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Met a local snake goon like myself recently and found out he also had an interest in MMA. So he and his wife came over last night to watch the UFC pay-per-view and to see my collection. Well, OF COURSE all my animals were so light they could blend in with a white sheet of paper. He's seen pics like this..

and last night when he gets to my place, that same boa, like all the others, look like this

Actually, this boy was A LOT lighter than that because that pic is from this morning and he's starting to color up a little bit. He was WHITE. I was SO ticked off!
So we started talking about color changes and the time of day and he and I have both noticed that our animals tend to lighten up at night and generally tend to have the most color mid-afternoon (saving for times they're digesting or are otherwise stressed).
So the purpose of this post is to find out if that's the case across most boa keepers experience, or is it our collections, or the fact that we're both in the same area of the Florida. What's the deal?

Also, to anyone that watched the show last night, HOW GREAT WAS IT!?!?! The Liddell/Silva match was great and GSP really showcased why the UFC is putting so much promotional effort behind him. He's a friggin animal!

Hope everyone's having a great day!
jb
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Jonathan Brady
"Sarcasm is angers ugly cousin" -Dr. Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson) in "Anger Management".

JB, it's not a FL thing its a boa thing and not just BCC. Many, many times I have noticed what you describe with both BCC & BCI. Also, the other thing I find that brings the color change is humidity. My snake room is so dry you would not believe it. Right now the humidity gage does not even register because it is below 25% The photo below of the reduced pattern Hammond North Brazilian two year old was taken today after it messed up it's enclosure. It was soggy wet and often that is when I find them looking their most colorful. You can see the darker gold back and deep pink on the sides and cheeks. If you could see the belly it is also solid pink but last night I was looking at this animal and remarking about how light and clean it looked. It's back was creamy white with a light yellow tint and much of the pink was faded out. By the way, I am into MMA as well.

You know, it's interesting that you mentioned humidity because I've noticed that after these babies shed and do their business, the cage gets soggy pretty quick. If I don't catch it within an hour or so and clean it, by the time I do open the cage, they exhibit MUCH more color.
When I get them out, clean up their cage, change their water and put them back in to their dry environment (dry being a relative term since I'm here in Central Florida), within a few minutes, the intense color generally goes away and they get right back into the normal cycle. Light at night, colorful during the day.
These things are amazing! I'll tell you what, producing babies this year has really opened up my eyes to these animals a lot more than before.
Did you catch the fights last night?
Thanks Mike, and those babies you're posting are fantastic!
jb
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Jonathan Brady
"Sarcasm is angers ugly cousin" -Dr. Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson) in "Anger Management".

You know i was watching.

Wanderlei Silva at a signing with me.

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Richard Ceniceros

Silva should have won that fight...no doubt liddell brought it to him, but Wand didnt seem like himself 3 years ago..i cant wait til shogun woops on chuck lol

get beat into retirement and earn that third loss in a row. Shogun is nothing and will be nothing in the lightweight division I mean come on, he was beat and dominated by Forrest Griffin of all people. Silva was beaten cuz 1- he has no foot work at all like Chuck and 2- reach advantage killed him. I hate Chuck with a passion but he brought it last night which Chuck hasn't done since Sabrol I believe. Lidell, Diego Sanchez, Matt Hughes, Melvin Guillard, Matt Serra are all overrated IMO
Bob

Thats what im saying, it was just not the night for Wand Silva.
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Richard Ceniceros

np

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"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he can never lose." (quote from Jim Elliott, "Shadow of the Almighty"

I think it is Mixed Martial Arts.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

That is correct. Mixed martial arts. It's exactly what it sounds like. A mixing of various combat disciplines. The most popular organization in the US is the UFC or Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Up til now, most fighters have long been trained in one discipline or another, and have had basic training in the other core disciplines to become familiar with them. For example, you may have a classically trained boxer that learns wrestling so that he can box on his feet like always, but now he's more dangerous because he can take an opponent down, get on top of them using various wrestling techniques, and then proceed to use boxing skills to get his opponent to submit, known as ground and pound (get them on the ground and pound them out).
Other popular fighting styles besides boxing and american wrestling include Jiu Jitsu (various choke holds and limb manipulation holds), kickboxing, karate, greco-roman wrestling, dirty boxing, muay thai, judo, etc...
It's a VERY exciting sport to watch as history has shown that there is no ONE dominant fighting style. Yet, what we've now seen is that this sport has been around long enough that the newest up and comers are not trained heavily in one style while dabbling in another, they're trained to blend the most popular and useful styles from day one which is leading to an evolution of the sport.
One thing I really like about this vs boxing is that boxing can, and frequently does, go 12 rounds at 3 minutes each. This leaves the "winner" and "loser" to be decided by the judges.
Most matches in the UFC are 3 rounds, 5 minutes each. Championship bouts are 5 rounds, 5 minutes each. I would say that a majority of the fights do NOT last the alloted time and in those cases, the winner is clear. With the few matches that do last the full time, you do occasionally end up in the same predicament as boxing in that the judges don't see eye to eye with each other, or the fans.
Anyway, I suppose that was a bit of a disseration on the sport and we're really here to talk about boas! I love these things!

jb

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Jonathan Brady
"Sarcasm is angers ugly cousin" -Dr. Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson) in "Anger Management".

like in the weight divisions

155- B.J. Penn
170- GSP
185- Dan Henderson
205- Chuck will beat Rampage (I hate Chuck)
225 on up Randy- (hope he gets the contract stuff worked out)

Silva was outclassed last night as was Matt Hughes. Melvin needs to learn some manners before he fights again (suspended for cocaine abuse if you didn't know before that fight). Can't wait for Henderson vs. Silva
Bob

155 - to me, this is the most exciting division to watch! There are a TON of fighters battling for top honors here and they're all fun to watch. Spencer Fisher, Nate Diaz, Kenny Florian, Hermes Franca, Manny Gamburyan (impressive win last night), Tyson Griffin, Clay Guida, Roger Huerta, Alex Karalexis, BJ Penn, etc... These guys put on a SHOW!
170 - I REALLY like GSP, also Josh Kosceck. And I'm with you, Hughes and Serra are overrated (although Serra's record speaks for itself).
185 - Anderson Silva has been dominant here. It'll be interesting to see what Dan Henderson does with him now that he's going to stay in this division. Doesn't seem like anyone else can take him.
205 - Another talent rich division that is very exciting to watch. I for one like Forrest Griffin. The dude NEVER gives up and has been rewarded for it on several occasions. I also like Chuck. He forces people to fight his fight. I think he got too high on his horse and HOPEFULLY those two losses will knock him down a bit. The new champ, Rampage has been on a tear, even beating Dan Henderson! I like Houston Alexander as he's about as strong a competitor at this class as there is and if he could get his head out of his own rear, he might have a chance in this sport to become great.
225 - No one in this division really does it for me. I'm one of the few that would rather watch lightweights than heavyweights. Heavyweights are not NEARLY as entertaining. I LOVE Couture (mostly for his character), but I don't think he'll ever be back. A lot more was going on besides just money. He wanted to fight Fedor which will never happen now that he (Fedor) signed with another company. Other than that, Randy doesn't feel anyone brings enough of a challenge, and I tend to agree. I do like Arlovski when he's at the top of his game, which he hasn't been. Cro Cop has tanked since he arrived in the UFC and if Brock Lesner can learn fast enough, he may be a REAL threat to the entire division in the next year or two. Yeah he's a WWE "star" and I could care less, but he's a friggin animal and strong as 2 bulls! At this point, the rather boring (and quite ugly) Tim Sylvia will probably reign in this division.

And I'm with you on the lack of class displayed last night. Seemed to be a trend until the main events. A little TOO curious a trend...
jb
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Jonathan Brady
"Sarcasm is angers ugly cousin" -Dr. Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson) in "Anger Management".

Haha you like UFC too

155 class is awesome and unlikee the fat heavyweights they usually don't get tired. My favs have to be Spencer (wish they had a 145 class for him), Kenny Florian, B.J. Penn and Clay. Roger is good just not my one of my favs. Kenny got screwed out of the matchup for Sherk but oh well just have to throw some elbows on the next guy.

170 class I also like Josh as he needs to learn how to finish fights, great wrestler, very agile could be the new breed in five years but right now it is all GSP and I hate Serra and all I can think of is the Shoney Carter spinning backfist highlight reel

185 I love Anderson for the respect he shows his opponents, great striker and he lands almost everything he throws and great kicks and you can ask Rich about his mui tai clinch but I love the classiness of Franklin but he unfortunately will be at least #3 in the division after the Hendo vs. Silva brawl. I love Dan and think his pure determination let alone his chin (that has proved super strong), Dan will win but Silva may get the best of some exchanges but we haven't really seen the condition of Silva yet also. Dan lost to Rampage cuz he was slow, cardio was not there at all, Rampage was training with Dela Hoya's boxing coach and Rampage has looked slow ever since that fight. Rampage was as sharp as he possibly could have been against Lidell and didn't even look like the same fighter against Dan and I was totally disappointed in both of them on that one. Dan belongs at 195 (the absolute most) and you couldn't put on another pound on Rampage or Houston too.

205 class, if you don't like Forrest you're crazy cuz he has tons of heart. Houston Alexander was absolutely dominated and was exposed against Tiago Silva so Dana needs to match him up with a striker to hype him up again and get him back on track. I would love to see Rampage vs. Houston or Houston vs. Lidell somewhere down the road before Chuck retires. I think Silva was a fishee out of water against Chuck and Chuck did bring his A game I give him that. I love Rashaad Evans but he needs to drop 20 lbs. and Bisping against Hamill, I almost broke the t.v. Last night Silva won a round either the first or second I think the second but I'm not sure and the judges ruled 30-27 and I was thinking to myself if Silva does win the third round then the judges will give it to Chuck anyways. UFC judging is becoming a joke.

Fat boys, I like Brandon Vera but he will never train seriously and should drop to light heavyweight. Arlovski like you said, he has all the talent in the world, lightning fast hands with knock your block off power and he is weak-minded and may never overcome it. If he ever becomes confident of his skills, watch out WORLD. I forgot to throw Nick Diaz as he not good but I like him and also like to watch Karo Paresian (sp?) nice chatting with you Johnathan. Matt Danzig may be good in a few years also
Bob

OK, my .02

155 is a great division. Always exciting to say the least. While I can't pinpoint favorites I enjoy watching Joe Lauzon fight and I believe he will be a force training with BJ Penn. I also think the rumored fight with Kenny Florian in April will be a great one.

170 - Hard to not like GSP for his character and the displays he puts on. I also like Jon Fitch.

185 Anderson Silva is another super class act fighter that you can't help but like. I also like Drew Mcfedries and I think he is going to school Patrick Cote in their upcoming fight.

205 This could be my favorite division in the UFC. The most entertaining guy in the UFC is Rampage, love his interviews. I was hoping the UFC would let Houston Alexander fight Bisping before he ran to 185, unfortunately that didn't happen. Also, I really like Machida and I think a #1 contenders match with Jardine probably makes the most sense(note: I cannot stand Jardine) to fight the winner of Rampage/Forrest. Machida did well last night but even with his undefeated record and him being the well rounded fighter that he is I just don't see him taking Chuck down or being able to go toe to toe with him like Silva did.

Heavyweight - I absolutely cannot stand Tim Sylvia. To think he has a chance to be champ again scares me. I hope Big Nog takes Timmy's arm home with him the night they fight. I am a big fan of Cro Cop, Arlovski, and the Emilianenko Brothers (Fedor and Aleksander).

On a closing note, I believe GSP is the best pound for pound fighter in the UFC. I also believe if he wanted to go the route of Dan Henderson he could hold the belt in two different classes.(WW and MW) The middleweight cutoff for weigh-ins is 185 and GSP walks around at 190ish anyway. Personally if I had the ability to pick one fight in the UFC it would be GSP and Anderson Silva. Open Weight Grand Prix anyone?
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1.0 Columbian RTB - "Fedor"
1.0 Orange Ghost BP - "Charlie"
1.0 Mojave BP - "Jack"
3.0 Pastel BP - "Tito", "Cruz"(50% Het Ghost), "Jose"
1.0 100% Het Pied BP - "Logan"
1.0 100% Het Albino BP - "Mac"
0.1 100% Het Orange Ghost - "Mya"
0.9 Normal BP - (3 poss het alb, 1 poss het pied)

"a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrier as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!" - joshhutto

there's a single point in your post I would disagree with! Including the point in your signature about dogs and Pits!

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Jonathan Brady
"Sarcasm is angers ugly cousin" -Dr. Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson) in "Anger Management".

So it is true... great minds do think alike

By the way, the more I think about the Anderson Silva/Dan Henderson fight, the more intrigued I am to see it. Stylistically there are many points to consider:

1: If Dan tries to go toe to toe with A.Silva like he did with W.Silva I believe Dan will get KO'd

2: Dan is a big fan of the dirty box against the cage(like Randy) but I do believe Silva's strength and utilization of the Muay Thai clinch will negate that(a la the first SIlva/Franklin fight)

3: While I do believe Dan will be successful in takedowns and get Silva down, I wonder what he will be able to do when he gets him there. Silva's ground game is VERY underrated and this is the part of the fight that I'm looking most forward to seeing.

On another note, that pooch is absolutely stunning. If yours, how old is he/she and how long have you had him/her?
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1.0 Columbian RTB - "Fedor"
1.0 Orange Ghost BP - "Charlie"
1.0 Mojave BP - "Jack"
3.0 Pastel BP - "Tito", "Cruz"(50% Het Ghost), "Jose"
1.0 100% Het Pied BP - "Logan"
1.0 100% Het Albino BP - "Mac"
0.1 100% Het Orange Ghost - "Mya"
0.9 Normal BP - (3 poss het alb, 1 poss het pied)

"a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrier as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!" - joshhutto

That was my Amstaff. Unfortunately I had to give him away a few years ago because I moved out of a house and into an apartment and I couldn't find a single apartment complex in Orlando that would let me keep him. It's one of the major regrets in my life. In retrospect, I wish I could have found a way to keep him. Either move into another house, or just try to get away with it. No risk, no reward... right?
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Jonathan Brady
"Sarcasm is angers ugly cousin" -Dr. Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson) in "Anger Management".

I love dogs also. Especially the bullies. I own 2 Bull Terriers.

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Richard Ceniceros

Liddel once again looked amateurish and clumsy. Fortunately for Chuck and the UFC he was in there with a guy who is even more amateurish and clumsy. Not to mention slow. Outside of a few wild arm punching flurry's the fight was nothing more then Liddel trying to load up with one big shot against a shorter slower opponent that stood right in front of him. What should have been target practice for a skilled fighter turned into something featuring less action then you can see at any weekend local Pal tournament. In the interview 5 minutes after the fight Liddle was still trying to catch his breath. The UFC promotes this guy as the most exciting thing in the sport with Joe Rogain going as far as calling him a Rock Star the truth is Liddel has as much charisma as the color beige. He should take some tips from Miley Cyrus on how to be cool. As for the rest of the card .............UFC Matt Hughes said he was 120 % and he was. 120% washed up . The people who watched the Patriots and Giants instead definitely made the right choice. At least UFC fans have Brock Lessner to look foreword to. Maybe he can tag with Shamrock against Rampage and Tank Abbot. That might put some spark into the ever increasing redundant UFC.

Ernie Eison
westwoodreptiles.com

even though silva and mauricio rua lost recently, i think that they will both be back to make a run at the title. i think some of the pride fighters are having a difficult time somewhat adjusting to the octagon (cro cop lol). i was doing backflips when rampage knocked out liddell, not because i dont like him, but more how ufc promotes him and his fans on how he is pretty much the deadliest striker, etc. (as u can tell i am a pride fighter fan) too bad fedor wont be coming over here anytime soon.
the new up and coming heavy weight.....(drum roll)....KIMBO SLICE!!! haha

Yep it stands for Mixed martial arts.
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Richard Ceniceros

Wow.. We got some mma fans here. Im a big mma fan and also train in Muay Thai and BJJ. This sport is awesome and is the future for fighting sports for sure. Heres a pic of me in vegas with vip down at the octagon before one of the events.

UFC Ring Girls

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Richard Ceniceros

I am the snake goon mentioned in Jon's post. And yes, I have noticed the relationship between moisture/humidity and the reds as well as the darks and lights as they relate to temp/season.

It was the first time I had seen variation on such a high level seeing Jonathan's collection. They really are THAT red, and when they lose it, it is such a drastic difference. Quality set up and animals none the less though.

The match was great, and Jonathan and his girlfriend are amazing people. Thanks for hosting once again.

Dale