Desert Ball Pythons

I know that there is a lot of speculation surrounding the Desert. The females have yet to produce viable eggs and it has really affected the price of the snakes. I still don't believe that the Desert Ball Python is the only BP that cannot reproduce. There is a secret that remains to be unlocked. I just wanted to show people what the Desert gene is capable of. Behold, a Desert Enchi Pinstripe.

[img][/img]

Mmm desert mojobee

Pretty!! I love the Desert gene, but that is waaaay out of my price range XD

Stray wrote:

Pretty!! I love the Desert gene, but that is waaaay out of my price range XD

I'm guessing females will fall to $100-200 before the year is out. Mixing in other codoms like the above stunning examples will be more expensive (female Desert Enchi's are going for ~500 now) but you should be able to grab a desert female soon for about the same price as a pastel or spider.

Yeah, I wish the fertility issue was worked out though :/ It's a shame that such a gorgeous morph has such a significant defect...

Jabberwocky Dragons wrote:

Stray wrote:

Pretty!! I love the Desert gene, but that is waaaay out of my price range XD

I'm guessing females will fall to $100-200 before the year is out. Mixing in other codoms like the above stunning examples will be more expensive (female Desert Enchi's are going for ~500 now) but you should be able to grab a desert female soon for about the same price as a pastel or spider.

I've seen at least two different sellers giving away females for free when you buy a male

Focal wrote:

[I've seen at least two different sellers giving away females for free when you buy a male

Yeah and the worst part is the males were priced about half of what they were last year.

While I agree the price will or may drop on female's People will be well upset when they come to find out the female's will reproduce I also find it hard to take in that they don't reproduce or lay good eggs... Personally I think it's either a temp thing or ??? being the combinations of gene's used If memory serve's me correctly and it doesn't always wasn't it the mojave X sable that resulted in non good eggs making it a lethal combination? correct me if I'm wrong but I do believe it was something to with the Sable gene...

Or a weight issue maybe the desert's are a gene where the inside clock of said females grows slower? and in light of this they need age more before being bred? Breeding a BP earlier we all know can have bad result's and even ruin that females chance of reproducing in the most severe cases...?

If desert's have or can been bred with success I don't think we would hear about it as who ever can or figure's out the key on how to do so ( and its been rumored they have ) no proof was shown but it is rumored is it true no one knows for sure I think the project would be under wraps for awhile until they are sure about how to do get them to successfully breed that and the fact they could corner the market on them...

Cp3_Pythons wrote:

While I agree the price will or may drop on female's People will be well upset when they come to find out the female's will reproduce I also find it hard to take in that they don't reproduce or lay good eggs... Personally I think it's either a temp thing or ??? being the combinations of gene's used If memory serve's me correctly and it doesn't always wasn't it the mojave X sable that resulted in non good eggs making it a lethal combination? correct me if I'm wrong but I do believe it was something to with the Sable gene...

Or a weight issue maybe the desert's are a gene where the inside clock of said females grows slower? and in light of this they need age more before being bred? Breeding a BP earlier we all know can have bad result's and even ruin that females chance of reproducing in the most severe cases...?

If desert's have or can been bred with success I don't think we would hear about it as who ever can or figure's out the key on how to do so ( and its been rumored they have ) no proof was shown but it is rumored is it true no one knows for sure I think the project would be under wraps for awhile until they are sure about how to do get them to successfully breed that and the fact they could corner the market on them...

I disagree. If someone has a fertile desert female that laid even one fertile clutch it would be all over the web. I know some guys have secret projects but why would someone keep this under wraps when it's killing the very project they are working with. The weight question has been addressed to some extent as well. This year a couple of 2000 gram females were unsuccessful and I believe one of them died passing a slug.

zues wrote:

Cp3_Pythons wrote:

While I agree the price will or may drop on female's People will be well upset when they come to find out the female's will reproduce I also find it hard to take in that they don't reproduce or lay good eggs... Personally I think it's either a temp thing or ??? being the combinations of gene's used If memory serve's me correctly and it doesn't always wasn't it the mojave X sable that resulted in non good eggs making it a lethal combination? correct me if I'm wrong but I do believe it was something to with the Sable gene...

Or a weight issue maybe the desert's are a gene where the inside clock of said females grows slower? and in light of this they need age more before being bred? Breeding a BP earlier we all know can have bad result's and even ruin that females chance of reproducing in the most severe cases...?

If desert's have or can been bred with success I don't think we would hear about it as who ever can or figure's out the key on how to do so ( and its been rumored they have ) no proof was shown but it is rumored is it true no one knows for sure I think the project would be under wraps for awhile until they are sure about how to do get them to successfully breed that and the fact they could corner the market on them...

I disagree. If someone has a fertile desert female that laid even one fertile clutch it would be all over the web. I know some guys have secret projects but why would someone keep this under wraps when it's killing the very project they are working with. The weight question has been addressed to some extent as well. This year a couple of 2000 gram females were unsuccessful and I believe one of them died passing a slug.

It's rumors that kept the price inflated for so long without any tangible evidence. Now, the professionals are selling off their females because they believe it's not going to be happen and is even dangerous to force the females to breed.

It would be extremely unethical to sell Desert females without disclosing a safe way of breeding them that may not result in their death if the seller knew of such.

Deserts have been out a long time and in lots of experienced hands. We have yet to see females produce. I understand some breeders keeping secrets, but this would be out there somehow. No one keeps secrets that good. I've steered away from Deserts and will continue to do so. There are plenty of other morphs out there to invest in something that is a dead end.

See that's the problem where any breeder/hobbyist that Im aware of are not aware of a way to the best of my knowledge a way to get them to breed successfully there may be a way, or they may simply be nothing more than a lethal gene ( as far as females are concerned

Why that answer is simple money.... yes although unethical I would have to disagree with anyone that say's money and a some fame hasn't made some of the professional big breeders unethical...

Who knows for sure... I don't I know that for sure I don't work with deserts I'll pay a few extra bucks if and when it is ever found out for sure...

desert ghost lemon blast .... mm mm mm, desert definitely ads alot!

Hmm, that's the first I heard about mojave x sables having non good eggs. I just saw a mojave sable female for sale on fauna. They said "rare," and I was wondering why, since it was such a pretty snake. I actually had future plans to breed some of my own.

I agree about the deserts. There are some crazy neat combos, but I will just watch from afar rather than get entangled in projects involving possibly infertile females.

I know this is an old thread but I may be getting a female desert here soon and I wanted to know of any more info that may be out, the web has a bunch of threes but they are all a few years old, so is it fact that the desert females cant lay good eggs?

Desert females do not lay good eggs. Outback reptiles had a desert spider or desert enchi or something of that sort at the show last weekend. It was marked pet only for 150 bucks. I was talking to Josh from Outback and he said that he knew a breeder that bred 29 desert females last year and didn't get a single egg.

I was there when he said it.

Its all good, a guy just got in touch with me and asked if I wanted one that he couldn't keep due to some problems and I figured I would ask lol

They are beautiful though. If I find a multigene female that I like for cheap, I'll jump on it as a pet.

Yeah I really like the look of the desert spiders, they are sharp, its really a shame they have the problems they do

zues wrote:

Desert females do not lay good eggs. Outback reptiles had a desert spider or desert enchi or something of that sort at the show last weekend. It was marked pet only for 150 bucks. I was talking to Josh from Outback and he said that he knew a breeder that bred 29 desert females last year and didn't get a single egg.

My understanding is not only are their eggs infertile, but they're very likely to get egg-bound so there's a high risk of killing the female without a good vet available. It's too bad because it's an awesome gene, but I would never breed for it.

zues wrote:

Desert females do not lay good eggs. Outback reptiles had a desert spider or desert enchi or something of that sort at the show last weekend. It was marked pet only for 150 bucks. I was talking to Josh from Outback and he said that he knew a breeder that bred 29 desert females last year and didn't get a single egg.

I saw it. Priced really cheap. But if someone just wants a cool pet then by any means. The desert is a great morph to buy.