Green Swamp Herpetological

25/06/2024

We’re getting about 100 new signatures a day but we can do better!
Please sign and share, and email gophergamesfilm@gmail if you want the flyers to print out for places around your county!

www.change.org/fwc_reform_petition

20/08/2023

Introducing Super Pastel Drip!

This girl was a little surprise from one of our pairings this year. This appears to either be incomplete dominant, with this being the “super form” or polygenic. Named dually for the drippy appearance of the pattern and because she’s got that drip!

Her clutch mates also appear to share characteristics of the phenotype with her, but not to the extreme she has.

Pairing was Super Pastel VPI Axanthic Genetic Stripe x Pastel Het Genetic Stripe, PH VPI Axanthic. There are no other known phenotypes that could result from the pairing than Super Pastel.

07/05/2023

21 June 2023

Available Ball Pythons

Proven Breeder Males:

Pastel Enchi Candino
Vanilla Cream Pewterblast
Banana Mojave Pewter Vanilla 50% PH Pied
Super Vanilla Cinnamon Pinstripe 50% PH Orange Hypo
Pastel Super Enchi 100% Het Orange Hypo
Pastel 100% DH Citrus Hypo Pied
*Unnamed New Gene* (Resembles a less extreme Acid) Pastel 100% DH VPI Axanthic Clown
*Unnamed New Gene* 100% DH VPI Axanthic Clown

Proven Breeder Females:

Cryptic Pastel
Crypton Lesserbee
Enchi
Vanilla Pewter
Vanilla 100% Het Orange Hypo
Pastel 100% Het Genetic Stripe (Poss Het VPI Axanthic) x 2
VPI Snow
100% Double Het VPI Axanthic Genetic Stripe
100% Het Piebald
Pastel Enchi Spotnose 100% Het Orange Hypo
Enchi Spotnose 100% Het Orange Hypo
Vanilla Enchi Orange Hypo
Pastel Lesser Enchi 100% Het Orange Hypo
Pastel 100% DH VPI Axanthic Orange Hypo (True Ghost)

1kg+ Females

Mojave Piebald (One Probable Pastel) x 3
Pewter Vanilla 50% PH Pied
G-Stripe Pastel 50% PH VPI Axanthic
A++ Pastel Enchi 100% Het Orange Hypo
Lesser 100% DH VPI Axanthic Clown
Bullseye (Likely new line of Trick) Fire 50% PH Albino
Bullseye Pinstripe 50% PH Albino
Pastel 100% DH Citrus Hypo Pied x 2
100% DH Citrus Hypo Pied x 4

Juveniles

1.0 Super Vanilla Banana Pewter Mojave
0.1 Super Vanilla Banana Pewter

Neonates

2.0 G-Stripe Pastel 100% Het VPI Axanthic (Funky Patterns)
0.1 Pastel VPI Axanthic G-Stripe

16/02/2023

Evidence suggests that snakes can hear, but how snakes naturally respond to sound is still unclear. We conducted 304 controlled experiment trials on 19 snakes across five genera in a sound-proof room (4.9 x 4.9 m) at 27ºC, observing the effects of three sounds on individual snake behavior, compared...

02/12/2022

This VPI Axanthic Super Pastel Enchi 66% PH Orange Hypo boy is currently on sale for $850 shipped through this weekend! Don't miss out on a chance to up your True Ghost game! https://www.morphmarket.com/us/c/reptiles/pythons/ball-pythons/963883

28/11/2022

Enter Today and you could win a Trio of Captive Born Borneo Earless Monitors (Lanthanotus borneensis) complete with cleared CITES import documents!

28/11/2022

"For more than 20 years, the St. Louis Zoo, the Missouri Department of Conservation and other agencies have worked together to turn back the clock and save the hellbenders, and believe their work has given the salamanders at least another 30 years. Their numbers have declined by 70% since 1990.

In August, the zoo and MDC celebrated the milestone of releasing the 10,000th hellbender raised in captivity back into native waters, and have since released hundreds more. They bred their first Ozark hellbenders in captivity in 2011 after a decade of trying.

The zoo has the only facility in the world that keeps and breeds Ozark hellbenders, with a few universities working at a smaller level with Eastern hellbenders. Both species, who have slight differences in size and color, are federally protected in Missouri. Missouri is the only state that has both kinds.

"From a natural history standpoint, they are one of the most specialized vertebrates on the planet. They are very exotic and bizarre and weird," says Justin Elden, the zoo's curator of herpetology."

"Elden is also the director of the St. Louis Zoo WildCare Institute Ron and Karen Goellner Center for Hellbender Conservation. It's a series of four rooms in the basement of the zoo's herpetarium, as well as two rectangular-shaped pools behind the building. The pools simulate wild streams and serve as breeding areas.

About 2,000 hellbenders in various stages of development, from egg to adult, are being raised at the center now. Fall is hellbender breeding season, with males staying back at the nest guarding clutches of eggs they've fertilized until they're ready to hatch."

Read full article here:
https://phys.org/news/2022-11-hellbenders-st-louis-experts-struggling.html

12/11/2022

Early look at two freshly hatched boys from a pairing of Banana Mojave Pewter Vanilla 50% Het Pied x Blackhead Red Gene Ringer Gene!

09/11/2022

For a pretty simple combo, we are pretty happy with how Mojave and Vanilla work together. This girl has the bonus addition of being Het Pied. She is in the holdback rack for now, but some of her siblings are available and currently listed on MorphMarket! Link in our bio!

06/11/2022

03/11/2022

Hearing Tomorrow on Injury and Escape Rule!

Open to the Public. Members of the Public may speak.

USARK FL requested a hearing on the Injury and Escape Rule, which was passed unanimously at the July FWC meeting.

Friday November 4, 2022, from 10am EST with an end time of no later than 5pm.
Location: FWC Bryant Building, 620 South Meridian Street, Tallahassee

The Commission is considering proposed amendments to rules 68A-6.001, 68A-6.009, and 68A-6.018, Florida Administrative Code (F.A.C.), concerning the relevant part of reporting of injuries and escapes involving captive wildlife.

https://www.flrules.org/gateway/View_Notice.asp?id=26415057

This rule requires license holders to report all injuries to members of the public and "serious bodily injuries" to themselves to FWC. It requires reporting of all escapes of animals to FWC. Injuries or escapes may be considered violations, and violations may result in loss of license, which may result in forfeiture of animals.

At the July meeting, staff said that the primary reason for the rule was "data collection." Major Grant Burton said that injuries were being underreported.

This rule compels citizens to report injuries of themselves to the government, seemingly violating the right to privacy found in the 14th Amendment. It also compels citizens to report themselves for potential violations, seemingly violating the 5th Amendment, which protects against self incrimination.

This rule places license holders who host volunteers at risk. Volunteers are treated the same as "members of the public," and any injury, even a scratch, must be reported. Hours of experience are required for several licenses issued by FWC. These hours are acquired by volunteering or working for a license holder.

01/11/2022

Before you remove the yellow by adding Axanthic to the animal in our previous post, you would have one of these!

This boy is a Super Pastel Enchi with a 66% chance each at being Het Orange Hypo and VPI Axanthic. Enchi combos seem to be wildly variable, making it difficult to present a photo of a "good example" of many of them. Because of this, when it comes to identifying hatchlings, you will be best off referencing against other clutchmates or prior clutches produced by the same animals versus other breeders' photos to correctly identify what you have made. I believe a lot of this variation is due to polygenic influences on the appearance of individual lines of animals.

Again, with the possibility of Hypo in the clutch, this boy was identified due to the pattern visible in his sheds. He is available on MorphMarket! Link in bio!

30/10/2022

Been slacking on posting lately. Still have a handful of 2022 babies available, with several more clutches still cooking and even one more female due to drop eggs in a few weeks!

This boy came from a pairing of Pastel Enchi x Pastel, both DH VPI True Ghost. Held him back a couple sheds because I wasn't 100% sure if he was Orange Hypo or just Super Pastel. There was pattern visible in his sheds, so I have determined him to not be Hypo. He is a Super Pastel VPI Axanthic with a 66% chance of being Het Orange Hypo, and he is available now on MorphMarket! https://www.morphmarket.com/us/c/reptiles/pythons/ball-pythons/963883 #

P.S. We did luck out, and hit the odds on a True Ghost in the clutch - this boy's brother, a Super Pastel Enchi True Ghost! He is a holdback, though!

29/10/2022

Using new features implemented by MorphMarket, you can now receive notifications when an animal you are looking for is added to the site. We created the link below that you can use if you would like to be notified when we add any new animals for sale!

25/09/2022

If there isn't a children's show with a snake named Coach Whip, that's a missed opportunity!

This pretty Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum) took offense to me mowing the lawn, and even more offense for me tapping it's tail to try to get it to move for a better photo. This photo was taken when the animal doubled back to give me the business after the unwanted touching, haha!

06/08/2022

We still have several gravid females here late in the season. This seems to be fairly common here in Florida. I've had clutches as late in the year as Christmas Day, and even clutches from one year's pairings that aren't laid until early the next year. As long as we observe pairs locking up, we keep putting them together!

This clutch was laid last night. The pairing was Banana Mojave Pastel Cinnamon Vanilla 50% PH Piebald x Piebald. I'd love to see this boy prove out, because we have missed making a Banana Mojave Piebald several years in a row now.

Keep track of this and all of our other clutches in the new Offspring Groups section under our profile on MorphMarket! https://www.morphmarket.com/stores/greenswampherp/offspring/?status=current

26/07/2022

This female was in the lone surviving egg from a pairing of Banana Mojave Pewter PH Pied x Pewter last season. She is a Pewter Mojave - not the "best" combo that we could have made in the clutch by any stretch, but we were still happy with how she turned out. She is spoken for, but you can see the rest of our available animals on MorphMarket! https://www.morphmarket.com/us/c/reptiles/pythons/ball-pythons?store=greenswampherp

24/07/2022

From our pairing of Super Enchi Het Orange Hypo x Pastel Lesser Enchi Het Orange Hypo, we hatched 3 Super Enchis! 1.1 Pastel Super Enchi and 1.0 Super Enchi. We missed on making the Super Enchi Lesser combo we wanted, but did make a beautiful Super Pastel Lesser Enchi Hypo girl. These have all had their first few meals with no issue, and will be listed on MorphMarket soon! https://www.morphmarket.com/us/c/reptiles/pythons/ball-pythons?store=greenswampherp

23/07/2022

This little VPI Axanthic Enchi has had his first few meals, and is now ready to find a new home. The pairing was Pastel Enchi x Pastel, both DH VPI True Ghost, so he has a 66% chance of being Het Orange Hypo as well. Check him and his clutchmates out in our Offspring Groups on MorphMarket! https://www.morphmarket.com/offspring/?status=current

20/07/2022

This beautiful girl is an Ashen Super Pastel Superstripe! Ashen results in a lighter overall color, increased blushing, and reduced eye stripes Admittedly this is not the best combo to illustrate all of those traits, but we are happy with how she turned out!

It has been a slow start, and we are just beginning to scratch the surface of combos with this mutation! We now have an ovulation from an Ashen x Ashen pairing (took forever to hatch a male) to hopefully determine if we are looking at dominance or incomplete dominance.

17/07/2022

Still about an hour left of World Snake Day, and I realized it's been a while since I've posted any native species. So here is one each of our native ratsnakes: Red Ratsnake (aka. Cornsnake) - Pantherophis guttatus and Yellow Ratsnake - Pantherophis alleghaniensis (I'd argue to tack quadrivittata on the end as a subspecies to distinguish between other members of the species that all got recently lumped together). Love finding both species, but the yellows are a little more common here, so the red was a treat!

16/07/2022

Happy World Snake Day! Take a moment to appreciate these fascinating creatures!
Pictured: Super Pastel Piebald Ball Python female

15/07/2022

Hypo is an interesting case in Ball Pythons. Originally in the species the term became synonymous with Ghost, which was generally reserved for a dihybrid cross of Hypo and either Axanthicism or Anerythrism. The term was also originally shortened from Hypomelanism. However, recently it has come to light that Hypopigmentation actually better explains the phenotype. This is because all pigment - not just melanin - appears to be reduced. This helps explain the significant difference in appearance from T+ Albino mutations that result in some melanin synthesis (humorously enough, those "Albinos" are technically actually true forms of Hypomelanism, where only melanin is reduced). There are a few different recessive mutations that result in Hypopigmentation - by far the most prevalent being Orange Hypo. We currently work with this line and the less common Citrus Hypo (lot of folks are sleeping on Citrus Hypo). This boy pictured is a feisty little Enchi Orange Hypo. We have always been selective about the quality of animals we select for our collection, and I think he is a great demonstration of why it's a good policy to have! He is currently available on MorphMarket! https://www.morphmarket.com/us/c/reptiles/pythons/ball-pythons?store=greenswampherp

13/07/2022

Realized I've never posted photos of this boy. Super Vanilla Banana Mojave Pewter Ball Python. He is a holdback, and I can't wait to make more Super Vanilla combos with him!

12/07/2022

This awesome Superstripe female has been here a while and could use a new home! Check her out on MorphMarket! https://www.morphmarket.com/us/c/reptiles/pythons/ball-pythons/870237

11/07/2022

This pretty little fella is a Banana Cinnamon Vanilla Ball Python. He hatched out from a pairing of Banana Pewter Mojave Vanilla Poss. Het Piebald x Vanilla Het Orange Hypo. Love how he turned out! Decent chance he's Het Hypo, very small chance he's also Het Pied. He is currently available on MorphMarket! https://www.morphmarket.com/us/c/reptiles/pythons/ball-pythons?store=greenswampherp

10/07/2022

Hatched this beautiful Super Pastel Lesser Enchi Orange Hypo girl from a pairing of Pastel Super Enchi x Pastel Lesser Enchi, both Het Orange Hypo! She's a holdback for now, but her siblings will be available soon! 3 Super Enchis in the clutch, all will be available on MorphMarket once they have taken 3 meals! In the meantime, check out our currently available animals here: https://www.morphmarket.com/us/c/reptiles/pythons/ball-pythons?store=greenswampherp

10/07/2022

Have you seen the Offspring Groups addition to MorphMarket yet? We have our clutches from 2019 up through this season so far up to date! (Yes, the most recent female to lay hers slugged out). For next season, we will begin posting pairings so you can see what we have going on, reserve potential offspring from particular pairings, and plenty of other fun stuff! Check it out here: https://www.morphmarket.com/stores/greenswampherp/offspring/?status=current

16/06/2022

The first few babies have emerged from Ball Python Clutch 2022-06!

This was a pairing of a male Pastel Enchi to a female Pastel - both Double Het VPI Axanthic Orange Hypo (aka. True Ghost)!

Think I may have just have done it with this one! 😎