My favorite BPs currently are the Firefly VPIs as they are just amazing, but I was wondering about combos that produce similar looking babies. I currently own an adolescent VPI Axanthic (just flat out, no other morphs given or noticeable) and was messing with the calculator trying to find him a lady for when he’s breeding age. As the title says, any morph combos with VPI that produce pretty monochromatic or black and white ball pythons?
Pied is a bonus, as my partner really likes pied balls, but they are pretty expensive! And “just buy one” isn’t gonna work for me lol. I do not have $1000 to expend on one snake, unfortunately
I hear ya! And visual axanthic morphs can be quite expensive! I have a suggestion; get a spider 100% het. axanthic. Axanthic, spider’s really look monochromatic as babies! Of course as is with most axanthics when they grow some tend to brown out some. This would be a relatively less expensive to get the look you want, and if you find one with fire and/or pastel as well that would be even better! Check out some axanthic spiders on the marketplace and you will see what I mean! Best of luck to your vpi axanthic future combos!
I would recommend taking a look at JD Constrictor’s animals. He works with TSK but you can still get an idea of what combos work well.
I will also note that a HUGE factor in this morph is selective breeding. You cannot just throw muddy, browned-out Ax into a breeding program and expect to pop out pristine black/white animals. Quality In = Quality Out.
Thank you for the suggestion! I had seen some spider combos that looked good, but to be honest with you I do not really like the spider patterns. Probably should’ve put that in the main post :’) I’m also newish to reptile keeping and would prefer to not have a bunch of baby snakes with the potential to have issues in my first clutch.
Thanks for the suggestion! JD does have some pretty ones, mostly with the same morphs I was looking at already. Superfly does look really nice though, if I have the money and luck for it when the time comes.
I get what you mean, but so far as I can tell most axanthics do just get brown with age, some of them moreso of course. I was definitely taking this into consideration as nothing in nature is ever truly “perfect” lol. My boy is still only a bit over a foot long so I have no idea how much his colors will change as he ages, but that just gives me more time to learn. Especially since I have no idea as to who his breeder is (local store I bought him from understandably does not want to give out that info).
Yes, however the extent/level to which they brown out can be influenced through selective breeding. Some of JD’s adult animals only have a very vaguely tan-ish hue to them versus some Craigslist-level Ax that look like nothing more than a dark normal
I would definitely ask for pictures of the parents and religiously stalk any breeder’s public snake social media pages for pictures of their various axanthic projects before buying and breeding any axanthic. Some of them do brown out so much by adulthood that if you didn’t know better you might not notice they’re even axanthic. I’ve seen some gorgous ones, but also a lot of very disappointing ones, which is the main reason I haven’t started in on any axanthic projects yet. While it’s important to do some basic research on any breeder you plan on buying from, I’d argue that axathics are probably the morph that’s going to have the most variability in quality depending on where you buy it from
Makes sense. I wish I knew my boy’s parents, but mentioned in an earlier reply that unfortunately the local store I bought him from doesn’t want to divulge their sources. It will mostly come down to how he looks as he ages, which is when I’ll start deciding if I want to just buy another snake and leave him out of the plan or not.
That is unfortunate, sorry to hear that! Especially since it’s a very pretty one. Seems like that sort of thing is more common than I thought in this industry. Sulfur is definitely on my list for one of the morphs I wanted to check out, will probably see what combos I can get with it in the calculator and see if I can find any good examples out there.
I’m starting with a 0.1 spider tsk. Hoping for her first clutch in the next year. I want to work in fire, calico, pastel, ghi, (maybe bamboo)and eventually desert ghost as my holdback displays to get to what I eventually want to produce. Pics in 6 to 10 years, lol
I’m sad that your local store doesn’t share the breeder. I’m not sure I care for that. No offense to you-that’s not on you and I hope I’m not offending you if you really like them. But, we lean towards buying quality directly from breeders, mainly because we are introducing quality breeding stock…quality into quality = high quality going out. BUT that doesn’t mean we don’t stalk stores and buy from a few. Our local store (local is relative for us but that’s cause we live in BFE and everything is at least an hour away)- they label their bins with the breeder’s name. They breed some of their own and they work with smaller local breeders and larger well known breeders. They are also on MM. I believe this is a huge factor in what makes their reptile dept and ESP their snake dept soo successful. Granted new pet owners won’t care much…but we go there weekly and it’s rare that we don’t run into other breeders there. By sharing that information they’ve created a level trust and knowledge that increased their market, our local breeders community, and they are wildly popular.
They are a local pet store by all labels but they go above. We have bought many of our stock from them and been able to go back to the original breeders and request pics of the parents and any other info. It’s refreshing and to me as a record keeping freak-it’s a dream.
Sorry that got long-didn’t mean to soapbox it-just to make an example. Maybe this could be a good educational opportunity for the local store?
Honestly I didn’t think it was a big deal, I understood why - they bring reptiles in and then try to sell them to make a profit, as most stores would. So they don’t want customers to know and just go buy from the breeder for cheaper. They also breed a couple types of reptiles there themselves. I am also pretty afraid of having my reptiles show up dead or injured (even though it’s a low chance), so it personally makes me feel a little better to buy them in person lol.
I guess it comes down to how people choose to run things. They’re all pretty knowledgeable people so I wasn’t really concerned about getting ripped off or anything. I get where you’re coming from, though!
But not really the point of this thread, though it’s kinda died out now anyways.
I suspect you aren’t looking for a long term multigenerational project but for fun maybe go look at pictures of axanthic clown desert ghost. Of course a female triple het would be way out of budget and you would still have years of additional breedings to do.
