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Post by rockpickerforever on Aug 31, 2021 22:50:54 GMT -5
Having raised snakes years ago, I know that body language! Saw this story come across a newsfeed today, thought you might enjoy it. Oldest ball python in captivity lays eggs despite not being near a male in decadesThis just randomly popped up today, although it is from Sept 2020. Just an FYI to the curious - I am not a follower of their website, or even care what they do, lol. However, the story was interesting. I did have a gray banded kingsnake hermaphrodite hatch in one clutch twenty years ago. It had hemipenes, but never impregnated a female. I put ihim in an enclosure with another male, just to see if there was an antagonistic behaviour/jostling going on, and he was bred by the other male, layed a clutch of eggs, which most of them hatched. None in the rest of the clutch were abnormal, that I was aware of, although we did sell them all as hatchlings, so don't really know. |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Sept 1, 2021 5:36:00 GMT -5
Having raised snakes years ago, I know that body language! Saw this story come across a newsfeed today, thought you might enjoy it. Oldest ball python in captivity lays eggs despite not being near a male in decadesThis just randomly popped up today, although it is from Sept 2020. Just an FYI to the curious - I am not a follower of their website, or even care what they do, lol. However, the story was interesting. I did have a gray banded kingsnake hermaphrodite hatch in one clutch twenty years ago. It had hemipenes, but never impregnated a female. I put ihim in an enclosure with another male, just to see if there was an antagonistic behaviour/jostling going on, and he was bred by the other male, layed a clutch of eggs, which most of them hatched. None in the rest of the clutch were abnormal, that I was aware of, although we did sell them all as hatchlings, so don't really know. Yes, this article pops up periodically in the snake forums. Given the combined experience of dozens of breeders we decided that this article is extremely unlikely. Parthenogenesis (asexual reproduction) is uncommon, but, totally possible. Parthenogenesis at the age of 62 is highly questionable. Some 'internet sleuths' have proclaimed that this is not the same snake as the original (based on photos) and was most likely 'discreetly replaced' at one point making the age closer to 30. I don't know if this is true or not, I haven't spent much effort to examine the case in detail. I have produced a hermaphrodite ball python as well, a female with hemipenes, I grew it up as a pet over the course of 4 years and then casually paired it with both males and females to see what would happen. The snake had grown quite large and when paired would remain calm, but, the opposing males and females would immediately panic to the point of physical injury in an attempt to escape the enclosure. It is unusual that even female ball pythons responded poorly--they are pretty mellow regardless of the gender of their cage-mate. The odd shaped mark on the head of the female in Photo #132 is a healed scar from her attempt to force the top off the enclosure to escape during one of these breeding attempts. As I have a high throughput of offspring each year: I posted the hermaphrodite online with a quick description of my efforts and recommended that it be kept as a pet, and I (suspiciously) had a girl at my door an hour later eager (too eager) to buy it. |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Sept 2, 2021 5:25:33 GMT -5
Photo #154  Some local granite-ish stones. Bit of a mixed bag when it comes to polish on these.  |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Sept 4, 2021 15:59:59 GMT -5
Photo #155  This surface of this stone has a bit of a texture which makes the gold areas take a smooth polish, but, the darker areas-not so much. |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Sept 4, 2021 20:08:26 GMT -5
A little off topic: This beetle (shown below) just fell down my chimney. I know it is pretty common to see beetles larger than a quarter in some parts of the USA, but, not in my area. Pretty neat!  Got some cat hair stuck to it while fleeing my resident lions, but, was still able to fly away when I released it outside... |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Sept 6, 2021 9:44:32 GMT -5
Photo #156  |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Sept 9, 2021 5:32:36 GMT -5
Photo #157  |
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Post by holajonathan on Sept 9, 2021 12:03:39 GMT -5
Photo #157 Is that dino bone? Some other kind of agatized fossil? |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Sept 9, 2021 17:33:55 GMT -5
Is that dino bone? Some other kind of agatized fossil? It was in a box marked 'Dinosaur bone'--I purchased super cheap a year or two ago. Only a small percentage of what was in the box actually looked like dinosaur bone (to me anyway). There were some really angry pitted agates in the box--however, if anyone sees any stones in my future pics and think they are actually dinosaur bones---Call them out!--I ran some of these odd pieces through my vibe for months to clean them up without losing too much mass, still working on a bunch and gathering enough for a group photo... |
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Post by jasoninsd on Sept 9, 2021 19:44:58 GMT -5
Photo #157 Is that dino bone? Some other kind of agatized fossil? That was my first reaction...and if it is, which it really looks like it...it's one heck of a piece! Gorgeous! |
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Post by holajonathan on Sept 9, 2021 21:29:41 GMT -5
Is that dino bone? Some other kind of agatized fossil? It was in a box marked 'Dinosaur bone'--I purchased super cheap a year or two ago. Only a small percentage of what was in the box actually looked like dinosaur bone (to me anyway). There were some really angry pitted agates in the box--however, if anyone sees any stones in my future pics and think they are actually dinosaur bones---Call them out!--I ran some of these odd pieces through my vibe for months to clean them up without losing too much mass, still working on a bunch and gathering enough for a group photo... Wow, I know most of the snakes are small, but that still looks like a nice size piece of dino. I am more of a rock tumbler than a rock cabber, and I have nothing against tumbling really nice rocks. But man, that piece needs to be made into some cabs! |
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Post by stephan on Sept 9, 2021 22:10:07 GMT -5
Photo #157 Is that dino bone? Some other kind of agatized fossil? Sure looks like bone to me. |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Sept 12, 2021 6:37:03 GMT -5
Photo #158  I think the red pits are kinda cool. Original stone:  On your way!  Those are the pits:  |
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Post by jasoninsd on Sept 12, 2021 6:44:24 GMT -5
I agree, those red pits are kind of cool as is. I think it's a nice nuance to the stones. I think you should have taken the pics of those rocks with a Pit Viper! (Being extremely cautious of course...but it would have been fitting!  ) |
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Post by Rockindad on Sept 12, 2021 7:07:54 GMT -5
Photo #158 I think the red pits are kinda cool. Original stone: On your way! Those are the pits: Good move with those, love the contrast. If you ran them to "perfection" they would be rather uninteresting. |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Sept 12, 2021 20:38:22 GMT -5
I agree, those red pits are kind of cool as is. I think it's a nice nuance to the stones. I think you should have taken the pics of those rocks with a Pit Viper! (Being extremely cautious of course...but it would have been fitting! ) Thanks! As for pit vipers? Any vipers? Any venomous snakes?---No Thank you! I get bit plenty by my own ball pythons and they are non-venomous...though I'm not really expending any effort to avoid being bitten...I actually prefer that they bite me when they are young so that they learn that it does nothing and will opt for 'flight' instead of 'fight' as they get larger... |
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Post by jasoninsd on Sept 12, 2021 22:59:38 GMT -5
I agree, those red pits are kind of cool as is. I think it's a nice nuance to the stones. I think you should have taken the pics of those rocks with a Pit Viper! (Being extremely cautious of course...but it would have been fitting! ) Thanks! As for pit vipers? Any vipers? Any venomous snakes?---No Thank you! I get bit plenty by my own ball pythons and they are non-venomous...though I'm not really expending any effort to avoid being bitten...I actually prefer that they bite me when they are young so that they learn that it does nothing and will opt for 'flight' instead of 'fight' as they get larger... Oh good gosh, there was no way I was serious about that...it was the only thing that fit the situation!  |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Sept 14, 2021 5:04:02 GMT -5
Photo #159  I overexposed this photo a little too much with the camera flash trying to show the transparency of the stone: you can see a bit of the quarter and the snake. |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Sept 16, 2021 4:57:04 GMT -5
Photo #160  I showed my gf this photo and asked her where these rocks were from, her response: 'Those are boring rocks, so they must be from Massachusetts'. Yep... |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Sept 17, 2021 6:24:22 GMT -5
Photo #161  A bit of an oddball piece, the only one like it I've found/tumbled so far. Almost too small for me to pay it any interest. |
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