I visited a friends' place the other day and brought home three new snakes. I was planing on getting one. Opps! They were all captive bred (not taken from the wild) and born fall 08.

If you were a West African farmer, you would hold the ball python in the highest regard, as they help preserve your crops for you and your family, not the rodents that could destroy your pantry and your livelihood. Plus they stay pretty small, so are not a danger to your pets or your children. An African farmers' best friend.

It's speculated that some people don't like snakes (even harmless ones) simply because they seem so alien. A big part of that speculation is the fact that they don't have eyelids. Humans are very turned into the eyes. So their unblinking eyes may tap into some part of us that feels threatened by an unblinking stare. I'm not sure I agree with that but it's an interesting theory.

Anywho...

for all you genetics fans...

The first picture is a male pastel 66% het for Ghost. His name is Arturo.

The second one is Athena. She's also a pastel 66% het for Ghost.

Third pic is a portrait of Athena. She has beautiful eyes but no lids. ha ha.

The last image is Goof Ball. You can tell why they are called Ball pythons in this picture. That's what they do when they are afraid and want to protect themselves. They don't bite like a mammal would...they "ball-up". She's not totally afraid so you can still see her head in the center.

She 'shows' the normal wild coloring but she's 100% het Ghost. For all you who hate genetics talk...that means she's got a fun recessive gene. Put her with a male with that same recessive gene and some of their offspring will look a lot different and in my opinion prettier.