 |
     
You
are reading the first journal of it's kind anywhere
in the herp world!!.............no bone-heads
were killed or injured while testing this product............make
no mistake............what you are about to read
is "the original"...............anything
else is a fake...............Ralphie......:)
*When
you "Mouse Over" the pics the descriptions
will pop up*.............also
"refresh" this page often.......and
don't forget that all past month's journal entries
are in the archives*
| JOURNAL_JULY_2003 |
|
| Wednesday_July_02 |
| |
Robbie
and I fed all the snakes today..............we
got a pretty late start..........it is 8:50
pm right now and we are just finishing up.........I
had a bunch of baby balls hatch over night............so
the kids and I set them all up on moist paper
towels to sh ed
this morning............I hatched out some
more Clowns too......:)........het x het breeding...............this
is my first year to ever hatch out Clown balls..............I
worked on the web site most of the day until
Robbie showed up with the rodents.................I
got more work done on the "Birthing Records"
page............I updated "The Big List",
and the "Currently Available" page
too...............take notice that on the
Birthing Record page I have pics of the clutch
"right after first shed" and the
prices for the snakes in that clutch.............this
is a quicker way to get exposure on the snakes
before I get them set up individu ally
and take individual pics of each one........all
of the clutches listed on the BR page will
tell you what is expected to be produced from
that clutch.............so if you see a clutch
you like................please drop me an
email..............:)..............I have
pre-sold many snakes this season already ..........I
would like to thank each and every one of
my customers who have bought from me over
the years.............each year is better
than the one before..............and it is
all because of you guys!!.............;)............I
want to send a "Big Congrats" out
to Randy Remington.............Randy produced
two Albino ball pythons this year from breeding
a 66% poss het Albino male to a 50% poss het
Albino female................two poss hets!!.................and
he hit on it!!...........you just gave all
the people who are workin g
with poss hets more hope Randy..............Congrats
man!!.............you deserved it!!...............I
always have said the "poss hets rule"...............I
have proved out my share of poss het females
over the years........I have never worked
with a male.............they both can pay
off with hard work and some luck from the
Ball Python Gods.......;).............also
I would like to send out congrats to The Sutherland's.............they
produced a hypo version of the Mojave ball..............and
it is very neat looking..............way to
go guys!.........and so soon!!........... ........and
to Greg Graziani.............he bred a Pastel
Jungle to a Cinnamon Pastel and produced two
of the craziest looking ball pythons I have
ever seen??.............I would assume that
both of these co-dom type genes are compatible
in a way where they can produce a "Super"(
if it ain't a Super..............I'm scared
to see the real Super )................who
knows??...................Greg will have to
get this one figured out for all of us..............he
is calling the "combo snakes"................."Pewter
Pastels"............it just goes to show
you.....( and I'm guilty of this )...............even
if a "morph" don't look like it
is " worth the bucks"...............you
never know??..............meaning that it
being combined with something else could make
a totally awesome new morph!!............Rock
On Guys!!...............balls are so exciting!!.......... |
| |
| Thursday_July_03 |
| |
Robbie
and I pulled rodents from cages this morning
( the snakes that did not eat )...........then
Robbie started cleaning and I set up a bunch
of new baby balls..............:).............I
will be setting up new babies for months!!!............I
ran out and got a bunch of errand s
done today............we needed a bunch of
supplies at the rat barn and here for the
snakes...............you can never have too
much soap and paper towels!!...........I ended
up going to the local pet shop and picking
up a small tank for Kyle's anole............it
is starting all over again folks!!!...........it's
like I'm going back in time now that my kids
are getting interested in herps.............I
thought I was done with lizards and tanks...............and
worst of all ...........crickets!!!............I
can see now that my kids will have way more
stuff then I ever did............and that's
because I can't say no............I love it
all
too!!!..........I can see a huge aquarium
collection in the future..........I'm sure
the kid's rooms will end up looking like a
zoo..............just like mine did as a kid................wall
to wall tanks!!.........so I picked up a tank
and a log and the fake plants.............the
gravel and the damn crickets!!............I
took all the supplies to the rat barn and
came back to work with the snakes.............I
set the anole cage up first thing...........it
never gets old...........I love setting up
herp cages...........I had a clutch hatch
today that was very interesting.........from
a female 25% possible double het for Snow
" Jolliff Line ".............this
female was bred last year to a DH Snow male
" Jolliff".............only two
of her eggs survived...........two Albinos
h atched
from her clutch.............a pair...........and
one was my "Paradox"...........so
she proved last year to be at least het for
Albino................so this year I did the
exact same breeding............I wanted more
"Paradox" Albinos......;)..............she
produced four eggs............they hatched
today.........2 Axanthics and two normals???..............yepper..............this
female is actually a Double Het for Snow................she
has produced both Albinos and Axanthics from
two different clutches............but no Snows!!.............I
think it is pretty bizar re
that she produced Albinos her first year.............and
Axanthics her second year...........it took
two years to prove a 25% possible double het
for Snow female...............but it's done..............she
is a Double Het!!.............now maybe her
third year she will show me a little "Jolliff
Snow Ball ".........;)................I
snapped some pics today of "Karma"..............I
put her in with some Pieds that just shed
..................aside from her stripe..............she
is as white as a Piebald..............I love
her!!!..........and her eyes are "to
die for"...........I also snapped some
pics of a "wicked" looking  Clown
that just hatched.............I'm having one
hell of a year folks...............can you
feel the love or what???.................LMAO!!...........I
just finished up ALL my paper work for the
week..............so now I can enjoy the long
weekend and not feel like I'm behind in everything
..............I will have baby balls to set
up big-time after the Holiday...........who
wants to come over and help me fill out record
cards???............we can do it while we
watch a movie or something...............Robbin!!!!!..............anyway.............it's
been a great day...............Robbie has
a few hours left cleaning............I'm pretty
much done everything for the week.................all
I have to do is put a few pics in the journal
and I'm outa here!!!...............Have a
great weekend everyone!!!..........Rock ON!!!.........oh
yeah..........thanks for all the feed back
on the journal.............I will continue
to write it so that you guys can read it "down"........what
a bone head!!............... |
| |
| Friday_July_04
**************** Have
A Safe Holiday Everyone!!!
**************** |
| |
I
set up a few new clutches of snakes late
last night, after that was done............I
called Fat Ass and asked him if he wanted
to go "night fishing" for crappie
off of a bridge at Liberty Dam Reservoir...........he
and I used to fish off of the bridge all
the time at night when we were younger..........the
bridge is about 30 feet above the water.............what
you do is hang a lantern by a rope off of
the bridge.............you lower the lantern
all the way down to the water..............about
6 inches above the water.............this
attracts the fish....;)... .........So
we went down a did some fishing with crappie
jigs..............we didn't get to the bridge
until 10:30 pm...........we got the lantern
lowered down to the water and started fishing..........and
sure enough...........the crappie were down
there...........we started catching them
right away.........it's neat to be fishing
so far above the water..........the fish
feel huge!!...........we want to get some
crappie stocked up in Mr. John's pond............so
we lowered a bucket over the bridge to get
some water..........we were hoping that
we could keep the crappie alive in the bucket
long enough that we could catch a dozen
or so and then release them in John's pond.............but
it didn't work............the fish that
we caught were starving for oxygen within
a few minutes of being put in the bucket............so
we released them............we need to get
a nice "live well" with a water
circulator and an air bubbler.............then
we will be in good shape....;).............anyway.............we
fished last night for an hour and a half.............we
caught a dozen.............we released them
all..............it was fun!!...........
This
morning I got up and checked the snakes
out............I had to dampen some paper
towels for the new clutches that are in
shed..............then the family and I
packed up the truck and headed down to Big
Rock..............Fatty's family and Phil's
family were going to come down too...............we
all cooked out...........we had pit beef
and ham and all the cook out stuff you could
eat................even had a generator
down there so that we could slice up the
meat.....;).... ...........we
played volley ball all day long..............it
rained pretty hard for about 15 mins................enough
rain at one time to make a total mess of
the volley ball court..............but it
was hot as hell...............a little mud
wasn't going to stop us.............it actually
felt pretty good!............we played and
ate until it started to get dark................then
everyone came up the hill to watch my Fireworks
presentation .........LOL..............I
had some great stuff this year.............the
kind that go up in the air eleven hundred
feet or so and burst across the sky.........the
"real stuff".................it
was a great time!!................
|
| |
| Saturday_July_05 |
| |
I
got an early start this morning .............I
was supposed to go herpin' and fishing at
"Lake Bonnie" with Phil and Robbin
today...........but they had other plans come
up...............so I went over to Phil's
place first thing to pick up a new part for
our swamp cooler ..........I came home after
that to shoot a few pics of the snakes that
had just shed..........well wouldn't you know
it?...........my Nikon 5700 was broke?...............yepper..............it
kept saying "lens error"..........and
it was acting all weird??..............this
would be my third Nikon that has needed to
get repaired............so I was pretty much
screwed...............Fatty and Lou have my
other Nikons.......LOL.........I gave them
each one after I had them repaired ......... ....I
don't wait for the repair .............I just
buy a new one while the repair is getting
done............and that's what I'm doing
today..........I'm going to buy a new 5700
and send the broken one back to Nikon for
repairs...............it's only six months
old, and it is under warranty .........I'm
lost around here if I don't have a camera
.............taking pics is a huge part of
selling snakes on the internet.........So
I went to Ritz Camera and told them that my
camera was messed up and that I needed it
sent out for repairs...............they had
no 5700s in stock............but their other
store did..............so I bought a new 5700
and it was going to be shipped to me in the
beginning of the week..............I was cool
with that..............I called Robbie the
Robot and asked him to grab Lou's Nikon so
that I could use it to snap pics until my
ne w
one arrived.....:)...............four Nikons
in three years!!!..............I love the
cameras but I think they are too fragile.............and
I'm to lazy to learn a new brand................so
I'll just keep rotating them through the repair
shop.................:)..........after I left
Ritz I went up to the rat barn and loaded
up my truck with all the stuff I needed to
take to the dump.............as I was leaving
the barn to head out to the dump, I seen Mr.
John out at his garage.................so
I pulled over and said "hello"..............he
said that he wanted me to take him out on
the Sea Doos today.........LOL.............I
told him that I had a busy day.............I
had to go to the dump............then I had
to come back to the rat barn an repair the
swamp cooler.................he said "
we can run them in the pond"............I
was like......"what?"..............he
said "sure"..............we can
run them down at the  pond".............so
I said "OK...............we can do it
after I get back"...............LOL.............Mr.
John has a pond that is a little bigger than
an acre............it's the same pond that
we fish in all the time............if he was
cool with it..............then so was I...............so
I headed off to the dump ( big mistake )...............I
got there and there was a huge line of trucks
waiting to get inside..................so
I got in the line.............lets just say
it took me two hours to get in and out of
the dump..............and it usually takes
me ten minutes??...........it was such a nice
day, I guess everyone was cleaning out their
garages and getting rid of junk............the
place was packed!!.............I finally got
out of there and went back to the rat barn...............I
repaired the swamp cooler as soon as I got
there...........that went pretty smoothly.............then
I went and told Mr. John that I was ready
if he was...........so he hooked my Sea Doo
trailer up to his farm tractor and took them
down to the pond...............we got them
unloaded and started buzzing around the pond
like mad men!!..............it was crazy..............I
would have never thought it would have been
any fun................but it was..............it
was like a race track.............and the
pond was big enough that we could get the
boats up to 35 mph................lmao!!...........then
it happened..................Ralphie boy decided
to take a turn a little too fast and BAM!!!.............yepper..................I
crashed my brand new Super Charged boat into
the bank...............and it was a bank with
plenty of rocks and gravel................I
knew I was gonna crash.............so I nailed
the gas to try and turn.............I didn't
react quick enough.............I hit the bank
so hard that rocks the size of footballs went
flying out of the pond and over the hill...............it
looked like a bomb went off!!.........LOL...................I
was fine.............the boat actually hit
the bank and bounced off when I goosed it...............the
boat seemed fine.............I just kept running
it............we did get out and put all the
rocks back into the pond...........LOL..............Mr.
John just looked at me and shook his head..................LOL....................we
cleaned up the rocks and gravel.............then
we jumped back on the boats and tore up the
pond some more!!.............it was a lot
more fun than I thought it would be...............and
Mr. John had a great time..........remember
people...............it's all about biting
cheese.........;)...........we had our fill
of excitement for one day............we loaded
the boats back onto the trailer...............that's
when I noticed the problem..............I
tore the crap out of the bottom of my boat........;(..................yepper................it
was scratched and nicked up.................that
I could handle...................but the real
damage was done to the jet pump grate on the
bottom of the boat.............the grate covers
the intake............the intake is where
the water gets sucked into the bottom of the
boat.............then it gets pushed out the
back..............this is what gives you thrust.................well
the grate was smashed pretty bad.................yep.............so
we took the boats up to the farm and hosed
them off................I looked for more
damage ....................besides a few scratched
and nicks...............the boat was
fine...............I'll just have to order
a new intake grate and replace the one I smashed.....;)..............I'd
do it all over again too!!............now
for my snapping turtle story.................while
I was talking to Mr. John the first time (
before I left for the dump )............he
was standing on the passenger side of my truck
talking to me through the window...............he
looked through the truck and past me into
his front yard................he looked startled..............so
I looked in the direction that he was looking..............and
there in his front yard was a big ole snapper
female bulldozing through the grass!!.................LOL..............I
got out of my truck and grabbed her by the
tail................I had too much stuff for
the dump in the back
of my truck.............so I put her in a
box and put her inside of my truck..............I
let her go down at the pond when Mr. John
and I went down with the boats..........;)................this
is "snapper season" for sure!!...................I
got ball python clutch # 60 today,,,,,,,,,,,,from
breeding a "Peach Ghost" male to
a "het" Anery female..................this
het Anery female was produced by NERD............she
has not produced any Anery's yet..............but
she has produced some very pretty Orange Ghosts..................so
I figured she would be a great mate for my
"Peach Ghost" male...............this
is the Peach Ghost male's first season breeding................there
is a pic of him on the Birthing Record page
under clutch # 60's listing................he
is very pretty..........:).............I finished
off the night by getting my 2003 master inventory
page up to date..............this is a spread
sheet that has each clutch from the season
listed on it............the mom and dad..............how
many egg s................what
hatched............and the numbers for each
snake in that clutch..................it makes
it very simple for me to know exactly what
I have at all times.................I use
it to cross reference my "mutation inventory"...............the
mutation inventory sheet has all the babies
listed in order as they hatch, of each mutation
I produce from each season.................as
they sell...............I just mark beside
them who bought them................it's very
easy to look at this sheet and see the current
inventory at a glance...............anyway.................that
was my long Saturday!!................ |
| |
| Sunday_July_06 |
| |
Everyone
was too hung over and tired from Friday's
party to do it again today............:)................(
not me )............so Theresa, the kids,
T's mom and I all packed up the truck.............we
loaded up the Sea Doos and we went boating
up at Raystown Lake................Damn Right!!...........the
place was packed...............there were
PWC ( personal water craft ) and boats all
over the place.................the lake had
white caps on it???...............it was nuts!!.............we
ran the boats around the lake.............went
swimming on the beach...........picnicked...................we
had fun!!.............the water was so rough
from all the boat traffic that we couldn't
even run the boats "wide open" ...........as
soon as you got some good speed going................a
wave would knock the crap out of ya..............besides
the rough water................it was a fun
time.......;) |
| |
| Monday_July_07 |
| |
Today
is Theresa's and my 12 year anniversary...........;).............yepper...............married
in 1991............we have been together since
1984!!!.....Holy Cow!!!......This morning
the kids helped me set up a bunch of new baby
balls in individual cages...........I wanted
to see what my six year old daughter could
do for me..............so I told her how to
set up the  new
baby boxes.........she did a wonderful job!!.............I
was so impressed with her work............I
told her that she could start working a few
hours a week for me if she wanted too...............she
wants extra money...........she already loves
to go shopping with her mom............Kyle
helped too............but she said he slowed
her down......LOL..............it's really
nice to know that I will be able to let my
kids help out with the work that needs to
be done.............after she got all the
boxes done ( putting mulch inside, a water
bowl and filling the water bowl )..............she
cleaned out a bunch of dirty water bowls and
baby snake tubs..............she worked at
the sink like a pro!!..............I thought
this was going to be a very short session
.............I figured she would just quit
and say "this sucks"..............but
she didn't.............she did all the work
and did not even ask me any questions.................she
said she knew what to do from watching me
do it all these years.............I'm totally
down with that!!........;)...............so
she got all the tubs set up for me and then
she started doing her work at the sink..............Kyle
and I started sexing all the new babies and
drawing their "p attern
pics" on the back of their record cards
...........actually Kyle just handed me each
snake as I needed it.............he was watching
me pop each baby............so then he started
trying to do it..............it was hysterical...............Kyle
is three years old...............he actually
got one of the baby males to roll its peens
out!!.........lmao!!.............it had to
be luck!!........so we got all of our work
done with the snakes................then we
went to the car wash to wash off the Sea Doos..............they
were pretty dirty from being at Raystown yesterday................we
got out of the water just in time too..............I
nasty storm came through as we were loading
up the boats to leave.................and
it rained the entire way back home...............so
the boats were covered with road muck!!..............so
we washed the boats............then we went
up to Mr. John's place and  unloaded
them in the garage.............Robbie was
there in the rat room cleaning the rodent
cages...............after that, we went to
the Sea Doo shop and ordered a new intake
grate ( to replace the one I smashed up on
Saturday......LOL ).................then we
went to "Boater's World".............I
needed to get some new ropes and an anchor
for the new boat................the kids were
great!!..............I even fed them while
we were out.........LOL................Theresa
always thinks I will let them starve when
they are with me...................we came
home and Theresa had a nice home cooked meal
on the table................yepper..............she
felt like cooking for our anniversary..............we
don't eat at home very often.............so
when we do............it's a huge treat!!........ ...Theresa
is a great cook................she just works
her ass off during the week at the Hair Salon
and has no time to cook.........after dinner
Theresa and I sat down at the table..........I
asked her if she would give me a hand filling
out a bunch of record cards for the new baby
balls..................she said "sure".................so
I showed her how I do it and we got a bunch
done..............her's look so much better
than mine too................a dude's hand
writing just sucks!!!...............That was
a big help!!................it takes me hours
to get the cards done...............but they
are very necessary to do...............there
is zero "guess work" when each
snake has an identification card.................I
got ball python clutches # 61 and # 62 today.............clutch
# 61 was from breeding an Albino male to a
het Albino female............7 eggs................clutch
# 62 was from breeding a Double Het Snow male
"VPI" to a female that is 100% het
for Albino and 50% poss het for Snow ( vpi
axanthic )...................this is my third
and final clutch of this type of Snow breeding
this year..............I should hatch out
some more VPI Snow Balls this year with some
luck........;)...............I'm hoping!!.................I
put the poor kiddies through a lot of work
and driving today.............they both "zonked
out" early.............Theresa thanked
me for that.........;).............. |
| |
| Tuesday_July_08 |
| |
The
first thing I did today was set up clutches
# 61, # 62 and # 63 in the incubator ..............sometimes
if I'm very busy I will let the mom sit on
her eg gs
for a day or so.............this is not a
problem..............but I do not like to
make a habit of doing it.............I know
maternal incubation probably makes the snake
"feel better"............but it
is too risky for me...........I prefer mechanical
incubation..............the quicker I can
get the female feeding again............the
better I feel........:).........I think some
people maternally incubate because they enjoy
the " time off ".................mom
doesn't have to be fed or rea lly
cleaned for 60 days while she is on her eggs...............all
she needs is some fresh water...............damn.........67
clutches means 67 less cages with big piles
of poop inside each week!!.............hmmmmmm................and
no incubator room............hmmmmmm..............I
don't think so...............I'll leave that
for "Mr. Glove"................LOL..............anyway.............I
got the eggs all set up.........then I set
up some new hatchlings in tubs so that they
can shed............and then I sat
my ass in the office and started paper work............I
have a ton of construction stuff to get done
this week..............and lots of BILLS!!.............clutch
# 63 ( laid today ) was from breeding a Striped
male to a het Striped female................7
eggs...............man I can't wait to hatch
out some baby Striped
ball pythons this year!!.................which
reminds me...............I hear AND see that
there is a well know breeder out there who
has 2003 het Striped males for sale for $2,000.00
each..............they are advertised at that
price..............so all you "bargain
hunters"...........go get yourself a
nice het Stripe male for $2,000.00...........hurry
up and produce as fast as you can too.............if
you don't.............then you'll miss the
entire "poss het market" for the
Stripes at this rate.................all I
can say is that this price is totally ridiculous? ??................this
is a brand new mutation............it should
be respected and valued high...........the
potential of the Stripe gene is awesome!!.........who
in their right mind would think the price
could slip so fast and so far??..............I
ain't naming names............but I'm sure
I'll get the emails...............like I am
now..............you see............Ralphie
stays very well informed by all of his loyal
ball python loving freinds...............we
are all on the same page.............so usually
what concerns one of us...............will
concern us all.........many things get brought
to my attention in the Ball Python World........ ......most
just go away...............but when respected
breeders do stupid shit in the business................it
really makes me wonder??...............I feel
like all the big breeders who are established
at this time should all be in the same price
range ( we all have our own customers anyway
)...............let the smaller breeders coming
up, be the ones who charge less for their
snakes...............they can do the "least"
amount of damage............a so called "Big
Breeder" is the one who can damage the
price of a mutation...............that's why
you will never see mutations priced cheap
here at RDR.................NEVER!!..........I'm
still dying to know wh ere
in the hell it is written that each mutation
has to "tank" a couple thousand
dollars each year??..............this is just
flat out stupid!!!.............it's supply
and demand...............I sure as hell don't
see a huge supply of het Stripes anywhere???....................so
why tank the price on them??................it
kills me............be as pissed as you want
to be.............what a bone head move??...............unreal.................so
anyway.............I got that out of my system................if
I'm lucky...............this clutch will hatch
and I will produce some Stripes................no
"hets" this year folks...............I
wish I could have made some though...............hell...............they
will be $2k a pair next year by my calculations??............just
go away!!!..............Robbie is up at the
rat barn finishing up...........he has Lou's
son Chris with him helping out..............we
are trying Chris out to see if he can "hack
it"........;).........I was working at
the desk today and the door-bell rang.................it
was a truck driver at the door..............he
had his rig  parked
out on the street..............he had Kyle's
new race car bed!!..............so to keep
everyone on the street from getting pissed
off at the big rig parked in the middle of
the road..............I told the guy to drive
down to a side street and I would bring my
truck down to get the bed.............so I
stopped what I was doing and loaded up the
bed...............it's a pretty cool little
bed to.............it's a red race car.................Kyle
has his own bigger room now................so
T has been buying furniture for it..................the
bed was the first piece to be delivered...............and
it needs to be assembled!!.................lucky
me!..................yes I'm in a very pissy
mood today.............my cable modem stopped
working AGAIN.............for some reason
my house has lost it's signal strength..................so
I don't have a strong enough signal to make
it to my computer .............naturally the
cable company can not come o ut
till the 21st!!!............so I called my
buddy Jeff to come over and see if he could
come up with a way for me to get signal..............he
moved my modem closer to the main line of
cable that comes into the house.................and
sure enough..............it works.................so
now my modem is hanging off of the wall where
the main cable line is..................I
have a 50 foot USB cord running across the
floor from the modem to my PC................it
looks lovely!!...............but it works...................our
signal is so bad here that none of the pay
channels will come in on the TV either .............we're
dying over here!!!...............damn I hate
it when things don't work...............and
then you try to call somebody to get help...................forget
about it..........being on hold sucks!!!!.................then
when you do get somebody................they
are clueless to what the problem is....................why??................because
they are "level one" tech  support................anyone
one of us could be "level one".........LMAO!!!...............what
a damn day.................what a nice rant................and
yes I'm still pissed about the het Stripe
price..........act like a Big Breeder!!!!...........Phil
came by this evening..............he and I
went down to Turtle's place to pick up some
mice..................then we came back up
to the rat barn and loaded up some rats................that
be that........very long day........................I'm
a total grouch right now!!..........I swear
I could make a living off of Ball Python Politics!!.....for
the record..................03 het striped
males should be priced at the very minimum
of $4,500.00 each ...............whether they
sit on the shelf or not.............hell a
66% poss het male could bring $750.00................there
are none!!!..............this market is young!!..........stop
shooting us all in the foot already...........DAMN
BONE HEADS!!!!................... |
| |
| Wednesday_July_09 |
| |
Robbie
the Robot fed the entire place today..................:)..................while
Chris and I cleaned out my pot belly pig pen................yepper...............it's
that time again..........the pig pen is aprox.
12' x 15'........it has 6 or 7 inches of mulch
as the base..........Mr. John was nice enough
to bring his dump truck over this morning
so that we could shovel all the pig bedding
and poop into it...............I have a guy
across the street who takes the used pig bedding.............he
mixes it into his vegetable garden..............he
says his tomatoes never grew so good... .........:).............it
took us most of the day to get the pen cleaned
out and ready for new mulch............Mr.
john came over and drove the dump truck over
to the garden where I dump the bedding...............then
we went to the landscaping place and had three
yards of mulch loaded on the dump truck ..............spreading
the new mulch is the easy part......;)................we
had that done in no time............so now
the piggies are all nice and clean for another
year...............I change out their pen
once a year...............pot belly pigs are
very clean animals...............they poop
in one corner of the pen..............and
they are on a special formulated diet............being
on this type of special feed keeps them from
smelling bad..........a dog smells more than
the pigs do............after we got the pig
pen done.............I helped Robbie finish
up some of the feeding..........we doubled
up a bunch of females who are eating like
there is no tomorrow............then I went
and worked on updating the Birthing Records
page...........I got a bunch of my emails
answered while I was working on the web site................one
of the emails was from Brian Barczk...............from
BHB Enterprises................he sent me
a pic of a really cool " mutated version"
of his Pinstripe ball...........he has been
producing Pinstripes for a few years now.............he
bred a Pinstripe to an aberrant ball python............one
that he though looked really cool and could
possibly be " genetic".................well
it sure was............he produced a "cross"
of the two  mutations...............the
Pinstripe and what ever the "other"
weird mutation was??...............I think
this new snake looks very "earthy"..............I
really like the way it looks...............it
almost reminds you a little of other mutations
"pieced together"...................sweet
snake Brian!!.........now send me my damn
Pinstripe male so I can get to work!!.........;)..............that's
about it for the day...............I worked
in the pig pen barefoot...............yepper................and
I'm paying for it..............my feet may
take a month to come clean.........LOL.................what
a hick!!!!.............. |
| |
| Thursday_July_10 |
| |
Robbie
got here this morning to pull all the rodents
from snakes that did not eat over night.............then
he went into cleaning mode!!...........I set
up some new baby ball pythons and then it
was off to run errands ..............I had
to run to the camera shop and get my rebate
info for the new Nikon I bought............Nikon
is offering a hundred dollar rebate on the
5700 model...............then I went to the
dump ( again )...............after I cleaned
the pig pen yesterday .........I was still
in a cleaning mood.............so I loaded
up a bunch of crap that had been laying around
the garage .............I love going to the
dump................it makes me feel "cleaner"
somehow as I'm leaving.................don't
ask me why??..............it just  does.............LOL.............and
I was "in and out" this time...............the
way it should be.............I had some people
from Virginia order a bunch of the tubs that
I have molded for the rodents, and a bunch
of watering supplies.................so I
went up to the barn and got their order all
organized and ready to deliver...............they
are coming to pick up the stuff on Saturday...............310
clear mouse tubs!!..............and a ton
of watering supplies........;).............after
that I went down to the Sea Doo shop and picked
up the parts that I ordered earlier in the
week...............then I came back home to
do the weekly payroll ..............Fatty
needs his check!!............he and his family
are going to Ocean City for the week-end............Friday
through Sunday...............Mom has some
friends in from Florida visiting for ten days.........they
used to live here and they wanted steamed
crabs..............you can't get good steamed
crabs anywhere but in Maryland................so
Mom bought a bushel of crabs and we all went
over and ate them last night..............we
stuffed ourselves!!................I got some
more work done on the Birthing Records page...............I'm
doing a pretty good job at " keeping
up with it"................I have produced
63 clutches so far.............4 more clutches
to be laid!!............then I'm done for
2003...........67 clutches should be the grand
total for this season..............have I
mentioned that I'm taking next season off??..................LOL..............I
may not take "off"................but
I'm definitely not producing as many clutches
as I did this season..................damn!!..........Karma
is doing wonderfully..............she is eating
rat pinks!!...........her and Lilly both are
very good feeders.............I'm very happy
about that................. |
| |
| Friday_July_11 |
| |
More
babies to set up this morning ...............I
have baby balls coming out of my ears this
season!!...........I finally filled all the
boxes that Brooke set up for me earlier in
the week.............what a great job she
did........;)................Robbie went up
the rat room today and watered buckets..............then
he came here and finished up about a half
hour worth of work.............he is done!!.........he
likes working a long day on Thursday so that
his Friday's are open...............LOL.............I
told him not to get too used to it............I'm
gonna need him on Fridays for sure once all
of these babies hatch......;)..............I
have the Birthing Record page updated as far
as I can go with it.................I went
back in and entered all the ID #'s for each
clutch today............that way the Birthing
Record page matches my inventory page spread
sheet..............I also put "Karma's"
pic up on the RDR home page........ ........yepper..............I'm
so happy to have hatched her............it's
finally starting to sink in as to how special
she is...............:)..............I'm done
with all my paper work for the weekend................I'm
just finishing up all the text for the journal..........I
have had peace and quite all day.............the
phones are unplugged.................the wife
and kids are out for the entire day................and
Robbie has completed all his work...............I
can get a ton of stuff done when I'm not interrupted.............and
Friday is usually the day I try to get all
the stuff that takes concentration done..............yes
I can concentrate sometimes........;P............Tomorrow
Phil and I will get the intake grate put back
on my Sea Doo...............then we will probably
go fishing??..................who knows................I'm
outa here folks!!............have a great
weekend!!................Rock On!!............... |
| |
| Saturday_July_12 |
| |
I
had the kiddies today........:).........they
helped me set up some new baby balls in the
morning..........then it was time to get packed
for our vacation to the lake this coming week...............we
leave tomorrow..........:).............My
family and a bunch of Theresa's family all
go to Raystown lake for a week every year.........we
have a blast.............. .we
camp out, water ski, ride on a big blow up
tube behind the boat, race the Sea Doos............and
jump off of high cliffs!!..........that's
my favorite!!..............Fat Ass and his
family and Phil and Robbin will be coming
up for a few days too. Between all of us going.............there
will be two ski boats...............my two
Sea Doos.............and Phil is bringing
his Sea Doo too............we should have
a great time!!.............Congrats to Corey
Woods for producing a "Pastel Orange
Ghost" this season.........I know of
two produced by the Bell's and now Corey's..........I
can't wait to see a Caramel Albino Pastel
now.........it will be awesome!!.............I'm
outa here!!! |
| |
| Sunday_July_13 |
| |
Wouldn't
you know it?...............I'm all packed
up ready to go............I went down and
checked all the snakes to make sure everything
was cool for the week..............and I hav e
two female balls laying on eggs!!................yepper.............so
I had to hurry up and get the clutches photographed
and then get them set up in the incubator
.............I was hoping these two females
would hold off on their eggs till later in
the week............Robbie the Robot is staying
at my place and taking care of everything
while I'm gone...............I told him to
check on these two females for eggs..............I
was just going to let him moisten the shredded
cypress m ulch
around the eggs once they laid............that
would be fine until I got home.............but
they laid this morning............:).............it's
better off this way...............but I'm
trying to get out of here!!!.............so
anyway..............all the snakes are fine...............I
set up ball python clutches # 64 and # 65..............#
64 was from breeding a pair of Ghosts together..............3
eggs..............this pair of Ghosts come
from my het Anerys that NERD produced..............so
I would expect more Ghosts...............maybe
an "Anery / Ghost"???????...............who
 knows?..................:)................clutch
# 65 was from breeding a Pastel male to an
Albino female...............6 eggs............this
will be a really cool project............it
will be very interesting to see what an "Albino
Pastel" or a "Super Albino Pastel
"looks like...............and how the
color will look as it matures................so
I got two pretty exciting clutches this morning................I
said " bye " to my piggies................fed
the turtles..............did one last check
on all the snakes, and down the road we went...................LATER!!!! |
| |
| Friday_July_18 |
| |
Well
we had a Kick ass time this week................we
all loaded up our gear and headed back home
this morning...........I was ready too.............my
body feels like it was hit b y
a truck............all the Sea Dooing and
water skiing................and "cliff
jumping" really does a body good.....;).........There
is this one cliff that I like to jump off
of...........I have been doing it for years.............it's
about 20 feet off of the water............well
further down the lake we found a new cliff
to jump off of. .................and
this one is about 40 feet off of the water.............lets
just say I wore out my welcome on the cliff...............and
my ass is paying for it now.............I
hurt!!.................but man was it fun!!..............we
all had a great time...............Phil and
Robbin came up for three days...............Fatty
came up with his family for one day............we
had ZERO rain..............we already signed
up for next year!!...........We got home and
Theresa started doing laundry............and
man was there a pile of it to do!!.............but
not from me........ ......I
wore the same swim trunks every day.......LMAO!!.............
I washed the Sea Doos..............after that...........we
were MUD..............I checked on all the
snakes and the rest of my critters.............everything
was fine while I was gone...................Fatty
and Robbie the Robot held down the fort nicely......;).................Thanks
guys!!! |
| |
| Saturday_July_19 |
| |
Phil
came over today to help me get caught back
up on all the work I had to do after our vacation.............we
had tons of new snakes to set up individually.............so
we g ot
all the new baby boxes set up.............then
we packed up a bunch of snakes for me to ship
out tomorrow morning ( 4 boxes!! )..............this
is the first time I ever shipped snakes out
on a Sunday ( Delta ).............I'm sure
it will be a nice drive to the airport..............NO
TRAFFIC!!...........we also moved a bunch
of stuff " up "...............it
was time for a lot of my yearling ball pythons
to
be moved into bigger cages...........I have
been putting it off for too long..............so
today I got it all done..............we worked
a very long day and got everything done..............all
the new babies got set up...............all
the snakes got packed for shipping out..............and
all the yearling balls got bigger cages (
now they will stop eating.......yepper......
)..........it never ends!!........I had the
kids all day too............they were very
good...............Brooke is at the age where
she can occupy Kyle very well................so
that helps when I have a lot of work to do..............besides............I
pay her.......:)........Theresa, the kiddies,
Phil's wife and daughter all went to the local
carnival tonight while Phil and I finished
up our work................they brought us
back some carnival pizza...............now
I don't know if any of you guys know this..............but
Carnival Pizza is the best damn pizza on the
planet!!!................I love the stuff!!................I'll
take a cheap ole carnival pizza over any other
pizza any day of the week..................Damn
Right!!... .........so
that was that..............I know it has been
pretty boring reading material this week.........it
will get better once I get caught back up
with these little ball pythons!!!........I
did get ball python clutch # 66 today...............more
work!!.......LOL.................8 eggs from
breeding an Albino male that is poss het for
"Jolliff Snow" to a VPI het Axanthic
female................at worst case I get
babies that are all het for Albino and 50%
poss het for Axanthic ( VPI ).........best
case.........the albino is also het Axanthic
( Jolliff ) and both the VPI and Jolliff Axanthic
gene will be compatible?...........never hurts
to "keep dinking"............;)
|
| |
| Sunday_July_20 |
| |
After
being with everyone at Raystown all week................we
still all showed up and played volley ball
today..............I guess we weren't sick
of each other yet?........: ).............we
had some great games............after that
I went up to the rat barn and watered the
buckets.............Robbie had off today.....;)..................then
I came home and put a coat of wax on the Sea
Doos.................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..........
|
| |
| Monday_July_21 |
| |
Robbie
the Robot and his new helper Andy met me at
the house this morning..........7 am!!........damn!!,,,,,,,,,,,,We
had to go to the local feed place and pick
up 20 bales of pine shavings...............today
is rat cleaning day and we ran out of shavings
last week.............I get shavings and rat
food delivered every two weeks out at the
rat barn..............they are late with my
order, and we need to clean today..............so
we went and got the shavings locally ............I
don't like the shavings that the local place
has at all.............they are too big and
chunky!!..............the stuff we have delivered
is really nice and soft...........I c ould
see myself making a nest in it........LOL............so
we loaded up and went to the rat barn............Robbie
and Andy ended up getting the entire room
done in a day..............that was awesome!!......Andy
was a huge help...........it usually takes
Robbie two full days to clean the room............I
left the rat barn and went to get some errands
done.............Lou and I met up a few hours
later............he and I went up to the rat
barn to flush out all the water lines on the
racks and disinfect the water buckets...........we
disconnected each bucket and took it outside
to be scrubbed out and rinsed off.............and
believe me when I say...............those
buckets had some serious gunk inside of them............"rat
cheese"...............nasty stuff.............that's
why it is important to keep your lines and
buckets clean..............before you know
it, the gunk will build up and you will have
clogged water lines and sippers...................so
Lou and I got half of the room done............I
made a hose fitting that screws on to a garden
hose ...........basically condensing the garden
hose line dow n
to a 1/4 " water line ( super high pressure
it makes )..............I attached the 1/4
inch line to the main supply line on a rack...............then
I remove the last sipper on a level...........turn
on the hose and "HOLY CRAP"............the
high pressure water blows all of the gunk
out of the lines into a bucket I have waiting
at the end................we did this for
each level.............it worked like a champ!!!...........the
stuff that was coming out of the water lines
made you want to "Ralph"..........
it all comes with the territory............rats
are "gunky".........It felt good
to get such good results from my "invention".........LOL..............then
Lou's dad called..............he was all upset
because his male pot belly pig had it's tusks
caught in the fence.................so Lou
and I hurried up to go help the piggie....;)...............we
got there and the pig was fine.............Lou's
Dad's next door neighbor came over and got
the pig released...............and she is
only ten years old..............this is a
three hundred pound piggy.............I was
pretty impressed that this cute little girl
went in and helped
the piggy out.............I know my male piggy
( Razor ) would have been going ballistics!!!.............It
would have been a job for me to have to have
done that...............she was proud of herself
too........LOL..............Lou was scared
to death............he wanted no parts of
messing with the piggy..............my male
Razor tries to bite Lou every time Lou comes
around............so Lou don't like Pot Belly
pigs very much.......;)...............anyway...........all
was fine...............so we headed back up
to my place...............we got half of the
buckets and water lines done.............and
Robbie only had a few more hours until he
was finished cleaning..............Phil and
Robbin came by my place after work..............Phil
decided to buy a Super Charged Sea Doo today............he
had all the paper work done over the phone
earlier in the day............so we all went
down to Cycle World and picked it up ..............we
even got big Lou a Life Preserver..............LOL...............and
that wasn't easy..............I had no idea
they made them that big!!................you
could float ten people on it........LMAO!!...........so
we loaded up Phil's new Sea Doo and went back
home............it's very pretty............it
has a black bottom............a yellow middle
and a silver top..............it looks fast!!........so
now Phil can keep up with me when we are out
on the water...............:P..............it
will be nice too..............because between
the two of us.......we have 4 boats..............so
if Big Lou, Fatty, Phil and I want to go out............we
can...............but I'm sure Big Lou will
be buying one next..........they are very
addictive ..............I love going out and
riding them..............you can fish off
of them..............and best of all...............look
for water turtles!!.........;)...............yepper!!............... |
| |
| Tuesday_July_22 |
| |
Since
Robbie and Andy got the rat room cleaned yesterday.............we
decided to feed all the snakes today..........now
that Robbie and Andy can get the entire rat
room cleaned in a day.......we will probably
continue to feed the snakes on Tuesdays...........this
way we have more time during the week to clean
and set up all the new babies.......:).........Phil
stopped by today and hung out for awhile...........then
he went up to the rat barn to load u p
his rat orders for delivering tomorrow ............I
have been playing "catch up" this
week...............a vacation is awesome.............but
when your in business for yourself, coming
home usually means that you have twice as
much work to do!!...........so today I have
been working on paper work all day ...............Construction
and Reptile stuff.............Robbie had a
pile of bills on my desk a foot tall when
I got home.............LOL...........Big Lou
and I headed down to the airport in the afternoon...........we
did a great trade with a guy for an 800 gram
Spider Ball female...............she is really
nice!!...............so now we have two Spider
Ball females............who is going to sell
or trade me a male???.................hopefully
I will be able to get enough
food in the new female that she will be able
to breed this fall..............if not............I
can wait another year.......:)..............we
came home and set her up in a new cage............Big
Lou had a meeting to go to for his work..........so
I sat back down at the computer and got some
more work done...............I'm still answering
emails from when I was away.............I
pulled down 802 emails on Friday when I got
home...............yes there was a ton of
junk mail..............but a third of it was
all snake business.......;)...............and
I answer each and every one of my emails..............ain't
that right guys!!.........;)..............man
it's hard to believe that Daytona is right
around the corner??.............I have to
say, since I started really getting good at
breeding ball pythons.............the years
just fly by...............one minute I'm in
breeding season..............the next minute
I'm in the off season hatching babies..............then
I'm breeding again.............it's like one
long year that never ends??..............maybe
I should breed every other year..........hmmmmmmm??................I'm
not sure what we are even going to  bring
to the show??..................All our wives
are coming down this year...........so I will
have to be a "good boy"...............LOL...............NOT!!..............Theresa
thinks I'm an ass..............and she thinks
all of the gossip and politics in the ball
python world is for the birds..............."what
does she know"...............:).......unless
you are a hard core ball python fan............it
is impossible to understand.............it's
"The Force"..............no doubt
about it...........can you feel it?..............I
know I can............LOL..................so
anyway.............I'm slowly getting my stuff
done and getting caught back up...............I
know this is pretty boring reading............but
here it is..............I'm writing for all
of you!!.......show me another breeder on
this planet as entertaining as me??...............that's
right.............you can't!................I
love you all!!!............LMAO!!.................I'm
out...............what a goof!! |
| |
| Wednesday_July_23 |
| |
We
are cleaning the snakes today .............everything
is eating great!!...............Lilly and
Karma are growing like weeds!!...............My
Patternless is being a Royal pain in the ass!!............it
can't all be perfect............and who can
complain one bit when they hatch out a little
"blue eyed beauty" like Karma......:)................all
the new 03 babies are doing fine............a
few have been slow to start feeding.........but
99% of them are doing  great.............I
love it when a new baby ball eats a rat pup
for it's first meal...............if they
don't.............a mouse hopper is a sure
fire way to get them started.............then
they will usually take a rat pup one or two
feedings afterwards ..........I set up a bunch
of new snakes today..............I'm staying
on top of all the new babies pretty well...............as
soon as the clutch sheds.............I snap
a picture of the entire clutch as a group............then
they all get set up individually.............Robbie
and I finished up today pretty much at the
same time.............so we decided to go
up to the rat barn and finish cleaning the
water buckets and flushing out the water lines..............I
want Robbie to know how to do the water line
flushing.............that way if he has any
problems while he is cleaning......... ..he
can do it himself with out any trouble ( we
check each sipper for good water flow as we
clean cages once a week )............we got
done around 10 pm............I came home again
and plugged away at more work..............I'm
closing in on it folks............I can see
light at the end of the tunnel............if
I only didn't have to write the journal this
week........LOL...............I would be on
easy street............."joke"................I
like writing............and I like knowing
that you guys are reading this stuff..............I'm
sure many of you guys feel like you know me............and
for those of you who know me...........I'm
sure you can hear me saying what I'm writing
...............I will say that "short"
three day vacations are easier on me than
a long week vacation.............but I'm not
one to worry about stuff while I'm gone.............I
know I have great help at home taking care
of business ............... .thanks
Fat Ass, Phil, Big Lou and Robbie!!............I
got an email and some pics form Kim Bell............she
sent me some updated pics of her two Hypo
/ Ghost Pastel Jungles..............and man
are they looking better with age!!................I
swear one of them looks like a "Super
Hypo Pastel".............and it could
easily be one because she bred Pastel het
Ghost x Pastel het Ghost...............she'll
have to breed it and see.............then
there were some pics of what they are calling
their own line of "Desert Ghost".............I
don't think they are "Deserts"...............I
think they are different.............and better
looking..............her adult female "Desert"
has a red-ish color to where the black should
be............well these babies are crazy
looking..........they are super clean and
super high contrast.............but they are
not identical to mom??.................Kim
says that they are changing colors and looking
better all the time...............I guess
they will finally "look like mom"
when they are done growing................any
way you slice it............it is a simple
recessive trait that she has there....... .........she
bred a normal looking het male back to the
"Desert" mom and produce babies
that look like mom...............not exactly
like mom.............but they are super clean
animals............and high contrast snakes.............so
I would think with some age...............they
will look just like mom.................WOW!!..........Kim
has my vote as being the sexiest ball python
breeder chic on the planet!!...............if
you disagree .............please send me pics
so that I can be the judge..........LMAO!!........I
wish I had a hot babe making me all these
cool ball python mutations................Mark
is a lucky man!!.......we all know he sits
on his ass all day and counts his money.........;)................Theresa!!!................. |
| |
| Thursday_July_24 |
| |
Robbie
went up to the rat barn today to check things
out and finish cleaning the water buckets...........it
started raining it's butt off last night........so
we had to stop washing the buckets outside.............so
he got that all done today............I got
all my inventory
figured out today............I like knowing
exactly what I have and what is pre-sold...........I
hang a little tag on each cage of each snake
that is sold.............it makes it easy
to see what is going on "at a glance
"...............so now I'm all caught
up on that............The Birthing Record
page is up to date too...............I got
ball python clutch # 67 today!!..............my
very last clutch for the 2003 season!!................Thank
God!!...........it was from a Past el
female.........6 eggs............she was bred
to a Lesser Platty male................this
could produce a really cool looking "Pastel
Platty"................I'm hoping for
the best!!............it's hard to believe
that I took 67 pictures of 67 egg clutches
and 67 moms on eggs................and if
you think about it...........I have to be
the only person in the world with a pic of
a clutch of eggs that hatched a "Lucy".............and
it is actually true.............that pic of
clutch # 14..........7 eggs...............produced
a baby lucy!!!................who knew??............great
"scrapbook material"..............I
finally got all of my emails from the vacation
answered today.............all of my paper
work is done..... ...........the
Birthing Record page is up to date................the
journal is wriiten.............it sucks this
week.............but it's written......:P.......now
I need to put some pics in for you guys who
don't like to READ,,,,,,,,,,,,LOL,,,,,,,,,,,the
family and I went to a Birthday dinner at
6:30 pm............I got home around 9:30
pm...............and I have been at the computer
since I got back.............it is 11:45 pm
now................I'm almost done!!...............Big
Lou and I are going to Peter Kahl's place
tomorrow.............Pete needs some rats
and Lou has some work to do on Pete's alarm
system.............then I'm sure we will all
go out and have some lunch..............oh
yeah.............BHB did it again!!............He
produced yet another version of the Pinstripe
Ball.................a
"Pastel Pinstripe"................man
has Brian been busy this year...............he
is making me look really bad!!.............I
haven't crossed the Platty with anything yet...........damn!!...........the
"Pastel Pinstripe" looks awesome
Brian!!!...............as I said before ............could
you put me on the damn list please!!..........sheeshhhh!!!!.............you
must be totally stoked this year.................long
live BHB!!!!................I'm starting to
get delirious now..............I can't belive
it has been a week since the vacation..............but
it has.............I miss it too..........;(.............I
doubt I will write anymore this week..............so
you all have a great weekend and ROCK ON!!!!............. |
| |
| Friday_July_25 |
| |
This
morning Big Lou and I hooked up to go over
Pete Kahl's place.........Lou had some work
to do on Pete's alarm system and Pete wanted
some small rats from me..............so I
went to the rat barn first thing and loaded
up Pete's order...............then I went
and picked up Louie.............we got there
and Lou did what ever it was that he had to
do??.. ..........I
unloaded all of Pete's rats and then I packed
up a few dozen mice to take home..........I
always try to get some mice from Pete when
I'm at his place.............I use his mice
to start new breeding groups at the rat barn...........so
after we got all of that done...........Pete
took us to lunch........;)..........we talked
about a bunch of "snake politics"
and how many boners there actually are in
this business that make it bad for others..............no
names need to be named..............just watch
the breeders and the classifieds..............it's
pretty easy to figure out who the boners are..............Pete
has a broken wrist............he wrecked his
four wheeler and busted his wrist up pretty
good..............but that's Pete.............he
is always busting his self up on those damn
dirt bikes.........:)...............I better
shut u p
or I will jinx myself and wreck my Sea Doo
the next time I'm out riding..........LOL........so
after lunch ( Pete's Treat )....and THANKS!!..........Lou
and I went over to Pete's old snake building
and loaded up a bunch of triple chipped shredded
cypress mulch.................Pete got in
an entire eighteen wheeler of the stuff several
months ago..............all bagged and on
pallets.............so I go and load up when
I need some..............and with all these
new babies.............I need it bad!!.............it's
great for spot cleaning and holding humidity
..............after that I dropped Lou home
and I went home to finish up some work with
the snakes..................we are all going
to The Colonial tonight for "King Solomon's"
Birthday ( Theresa's uncle Mark ),,,,,,,,,,,,,,we
are all going to play shuffle board and act
like asses!!!................... |
| |
| Sunday_July_27 |
| |
Big
Rock today.............and man were we short
on players!.............but it was more fun
with fewer people............and a lot less
fighting........LOL..........a bunch of our
players took the day off from volley ball
today to go crabbing out on the bay ..............Theresa's
family loves to fish and crab............so
we had two teams of four..............my team
kicked ass!!. ..............so
that's all that matters right?.................LOL..............I
talked to Lou today............he is as mad
as a hornet!!.............he said his nose
is going to fall off from the sun burn........LOL..............I
hate to laugh at him, but the way he describes
his pain and the way the burn looks just cracks
me up.............he says he is NEVER going
out on the water again..............but I
know he is full of crap..............he'll
go back out.............I'll just make sure
I take him some good sun block.......;).............I
got and email from my friend Steve.............in
it we re
some pics of a ball python of his that went
through a dramatic color change after one
shed..............I will post a " before
shed" and an "after shed" pic
so that you can see how drastic the change
was??..............it is totally nuts?.............his
snake looked totally normal one day............then
it shed and looked like some type of "Axanthic
Ghost".......it makes me wonder if some
of the adult and sub-adult "Black and
White" and Axanthic looking stuff we
breeders see in Africa each year is even a
mutation??.......one shed and BAM!!.............you
got a crazy looking snake that looks like
a cool new mutation??.............you got
me?.............this has never happened to
any of my ball pythons before..............but
I know it does happen ...........weird??...............it's
like the
snake sheds off a bunch of layers of pigment?.........so
Steve..............keep me posted on how the
snake turns out............a couple more sheds
and it could be white!!..........;)..........Well
I snipped the eggs in clutch # 42 tonight...........this
is the clutch that my 01 ( F1 ) Phantom female
produced from being bred to an 01 ( F1 ) Lesser
Platty male..............5 eggs.............one
egg went bad pretty early into the incubation
period, so that left me with four eggs.............
I see two more White snakes with blue eyes!!..............yepper................two
White snakes!!!..............one Phantom and
one normal looking are in this clutch!!!..........I
had a great feeling about this clutch after
hatching out clutch # 14............so right
now I can sa fely
say that breeding a Lesser Platty to these
two particular Phantom females will produce
Leucistic ball pythons.............I also
believe that the "cross snake" from
clutch # 14 is actually a "Phantom Lesser"...............the
"Phantom Lesser" being the combo
snake I was after.................so what
the hell are these white snakes??...........It
will take me some time to get this all sorted
out.................can I produce white snakes
just within the Platty bloodline?...............can
I produce white snakes just within the Phantom
bloodline?................does it take both
mutations to do this?................or am
I just lucky and my Original Platty male and
my original Phantom female were both het for
Leucistic?.................that would mean
that all of their babies were just 50% poss
hets............am I that lucky to hit on
poss hets for Lucy?..............I have a
lot of thoughts on what is going on...............and
I'm the only one who can get the answe rs.................so
I have plenty of breeding ahead of me to see
exactly what these two mutations are "up
to".............it is totally crazy!!........and
I know this ain't the end of the ride either...........there
is "still more" in this project............I
just know it!!............I always thought
that the Platty was super special.......and
that he could be hiding a lot under the hood.............but
to think this????.........I wrote " Karma"
up as pure luck.............now I see two
more!..........I almost didn't even breed
the Phantom females this year............and
I was thinking if I did breed them..............it
would have been to Pastel males...............so
go figure..............it all worked out like
a dream!!.............Now all I can hope is
that one of these little babies is a boy!!!..........come
on baby boy!!!!!............I'm going to go
clean out my boxers............. |
| |
| Monday_July_28 |
| |
This
morning I got an early start to go shopping
for a bunch of stuff I need for the Daytona
show.........I felt like a total boner going
into the fabric store and buying material
to cover my tables with at the show...........it
felt very weird looking at all the fabric
with all these housewives in the pla ce
thinking I'm some kind of pansie ass...............LOL
( it's a man thing ladies )..............I
got two tables this year............and I'm
tired of the black table cover..........it
sucks!!...........all it does is attract little
white fuzz balls................so this year
I'm trying something new..............I got
this really nice looking "fake leather"
stuff..............it is a tan color.........it
will be very easy to wipe off and keep clean.........and
the color is really easy on the eyes ( yes
I just said that.......maybe I am a pansie?
)..........then I went and bought some more
lights to clamp onto the tables...............I
have 24 new display boxes on their way to
me now for the show..............so I'm slowly
getting all my stuff together.............after
I picked up what stuff I could find for the
show, I went to my T-shirt designer and gave
them the art work that I have been working
on for my new T-shirts ..............I will
have some kick ass shirts at the show!!...........so
the designers hav e
my "rendition" of what I want my
new shirts to look like............now it's
up to them to fine tune it and make them look
awesome!!.............so I left them to do
their work.............then I went to my "
Grafix " guy to show him my new banner
design .............I'm just full of new ideas
this year!!..........HA.............the one
thing I don't like to do is bring any animals
to the show...............I absolutely hate
doing that!!............I don't mind delivering
snakes to a show.............but lugging them
down there just to show off makes me a total
wreck!!............I just feel terrible for
the snakes while they are there.............I
know it's just me...............but that's
the way I feel.............so when you see
my snakes "showing off" on the table...... .........you
can remember that even though I'm very proud
to have them on display for everyone to see................I
really deep down inside wish that the snakes
did not have to be there...............and
I know that they really don't..............I
could easily just come down to the show and
hang out and talk with people ( I could make
up for not having my snakes there with my
charming personality........LMAO )...............but
I know that there are many people who expect
to see my stuff.............and it's those
people I bring the snakes for..........;)............why
can't we just "can" all the lugging
around of the snakes and do a big "Breeder
Conference".............I'll be the President!!.........we
can have slide shows and presentations.....
.........hearing what the breeders "
really have to say ".......that  would
be so sweet!!................so there ya go.............I
said it..............I hate bringing snakes
to shows.........and I hate the "flea
market mentality" at the shows ( Why
the hell do you even go Boner??? )..............that
just ain't me.............next year I will
probably only do the Daytona show and that's
it!! ( because it is warm ).........;).............moving
right along ( Am I a little wuss today or
what? )...........I got all my running around
done and came home to start paper work and
emails...................I knew I was going
to be swamped with all the office stuff............so
I called Phil and asked him if he could come
over later tonight and help me set up a bunch
of new baby balls that just shed...............so
he did come over and we got it all done...............Thanks
Phil!!!.............My two baby Lucys are
still in the egg............they are just
hanging out and blowing bubbles at me...............I
want them to climb out of the egg so bad!!..............Karma
needs a boyfriend......;).......... |
| |
| Tuesday_July_29 |
| |
I
worked on my inventory most of the day..........hanging
little tags on each snake's tub that is sold,
and then updating the inventory in my computer..............and
THEN updating the inventory o n
the site.............I should get the "Big
List" completed and totally up to date
by the end of this week...............once
I get it caught up to the 03's I have hatched
so far, it will be easy to keep it current
.............I " signed off" on
my new banner design for the show today............it's
basically the same as it always is, but it
has more pictures now............12 pics instead
of 3..............so that made it about twice
as tall............I took more pics of my
new baby "Lucys" in the egg today..............they
have soaked up all of their yolks............now
they are just lounging in the egg..........I'm
sure they know that they are pestering the
crap out of me by not coming out.................:)..........I
finally found some time later in the day to
wash the Sea Doos.............we were running
them in salt  water
on Saturday.........it's a good practice to
get the salt off of the boats and out of the
cooling system as soon as possible............we
did spray them off at the car wash when we
were done.............but they needed a better
cleaning than that................Phil got
to my house while I was still washing them,
so he helped me finish up and get them hitched
up to my truck........ then I followed him
up to the barn, we unloaded my boat trailer
in Mr. John's garage, then we went to the
barn to load up all of the rats for his deliveries
tomorrow......... |
| |
| Wednesday_July_30 |
| |
TWO
BOYS!!!..............that's right!!..............both
of the Lucys are males!!........ ......ALL
four of the babies are males................2
male Lucys..............1 male Phantom..........and
1 male "normal looking"..............I'm
on cloud ten!!!!................what a year
this has been...........2.1 Lucys in one year............and
I never seen it coming?.............The Ball
Python Gods must just love the heck out of
me.......;)............I posted a few pics
of them on my foru m
and on kingsnake's ball forum..............you
can never get tired of looking at blue eyed
snakes................:).............Karma
is in one of the pics I posted with the two
new baby boys.............she looks like a
big white OX compared to the newborns..............it's
amazing to see how big she is now...............she
is a great feeder, she ate live rat pups right
from the start............so hopefully the
two new boys will do the same......:).............Robbie
fed all the snakes today while I manned the
phone lines and answered a zillion emails........;)...........As
he was feeding he  found
two females with eggs??.................these
were females that I never gave a second thought..........one
of the females was gravid from a Red Axanthic
male and the other female was gravid from
a Lesser Platty male...............whoooowhooooo!!...........what
a nice surprise!!.............I had so many
pregnant females this year that I just quit
palpating for follicles ...............enough
was enough!!..........I didn't even mark down
any copulations on these two females ................mainly
because they were so late to show me anything ..............so
there ya have it folks...........you don't
have to palpate for follicles and buy an ultra-sound
machine to produce eggs.............all you
have to do is wait!!.........but I'm the kind
of guy who likes to know what's coming?.......so
I palpate until the cows come home!!..........so
this puts me up to 69 clutches of ball python
eggs this year...............I bred 72 females
too...............sweet!!!............so I
have to get back into the clutch groove one
more time.............here goes.............."
I got ball python clutch # 68 today..............yada
yada yada.......zzzzzzzzzz..........from breeding
a Red Axant hic
male to a normal female..............9 eggs!!................clutch
# 69 was from breeding a Lesser Platty to
a normal female..............7 eggs!!.............two
nice surprises to go along with the two baby
Lucy boys that hatched today!!...........damn
right baby!!!...............Life is good!!............Louie
and I met up for a late dinner, we were discussing
the snake racks systems that Lou is building
and some "snake talk".............after
dinner we decided to go to his shop and work
on the jigs that he uses to build the rack
levels.............the jig is what holds everything
in place while he welds the frame together..............if
the jig is not perfect...........than your
racks will not be either.............so we
ended up welding until 1:30 in the morning...........but
we got it all done............now Big Lou
has a nice table to work on and the jigs are
dead on!!..........I got home at 2:30 am or
so and decided to do some more office work
and answer a few emails..............paper
work has been piling up lately...............I
ended up going to bed around 4:00 am..................what
a boner!!............zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz............ |
| |
| Thursday_July_31 |
| |
Robbie
is cleaning the snakes today.............I'm
working on the BIG LIST............and man
is it BIG...........I have been working on
organizing the inventory and deciding what
I want to sell all day.............the BIG
LIST is the simplest way to put everything
I have for sale on one page.............Fat
Ass called me after dinner and asked me if
I wanted to go fishing with him and his family..............I
said " NO WAY........I gotta finish the
BIG  LIST"................LOL...........but
I did finally get the damn thing done.............it
is totally current as of right now.............now
all I have to do is keep it current............:)............Fatty
called me later after he was done fishing
and said that they did really well down at
the pond.................we haven't been fishing
there in awhile.............so I figured the
bass would be ready to bite again after the
long break...........Fatty's daughter Autumn
caught a nice large mouth bass on a bobber
and a nightcrawler...............and she reeled
it in all by herself on a 36" kid's rod........LOL.............she
said "Daddy I think I have a Bass"..............and
Fatty said "No Way"................the
next thing he knew..............a big lunker
bass was on it's way to the shore.............Autumn
does like to fish...............my daughter
Brooke gets bored with it............after
awhile all she wants to do is cast out a bobber
with no hook...............she says she just
wants to "practice casting"............LOL................now
" Little Gump" loves to fish...........but
he won't let the bait sit still...........as
soon as it hits the water..............he
is reeling it back in...........KIDS..............we
were all there once.............I wish I could
go back...............:)...............I got
a ton of stuff done on the site today..............and
the Big Damn List is current...............I'm
looking good for the Daytona show.............I
have my banner being made................the
T-shirt art work is in progress.............I
got most of the supplies that I need................now
all I have to do is figure out what "poor"
snakes I want to drag to the show...............ain't
I the biggest ass!!..............What a hypocrite!!..........I
can't help it!!..........another month is
gone...............POOF!!!!!!!.............Jesus............breeding
season is just around the corner?????????................did
I ever mention I'm taking next season off??............LOL..............later!........... |
| |
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