My son who is 3yo has been asking for his own snake and was really stuck on a ball python. I am just learning about Balls myself, as I have always been a boa guy.
This was also my first reptile show here in Idaho. That was pretty hectic in there so I missed out on asking some question, not that it would have changed the sale. She was sold as a 2022 Spider Leopard Vanilla. Accurate from the pics? I paid 150 bucks for her, nothing special, but its the absolute one my son wanted. I will be following up with him to ask what pairing the parents were.
Very pretty snake! I donât want to alarm you itâs not usually a big deal or issue, and spider morphs are usually very hardy and healthy. They do have a neurological issue associated with the spider morph called âwobbleâ it just means sometimes they donât crawl right, or go upside down, or their head wobbles back and forth slightly usually while trying to strike their prey. Like I said itâs usually no big issue, just wanted you to be aware. Enjoy your python, ball pythons are great pets for kidsđwith proper supervision of course, just like any other pet!
Hah my wife and I were asking the same questions last night. We held our boa Ember, washed hands, then held Sausage. Her neck is sooooo skinny and long comparatively.
I was thinking theres got to be some kind of biological reason, nature doesnât just make adaptations just because. Ive only seen the thin neck in the pet trade, meaning i havenât seen a wild ball python to draw a comparison so it would be hard to determine if this is a mutation because of all the selective breeding or is this a natural phenomenon.
Maybe google has an aswer for međ¤ˇââď¸ i love learning the why, growing up i use to get into trouble for always asking why. I wasnât trying to be disrespectful or anything but if im told something i always want to know why.
There are actually quite a few different snake species out there that just have skinny necks. Typically seen in arboreal specise more than others but more likely itâs from the difference in the width at the back of the head/skull in contrast to the width of the neck that gives a greater appearance of a skinny neck. You typically see this large back of head in Vipers and many other venomous species but not all. All of my tree boas, green tree pythons and carpet pythons have broader heads than necks. But in most of the terrestrial boas and a lot of the other terestrial pythons itâs much less noticable. The difference in head/neck is almost nonexistent in colubrids, water snakes garter snakes and even in some of the venemous snakes like cobras and kraits. Believe itâs more tied to evolution of the particular species but usually itâs something environmental that has lead the particular animal to retain or loose a certain characteristic. As far as a scientific reason, I donât have an answer. I never really questioned thus in my mind so never pursued an answer to it before. I know my spotted pythons, womas and macklotts pythons didnt have a very large distinction between head and neck now have most of the boas i have ever had. If anybody does know or if i get a chance to look it up I would definately be curious to know. Iâm always looking for an oppertunity to expand my own knowledge.
Regarding the âWOBBLEâ issue. I know everybody attributes this to ball pythons and more specifically the Spider Gene. I have seen this appearance in one of my HG Woma gene animals as well⌠And there are refderences tbat the animals in the âSpider Genetic Complexâ can all have the tendancy to exhibit some wobble however tends to be worse in animals with just the single spider gene and dimished more as additional different genes are added into the mix.
Just be aware that ypur Spider Combo could have it to some extent. It does not mean that âSUASAGEâ wont live a long and healthy life. As long as the animal isnt full up doing back bends or unable to right itself if itâs turned upside down, i would be less concerned about the condition. I have 3 spider combo ball pythons right now. 2 form 2008 and one from 2021. Two of them have almost no noticable wobble at all. One of the 2008 animals does have a little more issue with the condition but typically only affects him when heâs in feeding mode. I do want to point out though that this wobble condition seems to be present in a lot more animals than most people are attributing it to. Almost all if the abroreal specise that use heat pits to locate their prey can also exhibit a WOBBLE appearance. They use these like a sonar to center in on where the prey item is before they grab it. I have seen this forst hand in all of the tree boas and tree pythons that i have had. I half wonder if there is something else at play here where the Spider Gene is actually causing an over stimulation of the heat receptors or sending mixed signals to the animal causing them to work harder to locate their food. I know there have been studies done on on the wobble condition, but thats the engineer in me still questioning if something was overlooked or not.
Beautiful little sausage
Hereâs my little girl⌠we believe sheâs a super pastel Het clown enjoy and I hope your son does. My 1yo (nearly 2) has started showing loads of interest
This is not true. Adding other genes into the mix does not diminish the wobble expression (with the single exception of BlackHead) and in some cases adding genes can make the situation worse (i.e., combining any of the other genes in the âwobbleâ complex - HGW, Woma, Champagne, Cypress, Spotnose, etc)
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There is a paper on BioRxive that appears to indicate it is a malformation of the inner ear structure. It has nothing to do with the heatpits. Further, the âtargetingâ of arboreal snakes looks nothing like the wobble behaviour seen in these animals (which are also not arboreal or semi-arboreal)
The bigger a BP gets the thicker the neck gets, especially with good husbandry, feeding and hydration/humidity. I got a rescue in once and her neck was so thin I was nervous she was gonna not last. Plus she was yawning, sign of possible respiratory issues.
After feeding her bigger meals than the owner was and slowly getting her in better humidity, temps etc, she is now much heftier. Plus she has just grown.
