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Got this snake earlier this month as a gravid from africa and I am the going to be the last person to ever jump the gun and say i have the "next" morph but just let me get your opinion

Burgundy Hypo ou sometimes refered to as Chocolat Hypo, neet looking

Good Luck with her.
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I think she's glowing and she'll look very different when she returns to her normal coloring.

Still makes me sad to see these poor girls pulled out of the only life they've known.

Agreed. There's simply no reason to buy imported gravids.

I understand your point. I just got this snake in to try and diversify the bloodlines in my own personal collection. I went with a friend to pick these up from the airport so He gave her to me. I plan on doing everything in my power to help ensure I can have her thrive in her new environment.

There's a lot of nice captive bred lines to diversify your blood lines. Adults, even. Why a WC adult? Much less a WC gravid?

I still feel horribly for these poor girls, and would never buy one. Doing so would just put money in the pockets of those who import them, and I personally would rather see that practice stopped.

With that said, good luck.

This is the only female wc i've ever had and ever planned on getting. I didnt mean to offend I just wanted to know what she "could" be?

I agree she will look WAY different after the glow is gone. Also 9 times out of 10 you will never get that girl to breed again. I hope you get her to eat and the stress of her being pulled out of her normal life doesnt make her slug out.
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Damian Macioce
www.strongholdreptiles.com

Wait till her eggs hatch if your lucky enough to get that far with her. If any of the babies look like mom you have something potentially codominant to work with as by the time that WC is able to breed in captivity her offspring will be up to breeding size too. I highly suggest setting her up on cypress mulch with a HIDE and if she doesn't take regular mice/rats within 3 weeks of laying I would offer her 4-6 week old ASF rats , if that doesn't work then try gerbils . She may be used to not eating during the time her eggs are incubating as she would normally maternal incubate them herself . I'd likely incubate them for her and try getting her to eat asap instead. I'd start offering live prey at night about a week or 10 days after she lays . ONLY try feeding her once a week as it stresses them out more if you put a rodent in with her to often when she isn't ready to eat yet. If she doesn't eat/kill the rodent within 20 minutes pull out the live rodent AND be sure she is hiding inside her hide before putting the prey in with her to keep her stress level down . For a "Hide" best suited for a WC adult I recommend a large inverted clay flower pot (turned upside down) they work VERY well for a hide , hammer out the drain hole to make it bigger (a hole 4 inches in diameter is ideal to allow her to easily get in and out of the flower pot) be sure to file off any sharp edges around the expanded hole, the python will come out the hole and pounce on the prey from above . This method makes her feel in control and lowers her stress level ,making it easier for her to actually "feel" safe enough to eat. In order to use the flower pot method you'll have to set her up in an actual cage and not just put her in a rack system. Set her up some place where she won't have alot of traffic walking by her cage all the time, and be still when your offering her food , if she sees you moving around she likely won't eat at all. I would NOT handle her much, only to clean out her cage until after she is eating well on her own for you , then try working with/handling her.

I agree with the others on the importation issue, we have plenty of good animals already here to work with . There is really nothing to gain by bringing in a adult female out of the wild, if you must get new african blood just buy fresh hatched babies , this way the adults can be turned back to the wild where they belong. If people stop buying the adults the Africans will start returning the adult females back to the wild AFTER they lay for them. It makes ALOT more sence to raise up the imported babies than to TRY establishing adults to a captive environment. Captive Hatched babies if properly shipped , handled and taken care of right away do fine . Adult female imports often never settle in well enough to be good breeders. Actually I myself see little point of buying any import unless it is an atypical specimen. We have PLENTY of quality cb balls here with alot of genetic diversity and they are just as cheap now as the imports anyway, and the cb animals will be more healthly. Most importantly the cb animals DO NOT effect the wild population in any negative ways .

I wish you the best of luck with her and her clutch now that you have taken on the responsibility of having a imported wc adult.

Anthony McCain

Nice post Anthony.

Dave

Thanks Dave. I'm not sure he'll take my advice but figured even if he or someone else picked up any info from it and put it to use in their own situation that it was worth taking the time to write. I also don't think that female is any kind of new morph either , she may be a Fire or something like it but I highly doubt it is anything that we haven't yet seen .

Anthony McCain

As it's been pointed out -- her coloring is likely due to being gravid, malnourished and stressed.

There's plenty of diverse blood in the States -- if you bought her cause she's a cute, cheap snake full of eggs / maybe you were hoping to get something special -- just say so -- she'll be a lot of work -- hope you are up for it -- keep her away from the rest of you collection for a long time.
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Tosha
JET Pythons
Toshas Blog

Hi Tosh ! I agree , I had a Wild gravid Female that after recovering from laying and her new environment looked like a totally different snake . David

...first and second pics are the original Sulfur female, look close at the second pic and you can see the Ghost male. Last pic is the original Ember female. Yours look similar...but yours might be light due to stress or gravid glow.

Perpetuating the importation of gravid females should be a crime...

Dave

I agree . Nice snakes Ember . David

Yeah ember my female looks just like that snake in the first photo, again i'm not saying I have anything just an interesting looking animal.

And here I thought I was the only one with a terrible taste in my mouth about the ads listing "wild caught gravid females" for sale in the classifieds. By the dozens. And hundreds.

It has been going on for years, but to me is one of the ugliest parts of the ball python "game".
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles