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Has anyone else ever thought of what might make a morph a morph in the wild???? Look at what we have in JUST BASE morphs ( Pieds, Albinos, Hypos, Axanthics, Pastels, Mojoves, Cinnies,and Fires.) just to name a few. Africa is only so big and in all the National Geo. shows I never saw something out of the norm.. What might make a morph a morph? How many (wild) genetic defects (morphs)can their be? What might make them what they are... Local, Diet, Genitic Make-up, Chemical Polution, or might their be some else at work? I know balls have been around for more then the 15 or so years. I also know that it didn't get BIG until about then, however if you think about it is it just the money and greed thing that caused people to look closer to find something differnt. Thanks for your time and opions. What is every body going to jump on next? I'm staying with my balls. The Ball boat is only so big. So if you really don't like them get off and start swimming to the next boat.

What is every body going to jump on next? I'm staying with my balls. The Ball boat is only so big. So if you really don't like them get off and start swimming to the next boat.

Well said. A smaller crew looking to discovery the wonders of nature, ala HMS Beagle.

Hi,

When a snake comes along that has the same girth the same patterns, the same temperament as the ball python. It also won't crap on you when you pick it up. That would be a snake I would love to support. I do not just love any reptile. I just really love ball pythons for everything mentioned. If someone one could guarantee a dwarf burmese python I would go 100 percent into that. But the dwarf burmese python I want would be so similar to the balls it would be really no different so why bother. If you could find a dwarf retic that does not crap all over you and the snake room when picked up, that would be tempting. I am married with 2 young kids and a dog. The balls just fit in with my life like a glove fitting on my hand.

Regards,
Bill
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0.1 Het Albino
0.1 Spider Het Albino
1.0 Albino
0.1 Spinner
2.1 Super Pastel
0.1 Jungle Pastel
0.1 Het Pied
1.0 Pied 50 percent
0.1 Clown
1.1 Het Lavenders
1.1 Het Caramel Albino
0.3 Normal
1.1 Kids
0.1 Spouse
1.0 Chocolate Lab

It seems to me way to many people are jaded with the many options that we have to work with in ball pythons. I just don't get it? Does any one want their to be just a very limited posibilities of morphs and the price to still be in the 10s of thousands of dollars? I think just having a few such as the founders of this "race for the next big morph craze" (as some have called it) like albinos pieds and pastels would deter a lot of people from getting in to balls and then none of us would be able to afford the paint job that suits us . . . . There is to much complaining about the whole "crayon box" syndrome, I love the fact that there are endless combinations that suit every ones "tastes"in a snake that the whole family can actually enjoy without all the hassles that the other snakes come with. I love all the morphs for their originality and appreciate the people that work with them and just love the personality/attitude of then.

Maybe I took this thread on a left turn but I feel better now after that lol.
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1.0 Sunrise (sshhh)
1.0 orange ghost mojave
1.0 Het pied
1.0 Hypo
1.0 Spider Het Hypo
0.1 orange ghost mojave
0.1 mojave (best looking one ever! thanks Jeff Luman)
0.1 Pastel Het ghost
0.1 Hypo
0.1 mojave
0.4 Het nerd Orange Hypo
0.2 poss Het nerd Orange Hypo
0.1 poss Het albino
0.1 het pied
0.1 Bell Jungle
0.6 normal breeders
0.1 black pastel (unproven)
0.1 Tiger ball (unproven)
0.1 genetic reduced pattern
0.1 black back
1.0 posslble salmon boa
0.1 BCI 8.5 ft
1.0 hypo okatee
1.3 Anery 100% het hypo amel and motley
1.1 snow corn
1.1 anery motley
0.1 ghost motley corn
0.1 lavendar het hypo
0.1 miami het hypo
0.1 miami
0.1 sunglow
0.1 candy cane
0.1 love line okatee
0.1 blue tail monitor
2.2 felines aka boa food ;o
And I am not gonna count all those rats . . .

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Brian
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I'm sorry you took the post that way. That's not what I meant. I was saying it to all the people that are just doing this because of money, greed, or it being the next BIG THING. I wish those people would just jump on something else. It's not as profitable as it might have been 5-7 years ago. I know balls come down in DOLLAR value largely as a result of the rules of supply and demand. When more snakes are produced and different morphs become more readily available, there ends up being less demand since you can more easily find them. Naturally, prices for those morphs tend to drop after that.

Not sure if it's still this high but several years ago they where digging up 150,000 ball python eggs a year in Africa. I think the rise in ball python morphs coincides with when they started sampling the wild population in such huge numbers. Even a low morph rate is going to find a few in that many.

An interesting question though is how much of the motivation to collect that many was for the 99.9% normals or for the few morphs? I suppose in a country like Ghana the price of either is enough motivation but I sometimes wonder if the normals where a byproduct of a morph hunt or if the morphs where just a bonus in the normal market. Now that captive bred morphs are more affordable has it changed anything in the wild collecting industry?