Butter Enchi Spider clutch

So this was the Butter Enchi het Hypo to Spider clutch.

I think it went well!

Total count:

1.0 Butter, 1.0 Enchi, 1.2 Stingers, 1.0 Bunchi, and 0.1 Bunchi Spider (all 50% het Hypo).

Here are the boys...

I love how awesome Bunchis (Butter Enchi) look!
I really wish this was a female... Oh well.

And here are the girls!

The Butter Enchi Spider in all her Glory!

She will be staying with me.. This is the first holdback of the year so far.

YAY!

This was a pretty sweet clutch, and I have to say it is getting me pumped up for more hatchings in the next weeks.

I love it!

Have a great day, my friends!

Clutch #4 for 2012

This is my favorite Spider female that I own, and I produced her a few years back in an effort to make the Tarantula (aka the Blurry Spider)

I like to think I made it, but the Blurry did not end up specifically genetic, so I let it go. She is the mother to my Bumblebee Fires this past season, however, and they were ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC.

This year, I popped her in with the Firefly once, but the Butter Enchi het Hypo got her for most of the time.

I would LOVE to see some Butter Enchi Spiders.
 

Fingers crossed for some good odds on that one, since hitting on it will be a feat, but it can and will be done. Eight chances, eight ways to be astounded.

This female is part of my cream of the crop program, and I can't wait to see what else she throws.

There is a boob egg in there, but it is viable. This egg more than likely will mold at the boob area, and I will catalog that for you all to see.

Here's to more eggs!

Have a great day, my friends!

Fun with Hypos

Well, I think I have mentioned that I got into the Hypo project a bit late. I do not have a lot of Hypo things that are breedable as of yet, but I am working on it.

I have, however, gotten a hold of a few Het Hypo things that I am working into the projects, and that is better than nothing.

Take the photo above. That, my friends, is my Butter Enchi het Hypo male with my Hypo female. This excites me very much, since again, I need to bulk up my Hypo projects. These babies should be amazing, and I can't wait to see them (if they come to fruition) out of the egg.

What other Hypo stuff do I have hiding up my sleeve?

Well, I am growing up some Hypo combo females that I can't wait to use.

I have a Pastel het Hypo female I'm not sure what I am going to do with this season. Maybe put her in with this Butter Enchi? That more than likely will be where I will go with it, but I also have the Black Pewter het Hypo male I produced in 2010 making the rounds as well.

Now what would be really cool is some AMAZING male that is also Hypo, so that I can plug him into a bunch of stuff and make even more amazing things.

...Sigh...

Isn't that always the dream?

To have some amazing male that will blow everything out of the water??

One of these days... One of these days.

Have a great Super Bowl weekend, my friends!

A few more YPBMC initiates

And we come to the last few males left in the rotation that are currently in with females and have yet to be seen doing anything productive. Above, we have the Bunchi het Hypo male, Butter Enchi to elaborate... He is plenty big, but has yet to show his stamina to me. Let me make a note that I am frequently not checking on him, so there may be instances where he really is doing what he is supposed to be doing, and I just miss it. This is true of ALL of the males in the YPBMC club... But until I see it with my own eyes, it didn't happen.

How's that for pessimism, eh?

And let me stress that I am not in any way coercing these males to do anything. Other than placing them in with a female, that is all I do.  I don't fight them, I don't spray them, I don't put goo on them. There are ways to try and assist in the preparation for breeding, such as misting them down, putting sperm plugs of a competing male on the female, putting in a competing male in with the current male and female... I am not interested in pursuing those avenues right now. It is the BEGINNING of the season, and I can't expect everyone to be ready as soon as I am in the room with a camera. But of course, it would be nice to see something. This Lavender Albino male I had very little hope for, just because he stopped eating for me a few months ago. But, he is producing tiny little plugs, so I put him in with a smaller Het female. No luck so far.

No big deal... I would love for him to breed, but such is the way of the breeding season. He is small. He may go, but he isn't right now. I think I may pull him out of rotation for a bit and feed him for a while, see if that helps anything. He may be this year's Homey, but with less expectations for performance. But I have a Het Male I can throw in should it be obvious after another month of no action. Lavenders this season? Yes, please! So of course, with another week almost gone, I have yet to do anything but complain. I haven't moved males yet to see if they want another female instead, I haven't done much in terms of breeding other than leaving them in there. But that is really all it takes. Rotation One should be complete this Friday, and then moving begins. And hopefully some breeding photos for you all to enjoy! Have a great day, my friends!

Market Analysis

Bryan asked:

"Heather, I'd like to hear about where you think the market is going, what things always sell and what you see becoming increasingly popular to work with. If someone was to have say either a $1000 or $5000 to invest in new animals, where would you put it" 

Well... This is a very interesting question, and I have to say that this answer is of course, from personal experience. 

Here we go. 

Things that will always sell?

Albinos and Lavendar Albinos. Pieds. Pastels. Mojaves/Lessers/Butters.

These morphs are always something that even Joe Blow wants to buy, because they are different, as well as look really cool with a decent price tag. Note that these are all under $1000 at this point, and yes, that seems to really help with the people who are not particularly into it other than to have a cool pet. 

Granted it is much easier to sell females of any morph than males, this is still the case.

What is becoming increasingly popular to work with?

Enchis, Mojaves/Lessers/Butters, Deserts, Pieds, Recessive Combinations. 

Enchis and Deserts are becoming more popular due to the combinations that they have been making, and the initial cost of them is becoming more reasonable. 

Mojaves and the BEL complex morphs are becoming overly in demand for the same reason. People can combine them into everything, and the demand is up. I want to make a point that this is not true of the Het Russos/Het White Diamond, which do not have enough distinguishing characteristics from a normal for most people to take them seriously.

Pieds are the most awe inspiring morphs for most people, and they want to combine them into everything. Again, same thing as the BEL makers, people want them to make more of them. This also segways into the recessive combinations, as Pieds combined with everything else is awesome, and combinations of het stuff is always a great way to go, although a bit more difficult to sell depending on who you are (aka your trustworthiness). 

Now if you have $1000 to invest? I would say get a recessive female or a co-dominant het for something female. Grow her up, get her big, and get a male in a year. (Save up for the male!)

If you have $5000 to invest? I'd suggest getting a few females on the lower end, and get a Desert male combination. That is the one morph I do not have and I regret not having. I see a lot of demand in it, granted not something I have any experience in selling, so I can't tell you how quickly they sell, but there seems to be a lot of interest in them.

Another way to go is get some of something newly recessive, maybe a Lavendar Albino male visual and a few het females.  

Or you can go big and get a double super female and grow her up and breed her to something awesome later down the line...

There are a ton of ways to do things, but I am all about recessives as a first pick up, as it is easier to get things done when you already have a few years invested in a legitimate het female.


So there you go, my friends. I hope this helps, and maybe you guys have any specific suggestions to Bryan out there as well? What do you think?

Have a great day, my friends.

Yellow

 I've noticed in the Ball Python Morphs that Yellow is the color to be. The brighter the better. 

Yellow is a great color, really. 

Did you know that in Chinese, my last name (Wong) means Yellow? 

So next time you see me, you can be like "Yo, Yellow!"

And I would be proud of that. 

Yellow is a great color. 

Especially in Ball Python Morphs. 

Pastels are the perfect example. 

They combine with so many things to make so many other things! All of them YELLOW(er)!

And Butters, Lessers and Mojaves.. All have shades of yellow.

Take this fine specimen of a male. 

Butter Enchi. Both yellow morphs, combined to make a super awesome yellower morph. People think it is stunning, and I do agree.

A Super Pastel is pretty darn yellow. So is a Super Pastel Lesser! This guy exudes Yellow. 

I absolutely love these guys. 

And most people do too. 

Shades of Butter Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Canary Yellow... All in contrast with oranges, purples, greys and blacks. THAT, my friends, is what Ball Python morphs are all about. 

Colors and Contrast. 

Maybe we will do an expose on Colors... I like it. 

The Ball Python Color Rainbow.

I will get on that. 

Have a fantastic day, my friends.

Pretty Pictures

I got to have a chance to take some pretty pictures today.

YAY! It's been a while, and to be honest, I've missed it.

Above is the Bunchi, who is looking fantastic and lovely and on FIRE.

Below is one of the Crystals. I absolutely love their colors, and I am not doing them justice with the colors of these pictures.

Peaches, yellows, violets... all beautiful sunset colors.

I don't ever adjust my photos (cause I don't know how), so I try to get as true to color as I can. This is not quite it.

And of course, the Pewter het Red shed out, and he looks awesome!! I love his side pattern, and I really enjoy the fact that he was positioned like this for the photo. What a photogenic snake!

Tomorrow's blog will be about this gentleman and his siblings, as well as a distant cousin, in comparison with other animals. Should be a fun one.

Also, are there any photo requests? I am taking orders... I'm ready to break open the camera and fill up a few memory cards.

Have a fantastic day, my friends!

Final clutch (maybe) hatched out!

Well, my friends, as you can see, my available page is still not up.

I suck. I'm sorry. Actually, I don't suck, my internet service provider sucks.

But I was told this should all be fixed by Monday night.

Alright. Last chance...

Anyway, the final clutch that I had in the incubator has hatched, and I produced a Pewter Het Red!

This is not a first, as Howard Ross produced them a month before I did...

But that's alright, people. I have this guy to show for my breedings, and I am excited!

They look somewhat like Sterlings, to a point, but the pattern is off (similar to that of Chipo), and the colors I hope stay bright! We shall see.

I am glad to have him in the fold, but of course, he is a male... I have a bunch of Male holdbacks this year.

YAY!

The rest of the clutch consisted of

1.1 Pastel het Reds
2.2 Pewters
1.0 Pewter het Red

I just installed florescent lighting in the snake room to see better, but I don't think it does much for the photography of the snakes. They look greyer in the photos, kinda... I'll play with it and see what I can come up with.

Anyway, also, here is a new guy to the fold, pretty ridiculously hot, and I am very pleased to have him here.

Meet Bunchi, the Butter Enchi.

He is also het Hypo, so I'm in line to make some Hypo stuff happen with this guy too! Not sure how, not sure when, but it can and will happen eventually.

Yay for planning ahead!

HAH!

Anyway, that is all for now, until everything has settled down a bit more. The incubator is temporarily off, as I am expecting two poss het Pied females to lay any day now, but I feel some slugs, so I'm not expecting much.

Until then, we can count this season as temporarily on pause... a repreive so to speak. So now all I have to do is clean, feed, water and photograph instead of also worrying about eggs.

Ahhhhhh...

Have a fantastic day, my friends.