Cute New Member of the Family; Python Regius

Velvet just "hanging out"

 

On Wednesday I received a new baby Ball Python. She's a little 6 month old female Butter Black Pewter (a morph made up of several co-dominant genes; Butter, Plack Pastel, and Cinnamon). See many of the different color and pattern mutations these beautiful snakes come in here at the World of Ball Pythons where you can learn just about everything you want to know about these wonderful creatures.

 

I don't have a video camera or a cell phone to take videos with but did manage to put together a slideshow type video to post on Youtube;

 

I named her Velvet because she has such a soft gradient look to her. My favorite Ball Python morphs are ones such as Soulsuckers, Mystic Potions, Purple Passions, Super Phantoms, (all very expensive) but she has that look, so when I saw her back in July I just had to have her!

 

I did a payment arrangement with the breeder, and 5 months later and after alot of saving and sacrifice my little bundle of joy was delivered via Fed Ex! I was so excited. It was the perfect start to the holiday season.

 

I had her cage all ready and waiting for her, complete with heating pad, a branch I had attached some fake foliage around, a natural-looking rock style water dish, thermometer, and hygrometer to monitor temperature and humidity, and a red plastic folgers coffee container used as a hide so that she can curl up in a nice secure space when she wants some privacy.

 

When I first opened up the little bag she came in I was surprised at just how petite she was; her neck only about as big around as a pencil and her head the width of my thumb!

 

Ball Pythons when full grown reach about 3-5 feet in length, and can get pretty thick in proportion to their length.

 

She currently eats rat pups (baby rats with fur already but only about 2.5 inches in length). With her tiny little neck she would not physically be able to swallow anything bigger than that. Velvet ate her first meal on Friday since she arrived here with no problems. Here she resembles a stuffed tube sock as she stretches to fit her food down her throat.

 

Over the next year I think her growth will probably increase quite a bit.

 

She's still a little shy but overall is pretty active considering she hasn't fully gotten used to me yet.

 

The day I got her she climbed on my arm, and after awhile she went up my sleeve and curled up under my arm in my shirt.

 

If you look closely you can see that she has unusual eyes that seem to match the stripes on the sides of her face. The top part of her eyes is sort of a light blue, and then it gradually fades to brown as it goes toward the bottom. My theory about why this is, is that it could be a form of camouflage. These snakes in the wild would be more protected from predators if their eyes blended in to their surroundings as much as possible. This is why Albinos are pretty rare among wild populations of most animals. They stand out too much thus making them easy prey.

 

In captivity though, selective breeding has produced a number of Albino and other recessive hypomelanistic forms of Ball Pythons.

 

Generally Ball Pythons of breeding age and size breed just once a year, but some lay eggs and hatch them in Spring or Summer and others in Fall and Winter. It is always exciting to watch these little snakes being born.

 

If you're considering a pet snake, a Ball Python is a very good choice. Other than some minor particulars such as going off food for periods (they store nutrients so healthy snakes can live this way for a number of weeks or months without suffering malnutrition), and the need for heat in their enclosure to ensure proper digestion, these snakes are relatively low maintenence, and they are easy to tame; most having a very mild temperament.

 

Contrary to the stereotype (that they just sit there and have very little going on upstairs), Ball Pythons are quite intelligent and aware of their surroundings. They do hear you talking to them, know when you enter the room, and can track movement on the TV screen or computer monitor. If you don't believe this take a look at some videos by this woman on Youtube whose username is 1softkiss; https://www.youtube.com/user/1softkiss?feature=watch

 

Her videos act as observational studies on snake behavior and I believe have made a significant contribution to improved understanding of the capacity of these animals, not only among those who do not have snakes as pets, but within the snake/reptile community as well.

 

There is mounting documentation that snakes are not the one dimensional limited "primitive brain" animals that they were once believed to be, that they perceive alot more about the world than most give them credit for, that they can bond with their owners, and with other species, and that they are capable of showing affection!

 

Just as cats and dogs do, snakes have a "language" all their own, a form of communication that is species specific. Up until recently we humans have not generally paid as close attention to the meaning behind their behavior, as we have with other animals comminly kept as pets, and I believe this is in large part because so many are afraid of them and prefer to avoid them. With the recent legislation connected with the Lacey Act, humans are now more interested in more thoroughly understanding them, partly out of necessity, and partly out of curiosity.

 

Understanding snakes' communication is important for a number of reasons. It allows us to predict their actions, thus preventing a bite, it lets us know whether they're happy and healthy, and it allows us not merely to view them from a "cautious" distance, but to enriches their lives, and ours too through more meaningful interaction with them! 

 

The one positive outcome resulting from all the knee-jerk legislation recently covered in the media is that snakes are no longer relegated to the darkest corners of our minds, tucked away and not thought about, mired in superstition and forboding. Instead they are out in the light, and more people than ever before now want to make their peace with them, even make friends with them, and take them into their homes as a loved part of the family.

 

No longer is the paradigm of cuteness restricted to animals with fuzzy fur and warm bodies. As we become more accepting as a society towards diversity in humans, we also begin to think about parallel diplomatic relationships between ourselves and other animals with whom we share the earth.

 

I have always loved snakes and wanted one, so all this new information wasn't a stretch for me, but for many, meeting the snake face to face is a form of healing and catharsis, and on an even deeper sociological anthropological level, it is the beginning of very important work in healing that larger intergenerationally fractured relationship between man and snake, and coming out with a more reality-based interpretation of how we define that relationship in the here and now.

 

 

 

Outcome of SB 310; "Dangerous Animals and Restricted Snakes" Bill

Tuesday, May 22nd Ohio state legislators convened to decide the fate of "exotic" animals and it passed 87-9.

There were three speakers for the bill and only one speaking against.

Rep. Terry Boose (R) District 58-Norwalk (Opposed);
1) Pointed out that the bill discriminates against the poor

2) Encourages a black market

3) Not enough teeth in the bill to really be effective anyway

Rep. Brian Hill (D) District 94-Zanesville (In Favor);
1) Stated that the bill would include an "Animal Emergency Team"

2) Will promote proper caging requirements

Rep. Tracey Heard (D) District 26-Columbus (In Favor);
1) Stated that she had a pet monkey as a child and supported exempting those from the bill's scrutiny because they "make good pets, and serice animals" (side note: Opinions are like ***holes, everybody has one. So where's the research sources proving monkeys are better and safer pets than snakes???)

2) Stated that the bill "makes provisions" for those who can't afford the various fees and must "relinquish" those animals. Feels they are "reasonable". (side note: How big of her. Is she offering to adopt all these displaced pets, and cover the costs of their care? No detail given on just exactly how much these fees are, and where this money for their future care is supposed to come from. Are the people who can afford those fees supposed to foot the bill for all those people giving their pets up who can't?)

Rep. Andy hompson (R) District 93-Marietta (In Favor);
1) Stated that the "First Responders" for animal emergencies proposed by the bill is an important feature.

Well, I must say that the impression I was left with after watching this session was that the whole hearing was merely a formality.

There are so many constitutional issues here that this is bound to end up at the Supreme Court level. Perhaps animal-lovers have lost this battle, but we will win the war.

History has borne out again and again that prohibition doesn't work; not in a country that was built on acceptance of individual choices. The original settlers left Europe because they didn't want every aspect of their private lives dictated to them by their government and wanted to be free to pursue what made them happy.

Sure, there are instances when government needs to step in and intervene to level the playing field, prevent people from killing each other, or to make sure society has what it needs to serve everyone in it, there are times when that's appropriate, but not in telling people what pets they can keep.

USARK offered reasonable alternatives, and who better to be involved in the writing of standards for and about snakes than people who have been doing it for years? Who better to write the standards for large cats than people who have made a career doing that.

Society recognizes this in fields such as medicine in which boards are formed to set the standards for their peers, and in fields like medicine government hesitates to let state or Federal legislators decide what is best for doctors and their patients. The reason? Because they recognize that legislators (and along with them, other special interest groups) lack the knowledge, experience, and expertise to dictate "best practices" to doctors, tell them how they should do their surgeries, what drugs to prescribe and not prescribe, and what tests they can and can't do on their patients. (Private insurance companies try to do that, but at least the government in this instance, takes a pretty much hands-off approach).

Life is full of both risks and benefits. There are people who have died from working with animals, but in the grand scheme of things the number of people who have died does not reach the level that requires government intervention. Overall the joys of working with animals far outweighs the risks, and as we become more familiar with a whole range of different species we come to understand them better (just as different races and nationalities of people get better at relating as they are allowed to communicate and meet in the middle). All of these individual differences take time to work out.

Just like people who speak different languages, animals have their own "languages"; different ways of communicating, and different ways of interpreting the actions of species outside their own.

If people are restricted from keeping certain species they will never have the opportunity to get to know them at close range and to work through those language and cultural barriers. That in itself will keep whatever dangers there are ever-present and unpredictable. Wouldn't it be better to be able to predict and prevent those incidents and move past them than to merely table the interactions that will reduce those risks?

Just as in any relationship, humans and other animals need to meet in the middle and learn from one another so that they can successfully achieve a relationship that is mutually beneficial to both species. Money should have no place in such relationships. It is a matter to be worked out between each particular animal and each particular human.

I know that with each dog I have had the relationship and what defines it is unique. We learn along the way how to treat each other, we have special routines between us that are specific to just that relationship, certain special ways of relating that don't necessarily apply to all dogs and all humans. Relationships, whether they are human to human or human to other animal involve compromise, respect, trust, regard for the other, kindness, and most of all, the willingness to work on that relationship to make it better and richer with time. Those objectives cannot be achieved by distance. Those principles are universal and can be applied across the board, regardless of species.