Yes, I'm going there: any updates on the scaleless gene yet?

Last year I saw TONS of scaleless head "hets" for sale at Daytona, but only one scaleless ball python, which drew a lot of controversy for a variety of reasons. Does anyone here work with scaleless ball pythons, and if so, have you produced any viable homozygous scaleless animals yet? This is a gene I've been interested in for years, but with the community being so secretive with the production of homozygous animals, I'm beginning to worry that there are issues with it, similar to the PE desert gene. Ball python people don't tend to be so secretive showing off new morphs unless there are problems...

Thanks for your input.

dead project

Originally Posted by SPJ

dead project

Por Que?

Dead project? There are 19 hets for sale on MorphMarket. I'm pretty sure it's not dead; it's just far out of the price range of 99% of the market.

EDIT: Not to hijack a thread, but speaking of projects the Pixel Pied project just hit the Reptile Report which is awesome. I forget who it was that started it, but that thread and the name began here on these forums a couple months ago! Pretty cool.

The main concern is that no one has come forward showing off the homozygous snakes. There's been a nasty rumor circulating that the full-blown scaleless animals (which, presumably, is what everyone's goal is to produce) have organ problems and die before they reach maturity. The silence from breeders who are working with this gene is not heartening... one would think that plenty of scaleless animals have been produced if the quantity of hets available is any indication. So... where are they? Why aren't people bragging about a scaleless mojave, pinstripe, pastel, etc.? These are not morphs that are difficult to get, considering the plethora of het combos I saw at Daytona.

The last time the community was this silent on a morph was with the PE dominant deserts, in which females were infertile. A whole bunch of people spent big money to invest in that project, only to have their investment flop when the truth came out. So far the scaleless project seems to be going that route. Ball python people are not introverted... so where are all the scaleless snakes that had to be produced by now?

Originally Posted by snowgyre

so where are all the scaleless snakes that had to be produced by now?

That's what I have been wondering for awhile now. It's one of the reasons I haven't even considered getting into the project yet. Also I have heard that the scaleless balls have more than just internal organ issues. As in complete physiological changes like the absence of heat pits among some other changes.

Honestly I've never been interested in owning one (even if the price was a "normal morph" price). I just don't see why; I like scales. But then again, I'm also really opinionated on that kind of thing. I won't touch anything spider, etc. just because I don't think it's ethical to. But I don't go badmouthing those that do either.

Originally Posted by Deuce

Dead project? There are 19 hets for sale on MorphMarket. I'm pretty sure it's not dead; it's just far out of the price range of 99% of the market.

They are being sold to recoup money before the news about the organ failure issue with the fully scaleless becomes public.
Mr. Smooth.......sold (pawned off after the show last year)......died of organ failure. Even something as simple as eating causes issues with the organs swelling. Give it time. There is a lot of money involved in this project and a lot of hatred and silencing going on behind the scenes. It will eventually not be able to be kept under wraps much longer.
Desert project deja vu all over again.

I'm not a fan of the scaleless, beyond the ethics I don't find them that appealing to look at.


And not to further hijack the post...but I'm the one with the pixel pied project going on. And if my calculations are correct I should have eggs on the 24th. I didn't know my boy made it to the reptile report again!

Originally Posted by phoenix-cry

I'm not a fan of the scaleless, beyond the ethics I don't find them that appealing to look at.

Same here, I never saw the appeal of any of the scaleless snakes.