#spider morph

I put her on the stick so that I could spot clean and she did not approve or appreciate it

I got to hold a baby beardie! They're soooo tiny and so cute <333 seeing the other adult beardies made me realize that my girl Tanzi was TINY. She was just a little lady compared to the others! Also I may or may not have cried a lot a little when I pet a beardie again for the first time.

There were so many cool and pretty and unique animals I am so sad I can't share more of them. I love all the ball python morphs and now im more determined than ever to get my own little fella. I think I'll go with a pastel morph if I can, they're so pretty to me. Also reminder please do not support the spider morph it causes neurological defects in the snakes and that is not good it is unethical.

I think if I had to pick a winner for the most unique animal I found it would be this scaleless (aka silky) bearded dragon

Everyone say hi to Tipsy!

@i-m-snek made me a little monty boddle! :-) looking forward to when he sheds so I can keep a piece of it in there. What a sweet idea!

They're the original wobbler. These days there are many genes that wobble, but spiders were the first. Wobble = snake lacks motor control and ability to tell up from down, leading their movements to be unnatural, frightening, "corkscrewing" and at rest they wobble around.

For decades people have insisted this was fine, it could be bred out. People insisted that THEIR spiders didn't wobble, only the spiders of THOSE OTHER BAD BREEDERS wobbled. They just needed some outcrossing and it would be fine, which they had "responsibly" done!

Of course none of this was true. Spiders have been around for ~25 years and they wobble now just as much as they did back then, and they're one of the most outcrossed, possibly THE most outcrossed, gene in ball pythons.

The gene that causes the pattern mutation also causes an inner ear deformity leading to terrible balance issues. It is also random, as in the baby can have it worse than the parent, and vice versa. Some have it so bad they have to be euthanized at hatching. It can't be bred out, they all have it to varying degrees.

Relevant study

If the "we can breed it out!" and "MY spiders DON'T wobble, unlike those other bad breeder's spiders!" rhetoric sounds familiar, it should. You will hear that same song regarding any mutation that is tied to something detrimental, and breeders who invested thousands into their projects are seldom easily deterred.

Literally the only case I've heard of where the pattern/color mutation was NOT tied to the detrimental effect is the granite morph in carpet pythons. When this morph was new, it was inbred to hell and back which lead to kinked spines and short lifespans, weakness, failure to thrive, etc. It was so bad that the entire gene was nearly lost at one point. After more people got this morph and outcrossed it appropriately, these negatives disappeared and the gene is much healthier these days. These weaknesses were due to the inbreeding, not to the morph itself, and it did not take long to figure this out.

(One thing of note, I do think the lavender morph in false water cobras can be saved much the same way, but jury is still out. Right now they have the same problems the granite carpets did, but they were similarly inbred and mass produced horrifically.)

I made a little Hecken boop noodle :3 their name is Spinner and I love them!