# Ball Python Eggs



## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

I have a female away on breeding loan in Montreal right now. She's a well mannered, very nice and large normal female ball python. She was bred to one of the nicest enchi males that I have ever seen. (Enchi being a type of ball python morph.) Today I got the update... 7 perfect eggs.









I'm crossing my fingers here and hoping that the odds gods are good to us and that we end up with 7 enchi females. But hey, as long as they're healthy and ready for this world, I'll be pleased.

















Now it's another 50-60 days or so til they hatch. Can't wait!


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## SERRAPYGO (Feb 4, 2003)

WooHoo! That's awesome, mettle!









How many of them will be yours?


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## His Majesty (Apr 5, 2005)

woot congrats


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## bigshawn (Dec 29, 2005)

congrats.........what do the parents looks like? (don't know much bout snakes)


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

I'll see if I can rustle up pics of mom and dad and add them to the thread.

Serrapygo... Like all smart breeders, my friend and I worked out a breeding loan contract. I sent a male and a female to him and he in turn provided a male and female as well from his ample collection. Basically my male to one of his females. My female to one of his males. This is the clutch from my female. We're still waiting to see what happens with his female. (She may not even lay. But fingers crossed that she does!) The way we worked it out is that we will pool all babies born into one "bin". I get first pick, as a thank you from my friend for help provided when he underwent a housefire last year (lost everything except his snakes), and he will get second pick but will be able to pick two as compensation for doing all the work (housing, feeding, incubating). From there we will go back and forth picking one and one til they are all gone. SO. If the other snake does not lay I will end up with three babies from these seven eggs, providing they all hatch out and survive (shouldn't be an issue, the eggs look good).

For anyone ever considering a breeding loan of any type DEFINITELY write up a contract. Ours was very extensive. About 4 pages or so if I remember right. It's not that we don't trust each other. I fostered some of his snakes when he had no home. And I have no worries about the level of care he provides at his home. However, at the end of the day, it's best to protect yourself. A contract keeps things from going sour. And all questions, if written properly, are answered within it.

Often breeding loans are not worth the trouble. As something always seems to come up between the two parties. I've seen 10+ year friendships and partnerships come to and end because of a bad breeding loan. However, as I said, we wrote out all the terms and conditions exactly, much like a standard legal document, and we're also not doing it for money. We're doing it because we had snakes we wanted to breed and thought it would be fun. If we end up with 7 normals then so be it. It's about the experience of doing it. Not about making a buck, which is what too many breeding loans are about.


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## psychofish (Jun 5, 2004)

Im not really up on my reptile breeding anymore, but if I remember right your babys can only be het for enchi since your female is normal. You would have to breed your het babies with another snake that is het for or shows the enchi morph to actually have a chance.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

psychofish said:


> Im not really up on my reptile breeding anymore, but if I remember right your babys can only be het for enchi since your female is normal. You would have to breed your het babies with another snake that is het for or shows the enchi morph to actually have a chance.


Do you have any pics of enchi bp's i've never heard or seen any before. If your female is normal, wouldn't that make 7 x 100% hets? Good luck with the hatch


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## Uncle Jesse (Feb 18, 2007)

There is no such thing as a het for enchi. They are co-doms like pastels or spiders. I guess one could look at it like the enchi IS the het, in that if you breed two together you get the super form.

You guys are thinking of recessive morphs like albinos where both parents must be carrying the gene for the baby snake to be an albino. But with co-doms the baby snake only needs one copy of the gene to be the morph, but if they get two they will be the super.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

Foodstamp said:


> There is no such thing as a het for enchi. They are co-doms like pastels or spiders. I guess one could look at it like the enchi IS the het, in that if you breed two together you get the super form.
> 
> You guys are thinking of recessive morphs like albinos where both parents must be carrying the gene for the baby snake to be an albino. But with co-doms the baby snake only needs one copy of the gene to be the morph, but if they get two they will be the super.


 Ok thanks I knew resessive babies could be found easily with punnet squares of the cross, but wasn't sure about co doms. How do you know if a morph is resessive or co dominant? Is it just after they are breb its figured out or do recessive always produce resessive...?


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

These "morph traits" are all mutations. Each mutation is either recessive, dominant or co-dominant. It does not switch. The way you prove traits out is by breeding the animals and seeing what happens. Some recessive projects have taken years to prove out. (And some that people thought might be recessive traits have turned out to be singular mutations not inheritable by the snake's offspring. I believe BHB dropped a LOT, as in $25K or more, on a snake that turned out to be like this.)

I could go through and explain it all, but NERD (New England Reptile Distributors) have some of the best and easily understood info for wrapping your head around things.

Dominant/Co-Dominant Genetics: http://www.newenglandreptile.com/genetics_codom.html

Simple Recessive Genetics: http://www.newenglandreptile.com/genetics_..._recessive.html

And for the adventurous... Double Recessive Genetics: http://www.newenglandreptile.com/genetics_..._recessive.html

Enchis are a co-dominant morph. This means that they have a "super" form. But being co-dominant, the babies have a 50/50 chance of coming out either as a normal or as an enchi... As alluded to, snakes that show the enchi trait could be technically considered the "het" version of the super, but that's all explained in the genetics links posted above.

Also, for those curious to see an enchi, check out NERD's site once again for that: http://www.newenglandreptile.com/nerd/inde...all-python.html

Enchis were first called "enchi pastels" which was just confusing, so they lost the "pastel" at one point to cut confusion between "enchi pastel" and "pastel" and an "enchi x pastel". (Although this confusion still occurs.) Alone, there are few stunning specimens out there. However, the one bred to my female is nicer than any enchi I have ever seen elsewhere (in person or online) so I'm hoping that those genes get passed along. Also, enchis are absolutely amazing in combo-morphs. I hope to get an enchi female out of this batch and in about 3 years' time make myself some enchi x lessers with my lesser male. It's a wild combo that I really love the looks of a LOT. And from that I hope to get a "lesser x enchi" male because in the meantime I'm going to acquire a female pinstripe. And then I'm going to attempt to create a "lesser x pin x enchi". Whoohoo! Dream big.


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## psychofish (Jun 5, 2004)

see told you i wasnt up to speed anymore... lol thanks for clearing that up. good luck with the babies


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## Uncle Jesse (Feb 18, 2007)

Great link mettle. I have a female normal in my rack that has been locking up with my male pastel for the last 5 months. I'm pretty sure I just saw ovulation. This will be my first attempt at breeding. I hope it goes well.


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

That's awesome!

I have 1.1 pastels right now. Don't think I'm going to be keeping them though. I'm changing my mind every other week about what animals I'd like to keep/sell. It's bad... Constantly shifting living situations and futures do that though.


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## SERRAPYGO (Feb 4, 2003)

Mettle said:


> I'll see if I can rustle up pics of mom and dad and add them to the thread.
> 
> Serrapygo... Like all smart breeders, my friend and I worked out a breeding loan contract. I sent a male and a female to him and he in turn provided a male and female as well from his ample collection. Basically my male to one of his females. My female to one of his males. This is the clutch from my female. We're still waiting to see what happens with his female. (She may not even lay. But fingers crossed that she does!) The way we worked it out is that we will pool all babies born into one "bin". I get first pick, as a thank you from my friend for help provided when he underwent a housefire last year (lost everything except his snakes), and he will get second pick but will be able to pick two as compensation for doing all the work (housing, feeding, incubating). From there we will go back and forth picking one and one til they are all gone. SO. If the other snake does not lay I will end up with three babies from these seven eggs, providing they all hatch out and survive (shouldn't be an issue, the eggs look good).
> 
> ...


Wow! Very involved. But, good thinking and planning. Judge Judy would be proud!


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