These abbreviations could be really confusing if you have no knowledge of the subject, and still a little confusing once you have heard them all. The best thing to do when you see an abbreviation is to ask the dealer exactly what is meant by any abbreviation he/she is using.
As to the definitions, I have to disagree with Jennifer just a bit; I think she left out something important in the C/B issue. Actually CB, or any of its forms, does not necessarily mean Captive Bred - it can also mean Captive Born and; there can be quite a difference. Of course virtually all snakes that are sold as Captive Bred are also Captive Born; however not all snakes sold as Captive Born are also Captive Bred. The reason being that many snakes which are Captive Born can have been produced from female adults that were captured in the wild while already gravid, thereby they give birth or produce eggs in captivity and the babies are Captive BORN yet not Captive BRED.
Some snake dealers will sell snakes labeled as CH or Captive Hatched, and these would be the same as those Captive Born snakes that were produced from a recently caught gravid female that actually was actually bred while wild. The thing is you cannot depend on a dealer to use the term CH every time to mean Captive Born instead of using CB. Likewise you cannot depend upon CB always meaning Captive Bred instead of Captive Born (Captive Hatched) again especially if the dealer is trying to pull a fast one. You have to ask each and every dealer exactly what they mean by the term CB each time you are thinking of buying a snake. Sure some may lie to you, but most will say what they really mean.
Now if you see the abbreviation: CBB that should mean Captive Born and Bred, thus indicating for sure that the snake's parents were bred in captivity producing the particular snake you are looking at. Again, ask the dealer to be sure. If you are spending your money there is no foolishness in asking to make absolutely certain you are getting what you believe you are paying for.
Another abbreviation you may want to be aware of is: F/T. This one is seen when making reference to what the snake has been eating, such as in eating F/T Hoppers. F/T refers to frozen then thawed (never feed frozen or very cold food to snakes) food items such as rats or mice; in this case at the hopper stage (fairly fully formed small juvenile mouse). F/K would stand for freshly killed. Some BP's will not take F/T rodents as first foods, but may readily take a F/K (still warm) mouse or rat. If you can find a young Ball Python that is taking F/T mice or rats, that is a better choice than one feeding only on live rodents (as long as you are allowed by parents or spouse to keep rodents in the freezer). Dead prey items are less likely to bite back.
N/F is also another term of which to be on the lookout. Don’t buy snakes labeled N/F if it means not feeding. Baby snakes that are not yet feeding are a problem for the dealer (time and effort wise), and some will try to unload these at much lower than normal prices. Unloading them is fine. Buying them is fine too, but only for an experienced snake keeper, not the novice. The headaches you may have trying to get a difficult snake to eat often are not worth the money saved.
You may also see the abbreviation Het., which refers to genetics. It is short for heterozygous. What this means is basically that a snake which is het. has two sets (or more) of alleles (basically genetic controllers) that code for a genetic trait. If the trait is skin color then a het snake usually has alleles that produce not only normal coloration for that species but also for albinism or possibly another color as melanism (het can be for other genetic traits than coloration but in snakes this is almost always to what a breeder is referring when he/she says het). This is important to know if you are a breeder because if you cross a het for albino snake with an out and out albino, then statistically speaking, X percentage of babies will come out normal and the remainder should be albino (more albinos than normals in this example if I remember correctly). However, if you cross a het for albino with another het for albino you will get some albinos but more normals. I do not know the ratios, but you can find out from someone who breeds hets or albinos. Note that most hets are labelled as "Het. For Albino" or a "Het for whatever other trait" for which they are het. Of course the genetics of it is much more complex than what I just explained but it gives you an idea. In Ball Pythons – you are talking expensive as you get into snakes that are het for anything.
There are some other abbreviations out there, but the info above should get you pointed in the right direction if you see any of these more common ones.
Good luck.
Best regards,
Glenn B
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