I am at a bit of a disadvantage here because, while I have a fair amount of experience with African rocks, I haven't had one in my care for 7-8 yrs. That said, in looking at the pics posted, I see a few things that seem a little off...but not necessarily enough to discount natural aberrancies. Couple that with having only seen a few pics of cateaters, and I am in no position to offer an opinion on this particular snake.
I mean no disrespect to the people that stated they think this snake is a pure rock, but this isn't as simple as disputing whether something is a boa or a ball python (or correcting that their sunglow appears to be just an albino). I've seen people that were advertising a jungle carpet change their ad to jungle/diamond cross based on the opinion of a person that looked at the pictures...and I liken this situation to that. I'm all for honesty in advertising, so I understand not wanting to misrepresent the snake....but just randomly changing the label - ESPECIALLY with a possible hybrid - isn't the way to do it (IMO). Be open about the situation...nothing wrong with stating that you acquired the snake as a cateater, but some people have expressed that they think it might just be a rock python. Full disclosure - no opening for criticism (except by the people that just want to jump on the hybrid issue).
Regarding the picture of the cateater - I once had a rock that was very similar in appearance to that snake. I know it wasn't a cateater, because he was a fresh import...though I suppose somebody could have released a burm in Africa, which then grew up to produce that snake . Would it be appropriate for me to call that rock a cateater, simply because he looked like a picture I saw? What if I were to contact champ641, and tell him that his cateater is only a rock - because it looks just like a WC rock I owned? What would people think if champ then changed the label on his cateater just because I said it looked like a rock? What if champ then posted in a BOI thread about the breeder that sold him the cateater - stating that the breeder ripped him off by selling a plain ol' rock python as a cateater?
. Would it be appropriate for me to call that rock a cateater, simply because he looked like a picture I saw? What if I were to contact champ641, and tell him that his cateater is only a rock - because it looks just like a WC rock I owned? What would people think if champ then changed the label on his cateater just because I said it looked like a rock? What if champ then posted in a BOI thread about the breeder that sold him the cateater - stating that the breeder ripped him off by selling a plain ol' rock python as a cateater?
