What a day!!!...........Jesus ............I have not felt a disturbance in the force like today in a long while. It's 1:30 am Saturday morning ..............I'm on an "all meat" diet for a few weeks so that I can fit back into my 36's............LOL................so I'm full of energy! This morning was unreal ................almost every pair I'm breeding were locked up ..............I though my hand was going to fall off marking down all the copulations ..................I have received hundreds of emails each week from all of you....................and I have noticed many of you are following my journal day by day...............and breeding your snakes the same method that I'm doing.............as far as resting and feeding the breeders ..............I get the "breeding temps" question a lot.............so I'm gonna note what I do as far as temps here for all of you ................I start breeding in October............in the first week of October I begin the breeding temps...............and I do it like this..............my heat in the off season is always set at 95 degrees...........and my heat in the breeding season is also set at 95 degrees .............I breed from October till the end of March............that entire time I set the day time temps to 95 degrees and the night time temps to 82 degrees................this is the temp of the heat tape.........right on the tape.............95 day...............82 night..............that's it.............now what I also do is manipulate the lights...............my very first night drop in October is set to start at 7 pm.............that is when the HELIX switches to the 82 degree night time drop................and that is when ALL the lights go out in the room ..............I do this for a few weeks...................then as the winter days get shorter .............I turn the lights and the day heat off at 6 pm...............the when "day light savings time" kicks in ..........I shut the heat and lights off at 5 pm......................5 pm is the final drop of light and heat .................I work my way down to this, and it stays that way until March 31st..................so basically my snakes are going into the 82 degree night time drop and the darkness at 5pm from the end of November until the end of March.............it's that simple.................and it is easy ................I just slowly bring the snakes into longer cooler nights...................in the off season they are used to 95 degrees 24/7...............lights on at 7 am and off at 9 pm.............at the height of breeding season .......November through March............the lights and heat are on at 7 am...................and off at 5 pm................so that is 10 hours of heat and light.................and 14 hours of night time temp 82 degree tape and darkness.................that's when the breeding happens..............at night................My actual air temps during the day in the room are around 80 to 82 degrees during breeding season and almost 88 to 90 degrees in the off season................my air temps at night during the breeding season are in the low 70's...............so at night ..........there is 70 to 75 degree air temp............82 degree heat tape temp............and 14 hours of darkness..............it works like a charm for me..................the best part is that at night when the lights go off and the heat drops down.............the entire room slowly gets cooler .............everything works perfect.................then in the morning when the lights come on and the heat tape turns up to 95 degrees..............the room slowly gets warmer..................it is noticeable to me...............and majorly noticeable to the ball pythons..............it's a season..............it's "making weather" in your own basement...............that will be another lesson..............."how to make cold fronts in your home".................the snakes go nuts for those. Now..............you want to know when I put my pairs together...............it's real simple..................In the first week of breeding temps ................I let all the pairs stay alone .................I give them one week to feel what is going on in the room..................in that week the males and females get restless.................they know it is time to breed .................after that first week ...............I introduce the pairs...................and I keep breeding all the way till the end of March the next year ..................rotating the boys through the girls................the girls through the boys.................two boys through one girl ..................three girls with one boy ...............I do what ever it takes to "trigger" breeding .................sometimes it is as easy as putting a pair together and that's it.................but sometimes it takes a lot more patience on finding out what exactly makes certain males or females "tick".................thats the fun part!!...............I'm always aware of what my snakes are doing ...........I know who is breeding well and who ain't................I know what females are responding and which females are being "stuck up"..................I'm majorly aware of the size of the follicles in my girls that have been bred well ...............depending on the size of the follicles and the way the female is acting determines whether I need to even keep a male with her or not...............when a female is done..............she is done..............she has been bred well.................she starts to "lay cold" ( lays at the cool end of the cage, maybe even around her water bowl, this is when you can almost always feel big marble sized follicles in her, she is done!! ).............she ovulates......................she sheds...................and she lays eggs..........no need to "dud your male out" on a girl that is done..............use him on the girls who are still warming up during the day.........I also offer food to all the snakes at least twice a month............usually every week...............some eat.....some don't.............if they eat thats great..........they get a meal and some rest..........I rest them on the weekends or two days after a meal..............I also do not feed big meals.............meals during breeding season are smaller............because of the lack of belly heat at night............I have had ZERO problems doing this...............the females that eat bounce back much quicker after laying eggs................so anyway................that was a good five minutes worth of "inside info"...............I hope this helps some of you..............make sure you copy this journal entry ...............because it's a good one!!............:)
Getting back to the day................man it was just crazy today................with the phone calls and the emails ................I will breeze through all my "Friday crap" now..............then I will get to the good stuff ...............Today was rat cleaning day................Robbie and his little bro Billy did 90% of the work.........Phil and I got there late..............we fed everyone and helped sweep the place and blow it out...............then we all went and had dinner ..............Earlier today Lou and I went down to the airport to pick up our new Clown female................she is awesome!!...............we really love her..............she has hardly any side pattern and a cool black back.............so that all went perfect...............she came in nice and warm.............she is plump and happy..............we have her set up in her new home.......:)...............Lou got robbed!!!............yep..............poor Lou had his garage broken into............he had some tools stolen...............he thought he knew who might have done it.............so on a hunch..............he called some local pawn shops to see if anyone had brought the tools in there to pawn...............sure enough a pawn shop called back and said they had all of it................so Lou flew down there and got the tools back...............it turns out that he knows the kid who did it................the kid hangs around Lou's garage a lot..............anyway...............the kid said that he was going to bring the stuff back once he got the money to get it back out of pawn??????..................I'm not sure if Lou is pressing charges.................or going to make the kid be a slave for life???...............but Lou is happy to have gotten all his stuff back..............Lou loves pawn shops.......he knows all the local owners of all the shops in the area...............so this poor kid was shit out of luck by pawning the stuff locally..........LOL..............Lou busted him in ten minutes..........so that's that................that's the day...............not including the hundred emails and 50 phone calls to "Big Brother Ralphie"...........all about two things..................and here they are.............like it or not guys. They are.......... the post on Kingsnake Classifieds about the "two week" sale on het Caramel Albinos for $3,000.00 a pair or 1.2 for $5,000.00......................and "Morph King Reptiles"............what a double whammy today was!!!
Lets do the easy one first...............the guy selling the het Caramels was emailed by some meanie like me................email is below>>>>>>>>>

That's just bull shit man.............there are a handful of Caramels on the planet and your selling hets at this price??............they should be no less then $4,000.00 to $4,500.00 a pair for the 2003 season...........I actually though the price of the hets would recover and stabilize this year, until I was sent to your advertisement .........I think you should re-think your price .........you'll get the $4,500.00.........forget the two weeks.

Ralph

Anyway .............I had emails and phone calls from all over asking me what I thought about this............and the above email is what I sent to him expressing my point............well it turns out that he had a "brain fart"..............it happens from time to time..............his reply is below>>>>>>>>

Ralph,

You're right. I decided to sell something else as opposed to a pastel female I'm raising for my Caramel male. I should have sold her instead of deposits on lower-priced hets that have yet to be produced. Paying f$%$%** bills when the work has been slow causes some stupid things to happen. The way I was looking at it was I know I have money coming in the first of next month, hold on to what I am raising to breed at all costs. Just didn't think it through clearly. I was actually reading your journal when I realized what an ass I was when I came to the part about Pete and what he's selling his pied hets for and that you're gonna make money getting in early. I like your journal, though there are some stories I could tell you about Jerry "The King" Lawler that most people don't know, as I'm from Memphis and so is he. Long story short, I've realized my mistake and have taken down the ad.

Take care,

Skip

Thanks for the reply Skip..............your country thanks you and I forgive!!!...............I would love to hear the story about Jerry" The King" Lawler...............Im glad my journal inspired you..........:)................So that is the first disturbance in the force I mentioned way up at the top of this " when the hell will this butt head shut up?" novel........:)..............but I'm on a roll...........It is 2:20 am ..............I'm still loose and full of good ideas ......Theresa is up in bed snoring away..............shes so cute when she snores...............not to mention I would like to end January with a huge pain in the ass to read journal entry..................:P..........so on to the final saga of the day .................which is actually not going to take up more then probably 1000 words...........LOL........I can't believe I'm going to "plug" these guys?

"The Morph Kings"...............Joey and Wess.............they posted a bunch of pics on Kingsnake's ball python forum today.............pics of their Lesser Platty, Spider, Axanthics, Caramels, Albinos, Mojaves and the list goes on.............these guys have the goods for sure!!.......Joey bought a ton of stuff from all of us "big breeders" last year................I made a post up on KS congratulating them on what they had................and a wise crack remark that it was funny how all the breeders were doing these huge deals with Joey.............yet everyone kept quiet about it .............including me. What I think is funny about the whole thing is how Joey "didn't want to really breed anything" ..........."he just wanted some awesome snakes to look at"...................I like Joey..............and I knew his line was a crock...............but he spent huge money with me...............and others to..............so I was cool with it ............I had no problem selling him a Lesser Platty and some Pieds.............and other stuff too..............it was a sweet pay day...................what I didn't know was that he was going to partner up with Wess.............who is active in the herp world...............and I'm sure knows how to work with snakes................but it's all good .................I'm just sure that all of the breeders who sold him these super high end mutations did not see this coming ..............I know I didn't..............but I'm happy for the guys.................Joey spent a a couple hundred thousand on the snakes and Wess will do the breeding ..............sounds like a plan...........So after my first post telling Wess and Joey how great I though it was that they owned all these awesome mutations .........I decided to go check out their web-site .................I wish I had not done that ................I seen my CROWN and a slogan that says "We Sell Them For Less"............well the word "Less" is all I had to see ..............I will get over the crown thingy...............but the slogan just struck me wrong..............it makes me feel that all those awesome morphs are not so awesome anymore ................CHEAP is the word...............and I don't like that!............Here all the big breeders sell off all this great stuff for major coin................we are all happy as clams................and then all of the sudden...............BAM!!..............there is all of our stuff out on one web site..............it looks awesome..................and it is "LESS"...............so basically I'm pretty pissed off about the whole thing .............I think their "unveiling" was poor............it got ZERO responces...............they do not seem like they are going to be very "protective" of the market .......the word "Less" coming from a person who has the mutations that everyone drools over only hurts the market............it will actually scare some buyers away from investing.............because they will feel like they can not catch up before the snake is worth low dollars..........."Less Wess".......I'm sure they will read this and be pissed off that I feel this way..............but that's how I feel.................that slogan is so "used car salesman" it's pathetic.............and Joey sells cars...........LOL..............Then to add fuel to the fire Tracy has to dig on me about these guys using a crown in their logo.................and I have a crown as well...............LOL...............your a bad girl!!!............It's great to be the King ..............nobody tells it like me..............you guys need me..............and I love you all............lmao!!.............it's late and I'm getting delirious for sure....................but I had to sit down and write ..............I feel like sometimes I'm the only breeder out there who even gives a hoot about what is going on ..............I know others think it..............but they don't say anything.............they email me instead..................and you KNOW I will always say what's on my mind.............that's why Joey and Wess love me so much...............So that's it folks...............this is one of my best pieces of work here on the journal that you all love so much to read..................and I know you do because I see the visits ..............I thank you for reading it too ...............I'm a blabber mouth .............I enjoy jotting down my day to day routine and things that happen.................this is where it will be...............and to all my breeder freinds................as I said on KS.............I know we all can not get along with each other ALL at the same time.............that's cool.................but I know I'm right on, as to what we all feel when we see that our hard work could be messed up by a few bone-headed moves in the industry ..............I'm totally here to stay ..............I have my policeman's hat on at all times ......................I'm out!!!....................cages tomorrow and then Karaoke!!!.............410-984-5194...........to chew some ass or throw flowers............:)..........

This morning I went up to the rat barn early and checked for floods and the usual rodent stuff ...............I had to pack up a few orders for a small delivery to a local pet shop ............I want to get all my stuff done early so I can spend the day at the computer updating my Currently Available pages ...............I finally have been able to shoot some pics of my inventory ..............I love my new camera........the Nikon 5700 on a tripod rules!!!..............It makes taking pictures not such a pain in the ass again ............I'm sure this camera will "suck" in a year............. digital cameras become so obsolete "so fast"..............I came home to see that Pete Kahl is having a "sale" on his Piebald and Het Piebald ball pythons..............."Oh my God!!...........the sky must be falling"..............not to worry .............I trust Pete to find the "actual market value" of the Pieds for the 2003 season..............that's the thing about "following" the market...............if you get into a project nice and early.............you will easily make the big bucks that the originator of the mutation will make ............maybe not as much because you don't have as much stock?..............but the early bird does get the big dollar benefits" in this BIZ ...........I'm curious to see where the price on 2003 hets will be?................I will be selling them at $4,000.00 a pair ..............because that is what they should be.......as far as Pieds.............they will probably be $17,500.00 to $25,000.00 a pair .............maybe more on "high white" animals.....................if only everyone could be on the same page in this industry and hold the values of the best mutations high.............then it would be a perfect world.............and everyone who invests would make good money in return .............a happy customer will always come back when they are making good money on their investments...............and the breeder who "controls" that investment needs to always remember that .............investors do not like to see their stocks drop fast!!.............it scares the hell out of them...............and worst of all.............they loose faith. I always say that there are actually "professional ball python annalists" on the web who lurk in the classifieds and the forums...............they watch all the breeders................and they start to paint a picture of who is a bone head and who isn't................who drops prices............who don't.............who always needs money for some stupid reason................and who don't ...............a true business person should never show they "need" money............its weak!........anyway ...............enough of the rant..............this has nothing to do with Pete..............it just seemed to fit.......so there it is........:)................On a much better note................this new Albino female that Christy, Kathy and I purchased together is getting a great response in the ball python world .............I have been flooded with emails and phone calls about what it is and where I got it...............and when will I have hets for sale ...............I will run down the story as I know it and try to make it quick ...........A guy named Randy Barr had this albino ball python...............my friend Christy seen it and thought it was "different".................she had been talking with Randy about the snake for a while..............she wanted "hets" from it if Randy ever bred it..............anyway...............she loved the snake ................I was sent some pics ................Randy wanted to sell it..........it was supposed to be a male ...................I seen the pics .................loved the snake...............so we paid Randy $4,500.00 for her and that was that.................end of story................and boy do I feel lucky to have her...........:).............Now as far as what I'm going to do with her?................I will be breeding a totally normal male to her, and hopefully make pure hets. Once we get some hets on the ground and start building a group.............we hope to prove this to be a new genetic mutation of the Albino ball python..................we have our fingers crossed...............as far as a name?..............we have not decided on it yet .................Tracy Barker has some albinos similar to our girl................not as extreme...............but they do look similar ................Tracy is using the name "Yellow Head" right now .................which I do like the name................but ours is much more than a yellow head.................so time will tell.................it sure is nice to see a new mutation pop up out of the clear blue..............it's pure ...............maybe it is two genes working?................maybe it is a morph that is also albino?.................who knows?..................it sure will be fun working the project though!...............Man!!!...........what a novel!!

I put all my pairs back together this morning ...........January will be hard-core breeding!!..............I finally found a Star Wars Trilogy " Special Addition" pin ball machine.........two guys came to deliver it this morning.............the company I bought the machine from only charged $70.00 for delivery?? ..............I told them that it had to be lugged up to the third floor...........they said "no problem".................so I was glad to hear that. Anyway ..........these two guys show up with my machine and walked up to the third floor to see where it was going.............they just about died.......LOL..............one guy was 20ish............full of piss and vineger................the other guy was older................he didn't want any parts of moving the machine up all the steps and around all the turns.............they managed to get the machine up the steps after an hour of huffing and puffing..............it was way heavy!!!................So now I have my KISS machine and finally the Star Wars machine I always wanted..........:)..............Kathy and Christy will be coming into town sometime tonight...........they are hand delivering our Albino ball python male that we bought together from Randy Barr..............I can't wait to see him!!...............after we worked out the deal on this albino .............Tracy Barker had posted some pics on Kingsnake off some albino ball pythons that she has, called "yellow heads".............the heads of her snakes are really cool neon/lemon yellow colored.................when I seen her's ............I knew that we had just bought something that may be very similar, ours has that neon/lemon mixed in through out the entire body...............so I'm excited.........Robbie,Phil and I are cleaning the rat room today.............it's gonna be a late one..............we will probably hook up with Kathy and Christy later tonight for dinner .............I hope all you "gore fans" caught CSI last night!!!.............what a show!............that was one of the best yet.................the poor chef got put into the meat grinder!!...............and when they took the grinder apart to get his elbow out................yeah man!!!!..............that's the kinda show you want to be eating spaghetti the whole time it's on........lmao!!!..............