Boas - BCC and BCI Differences

Today's post is about boas and how they are usually divided into either BCC (Boa Constrictor Constrictor) or BCI (Boa Contrictor Imperator). 

BCI
These boas are generally smaller when fully grown and more tan in colour than their BCC cousins. Their size will be different of course if you consider a hybrid. 
A few examples of BCI boas are;
1. Colombian
2. Central American
3. Mexican
4. Hog Island
5. Crawl Cay
6. Corn Island
7. Nicaraguan
8. Costa Rican
9. El Salvador

BCI

BCC
BCC boas have more arrow shaped heads, are darker in colour and are longer than BCI boas. Furthermore, their tails are brighter red and of course this is all dependent on if they are full blood or hybrids.
Some examples of BCC boas;
1. Amaral's boa
2. Red Tailed boa
3. Common northern boa
4. Tumbes Peru boa
5. Ecuadorian boa
6. Dominican clouded boa
7. Argentine boa
8. Orton's boa
9. Pearl Island boa

BCC

My next snake will be a boa as I want to dive into a new species. Boas are live bearers which means no eggs to incubate. They can have in the region of 30 babies in one litter, so care should be given if you are thinking of breeding boas. Generally they have a reputation of being aggressive feeders, especially when compared to royal pythons. Why did I allow my boyfriend talk me into getting a boa? Ah well, it'll be him who cleans the poo. .

To find out more about boas, visit Boa Constrictors or view my earlier post about boas

My Favourite Ball Python Morphs

One of my favourite type of reptiles is a royal python due to the variety of colours and genetics. In today's post I have decided to keep things simple and list twenty-five of my favourite morphs and genetic traits. 

1. Super Orange Dream Spider Fire Yellowbelly

First produced by OzzyBoids in 2012. This is my dream python. The colours really grab your attention and because it has 4 genes, it would make a very interesting breeding project. 

2. Nuclear Spinner

First produced in 2011 by Mike Wilbanks. I like this snake because it looks so clean and the reduction in the head pattern is lovely. Almost looks leucistic with a bit if striping. 

3. Butter Genetic Stripe

The contrast of this snake is gorgeous. The butter gene really smooths out the tones. I'd love to have one of these in my collection.

4. Purple Passion

Produced first by NERD in 2011. What can I say, I'm a girl and I love purple! 

5. Fire Spider Banana

First produced by Brock Wagner in 2011. I love the bright tones and the high whites in this snake. The subtle hints of purple really set this snake off.

6. Enchi KillerBee

First produced in 2011 by NERD. I'm a huge fan of the bee gene so adding more genes to it will always make the offspring beautiful and more interesting. 

7. Calico Champagne Pastel

Sunglasses on for this one. I love the vivid neon tones to this snake. I have no other words to describe this beauty.

8. Lesser Desert Enchi Spider Yellowbelly

First produced in 2013 by Royalsnakes & Austrian Reptiles. Love how clean this is.

9. Lucifer Pastel

First produced by NERD. The contrast of the black and yellow is out of this world. A truly beautiful snake.

10. Orange Dream Bumblebee

First produced in 2012 TnT Reptiles. It's simply beautiful- colours, stripes, contrast, the whole snake!

11. Orange Dream Spinner Blast

12. Mojave Bumblebee Calico

First produced in 2012 by Markus Jayne Ball Pythons.

13. Nuclear Superfly Enchi

First produced in 2013 by Cody St. Cyr

14. Bumblebee

First produced in 2001 by NERD

15. Pinstripe

First produced (in captivity) by BHB Enterprises in 2001

16. Mojave

First produced in captivity in 2000 by The Snake Keeper.

17. Butter

First produced (captive bred) in 2001 by Reptile Industries / ReptMart.

18. Stinging Bumblebee

First produced in 2006 by NERD.

19. Sugar Fly

Produced for the first time by Mike Wilbanks in 2011.

20. Sugar Spider Mojave

First produced by Fred Kick in 2012.

21. Super Fire

First produced in 2002 by Eric Davies

22. Super Pastel Butter GHI

First produced in 2013 by Sam Phillips.

23. Super Quake

First produced in 2012 by Dan Wolfe.

24. Nuclear Bumblebee

First produced in 2011 by Mike Wilbanks.

25. Orange Dream

First produced by OzzyBoid in 2004.

Information collected from World of Ball Pythons.

Photographing Reptiles

As exotic animal keepers, we all like to show off our reptiles, be it social media, blogging or to friends and family. Some people jump straight in and start snapping like crazy, and this is okay for some quick photos, but if you want more detail and photographs that REALLY show off your reptiles, keep reading.

This post will focus on camera settings and the environment in which you photograph your reptiles. Most cameras have settings for aperture, shutter speed and ISO. I use a Nikon DSLR with a flashgun to photograph my reptiles as this provides better quality. Just to explain a bit more about what these settings mean;

Aperture means the area that will be in focus. It will usually range from f2.8 (small area of focus) to f32 (wide area of focus). The lower the number, the higher the shutter speed will need to be (usually).

Shutter Speed is how fast your camera takes a photo. Do not photograph any lower than 1/60 of a second as it will not be sharp due to your hands shaking or the reptile moving too fast. It's better to photograph around the 1/125 of a second mark. This will most likely effect your aperture settings. As a bench mark, on a sunny day the settings for outside would be f8 and 1/125 of a second. So if you are photographing at 1/125 indoors, you will need a flash on your camera to compensate for the low light conditions. 

ISO is how grainy your photos will be. I always set mine to 100 as this means there will be very little if any grain visible. I would push to ISO 200 but no further.

If in doubt, play about with the settings a bit and take a few practice shots to get the settings correct. Low aperture settings are great if you want to focus on your animal's face and want the background blurred out while higher aperture settings are better if you want the whole reptile in focus. 

Environment is important for photographing. I personally like to use either white or black backgrounds as these provide a cleaner look and allows the viewer to focus on the animal, not the distracting items in the background. Some reptiles look better on dark backgrounds and some look better on lighter backgrounds. 

Mojave royal python. Mid aperture settings (f8)

Pinstripe on a white background. Low aperture (f4)

Same pinstripe on a black background. Low aperture (f4)

Ensure that your reptiles are not going through their shedding process when you decide to photograph them as this will not help to bring out their vivid and natural colours. The best time to photograph them is after a shed as this is when they are at their brightest.

Amel corn snake after shed.

Amel corn snake in shed.

Sometimes you might not have the time to set up the background or just want a quick snap to share on social media sites. This is the first photo I took of my butter royal python. Ensure it is well lit and is in focus.

Butter royal python. Quick snap.

Close ups can be stunning and can sometimes look almost human. Below is a photo of my snow corn snake which looks just that.

Snow corn snake. Close up.

Timing is also very important. This can make a difference between a good photograph and a great photograph.

Normal leopard gecko.

One second after the previous photo.

Try to get quality photographs over quantity. Anyone can take lots of photographs but a few really good photos will always trump hundreds of mediocre photos. Remember to take your time and if needs be, have someone else in the room to help you control the reptile so they don't run off while you fix your camera's settings. 

Finally

Back in October 2013 I got a mojave royal python and he went off his food. After trying a few techniques, he was still refusing to feed. I tried braining and changed his food item as I wanted to try everything before multimammate mice as royals can get a taste for them and refuse everything else. When I was feeding my snakes on Thursday night, my corns refused to eat jumbo mice. I thought instead of wasting it I will try the mojave expecting a refusal but to my surprise (I near had a heart attack) he struck and ate it. I must say, when a fasting royal decides to eat, it is happiness in a nutshell!! I just hope he will keep this up.

If anyone has a fasting royal that is a good weight (mine was 1050g when he ate) remember: the key is not to panic unless they are losing loads of weight. It is a good idea to keep records of their weight to ensure they are not losing too much weight and just be patient as eventually they should eat. 

For further information, click here.

Rattlesnake Roundups

In this post, I will be writing about rattlesnake roundups and the immense amount of cruelty that is involved with them and why the government in the USA allows this to happen every year in 6 different states. The roundups themselves lead to the mass killings of thousands of rattlesnakes each year, which has a proven effect on the numbers of wild rattlesnakes.

The people responsible for the roundups claim that the roundups are in place to "control the population of rattlesnakes in the wild" as they have an acclaimed effect on their lifestock, a point which is highly refuted by conservationists and herpetologists alike. Furthermore, they claim that the roundups only effect 1% of the rattlesnake population in the wild, contradicting the claim that it "controls the rattlesnake population" as if it only effects 1%, then it is not having that much of an effect. 

The eastern rattlesnake is becoming very close to being listed on the endangered list of animals. This is due to many different reasons although the roundups are not helping in this matter. In the future, I can see many more species being added to this list. Even on the endangered list, the law in America still permits 'self-defense' can still be used. This is quite appauling as a rattlesnake does not strike for no reason, it is always out of self-defense and are a very misunderstood animal that just want to be left alone. 

How can anyone kill an animal needlessly?

There are some states that claim they do not kill the snakes and release them back into the wild, although there are still reports of animal cruelty from such events. Just because snakes are not conventional pets and are not considered to be 'cute and fluffy', they are demonised by narrow-minded cruel people who only hold these events for the interest of the revenue that it brings along with the tourists that these events attract. 

When they physically venture out to capture the rattlesnakes, they usually use gas which they toss down animal burrows in order to flush the snakes out. This has a profound effect on the environment as it can kill other animals, not just the snakes.

The US government lets this happen! Why? I doubt you will find a definitive answer to that, but the roundups bring in a large revenue and I'm sure each state has it's own views on the matter. It seems it is purely driven by financial worth and greed.

In my opinion, the roundups should be banned as they are very cruel, break state laws regarding animal cruelty and have an effect on the natural population of animals. These people claim that the events are "educational" but no education is being enforced, only hatred towards these beautiful reptiles. Additionally, anyone who may become envenomated at these events should not be allowed to receive antivenom but that is my personal opinion. I hope that these states change their ways of thinking of these animals and adopt a more educational and caring approach.

Back to Nature Substrate Review

When keeping reptiles, it can be difficult to find a substrate that suits your animals needs and meets your standards. I have used many different types of bedding including: newspaper, aspen and kitchen towels but all of which have flaws.

• Newspaper does not soak up liquids well and leaves humidity high if there is a spillage. Furthermore newspaper is not aesthetically pleasing, although it retains heat well and is cheap.


• Aspen can be quite dusty and messy, although it soaks up liquids moderately well. The biggest problem with using aspen is the risk of impaction if your animals are fed in the enclosure. 


• Kitchen towels are good for animals like geckos and are very economical. They soak up moisture well depending on the amount of layers that you use. Heating works well with this type of bedding. It's not aesthetically pleasing and will need replaced in multiple sheets when it is soiled.

Recently I was recommended a new bedding to try by my local reptile shop called Back to Nature Animal Bedding. Made from recycled materials and biodegradable, it is made of small paper pellets that are grey in colour. It is designed to minimise odour and absorb liquids whilst retaining heat and humidity. The product's packaging is made of paper and reduces carbon footprint. It can also be used for small animals and not just reptiles.

Snowy enjoying her new bedding!

After using the product I am very happy with it as it does what it says on the packet. There is less risk of impaction as the product is biodegradable. It is more economical than aspen and other wood chip beddings. It's easy on the eye and almost looks like small stones. What has sold me most is the fact that it is easy to spot when the reptile has defecated, as it clumps together, making the clean up simple. Due to the dark colour it makes brighter morphs stand out and appear even more attractive than other bedding. I highly recommend giving it a try. To read more click here

Spotting a Fraud

With reptiles becoming more popular, it is now an industry that is worth thousands if not millions of pounds, with many animals sold and bought worldwide. Sadly with any trade, there are fraudulent sellers out there and this post is about how to spot them. Always ensure that you purchase from a reputable seller.

One of the most commonly used frauds is morphs. This can be as subtle as saying an animal is het when this is not so, to claiming an animal is a specific species when it's entirely different. The sex of the snake may be listed as female when they are male, as generally females are worth more money.

Here are a few pointers of what to watch out for and are common on auction sites, social media and free listing sites. Trust me, I have seen a few shocking ones myself.

• Het Banana Ball Python - The banana morph is not recessive and cannot be het.
• Dinkers (a normal morph that looks slightly different) - Some people claim to have dinkers to increase the value of a normal morph.
• Sometimes morphs get renamed in order to achieve more money. Ensure you research into what you are purchasing before you buy it.
• Sometimes a seller will be desperate to get rid of a large number of off spring. An unsuspecting customer may want to buy a dwarf boa and end up with a green anaconda.
• Lying about how large and animal gets too for example, a burmese python grows to 4ft, when in fact they can grow up to 20+ft.
• Another con is, the reptile will not outgrow a small tank. This is rubbish, reptiles will need their enclosures upgraded throughout their life time, depending on what you purchase.
• The most extreme case that I have heard of is a venomous snake being sold to a youngster as a safe species.

Banana ball python

The best way to spot a fraudulent sellers is to research into reptiles as much as possible, especially those that you are interested in. Always ask the person that you are buying from loads of questions. Don't be afraid of putting them on the spot as a genuine seller would be used to it. Ask to see the snakes records, sometimes these can be faked and hard to spot when they have been, although it's always a good idea to ask. Refrain from using action sites unless it's from a reputable seller. If the seller is rushing you then something is up. My rule of thumb is; if it's too good to be true, then it probably is.