Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i just want to get some opinions from breeders & hobbyist on imperfect BPs. Last month i went to the WhitePlains show & came across a table with some beautiful BPs. so as im looking at every snake, i came across an albino, beautiful pattern & bright yellow...! my eyes glanced the priced tag pretty fast but i did see correct $475 !!!! Super Sale...! i thought maybe forget a 1 or even a 2 in front of the numbers, so i past along to look at the rest of the BPs, & found a 2nd Albino for the same price... unbelieveable ! so this time i noticed it said IMPERFECT. wondering what could be wrong with the albinos. the guy said both albino from the same clutch doesnt have tongues, so i would have to help it eat. i believe opening its mouth n letting it start the swallowing process.

so, i want to know "Who would purchase an Imperfect Bp ?
as they get older will they get into the whole feeding & attacking on their own, or since they have no tongue, they wont go after the food since they cant smell it ?
basically for that price it was to good 2 believe....
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There is only 2 things u got in this world, Your Word & Your Balls !

Stay away from , do not purchase them at all to even sale a defective ball like that is very irresponsible in my oppinion, and at that price is even still mind boggoling. All you would do if you were able to get them to survive is pass on bad genetics so just spend your money on balls that are healthy.

In albinism, you're dealing with an imperfect weak gene anyhow! These are the type of thing you run into! That being said, I doubt I would buy them, but if I hatched them, and they were females, I'd probably raise them to breed! The first pastel I ever hatched out, had no tongue! That figures! But that pair produced a couple more clutches with no tongue-less wonders!

So what would you do as a seller just kill them. As long as the seller is up front and lets it be know what is wrong I don't see any problem. Maybe someone who could never have an albino could now get one and have a very nice pet(I wouldn't breed it with out more info) Its up to the buyer to determine weather it is worth the extra headaches or not but if someone always wanted an albino and this was there only shot I say go for it.If it were me I would try and find them a good home and adopt them out possible get a kid into the hobbie but thats just me.
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Vince Pramuk

I remember that little cutie albino - if I had the time, I would have fed it, cuddled it, and gave it kisses all day LOL.

I got a albino for not much more than what price you saw, He is a beautiful snake. He has a tongue but it is so short. It barely comes out of his mouth, He eats on his own no problems.

shoot I need to go to shows I guess....lol

I probably would have bought them - for pets.

It's just as likely they could eventually learn to feed using their heat pits alone. I can't say that I would breed them in case that they might carry a genetic defect - or at the least hold off until the breeder produced some more clutches and could confirm whether or not he produced more tongueless albinos or if maybe it was a just fluke - whatever - it's likely that people bought the hets from the clutch or other albinos he's produced and they are carrying around the same genetics.

Anyway - as long as the seller was upfront about the defect I don't have any problems with him trying to sell them - get them to a home where they can be taken care of. There are plenty of use with the skills and willing to put the time and effort into animals such as these.
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Tosha
JET Pythons

were they 2006 babies?.........did they grow at all?........if they were 2006 and still little......they don't eat well or enough even with "assist " feedings.......or they weren't dealt with enough........

.....albinos are cheap enough with tongues........

if you want them ....offer him $400 for both of them........cute pets..........they may never eat on thier own

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......wild balls suck ! BUY AMERICAN DAMNIT

Ball pythons dont' always hunt just by smell, they also hunt by heat. It will take a bit of effort to get them to strike frozen thawed on heat alone. But if willing to put the effort in, it certianly is a great way to get an albino.

I, however, dont' suggest breeding them as the negative gene will start to get into the albino population down the line but then again, who is to say the tongued siblings of these albinos won't carry that gene anyway....Definitely these would need to carefully tracked to ensure no two albino or het albinos het also for the tongueless gene, are not interbred.

Though albino morphs and other such color/pattern morphs are all defective genes, they are, for breeder/collector/pet owners, positive defective genes. They wont survive in nature, or at least the more blantant ones won't (ie albino, lucy etc)
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PHLdyPayne

My view on deformed/imperfect babies overall is this. If the snake can live a healthy life, let it. However NEVER sell it, and NEVER breed it. Either keep the babies as pets or give them to CLOSE friends or family that you KNOW will not breed them, to keep as pets. Giving them to someone else may still result in them breeding. Not everyone has good ethics.
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