Sub sahara ball python

Hey I love my dinkers

Originally Posted by GREGORY J HALL

I guess sub Saharan is just like the word dinker most be worth more because of a new name somebody made up

A quickie of my big girl.... she is 3750g in these pics and around 12 years old. Has been in captivity for at the least most of her life, she could be captive bred but I don't know, I just know she was a pet for most of her life. She should be having her first clutch this yr. She is massive and built entirely different than my other females who range 1300-2600g (hard to explain, but you can feel it) Huge head on her. I don't know if she is a "Sub-Saharan" but I do believe her size can be attributed to both age and genetics.


here she is with a 1100g male Huffman.

Ya that big head is probally a good indicator. I had a male few years ago was absolutely huge wanna say close to 4000 grams he died from old age. I had him since I was a kid. I should have breed him back then but I was not into breeding then.

"Sub-Saharan"()...and I've also seen these BIG gene girls labeled Voltas, from a specific locale. While size is hereditary, thinking of this as a new gene is kind of ridiculous in my opinion. Logical thinking would lead me to believe...

1) These HUGE girls are older.

2) If they are in fact being collected from a specific locale, the possibility of it being an area that for whatever reason lacks in more formidable predators is a very real one. I would imagine that whatever is preying on ball pythons is very likely also preying on what ball pythons eat, which would, as expected, lead to higher populations of prey items for the ball pythons to eat. I'd compare it to a less stressful environment promoting maximum growth...along the lines of Kodiak bears and Komodo dragons. Sure we would still see giant examples of either, but not nearly as many and as consistently if they were to live in a more competitive environment.

Come on now Abigail, you sure that isn't a child's hand to make the head appear bigger...LOL What a beautiful huge dark girl!!

I have no idea what the deal really is on these but just playing the devil’s advocate; IF there was a region of the ball python range where they specialized in feeding on a larger species (think prairie dogs vs. gophers for a North American example) then seems logical that gene pool might get selected for bigger snakes with bigger heads.

We ultrasounded my WC subsaharan tonight. She's Gravid with 46mm follicles!!! So she's gravid from the wild. I palpated at least 12 follicles when she got here. Hoping for more... We didn't want to try and count them with the ultrasound. She wasn't holding still. Anyway...I'm just excited .

That is awesome! Good luck on your surprise clutch!!

Are all of these "sub saharan" females?

My small subsaharan dropped me 10 good eggs and 1 slug.