are safely in the incubator, there really is nothing more to do but wait – but then, that is the hard part.
For us, incubating at 88 to 89 degrees, the eggs tend to pip on day 55 or 56. Any eggs that have not pipped by day 56 are carefully cut. Cutting the eggs is not necessary of course, but by then my curiosity generally gets the better of me, and it does not seem to cause them any harm. Cutting eggs may be a topic for a future newsletter.
Shop Happenings
So far, it looks like we will have another very good year, perhaps better than 2008. For some reason, our females have always been consistently inconsistent. While the first females are dropping eggs now, others have not yet even begun follicle development. We will be getting eggs for the next six months – which is actually the way I like it, as It helps to spread out the craziness, excitement, and the work load.
Not to get too far ahead of myself, but we should be producing our first Specters and Pastel Specters this year, as well as hets from our unproven Tri-Stripe male. We also have a couple mystery projects we hope to prove out.
On the new acquisitions side of things, we want to thank Pro Exotics for supplying us with a killer 08 Desert male. I’ve been watching and lusting over this project for some time now, and I’m very excited to have this gene in the collection. We wish the best of luck to Pro Exotics this year in their quest to produce the first homozygous Desert.
Our
New Desert
Here are a couple photos taken recently of some of our 2008 offspring:
Assorted
Pieds
Pastel
Fire, Pastel Mystic, and Pastel Calico
We wish you the best of
luck with all of your spring projects. Until next time, from our family to
yours, may the Ball Python Gods shine many forked-tongued blessings upon
you.
Dan & Sandy
Dan
Wolfe Herpetoculture Newsletter
March
2009
Greetings, fellow crazy
snake people!
Rejoice for the ides of March are soon upon us! I for one love ides, especially when served in a light cream sauce with a just hint of basil. Even though things here in NW Montana are still covered in a blanket of white, there are some subtle indications that we may in fact have a spring this year – longer days, occasional warmer temperatures (sometimes into the high 40’s!), and a general mounting restlessness among all of God’s creatures herald it’s coming. Mating activity in the snake room is now the rule rather than the exception, and females are hanging out on the cool side, as follicles develop. Hard to believe that in only a few short months, the incubators will again be full with developing baby snakes : )-<
With
many of us expecting our first clutches in the upcoming weeks and months, this
seems like a good time to discuss the finer points of incubation. Although ball
python eggs are relatively hardy and resilient, they must be consistently
maintained within certain parameters during the entire eight week incubation
process, or they will soon perish. I
would like to share with you the way in which we incubate ball python eggs. Our
incubators are designed a bit differently than those of most other breeders, but
using them, we enjoy a very high hatch rate on fertile eggs.
Early on, I began building my own incubators. I found that the commercially available incubators were either too small, too expensive, or were not designed properly for ball python egg incubation. We construct our incubators using old refrigerators or freezers. The single door models work best. Of primary importance, when selecting an old refrigerator or freezer, is a good tight door seal. The newer rectangular models are more space efficient than the older models with the rounded corners. Freezers typically have a better, simpler shelving arrangement. In 2007 we upgraded to new incubators, using four double glass door commercial coolers, salvaged from the local Target store during a remodel. These are much larger than the old refrigerators and freezers, but the function is essentially the same.
The conversion process begins with a thorough cleaning of the appliance, using plenty of bleach. The shelves are removed during the construction process. Using a one and half inch hole saw (a circular saw bit that fits on a electric drill) we cut a hole through the side or back of the appliance at a point about mid way up. Through this hole, will run the electrical cords for heating elements and fans.
Our
incubators are a bit non-conventional, in that they not only maintain a set
temperature, but also regulate humidity. We believe that eggs should be well
ventilated at all times to allow proper respiration for developing embryos –
proper ventilation reduces or eliminates the incidence of late stage egg death
and pre-mature hatching. We place eggs in plastic shoe boxes that are liberally
riddled with ventilation holes, and because the incubator is designed to
maintain high humidity, the eggs are allowed high humidity without restricting
ventilation.
In
order to provide both heat and humidity, the incubator heating element is
positioned in such a way that it heats a water reservoir, thereby promoting
evaporation during the heating process. To
begin, we locate a shallow plastic tub that fits the floor of the incubator. We
place two inches of dry sand into the tub. The sand is smoothed and leveled. On
top of the sand is positioned a section of eleven inch Flex Watt heat tape,
slightly shorter than the length of the tub. A second shallow plastic tub will
serve as the water reservoir. The water reservoir tub should ideally be four
inches smaller in length and width, and two inches shorter in height than the
first tub. A heating cable is spirally wrapped around the sides of the reservoir
tub, starting an inch above the bottom and going up, and is held in place with
packaging or duct tape. Be sure not to allow the heat tape to touch itself – I
try to leave a space of about an inch as I spiral it up. Once the heating cable
is in place, the second tub is placed within the first tub, on top of the Flex
Watt, and positioned so that the gap between the boxes is a consistent two
inches or so on all sides. The
electrical cords for the heat cable and Flex Watt are routed up and out of the
incubator through the hole cut previously. Sand is then carefully poured into
the space between the larger and smaller plastic tubs.
This
double boxed sand/water configuration works very well. Besides facilitating the
evaporation of water to keep humidity high, the sand and water create a large
mass that effectively functions as a heat sink, eliminating temperature spikes
and causing the incubator to be extremely stable.
In the new incubators, I’ve
used three water reservoirs instead of one –
but the concept remains the
same.
The
next issue to be addressed is that of proper air circulation. Without proper air
circulation, the incubator will likely become thermally stratified.
Since the heat source is at the bottom of the enclosure, and because heat
rises, there will be some natural air movement, but it will likely not be enough
to keep temperatures consistent throughout the incubation enclosure.
Small fans are used to increase circulation and make temperatures more
consistent. We have found that small computer fans (available at Radio Shack)
work well. Two fans seem to work best. They are wired and mounted, one for each
side of the enclosure, positioned approximately half way up. They seem to work
most efficiently if they are mounted in opposing directions – one blowing air
up, and the other moving air down – so that air moves within the enclosure in
a circular fashion.
It
should be noted that the motors of even small computer fans introduce a
significant amount of heat into the enclosure. Enough heat that, left unchecked,
they may cause temperatures to exceed that which is dictated by the thermostat.
For this reason we connect the fans to the same thermostats that control the
heating elements.
You
will not see fans in the photos shown, as our new incubators have circulation
fans incorporated into the top, or ceiling of the unit. These fans were part of
the original coolers, I merely rewired them so that they could be plugged into
the thermostats.
Proper
wiring and thermostat probe placement is essential for safe and efficient
incubator operation. Each incubator is regulated by two thermostats. I
will describe the wiring from the wall outlet inward. A heavy duty extension
cord (12 gauge), is used to connect a basic non-proportional electronic
thermostat to the wall outlet. This thermostat functions as an emergency
shut-off, and is set at 90 degrees F, one or two degrees higher than the
intended incubation temperature – but below the lethal limit. A
second thermostat, the primary operational thermostat, is
plugged into the first. For the primary thermostat, I use a Helix brand
proportional thermostat set at 88 – 89 degrees F.
Into the primary thermostat, is plugged a six outlet strip, and into the
strip is plugged the heat tape, the heat cable, and both fans.
The thermostats and all connections are located outside the incubator.
The
thermostat probes are attached to the middle of the bottom of the center-most
shelf. The backup thermostat is strictly a safety measure. In
the event that the primary thermostat should fail in the ON position, the backup
thermostat ensures that temperatures do not exceed the safe range.
Ball python eggs can survive at normal room temperatures for some time,
but as many an unfortunate breeder has discovered, they will die quickly if
temperatures exceed 91 degrees F, or so.
This
covers the basics of our incubator setups. I
hope I haven’t made this overly complicated and confusing. Please let me know
if you have questions or need clarification. I’ll be back next month to
continue the discussion of egg incubation…
Incubator setup and ready for eggs!
Industry
One notable and exciting recent event in the ball python world, was the hatching of the world’s first Mystic Mojaves by breeder Anthony McCain. These purple hued, ghostly beauties have been given the name, Mystic Potion. Because of its resemblance to the Super Phantom, many see the Mystic Potion as providing additional evidence supporting the notion that the Mystic and the Phantom are in fact one and the same. However, whatever the case may be, the Mystic Potion is a fantastic animal in its own right, and has created tremendous interest in the Mystic project. Congratulations to Anthony for seeing the potential of this mutation, and for having the patience and determination required to bring this new creation into being.
Mystic Potions – Photo and Snakes by Anthony
McCain
Shop
Breeding
here has progressed well, and we are expecting another productive and exciting
year. The first pre-lay sheds happened earlier this week, so we should be
putting the first clutches in the incubator in a month. Our clutches are always
so spread out, that our incubators are only empty for a couple months each year
– which is the way I like it – I love the excitement of eggs cooking.
I
hope that you, too, are building toward an incredible 09’ season. I encourage
you to send baby photos (snakes only please), and I will be happy to include
them in upcoming newsletters. Until next
time, from our family to yours, may the Ball Python Gods shine many
forked-tongued blessings upon you.
Dan
Wolfe Herpetoculture Newsletter
February
2009
Greetings,
to fellow snake lovers!
Happy February! I hope this
letter finds you well, happy, and in love; in love this February, this month of
love, with someone and something. Perhaps you’re in love with many things. I,
for one, find myself fortunate to be so deeply in love with one phenomenal woman
and one great passion… raising ball pythons. I immerse myself in both
throughout my day. I hope you too, are so blessed.
Industry
During the course of a day,
I talk with many people on the phone, and am asked a variety of questions, on a
number of topics and concerns. However, there is one question that I’m often
asked, and one that’s regularly discussed on the ball python forums, that’s
of particular interest, and I’d like to address it here.
How
healthy is the ball python market?
Every year for the last twelve years, there have been those on the forums who
have warned of immanent, impending doom for the designer ball python market.
Well, the market is still alive, and is, in my opinion, better and
healthier than ever before. We are
only now beginning to see a mature market for designer ball pythons.
To illustrate my point, I’d like to talk for a moment about the history
of the ball python market.
Twenty years ago ball
pythons were brown and black snakes, normals, as we call them today.
They were, and still are, imported from
In 1997 Pete Kahl produced
the first captive bred Piebald balls. Over the next few years serious breeders,
myself included, happily forked over $25k each for Piebald males – and it was
a good investment! During the late 90’s snake fanciers went absolutely nuts
for ball pythons. They became big
money. A few one-of-a-kind, imported baby balls sold for, in excess of, $100k
each. The number of new morphs grew at an incredible rate. While a few of the
early pioneers found wealth overnight, others of us were just getting started
and were investing for the long haul. The
market, during the 90’s, was immature and experienced definite growing pains.
Things were chaotic, and as more and more people became interested,
prices escalated. Demand greatly surpassed supply.
During the 1990’s, buyers
often had very limited choices of from whom to buy. There was often only one
breeder offering a particular new mutation. Also in those days, it seemed that
customer service and integrity were often in short supply. Buyers today usually
have the luxury of choosing among several reputable breeders when contemplating
a purchase.
Now that the dust has
started to settle, the industry is beginning to stabilize. This is a good thing,
not something to fear. Very few new morphs are imported these days, and it is
now up to us, as breeders and hobbyists, to create new exciting possibilities
from the established base mutations. Personally I don’t miss the crazy 90’s.
It was very difficult to get a handle on things and to understand the market
dynamics, when things changed on a daily or weekly basis.
I’m told that we now have
approximately 120 different, proven, genetic mutations of ball pythons – many,
many more than is known for any other species of reptile. Even now that number
continues to grow, albeit more slowly. The
number of ball python keepers and breeders also continues to grow. While demand
for these animals is currently at an all time high, so is supply. With so many
different morphs and combinations thereof, buyers now get to be choosy. Gone are
the days when a ball python sold for tens of thousands simply because it was
different. Buyers don’t just want different, they now want spectacular,
colorful, and magnificent. Breeders who ride the leading edge of the industry
strive to find, within those 120 known mutations, combinations that are truly
marvelous – the snakes that buyers will dream of. We have so many potential
combinations that it will require several generations of hardworking breeders
and hobbyists to even come close to exhausting all of the combination
possibilities – and that’s not including the morphs we haven’t yet
discovered. One of the things that continues to draw people to ball pythons, is
the simple fact that anyone, with a little planning, patience, and a bit of
luck, can still produce a first – an
animal that has never been seen before. I, for one, lay awake at night dreaming
of the possibilities.
In the more mature market
today, we have many producers offering their wares in a competitive environment.
Buyers have the opportunity to shop for superior products from reputable sellers
offering good customer service. Breeders who do not follow sound business
practices, who fail to be efficient in the production of superior animals, or
fail to offer premium customer service will fall to the wayside. As in all
professions, there is always room at the top for hard working people with talent
and vision.
In response to the gloom
and doom people, I only have this to say: Dan Wolfe Herpetoculture has grown
more profitable each and every year since 2001 (the year I became a fulltime
breeder). We have yet to feel any
effect of the global recession. In fact, this last January was our most
profitable single month on record. We feel extremely fortunate to be doing that
which we love and to have such wonderful relations with our customers.
For you, we are truly grateful. At the most basic level, the designer
ball python market is healthy because people love these animals. Ball pythons
are docile, interesting, and easy to care for. But on top of that, nature has
given us an incredible palate of colors and patterns with which to create a
seemingly endless variety… how could it be any better than that?
Some
favorite combos from 2008. Clockwise from the top: Albino Pied, Pastel Calico,
Pastel Fire, and Pastel Mystic
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Breeding is progressing
nicely. We already have several females sporting good size follicles.
Most of our breeding females are in prime condition and we expect another
good year, and hopefully a few new surprises.
I love watching the juveniles grow this time of year. The feeding response is just amazing. Most of last year’s babies are grabbing food off the tongs before I can get it into their boxes, and if I don’t have it ready, they are hanging out of the box lunging at anything and everything that moves. Like a good Polish mother, I like my babies to see my babies eat J
Until next time, from our
family to yours, may the Ball Python Gods shine many forked-tongued blessings upon
you.
Dan
Wolfe Herpetoculture Newsletter
January
2009
Happy New Year and Greetings from the Great White North!
We’re hoping this year brings you all a little closer to your dreams, a little closer to those you love, and greater fulfillment in your passionate undertakings (i.e. snake breeding).
January seems like a very good time to discuss the finer points of palpation. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this term, it is simply the method by which breeders physically manipulate their female snakes to discern the presence of, and track the development of follicles. Some of the larger breeders have invested in ultrasound machines for this purpose, but for the most part, anyone skilled in palpation can glean the same information.
We begin palpating our adult females in mid January, and again every two or three weeks throughout the breeding season. Knowing each female’s stage of follicle development helps us to know when she is most receptive, so that we can utilize our males most efficiently. Once a female has follicles of size that are not likely to be reabsorbed (approximately ping pong ball size), we discontinue palpation, as it no longer serves a purpose, and we do not wish to unnecessarily stress gravid females.
The basics of palpating are pretty simple and straightforward. However, it takes practice before you will feel comfortable doing it and get the “feel” of what’s going on inside your girls. To begin with, select a female, and remove her from her enclosure. You want to keep her as relaxed as possible. Place the front part of her body back into the enclosure and allow the rear two thirds of her body to hang down outside the enclosure, while gently supported by your hands. The idea is to allow her to crawl back into the enclosure while you gently, but firmly squeeze her body between the index finger and thumb of your hand. You’ll want to start with your hand a little over half of the way down her body. Make sure your fingers are under her belly and your thumb is on top of her back. As she begins to move back into her enclosure, she should relax the abdominal muscles. As she does so, you can begin to press a bit more deeply. One of the complications of this procedure is that each female will react differently to be being palpated. The easy ones will be relaxed and move slowly into their enclosure, allowing you to easily feel any developing follicles. Others are by their nature more tense when handled, and will not so easily succumb to palpation. With time you will learn to get a good idea of follicle development with even the more difficult females. It all has much to do with patience and perseverance. I’ve noticed that females will often behave differently at different times. For example, a female that is normally tense and hard to palpate may be much more agreeable when she is blue and deep in a shed cycle. Therefore, with difficult females it may pay to experiment a bit.
I
line my index finger directly beneath my middle finger so that I can use the
combined strength of all four fingers.
Very large females are more difficult to palpate. I have a few females that are over 4000 grams and they are a handful, to say the least. I find it difficult to be able to squeeze deeply enough to feel smaller follicles with them. I’ve learned that I may not feel definite follicles with the very large females until the follicles are fairly advanced in size.
One of the common mistakes that beginners make with this technique, is that they don’t press deeply enough to feel the follicles, especially during the earlier stages of development when follicles are small and more difficult to discern. You certainly don’t want to squeeze so hard as to damage the snake or the follicles, but, for the most part, beginners don’t press hard enough. I have been using this technique for over ten years and have not seen any indication that it harms the female or the developing eggs. Often times, when palpating, you will hear gurgling noises as gas bubbles pass beneath your fingers – don’t be alarmed. This is normal.
It is a good idea to palpate on the same day the female has eaten, or wait at least a few days after. If she has just eaten, you will first feel a lump. This lump is the rodent. Beyond that, immediately following, will be any follicles that may be present. If you palpate on the second or third day after eating, the digesting food will be farther down the digestive tract and could be confused with developing follicles. Typically, by the fourth day, the digestive process is advanced enough that there should be no confusion when palpating. Keep in mind, that developing follicles, if present, will be located below the mid-point of the body, but above approximately the bottom fifth of the snake. Palpating below that point may confuse lumps of fecal material and uric masses with follicles.
So, what do you do with the information? At the point when follicles have begun to grow in earnest, once they reach approximately marble size, they are at the point when breeding seems most critical. Beyond that, it’s also a good way to know how many eggs you might expect to be getting. Because when the follicles are small, they often line up beside each other in the ovaries, it’s often hard to get a good idea of the total number – it will feel like she has less than there actually are. Once the follicles are larger, they tend to sort themselves out into a more lineal fashion, and at that point, you should be able to get a pretty good count. With experience, it is also possible to tell the good eggs from those which are duds. Dud eggs tend to be harder and smaller than viable eggs.
I hope that this provides a good overview from which it will be possible to begin learning and using this valuable technique. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns.
Shop Talk
Gold
Dust Pieds
Until next time, from our
family to yours, may the Ball Python Gods shine many forked-tongued blessings upon
you.
Dan & Sandy
Dan
Wolfe Herpetoculture Newsletter
December 2008
Greetings!
Another Breeding Season
Begins
This seems like a good time
to discuss some of the finer points of breeding ball pythons.
Just as there are many successful ways to keep these snakes, there are
many different ways to go about breeding them.
During our first years working with ball pythons we tried several
different methods, looking for the way to optimal production.
For the last five years we’ve used essentially the same routine and had
very favorable results. So, with the
caveat that this is by no means intended to be THE definitive best way to breed
ball pythons, we’d like to share our breeding recipe.
While it is possible to
successfully reproduce ball pythons without seasonal temperature variation, it
is my belief that seasonal changes synchronize the physiology of males and
females, so that breeding occurs when females are most receptive.
On the 1st of November we drop the night temps in our breeder
racks to 75 degrees (as measured on the substrate surface on the warm end of the
boxes). Initially we set the night
drop for 12 hours each night, but gradually increase it to 14 hours by the 1st
of December. We maintain the 14 hour
night time temperature drop until July 1st – at which time we
eliminate the night drop completely, maintaining a constant 24/7 temperature of
about 93 degrees on the warm end of the boxes.
During the entire year, we
keep daytime snake box temperatures the same - approximately 93 degrees on the
warm end.
We begin introducing males
to females on the first of December. By
breeding first time females, and females that have historically produced early
clutches first, we maximize the effectiveness of our breeding males.
Breeding males are allowed
to remain in a female’s box until copulation has ended, or 48 hours if
copulation is not witnessed. If a
male does not copulate with a particular female, he may be placed directly into
another female’s box. Males that
have copulated are allowed to rest for 2 to 5 days between females.
We offer food to all
breeding males at least once per week during the breeding season.
Many will feed during the early season, but by February or so most males
have stopped, and will not resume feeding until June or July. They
begin to look skinny by the end of the breeding season, but I assume the same
thing happens with wild males, and we’ve never experienced any problems
because of it.
The peak of breeding here
happens between February and April. My
guess is that’s when our females are most receptive.
Most of the breedings that happen this time of year seem to help
condition the females, possibly helping them to set their reproductive clocks.
Often a female who shows little interest in food will, after mating,
begin feeding ravenously – putting on the fat she will need if she is to
produce offspring in the upcoming season.
We offer food to adult
females twice per week regardless of season.
The only exception to that, is during the period between ovulation and
egg laying, when no food is offered. In
the past I know some breeders have fasted their females during the months of
nighttime cooling, thinking that the cooler temperatures might hinder digestion.
We have never encountered any problems within the temperature
parameters I’ve described. Female
ball pythons need adequate body fat reserves to reproduce, and we give them
every opportunity to put on additional weight, right up to ovulation.
We begin palpating our
females in early January. In fact,
‘How to Palpate’, may be a good topic to discuss in the January newsletter.
Palpation is an excellent way to tell where your females are in the whole
process. It helps us decide which
female should be next on a male’s dance card, and which can wait.
We typically palpate females every two weeks from mid January on.
Once we determine that a female has mature size follicles (follicles of a
size that are not likely to be reabsorbed – about ping pong ball size), we
stop palpating her, so as not to add additional unnecessary stress.
That’s pretty much the highlights in a nutshell. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you need clarification, or if we can be helpful to your ball python breeding ventures in any way.
The big excitement here is that we got our Albino Pied wishes granted in a big way! We now have FOUR big, beautiful babies!!! Proof that the odds can mean very little in the short run. We would have considered ourselves lucky to produce one or two this year. We’re very thankful. It’s been a long haul, and now this project has really become REAL. As all of us that work with recessives know, hets and double hets may be exciting, but they look like normals. It’s great to see what they can do!
Dan
Wolfe Herpetoculture Newsletter
November
2008
Greetings!
What a glorious fall we’ve had here in NW Montana. The deciduous trees have lost most of their leaves, and now we’re onto phase two of the fall colors. The larch, a conifer that also looses it’s foliage in winter, are now bright yellow and orange. They look like giant goldenrods. We’ve had frost on and off for the last couple weeks, and I saw a few snow flakes this morning, so it’s time to start thinking seriously about which snakes we want to put together in this upcoming season.
This month I’d like to share with you some of the ways in which we provide day to day care of our ball python collection. There is a lot of variation in the way people successfully keep and breed ball pythons. There really is no one right way. Each collection is unique, and there are many variables that play a part in determining how best to maintain a collection. Local climate definitely has an influence and must be factored in. The daily schedule and time constraints of the keeper also must be considered. The facilities, caging, and the various other husbandry equipment used also have an influence on the way in which our animals are cared for. But I’d like to share with you some of the established routines that we use to keep the animals at our facility in top condition.
One of the biggest issues
we all face is maintenance of adequate food supplies.
Because of the size of our collection and the lack of local rodent
breeders, we produce all of our own rodents.
From experience we’ve found that in order to be able to offer live food
of the appropriate size to all of our snakes, it is imperative that we
overproduce on the order of about 30%. We
freeze and sell all of our excess. We’ve
learned not to try to alter our rodent breeding in order to match the seasonal
needs of our snakes. During certain
times of the year, especially when we have lots of new babies, our rodent
production only slightly exceeds feeding requirements.
At other times, like during late spring, our rodent production is almost
double that of our feeding needs. We’ve
found that it is dangerous and difficult to try to step down or ramp up rodent
production in an effort to match seasonal feeding fluctuations.
If feeding needs ever begin to exceed the rodent supply, it becomes very
difficult to get back on top, and in the meantime it can cost you a year’s
production. Females that do not have
adequate fat reserves will not produce eggs.
From my experience, I’ve learned that when adult reproductive females
want to eat, you want to be able to feed them.
I have never had a reproductive female become unhealthy because of
obesity, whatever fat they accumulate translates into eggs later.
Also I’ve seen that if a female is hungry now and you don’t feed her,
it doesn’t mean that she’ll be hungry later.
Some of my girls feed very heavily for a month or two right after they
lay eggs, others won’t eat until a few months later.
Either way it only takes a couple months of good solid feeding to put on
the weight they will need for the next breeding season.
If they miss the window in which they want to eat, you may miss out on
that year’s reproduction.
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News
We are still hatching
babies! In fact we still have nine
clutches in the incubator. I’m not
sure why our season tends to run later than most.
I tried hard for years to manipulate things to get my girls on an earlier
cycle, but I’ve learned that I get better production if I just let them have
it their way. We just began a night
temperature drop on November 1st , and won’t start putting pairs
together until December 1st.
08
Albino Pied Male
Here are some photos of a
few other new babies – we hope you enjoy.
Pied 66% Possible Het Albino (Dig that crazy paint job)
Another
Pied 66% Possible Het Albino
High
Contrast Albino
Pastel
Calico
Same
Pastel Calico – Just wait until the white & orange comes in!
Mystic
Calico
We
are thrilled that our newsletter has found such an enthusiastic readership, and
we’ll be back again with more next month. Until then, from our family to
yours, may the Ball Python Gods shine many forked-tongued blessings upon
you.
Dan & Sandy
Dan
Wolfe Herpetoculture Newsletter
October 2008
Greetings!
September is gone! How is this possible? Things here have been so busy lately that I rarely know what day of the week it is. September was an excellent month for us. We had lots of exciting things hatching, and did very well hitting the odds on almost all of our clutches. We are knee deep in babies and time is in short supply, so I’d like to change the format for this month’s newsletter a bit, making it a pictorial to show off some of the new babies.
Close-up
of a Pastel and a Firefly from a second clutch
This
guy is one of the newest Pastel combinations around.
He is the result of breeding our Mystic male to a Pastel.
I love how nicely these two mutations come together.
If the Mystic does prove to be a new line of Phantom, then I’m thinking
a Pastel Super might be very special………something else to look forward to.
It’s
no secret that Pastel Calicos are one of my absolute favorite balls.
These three screamers came from a single clutch.
They are shown here pre-shed. Pastel
Calicos are another one of those ball pythons that simply improve with age.
Another
Pastel Calico from a different clutch, shown positioned between a Pastel and a
Calico.
This
is the male Pastel Calico male that I held back from last year.
He is now 12 months old and weighs 1000 grams (he loves to eat!).
My photographic skills are just really inadequate to capture the range of
color on this guy…….he looks much better in person.
In a collection of several hundred wonderful animals, he may just be my
personal favorite.
Calico
belly shot……..
We still love albinos!
Now for the
October babies………
We’re holding our breath
on several soon to hatch clutches…………. come on Albino Pieds!
We hope that you’ve enjoyed the baby photos.
Next month we’ll revert back to our usual newsletter format.
Until then, from our family to yours, may the Ball Python Gods shine many
forked-tongued blessings upon you.
Dan & Sandy
Dan Wolfe Herpetoculture Newsletter
September
2008
This month’s newsletter
contains a couple more photos than did the last two issues.
Hopefully that won’t make for intolerably lengthy download times.
In the future, I’ll be trying to include more nuts and bolts
information on how we do things here, as well as some in depth discussions on
topics such as breeding and genetics. Please
let me know if there is something specific you would like to see us cover in the
upcoming months
The first thing I’d like
you to notice is the small blue sticker in the bottom left corner.
That sticker simply shows the current gram weight of the snake.
We find this very helpful on feeding day.
When you’re feeding a couple hundred snakes, it helps to have the
correct size rodent in hand as you’re opening the box.
If a snake that has
previously been eating, refuses a meal, then the clothespin gets moved from a
vertical position to a horizontal one. If
at the next feeding that snake refuses to eat, the clothespin gets removed
entirely. We offer food to
non-feeding snakes twice per month. When
they eat, we put a clothespin back in the vertical position on the box.
To the right of the large
green sticker is a blue sticker that shows recent follicle/egg development.
During the breeding season all adult females are regularly palpated.
Once follicles reach a certain size, we begin keeping track of the
development on the blue sticker. Events
like ovulation and the pre-lay shed are also recorded there.
You’ll notice that the female in the box shown has recently had a
pre-lay shed.
Other information that we
keep in close proximity to our snakes includes a record of each years
reproduction by female, as well as the complete breeding records for each year.
This is the basic
documentation and labeling we do with all of out adult breeders.
Babies and juveniles are treated a bit differently.
Obviously there is no need for breeding records.
The only thing extra we do with the immature snakes is to keep dated
feeding records on each one.
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2008
Pastel, Pastel Calico, & Calico
Dan
Wolfe Herpetoculture Newsletter
August
2008
Welcome to the second
edition of our monthly newsletter. Thanks
to everyone who responded to last months’ newsletter. The
positive feedback you gave has given us extra incentive to keep it going.
We love hearing from you so please feel free to contact us with any
comments, suggestions, or questions you may have.
Industry
The business side of
operating a commercial snake breeding facility is much like the business side of
many commercial ventures. Things
like overhead, taxes, and laws of supply and demand must all be considered and
reckoned with. Sound business
practices become essential when the transition is made from hobbyist to
professional breeder. However, although the business end of the snake business
may be similar to other enterprises, the actual breeding of snakes is an art
unto itself, and there is no substitute for experience.
I am regularly contacted by people who are new to ball pythons and wish
to get started breeding them. Many
are interested in the idea of one day becoming professional breeders.
They seek experienced advice as to the smoothest, surest way to achieving
sustained breeding success. The
first thing I advise all newcomers to do is to begin keeping detailed records
regarding all aspects of the lives of the animals in their care.
For the average beginner with just a few snakes, this is not difficult.
However, it is essential to be accurate and meticulous.
Good records will form the basis for a solid understanding of an
animal’s needs and it’s various natural life cycles.
I do encourage new hobbyist to read and learn all they can from other
sources, as this information will help form the basis for husbandry, as they
first get started. However, the data
you later collect yourself will become much more valuable than any you receive
from external sources. Some data
from other sources may be bias, and because we don’t know how it was collected
and what assumptions may have been made, it may also be inaccurate.
There is no substitute for data collected from your own animals in your
own facility. Far too many variables
influence the lives of these snakes for there to be one “right” way of doing
things. Regional climates, as well
as all the various components that make up a breeder’s facilities, have a big
impact on the lives of captive snakes. A
new hobbyist may have great success breeding the first year; however, if he is
not aware of all the factors that influenced that success, he may not be
destined to repeat it the next. No
matter how successful we are in the care and breeding of our snakes, there will
always be room for improvement.
I believe that breeding
ball pythons will always be an art rather than an exact science.
Although in the beginning it’s important to keep meticulous records
regarding all aspects relating to health, feeding, and reproduction, after a few
years, things are done more and more by “feel”.
As we gain experience with our animals and our understanding of them
deepens, we learn to keep only those records that continue to be useful.
As our collections grow and our abilities develop, record keeping becomes
more about organization and less about understanding the needs of our captives.
In a large collection, the need for organization is greater.
A breeder develops certain methods and routines designed to keep
everything in proper order using minimum effort.
For me, activities like feeding and cleaning have become so automatic
that during those times, my attention is likely to be focused more on the health
of each animal, it’s reproductive status, future possibilities, etc., than on
the mechanics of what I’m doing. Becoming
proficient at the art of keeping and breeding ball pythons, is a skill that
anyone can develop, and one that can always be improved upon. Next
month, I will discuss the details of record keeping and organizational
practices, here at our facility.
Shop
August is an exciting time
to be a Ball Python breeder. It’s
a time when we begin to see the fruits of our labors.
At the time of this writing, we’ve hatched a half dozen clutches, have
twenty eight clutches incubating, and another twenty clutches on the way.
Some of the more exciting clutches we have incubating include ten good
eggs from Mystic to Pastel, a ten egg and a four egg clutch from Fire to Pastel,
four eggs from Calico to Calico, five eggs from Fire to Calico (all five eggs
are rough looking – I’m not sure that any will make it to full term), and
several clutches from Calico to Pastel (one of which is a ten egg clutch from
the same female that gave us the two super nice Pastel Calicos last year).
We’re also incubating eggs from a couple new projects, some of which
are currently unproven.
The Calico project just
became even more exciting with the hatching of the first Super Calico by Morton
Wright in July. The first photos of
the Super Calico hint at how gorgeous this animal will be. It,
like the Calico, should only get better looking with age.
Within a few months, it should be an extremely high white animal with
extensive blushing. Morton has
promised to supply us with better photos once she has had a few meals. Like
the Calico, it is entirely possible that the Super Calico will also prove
extremely variable in appearance. Seeing
that the Calico sibling that hatched with Morton’s Super Calico is, what I
would consider a below average Calico, it’s entirely possible that this Super,
even though a stunningly beautiful animal, will also prove to be below average
once we have other Supers to compare it with.
The existence of a super form adds a whole new dimension to this project.
We can only imagine a Pastel Super Calico!
Endless potential…………
Super
Calico – Morton Wright 2008 (Photo by Morton Wright)
Super
Calico with Calico Sibling (Photo by Morton Wright)
This is such an exciting
time to be working with ball pythons. It’s amazing to watch the evolution of
this new art form unfold. We are only beginning to scratch the surface of what
is possible with these beautiful animals, and already the results are
astounding! We expect to have much
more excitement to share with you next month. Until then, from our family to
yours, may the Ball Python Gods shine many forked-tongued blessings upon
you.
Dan & Sandy
Dan
Wolfe Herpetoculture Newsletter
July 2008
Greetings!
You are receiving this newsletter because in the past you have been our customer or have contacted us via email about our animals. The purpose of this discourse is to provide you regularly updated information regarding new and exciting happenings here at our ball python breeding facility, as well as industry happenings, personal opinions, and insights regarding all things relevant to Python regius. It is our hope that you enjoy this newsletter and will find it interesting, and possibly even entertaining. However, if do not wish to receive this newsletter in the future please email us and you will be removed from the mailing list. As for the rest of you, I’ll try to keep it somewhat short, as sweet as possible, and full of ball python goodness.
Industry
So what drives this little
slice of our economy called the ball python market?
My take on it is merely this: wherever
people are passionate, money will follow.
Whether you are an antique car enthusiast, a golfing nut, a bicyclist, an
equestrian, or one who appreciates beautiful pythons you are willing to spend
money doing what you love. People
have shown that even during times of financial stress they continue to dedicate
whatever resources they can to those endeavors that bring them happiness.
Life without our passions is hollow, flat, and empty (just look around at
the people who have nothing in their lives that excites them).
More and more people in the
One question that as a full
time professional breeder I am constantly asking myself is: how can I make sure
that the animals I produce next year or ten years from now will be those animals
that are in highest demand? With
over one hundred different proven genetic mutations of ball pythons now being
produced in captivity, it is important to realize that not all morphs are
created equal, or are equally coveted by ball python enthusiasts.
With all the available choices, just because a snake has a slightly
different look, does not insure consumer demand.
There will always be the collector who wants something just because
it’s rare and different, but unless the morph is unique and attractive, or has
the potential to combine with another morph to create something truly exciting
and new, there will be little follow-on or long-term demand.
One of the tools I employ when trying to objectively assess the future
marketability of a project is what I call the Twelve Year Old Boy Test.
I was made aware of this phenomenon at a time when my sons were ten and
twelve years old and they would commonly have their friends over to the house.
Naturally at that age most boys are interested in all things creepy and
crawly, so they simply had to see the snakes.
I found that it was very easy to tell which snakes impressed them the
most. I would start by showing them
a normal ball python which registered a certain level of excitement.
Then I would show them, one by one, the other color and pattern
variations in the collection. Each
new snake as it was shown would elicit a certain level of response from the
boys, ranging from “ooohhh”, when a Pastel Jungle was shown, to “oh my
gosh!” or “wow!”, when a piebald or albino was shown.
Since that time I’ve used family members, friends, and various other
non ball python people to test my objectivity when assessing the general appeal
of various breeding projects. Personally
as someone who has spent the last ten years deeply immersed in all things ball
python, I can appreciate even the more subtle morphs, but as a businessman, I
know that for long-term marketability the “wow” factor is very
important.
Shop
We are off to a great start
with the 2008 breeding season. Is
there anything more fun than hatching ball pythons?
We’re expecting a record number of clutches this year, and for some of
these we’ve worked and waited a very long time.
One example is our quest to produce albino pieds.
We started the project back in 1999 when we purchased our original
piebald male, with the sole intention of breeding him to our albino females and
eventually establishing an albino pied producing breeding colony. Yet despite
our best efforts, we’ve still not produced a single clutch from double het
breedings. However that is about to
change. We now have several gravid
double het females, and I’ve got my order in for an albino pied male…….we
shall see. Wish us luck!
Our breeding season seems
to run a tad later than that of most other breeders.
Most of our clutches aren’t due for another month or two, however
we’ve hatched the first couple clutches and have a dozen more clutches cooking
in the incubator. So far we’ve
hatched a few nice calicos and a nice big clutch of Mystics (in a clutch of nine
we got seven mystics – I love those odds!).
For those of you that don’t know the Mystic story here’s a bit of
background on the project. The
original Mystic male was African hatched baby that landed in the collection of
Anthony McCain a few years ago. The
person who sold it to Anthony had believed the animal to be just an “ugly”
Mojave, but as soon as Anthony had the animal in hand he realized that it was
quite a bit different from any Mojave he’d seen and that it looked much more
similar to the Phantom morph. Phantoms
and Mystics differ from Mojaves in a few subtle ways.
First, the patterning is not nearly as consistent and uniform as that of
a Mojave. Second, the blushing on
Mystics and Phantoms does not typically range more than half or two thirds of
the way up the sides of the animal. Whereas,
Mojaves commonly have blushing that goes completely over the back.
Third, I’ve noticed that Mojaves tend to have more yellow pigmentation.
Anthony bred the original Mystic male to normal females and proved the
gene to be dominant. So far, Mystic
to Mystic breeding has not been done to determine if the gene is codominant and
has a super form. I think there is a
very strong likelihood that the Mystic will prove to be a new line of Phantom,
but it looks like we will need to wait a year or more to find out for sure.
Another series of projects that holds much anticipation this year are those involving the Calico or Sugar gene. We’ve got at least one clutch coming from Calico to Calico breedings (yes we still believe in a Super Calico), one clutch from Fire to Calico breedings (as far as we know this may be a first), and several clutches as a result of Calico to Pastel breedings. The two pastel calicos we produced in 2007 are simply incredible, and we’re anxiously looking forward to hatching more. Also at the time of this writing, a Bumblebee female, who has been bred on numerous occasions by a calico male, has been sitting cold for two weeks and has small follicles…….so maybe…..just maybe……
2007 Pastel Calico Female at Seven Months
We certainly hope you’ve enjoyed
this premier issue of our newsletter. We
expect to have lots more excitement to share with you next month.
Please be in touch with any good news of your own, questions, or
feedback. We always love hearing
from you. Until then, from our
family to yours, may the Ball Python Gods shine many forked-tongued blessings upon
you.