I recently got this poor boy from a breeder who takes very poor care of their snakes, after trying to buy a chocolate who ended up having a RI. He REFUSED to give my money back, but now i’m glad after seeing the poor condition this sweet boy was in that i was able to get him out of there- unfortunately, the other one will most likely not recieve the proper care that he needs. Anyways, we swapped, and as soon as that snake was in my hands i realized that he TOO was hollow and needed to be fed- the chocolate was fed after two days of settling, and it was also then when i heard him and realized he had a respiratory infection. I’ve had this guy for about eight-nine days now, but the day we got him he had stuck shed all over his face and even had his eyecaps still on- meaning that breeder was giving me a VISUALLY IMPAIRED snake. If i hadn’t known better, i most likely would not have noticed and would have been bit by chance- which isn’t that scary, as i’ve been bit before and it really does feel like nothing. Needless to say we got the shed off and got him fed- however…when we got him, i tried to ask when he was fed, and the guy left as soon as that- no clue how old he is, no clue what he is, and no clue what his feeding and shedding pattern is like. I’m thinking he’s around 3 or 4, but oh well, im just glad he’s away from that breeder and recieving the proper care now. But…my question is what IS he? I’m relatively new to morphs, as ive only cared for standard bp’s, but i at least don’t think he’s a standard. Is he a pastel? Thats the closest i could find to him.
don’t mind the water on his face lmao. He had just taken a drink before those pictures. Oh, and since its a little difficult to see with my camera, he’s got some pretty sandy yellow colors to him.
Also if this was an interaction with a MM breeder, you might be able to report the condition of the animals, though I do admit I am not an expert on the MM policies
@strictlyconstructors again, i’m pretty new to morphs and i’ve heard the terms clean and dirty be tossed around but i’m not totally sure what it really means. What exactly does it mean?
@indiflare thats what i was thinking. That, plus the different ‘alien heads’ and his green eyes? That seems like too many things adding up for him to just be a clean normal, but again, im no expert either lol.
It’s sort of a weird thing to explain because it could mean different things for different morphs. (Occasionally you’ll hear dulled out and muddy as well) but I would refer to this snake as “clean” for this reason.
The base color for a standard BP is usually a warm brown, this snake has what id consider a more golden base coat, almost like someone "cleaned up or brightened " the brown. This obviously can happen to a normal ball python that doesn’t actually carry something like “fire, vanilla, etc” but since you said it came from a breeder, I would assume it’s a fire.
Fire is a very common “clean up” gene as it usually gives any morph that it is a paired with a more sharp and “clean” look, and when in a base morph you have what I see in this snake. A nice golden base color with very crisp markings and key holes. Maybe a way to think of it would be putting 2 cars next to each other with the same color paint, except one has just been washed and waxed.
A bit long winded, so I apologize, someone out here may be able to explain it better than me. Its sorta one of those things you will pick up on the more time you spend looking at different snakes.
Got it!! And nope, makes sense lol, i get what you’re saying. I was just looking at some fire’s and i do see that being likely. I don’t exactly care what he is, again, as he is at this point a rescue, but i was curious because the first thing that stuck out to me was his eyes and his sort of sandy airbrushed look.
Agree with @akmorphs got the pastel eyes for sure! It is very bright and the whole head is blushed out! That and the squareish patterns do look similar to a single gene fire @logar great guess! I thought it might be both it’s so bright for an adult! The only thing is fire, pastels usually have a real busy and irregular pattern and a lot of the time they will have broken or split neck stripes with a lot of dorsal blushing. So just a nice pastel, the only other thing it looks similar too is a goldblush which has a slightly reduced, more banded pattern is of course brighter and has yellow nose scales. Almost nobody works with that subtle morph though! Just some more info for you @logar
I do see a lot of I think scars on its side? They look old, are they all healed @sinclipse ?
They are healed. I again only got him recently, and this poor sweet boy was in such horrible condition- eyecaps still on, thin and hollow, extremely stressed out, dehydrated and had shed stuck all over his face. All of that has been sorted out, but there’s quite a few scars. They’re all old and all seemed to have healed well, but i’m not sure what they would be from. It makes me sad, though, because he was not rescued by that breeder and was bred by himself. I’m not sure if he feeds live, but in my experience they’re always hard to get off live and switched over to f/t, and he ate a f/t rat within minutes, didn’t even just sit there with it like my other bp’s will. Striked at it, i sat down, and he already was working on eating it. I believe he doesn’t do live, though. I’ve since blocked the breeder on all platforms that i know he’s on and have reported him, and also spread some awareness on them to a few friends. The scars aren’t pitted or anything, which makes me think they may have even been blisters? I’m unsure, but it’s extremely sad that anyone would put any animal in that condition. There’s a good five or six scars on him so. I feel horrible for that chocolate, because his respiratory infection was progressing very fast and something makes me think he didn’t develop it a day or so before i had gotten him…its unfortunate because it was a pretty severe case and i know he won’t recieve the proper care. He most likely won’t make it. But to answer your question, yes they are, and they’ve all healed nicely. And thanks for clarifying! His head stamp is super pretty, especially with the sun reflecting on it, as well as his eyes. He’s a total sweetheart, i’m glad i got him out of that situation.
Well first off I want to welcome you to the community! We are so glad you are here and hope that you will continue to participate because it sounds like you have a lot of knowledge to offer, as well as a lot of compassion.
Second, God bless you for literally bringing that beautiful boy back to life! It truly hurts my heart to see and or hear about any animal in that kind of shape due the inhumane treatment of a “human”.
Tbh I hope the Chocolate has passed on. My heart aches for the rest of the animals in that @&$!”(‘s care.
Btw what is that sweet boy’s name? Also, it sounds like you have other animals? If that’s the case we all love pictures and plenty of them!
God bless you again @sinclipse. Please keep us updated on that precious sweet boy!
I do too- shed a good few tears over him as i’m a pretty sensitive person, especially when it comes to cruelty towards animals, and i do grow attatched to just about any animal that is under my care lol. But i hope he’s passed, because from what he said he sounded happy that i wanted to get him because no one else wanted him, and it sounded like he was just going to keep him…he is/was only 2. Thats a lot of life left with that monster of a man.
His name is Crowley! He’s so so sweet, and has a LOT of personality- more than any of my others haha, they always just hide all day- Crowley will come out and totally dunk his head in his water bowl, suck down a half of it, and then start searching for ways to get out- you can imagine how happy he was when i gave him a soak and took him out to take those pictures lol. He’s…a character, alright.
And i definitely will! He seems to be doing much better, and after a good warm meal he’s seeming to become a bit more active and happy. Found he LOVES crocs, too…thank god for me having big feet, he’s 3 and a half feet. Also loves hanging out in the sun on my back porch, where the pictures were taken!
Crowley is a wonderful name for a handsome boy! I am not a breeder either but I have quite a few ball pythons myself and you are so right! They have different personalities for sure!
It sounds like Mr Crowley is finally loving life for the first time! The sad reality is though, that for every one of Crowley with a happy ending, there are hundreds maybe thousands that live in the squalor that he came from.
But to end on a positive note, Crowley found you, you found him and you both found us! I’m so grateful for that!
Unfortunately, you’re right. And they’re still going to make profit- they claim to ‘rescue’ these animals, but i asked a shop who he actually recommended, and he said he doesn’t, only breeds them, and his wife is just along for the ride. Also said that they aren’t good friends like the breeder mentioned, and he just came in a few days ago to repay him $60 that he owed him, and got mad when the store owner had said he couldn’t buy any of his snakes. What snake are you going to buy for $60? haha. All of those snakes are priced 150 or higher- none of them are normal bp’s, all just morphs. I’m actually looking into getting a job at that shop- the owner is very kind and extremely helpful. I’ve never gotten eyecaps off any snake before (all three of them have a humid hide and a rock to help with that, and i’ve never had a problem with any of them having a bad shed or stuck eyecaps, thankfully.) and i was not going to mess around with that when he was already so stressed, so we took him to the store and the owner got them off. Measured him, figured out his gender, weighed him, all of that. The chocolate was going to be kept in a 20 long, as he was already two and only around two feet- he was definitely on the smaller side, so that 20 long was going to be my solution until i had the space for another 40…needless to say i need to get a 40, haha. The owner offered us a 40 that he has for 50 rather than 100 because it had been there for months, but we’re just waiting on him to get some more tops as the 40 doesn’t have one an i don’t have an extra. Needless to say, i’m taking the owners word over that scumbags, especially considering all that’s happened (the selling me a visually impaired snake, the shed stuck all over him, both of them being underweight, him being downright disrespectful towards me for expressing my concerns about the chocolates respiratory infection… also come to find out he does not have a license for anything, but has done events at multiple schools and churches in the area- all of it is targeted at younger kids who aren’t going to know any better.)
And agreed!! He’s been much happier the past few days and i can tell, he’s seemed to have brightened up a great deal and has gotten to the point where he didn’t mind being man handled after stretching his jaw while buried in his moss and getting a chunk of it in his mouth thankfully it was in the corner of his mouth so it just took a pair of tweezers to get it out lol. Did not enjoy having to get up out of the comfort of my bed at 12 last night to try and get that out of his mouth. Needless to say, he lost his moss priveledges haha- not totally, though. He still has a moss cave (that i personally made for him- he’s completely spoiled already. Not even my other bp’s have received such priveledged treatment LOL. If the moss cave does good for his shed, maybe they’ll get an upgrade from their current humid hides, too)
But i hope those other snakes all find a home and find a way away from him- it probably won’t be long. He’s going to get on the wrong person’s last nerve and it’ll be trouble for him- which he no doubtedly needs. Maybe it’ll put him in place and get his act together- i would hope so. I like to think that all people can change for the better.
All people are born with a small measure of faith in them. Because of that, all people CAN change. But the question is, WILL they change. Including the person we are discussing here……
I thought it might be both it’s so bright for an adult! The only thing is fire, pastels usually have a real busy and irregular pattern and a lot of the time they will have broken or split neck stripes with a lot of dorsal blushing. So just a nice pastel, the only other thing it looks similar too is a goldblush which has a slightly reduced, more banded pattern is of course brighter and has yellow nose scales. Almost nobody works with that subtle morph though! Just some more info for you 
We are so glad you are here and hope that you will continue to participate because it sounds like you have a lot of knowledge to offer, as well as a lot of compassion. 
. Please keep us updated on that precious sweet boy! 
thankfully it was in the corner of his mouth so it just took a pair of tweezers to get it out lol. Did not enjoy having to get up out of the comfort of my bed at 12 last night to try and get that out of his mouth. Needless to say, he lost his moss priveledges haha- not totally, though. He still has a moss cave (that i personally made for him- he’s completely spoiled already. Not even my other bp’s have received such priveledged treatment LOL. If the moss cave does good for his shed, maybe they’ll get an upgrade from their current humid hides, too)