December 02, 2014

Skittles Ball Python

 Introducing Skittles our craziest new Ball Python, a Silver Streak Albino Piebald Paradox Ball Python (Silver Streak = Super Pastel x Black Pastel), she is truly one of a kind. We produced the Skittles Ball Python by pairing a Silver Streak double het albino and piebald ball python with a pewter double het albino and piebald ball python. Note that she is an albino which is a recessive trait and should not retain any black pigment, hence the red eye. However, she is also a Silver Streak Piebald which is a super pastel x black pastel combo and exhibits the grey/black saddling with the light silver streak down the back and the black eye. The reason we know she is a paradox is because she's exhibiting both the silver streak colorations and the albino colorations which would be impossible unless she is a paradox. The paradox is thought to be a chimera, or the fertilization of two embryos within one egg and ultimately producing one snake. We know visually that Skittles is exhibiting multiple ball python combo mutations but because she is exhibiting the albino mutation she must be a paradox. What does this mean? Basically, while she exhibits multiple ball python combinations, sexually, she may not reproduce them as the makeup of her ovaries may exhibit only one or a few of the traits that have bled through her palette. In paradox ball pythons one or more of the morphs could be represented in her sexual DNA. In two to three years we will breed her and find out what genes she is really carrying. Please be sure to check out our Ball Pythons For Sale section and see some of the other amazing ball pythons we have produced and are offering to the public! To follow our regular posts be sure to like our Facebook Page and see regular pictures of amazing reptiles we produce and for sale.

 

THE BIG DAY!

I was already SUPER EXCITED about the pairing for this clutch and could not

wait to do some cutting. The project had been five years in the making and every clutch could hold big suprises. None of the possibilities could have prepared me for Skittles.  So when the big day came I started slicing. The Skittles Ball Python was the very first thing I saw and it absolutely blew my mind.

I spent the rest of the day running back and forth to the incubator, the Skittles Ball Python was creeping into this world, and I could not leave the poor girl alone.

The rest of the clutch silver streaks possible double het albino and pied, along with albino silver streaks, and albino black pewters just did not capture my attention the way the Skittles Ball Python did OMG!

I'm positive she was frightened back into the egg at least a dozen times before she finally got past being camera shy.

 

I had a separate clutch hatching simultaneously with the worlds first Silver Streak Piebald in it but I could barely tear myself away from the Skittles Ball Python to take a pic.

When Skittles finally came out it took everything I had not to post pics all over the web, I had never seen anything like this ball python. Skittles was everything and not all at the same time. Albino, yes sort of. Piebald definately. Black pastel, yes. Super pastel, most certainly.

Skittles the Ball Python Paradox has finally shed and fed. She is doing amazing and we can't wait to get someone to take decent pics of her. I think I'm going to go stare at her right now, as a mater of fact. Thanks for checking her out!

September 28, 2014

Kenyan Sand Boas

Kenyan Sand Boas as Pets:

Whether you are a beginner or an expert in snake care, Kenyan sand boas make amazing pets. They are very small, with the males only reaching 18" as adults and adult females topping out at 30". They are indigenous to the Northeast of Africa and are as prolific in their geographical range as corn snakes are in the United States of America. They are extremely hardy, enjoy being handled and are very small and docile. These are all important factors when choosing Kenyan sand boas as pets

 

Kenyan Sand Boa Care:

Kenyan sand boas are small, slow and docile miniature boa constrictors. Kenyan sand boa care is very easy. A 10-20 gallon tank can hold multiple adult Kenyan sand boas for their entire life. We recommend using an under tank heat pad to provide a hot spot on one side of the aquarium between 95-105 degrees. We prefer aspen sani-chips for our substrate but any aspen substrate will provide good Kenyan sand boa care.A common mistake is the use of too much substrate, we have found that about 1/4" of substrate for babies and 1/2" of substrate for adults is plenty to provide good Kenyan sand boa care. Provide a small water dish on the opposite side of the hot spot and some decorations. Sandboamorphs.com has written and published an 'East African Sand Boa Care Guide' which is available on Amazon.com in paperback and on the Kindle. 

 

Kenyan Sand Boa Morphs and Genetics:

There are quite a few genetic Kenyan sand boa morphs. Most of the Kenyan sand boa morphs are simple recessive traits but the stripe is a dominant mutations. There is also a internationally accepted line bred mutation called the Nuclear Kenyan sand boa which is a stunningly orangish-red. 

As with any up and coming species, 'new' Kenyan sand boa morphs are being claimed. Some in the past did not prove out to be a genetically reproducible Kenyan sand boa morph. Here is a list of proven Kenyan Sand Boa Morphs:

Recessive Kenyan Sand Boa Morphs/Genetics

Anerythristic Kenyan Sand Boas lack the ability to produce yellow or orange color. They appear black or grey and white and are one of the most popular morphs because of their striking contrasts. The last picture that shows two reduced patterned anerythristic Kenyan sand boas is an example of line breeding for a reduction of pattern that produces anerythristics that have more white than black or grey pattern. 

anerythristic kenyan sand boa anerythristic kenyan sand boa anerythristic kenyan sand boa reduced patterned anerythristic kenyan sand boa

Albino Kenyan Sand Boas lack the ability to produce black pigment. There colors vary from yellow and cream patterned saddles to bright orange and purple colored saddles. The colors are determined by their parentage and by breeding brighter colored parents together can produce some striking orange and cream colored albino Kenyan sand boas.

albino kenyan sand boa albino kenyan sand boas albino kenyan sand boa

Albino Paradox Kenyan Sand Boas are very striking and genetically recessive which means they are one of the few reptiles that the characteristic black spotting aka paradoxing are predictably reproducible. 

albino paradox kenyan sand boa albino paradox kenyan sand boa

Hypomelanistic Kenyan Sand Boas produce less melamin which causes their characteristic brown/black saddling to be a much lighter color. 

hypomelanistic kenyan sand boa

Splash Kenyan Sand Boas lack pattern or have aberrant patterns typically on their bottom third of the snakes. 

splash kenyan sand boa

 

Dominant

Stripe Kenyan Sand Boa have a stripe that runs across the top of their bodies. 

stripe kenyan sand boa

 

Dominant (stripe) and Recessive

Anery Stripe Kenyan Sand Boa

anerythristic stripe kenyan sand boa

Albino Stripe Kenyan Sand Boa

albino stripe kenyan sand boa

Albino Paradox Stripe Kenyan Sand Boa

 albino paradox stripe kenyan sand boa

 

 

Dominant (stripe) and Double Recessive

Snow Stripe Kenyan Sand Boa

snow stripe kenyan sand boa

 

Line Bred (not genetic)

Nuclear Kenyan Sand Boa

nuclear kenyan sand boa nuclear kenyan sand boa

 

Double Recessive 

Snow (albino/anerythristic) Kenyan Sand Boa

Snow Paradox (albino paradox/anerythristic) Kenyan Sand Boa

snow paradox kenyan sand boa

Ghost (anerythristic/hypomelanistic) Kenyan Sand Boa

Albino Splash (albino/splash) Kenyan Sand Boa

albino splash kenyan sand boa albino splash kenyan sand boa Albino Splash Kenyan sand boa

Anerythristic Splash (anerythristic/splash) Kenyan Sand Boa

 

Triple Recessive

Snow Splash (albino/anerythristic/splash) Kenyan Sand Boa

snow splash kenyan sand boa

 

Kenyan Sand Boa Genetics Calculator:

We've been asked for years if we have a Kenyan sand boa genetics calculator. What we suggest using world of ball pythons genetics calculator to determine Kenyan sand boa genetic combination outcomes. To use the world of ball pythons genetics calculator you will have to select a few different ball python morphs to represent the Kenyan sand boa morphs that are not found in ball pythons. Its important to use the ball python morphs suggested as the placeholders for the Kenyan sand boa morphs because they have been selected based on the type of genetics they represent, not necessarily based on the colors of the ball pythons. The purpose is to gain access to a Kenyan Sand Boa Genetics Calculator that will generate a list of statistical odds of Kenyan sand boa morphs that can be produced by a combination of Kenyan sand boas. Once a list has been generated of possible breeding outcomes of a pairing, it will be possible to determine what the Kenyan sand boa babies may look like by referring back to the Kenyan sand boa morphs and genetics section above.

Above we have listed and pictured the Kenyan sand boa morphs and genetics. To determine what a combination of your Kenyan sand boas will produce you will need to go to the world of ball pythons genetics calculator. From the section you will enter the following ball pythons to represent your morphs. It also gives you the option of entering the morphs as 'hets' or heterozygous (non-visible carrier of a recessive gene) along with allowing you to enter multiple genes by holding down the 'ctrl' key.

Normal Kenyan Sand Boa - Normal Ball Python normal kenyan sand boa

Anerythristic Kenyan Sand Boa - Axanthic Ball Python anerythristic kenyan sand boa

Albino Kenyan Sand Boa - Albino Ball Python albino kenyan sand boa

Albino Paradox Kenyan Sand Boa - Albino Lavender Ball Python albino paradox kenyan sand boa

Hypomelanistic Kenyan Sand Boa - Hypo/Ghost Ball Python hypomelanistic kenyan sand boa

Splash Kenyan Sand Boa - Pied Ball Python splash kenyan sand boa

*Stripe Kenyan Sand Boa - Pinstripe Ball Python stripe kenyan sand boa

 

*Kenyan sand boas genetics calculator adaptation can be done with other genetics calculators so long as the appropriate genome is used to represent the Kenyan sand boa morphs attempting to be paired. The stripe Kenyan sand boa is a dominant trait and use of another ball python without a dominant gene will produce incorrect results.

 

Example: The pair to bred is a Normal Kenyan sand boa het albiino paradox and a Normal stripe het albino paradox.

In the world of ball pythons genetics calculator enter the following:

Normal Ball Python (Representing Normal Kenyan Sand Boa)

Het Albino Lavender (Representing Albino Paradox Kenyan Sand Boa)

 

One the other side enter the following

Pinstripe Ball Python (Representing Stripe Kenyan Sand Boa)

Het Albino Lavender (Representing Albino Paradox Kenyan Sand Boa)

 

The 'Kenyan Sand Boa' genetics calculator will processes the ball python statistical list of possible outcomes. The list of possible outcomes will be: Normal Ball Pythons, Pinstripe Ball Pythons, Albino Lavender Ball Pythons, and Albino Lavender Pinstripe Ball Pythons (all non-visual albino lavenders will be 66% possible het albino lavender).

The next step is to convert the Ball Pythons into Kenyan sand boa babies and see visual pictures of what they will look like. 

From looking at the above list, normal ball pythons are the normal Kenyan sand boas, pinstripe ball pythons are the stripe Kenyan sand boas, albino lavender ball pythons are the albino paradox Kenyan sand boas, and abino lavender pinstripes ball pythons are the albino paradox stripes Kenyan sand boas. By looking above at the picture Kenyan sand boa morphs and genetics guide it is easy to determine what the Kenyan sand boa babies will look like.

 

Kenyan Sand Boa Breeding Age and Weight:

Kenyan sand boas reach sexual maturity at the age of one year for males and two years for females. Generally, we recommend breeding your Kenyan sand boa males when they reach 75 grams and females at 300 grams. To reach a safe gram weight in a year for males and two for females it requires a weekly feeding regime of one to two appropriately sized mice or rats. Feeding on an every other week schedule can double the length of time it takes for the Kenyan sand boas to reach breeding weight. 

 

Kenyan Sand Boa Breeding Season:

Kenyan sand boas usually breed in late winter and throughout the spring season. We typically start pairing our male Kenyan sand boas with our females in February and find that successful pairings are less likely to take after May. However, it is not uncommon to have a few females that will breed out of season as we usually have a few female Kenyan sand boas that will breed in the summer and give us litters in the winter. 

 

How do I know When to Breed my Female Kenyan Sand Boa?

Adult female Kenyan sand boas will shed their skin 3-5 times a year, depending on how often they are fed. We track their shed cycles and if you feed on a consistent basis they tend to shed, not surprisingly, fairly consistently. We track the shed cycles so that we can estimate when they will next shed during breeding season, February-May. After they shed during the breeding season we immediately introduce a male Kenyan sand boa into their enclosure for a week. If we see breeding activity, commonly referred to as 'locking up', we will move the male on to breed to other females. However, if locking up has not been observed during the week, we will remove the male, feed both the male and female and reintroduce the male into the females enclosure for another week. 

 

Kenyan Sand Boa Gestation:

Kenyan sand boas have live birth (Viviparous), much like most boa constrictors. It can be difficult to tell if your Kenyan sand boa is gravid (the word used for a pregnant snake) in the first couple months after breeding. As a rule, we track the first date the male was introduced with the female. To estimate the day the female will give birth we add four months to the day of introduction and write down this date as the 'earliest' we expect our female Kenyan sand boa to give birth. We then add five months to the date of introduction and write down this date as the 'latest' date we expect our Kenyan sand boa female to give birth. That month date range from earliest to latest is a fairly accurate estimation of your female Kenyan sand boas gestation period. 

 

Is My Kenyan Sand Boa Gravid?

In the first couple months it is nearly impossible to answer the question of 'Is my Kenyan sand boa gravid?' However, there usually is some behavioral clues. First, the female will usually begin laying on the hotspot of the enclosure almost constantly. For the first two months her appetite will increase and she will eat much more readily and larger quantities of mice/rats than in the past. Around the two month mark from the time you introduced the male, if you female Kenyan sand boa is gravid, you will start to see a bulge in her bottom third of her body. You also should start to see scale separation as she expands to accommodate the growing Kenyan sand boa babies in her belly. When you start to see a noticeable bulge we recommend that you feed a smaller sized mouse or rat so as to not injure the babies insider her. We frequently feed our gravid Kenyan sand boa females multiple fuzzy mice or rat pinks during the last two months of their gravidness. 

 

Kenyan Sand Boa Giving Birth

kenyan sand boa giving birth

 

Kenyan sand boas give live birth. Litter sizes range from 9-12 the first season a breeder female Kenyan sand boa gives live birth to 25-32 from a more established breeder Kenyan sand boa female. Typically, the gravid Kenyan sand boa female will give birth to a large healthy litter of baby Kenyan sand boas at night. They are small babies and there is rarely any complications. Sometimes an infertile egg will also be birthed, these are referred to as slugs in the reptile industry and will appear like a hardened small egg, see picture below.

Kenyan sand boa breeding slug

December 22, 2013

Ball Pythons For Sale

Ball Pythons For Sale by Primeval Beauty

Primeval Beauty is a leader in producing ball pythons for sale. They specialize in spotnose ball python combos and recessive ball pythons for sale morphs. Be sure to check out Primeval Beauty's availability by CLICKING HERE.

November 09, 2013

Reptile Collective

The Reptile Collective is an exclusive, hand picked group of experienced reptile breeders. Only the highest quality reptiles make the available list ,and not only do they stand out above the rest, they add value to your collection and we like to think that they enrich the life, tradition and culture of the clients we serve .

Our nationally recognized Reptile Collective  members have gained the attention of reptile aficionados around the world. While striving to breed only the best reptile possible (and make time for our family), we promote quality only breeding and a customer first attitude. Our animals and customer support are unparalleled .

We are a proud sponsor of Repticon, the world leader in reptile show promotions with almost 100 shows a year, in every major town in the United States of America. You can find us at many reptile shows across the country or visit our website to learn how you too, can become a part of our exclusive collective family.

Reptile Collective  Members include the following breeders:

SandBoaMorphs.com

Primeval Beauty

Envy Hognoses

Tics & Balls

Spiderboyz.com