• Posted 12/19/2024.
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    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Sub sahara ball python

A quickie of my big girl.... she is 3750g in these pics and around 12 years old. Has been in captivity for at the least most of her life, she could be captive bred but I don't know, I just know she was a pet for most of her life. She should be having her first clutch this yr. She is massive and built entirely different than my other females who range 1300-2600g (hard to explain, but you can feel it) Huge head on her. I don't know if she is a "Sub-Saharan" but I do believe her size can be attributed to both age and genetics.

63232_268359_VeryLarge_RsGhwjLzWg.jpg

here she is with a 1100g male Huffman.
63232_263617_VeryLarge_8w81jCg7SNG.jpg
 
Ya that big head is probally a good indicator. I had a male few years ago was absolutely huge wanna say close to 4000 grams he died from old age. I had him since I was a kid. I should have breed him back then but I was not into breeding then.
 
"Sub-Saharan":)rofl:)...and I've also seen these BIG gene girls labeled Voltas, from a specific locale. While size is hereditary, thinking of this as a new gene is kind of ridiculous in my opinion. Logical thinking would lead me to believe...

1) These HUGE girls are older.

2) If they are in fact being collected from a specific locale, the possibility of it being an area that for whatever reason lacks in more formidable predators is a very real one. I would imagine that whatever is preying on ball pythons is very likely also preying on what ball pythons eat, which would, as expected, lead to higher populations of prey items for the ball pythons to eat. I'd compare it to a less stressful environment promoting maximum growth...along the lines of Kodiak bears and Komodo dragons. Sure we would still see giant examples of either, but not nearly as many and as consistently if they were to live in a more competitive environment.
 
Come on now Abigail, you sure that isn't a child's hand to make the head appear bigger...LOL What a beautiful huge dark girl!!
 
I have no idea what the deal really is on these but just playing the devil’s advocate; IF there was a region of the ball python range where they specialized in feeding on a larger species (think prairie dogs vs. gophers for a North American example) then seems logical that gene pool might get selected for bigger snakes with bigger heads.
 
We ultrasounded my WC subsaharan tonight. She's Gravid with 46mm follicles!!! So she's gravid from the wild. I palpated at least 12 follicles when she got here. Hoping for more... We didn't want to try and count them with the ultrasound. She wasn't holding still. Anyway...I'm just excited ;).
 
I'm just wondering because someone local to me claims he has a sub saharan male, yet I've never seen anyone with one or even talk about one.
 
They exist, but I am not sure if the size thing carries over with them.

I have two yellowbellies from a subsaharan female. One male, one female. The female is twice the size of the male, and honestly...the male eats more.
 
ClarkT said:
We ultrasounded my WC subsaharan tonight. She's Gravid with 46mm follicles!!! So she's gravid from the wild. I palpated at least 12 follicles when she got here. Hoping for more... We didn't want to try and count them with the ultrasound. She wasn't holding still. Anyway...I'm just excited ;).
Click to expand...

Any updates on this lady?
 
RobNJ said:
"Sub-Saharan":)rofl:)...and I've also seen these BIG gene girls labeled Voltas, from a specific locale. While size is hereditary, thinking of this as a new gene is kind of ridiculous in my opinion. Logical thinking would lead me to believe...

1) These HUGE girls are older.

2) If they are in fact being collected from a specific locale, the possibility of it being an area that for whatever reason lacks in more formidable predators is a very real one. I would imagine that whatever is preying on ball pythons is very likely also preying on what ball pythons eat, which would, as expected, lead to higher populations of prey items for the ball pythons to eat. I'd compare it to a less stressful environment promoting maximum growth...along the lines of Kodiak bears and Komodo dragons. Sure we would still see giant examples of either, but not nearly as many and as consistently if they were to live in a more competitive environment.
Click to expand...

But at the same time, if it is an isolated population that can get to maximum growth, and they are only breeding with each other, over time that "maximum size" would be programmed into their DNA.
Heck, apparently personality is genetic, why not size?
I read about how they tamed the first Green Anacondas. They bred the most tame they could find, and held back the most tame babies. They raised them up and bred them and got even tamer babies. If sometime as simple as personality of the animal could be genetic, why not size...ESPECIALLY in an isolated population?
 
Yeah, she laid 10. 7 were good eggs, and 3 were slugs. 1 egg, a boob egg, died about 2 weeks into it. The remaining 6 look great!
I haven't gotten her to eat, yet, though. Trying ASFs soon. Hopefully she'll go for them. If not, I'll try gerbils, etc... I've tried mice. She looked, but didn't go for it. I kind of expected it, but thought she'd eat after laying, cause she'd be really hungry.
 
ClarkT said:
Yeah, she laid 10. 7 were good eggs, and 3 were slugs. 1 egg, a boob egg, died about 2 weeks into it. The remaining 6 look great!
I haven't gotten her to eat, yet, though. Trying ASFs soon. Hopefully she'll go for them. If not, I'll try gerbils, etc... I've tried mice. She looked, but didn't go for it. I kind of expected it, but thought she'd eat after laying, cause she'd be really hungry.
Click to expand...

Is she a wild caught? I've heard from Outback that Cypress mulch is a key in getting them to eat. Probably more natural to them.
 
Kingofspades said:
But at the same time, if it is an isolated population that can get to maximum growth, and they are only breeding with each other, over time that "maximum size" would be programmed into their DNA.
Heck, apparently personality is genetic, why not size?
I read about how they tamed the first Green Anacondas. They bred the most tame they could find, and held back the most tame babies. They raised them up and bred them and got even tamer babies. If sometime as simple as personality of the animal could be genetic, why not size...ESPECIALLY in an isolated population?
Click to expand...

Instead of it being a single gene responsible, I think it is more than likely polygenic. Over generations of larger specimens breeding the offspring tend to be large as well but it most likely isn't something that can be predicted like Mendelian genetics. Sort of like Pastel in boas - line breeding makes them better. I bet Sub-Saharans are just line bred locale specific animals. But it's just a theory. :thumbsup:

My giant girl I posted about earlier in the thread gave her first clutch (at 13 yrs old) yesterday, 11 big eggs. She was around 3850g before ovulation and was 2500g after laying - the clutch was a whopping 1131 grams laid on day 31 after POS.

pic of her laying
63232_287536_VeryLarge_yn15e8PVxNMW.jpg


the eggs (think I'm gonna need to put them in a bigger box!)
63232_287537_VeryLarge_IedmcqSw6jqMa0H.jpg
 
Just out of curiosity ...

Has anyone considered that the larger heads on these WC "Sub Saharans" have more to do with frequency of feeding of BPs in captivity rather than their genetics?

I only ask because in boa constrictors, a boa fed too frequently will grow disproportionately in a manner that its head will be disproportionately small in comparison to the rest of his body. Because of the shape of BPs, this would be more difficult to notice, I believe. Still ... is it possible that the frequency people feed BPs to get them up to breeding size as quickly as possible contribute to their heads being smaller than these WC counterparts?

I'll admit, I have minimal knowledge on BPs in this regard, but reading the comments about these mature females pulled from the wild with larger than what is considered normal heads just had me wondering.
 
Try leaving a fresh killed in over night. That's the only way mine has been eating.
 
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