When I was working with the snakes yesterday—-working with my animals is all I do—- I found that my massive axanthic female had her prelay shed! I got this female several years in a collection buyout. She’s the longest ball I have and she carries another gene that I’ve called the “black stripe”. She’s het for the trait which is recessive. The black stripes are pretty much what the name sounds like. They have a thick dark black stripe down the back. Last time she had eggs, she laid 10 so I’m hoping she lays just as many and that I hatch a pastel axanthic black stripe! I love the contrast between a black stripe and the axanthic black stripe below! These random genes that pop up are what make breeding ball pythons really fun. I’m going to have a bunch of those pop up over the next year.
—Peter v. Ruegner
TheOddBall 