Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The reason I ask is that every ad that says "unusual", wierd pattern, freaky pattern, and many, many more lame labels, ALWAYS looks like a normal ball python. So I ask, who is selling normals as normals still? And when I open an ad that says WIERD pattern, and it is a normal, I look at who the seller is, and I DO NOT open any of their ads again! Our industry is slowly turning into a bunch of used car salesmen, and women. It is very sad.

Dave

I'd like to say that I have two lovely, adorable, beautiful, normal P. regius that were labelled as such when I purchased them. Adjective use is something one has control over unlike gender.

my daughter has a NORMAL Ball Python,
she bought it as a Normal,
and there is nothing AB-normal about it
no Morph, high or low color (but very good and prety color)
no stripe, hyper or hypo
just a beautiful Snake,
with a sweet temperment,
and a bit of a stuborn streak when it comes to anything but live food (more normal yet)
if you want to know where we got her, just Email me
it was a good breeder/hobbyist
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Elizabeth (ecb)

Make this world a better and more beautiful place that You have been in it
*Edward W Bok*

my daughter has a NORMAL Ball Python,
she bought it as a Normal,
and there is nothing AB-normal about it
no Morph, high or low color (but very good and prety color)
no stripe, hyper or hypo
just a beautiful Snake,
with a sweet temperment,
and a bit of a stuborn streak when it comes to anything but live food (more normal yet)
if you want to know where we got her, just Email me
it was a good breeder/hobbyist
-----
Elizabeth (ecb)

Make this world a better and more beautiful place that You have been in it
*Edward W Bok*

I currently have 2.2 Normal ball pythons one is very pretty but still normal. When I breed them the babies will be (unless there is a miracle) NORMAL. Hmmmmm, though I might have to sell them as "het for normal" because normals are so rare these days. lol.

They aren't called normal though, they are "possible het". This is ridiculous that people buy and sell under this guise. That's like buying a "possible lottery ticket". I will never buy a possible het for more than a normal. The BP market is VERY dynamic though, in two years, if an albino goes for half of what they cost now, I'd be surprised. I see BP's as the next corn snake. For example, a baby normal one year ago, could go for $60-70, this weekend I bought a pair of babies for $45. I have the feeling that normals have started to reach the bottom price allowable for a profit, but all these morphs still have a long way to fall

I highly recommend the FAQ by ProExotics - it talks about morphs in general, and has two links, one of which is to the 2AM Creations morph-definition page. This information is VERY useful when determining whether or not you've got a morph.

AFAIAC, "normal" BPs are beautiful snakes without any of the "designer" patterns. Although, one of those BumbleBee Spiders would look WAY cool.........

Is My Ball Python a Morph?

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2.0 Ball Pythons
2.0 Bettas
1.1 Pekingeses
1.4 Rats (for breeding)
1.0 Mouse (for scenting rat pinkies)

What a horribly chauvinistic thing to say.

I don't think its too bad of a comment. I always see certain people listing what appear to be a very "normal" Ball Pythons with lables that really dont seem to fit. Crazy pattern, Mutant High Yellow, Super-Fire Tiger Eye pattern, etc.. (Haha, I made all those up, but anyway). I have to agree that when I open an add from someone trying to sell a "normal" Ball Python with a suped up name, I tend to avoid their adds. I think they either haven't come across that many true morphs, or they hope that their play on words will make their snake look better. You can also look at it as a "sales pitch" and it might help increase sales to the untrained eye, but it does seem kinda used car salesmanish (??? new word) to me...
Thanks, Tom Baker

he said... "Carsalesmen and women"...
I sort of took offense to that.

there are not only used car salesMEN - women can be just as bad. I thought it was rather considerate that he included women.

and before you get started, hush, I am a WOMAN.

Muggle

That comma in "car salesmen, and women" also struck me wrong until explained as meaning “car salespeople” since I originally thought he was lumping ALL women with car salesmen (it's ok to slander them, right!?). I guess we just took it wrong.

As far as slightly different ball pythons there is a fine line. I too have learned not to even open some poster’s ads because I really don’t see any differences worth noting.

However, there have been several examples recently where fairly subtle differences in appearance have turned out to be important markers indicating heterozygous for mutant genes. I’ve not seen a cinnamon pastel or a yellow belly/lemon ball in person yet but I think both are relatively (compared to say pied or albino anyway) subtle and a year ago both where snickered at a little but not any longer since Pewter Pastel and the yellow stripe leucistic have been produced. I think those with the cinnamon pastels and yellow bellies can now laugh all the way to the bank about their subtle hets and the rest of us can only wonder how many we over looked when the imported hatchlings arrived in years past.

In my personal experience I’m getting more and more convinced that the white belly with black edge striping is a reliable indicator of het for piebald when seen in possible het pieds (even though many for sure hets don’t have it). I don’t have any way to prove it and of course I could be wrong. However, I was surprised that cynicism has risen to the level that I had to sell my last male with this pattern to a pet store because I couldn’t talk anyone into buying it at regular captive breed ball price and breeding it. It seems that some would rather buy one without the marker for the same price than risk getting caught up in a “scam”.

So, if someone wants to point out why they think I should buy their slightly different ball python I’ll listen just in case they are on to something new. After weighing the evidence against the price I’ll probably pass because I’m out of space and money but maybe I learned something reading the ad. I guess it’s just hard to know how to protect the uninformed newbie while still having an open environment where new ideas are shared for the general public to vote on with their money.

What I was saying is used car salesmen, and used car saleswomen.

Dave