• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Our Pastel Has an Overbite

ClairJ246

ClairJ246

New member
Joined
Apr 8, 2011
Messages
57
Reaction score
1
Points
0
Location
Layton, UT, United States
We purchased an early 2010 male Pastel from a friend who we have bought MANY snakes from and we trust completely. I never asked him where he got our boy from (I can if it matters) but he said that the snake came with a short bottom jaw. He says its from bad incubation, and that it will grow out soon. He is a wonderful eater topping at 505 grams. He hasn't eaten for us just because he was stressed from the move, then we had an accident with him where he got stuck on a bar and was smashed in our new tank and broken a large number of ribs. Don't worry that bar was quickly cut off. He is ok, moving everything and just has a few scraps. We are just giving him a rest and healing him up. He's feeding on sm f/t rats. I guess the reason Im posting all this is Im wondering if he will restore that bottom jaw, and does it affect his value if we were to sell him. I have a pic of just his colors, not his jaw. Ill get one up soon.

Senor.jpg
 
Sounds like a birth defects that will stay that way, especially if he is already 500g.

If he is gonna be a pet then great! But I wouldn't breed him for fear of passing it on.
 
wikidkitty said:
Sounds like a birth defects that will stay that way, especially if he is already 500g.

If he is gonna be a pet then great! But I wouldn't breed him for fear of passing it on.
Click to expand...

:iagree: As far as his value, I would certainly think that the birth defect would effect his value.

How long have you had him? How long ago were his ribs broken? And what did you mean when you said, "He is ok, moving everything and just has a few scraps."?
 
Looks like this guy has been through a lot! As far as value, unfortunately with such a large flaw he's worthless as a breeder. However he's priceless as a loving pet! I would go back to the guy that you purchased him from and ask for a refund (with you keeping the snake). It was *very* unethical of him to sell you a snake with a lower jaw and tell you that he'd 'out grow it'. That's a defect of the bone and will never change.
 
With friends like that who needs .....NVM
I agree with Lauren, the snake is not worth anything as a breeder and is a rescue
at this point and needs to be treated as such.
IMO the snake has been damaged and has no monetary value.

then we had an accident with him where he got stuck on a bar and was smashed in our new tank and broken a large number of ribs. Don't worry that bar was quickly cut off. He is ok, moving everything and just has a few scraps. We are just giving him a rest and healing him up
Click to expand...
Who told you the ribs were broke?
I'd hope a vet but it doesn't sound like it...
 
Why could it not be a breeder? The overbite isn't genetic, doesn't hinder food consumption, and won't make breeding difficult or painful. Just curious as to the opinions on this. Spiders, caramels, and super cinny's are all produced knowing the outcome could be genetic deformities. They are prepared for the worst that could happen, why not with this snake? Not looking to argue, just curious.
 
It could be genetic, it's not worth the risk. Just cause this seller said it was from a bad incubation doesn't mean that's true. There are any number of reason that the jaw could have been malformed and genetics is up there on the list. As for breeding others with possiablity of genetic defaults like wobble a good breeder will only breed his/her animals with the *least* amount of these faults in hopes of reducing them. A good breeder wouldn't take a spider with a horrendous wobble and breed it even if the wobble didn't effect it's ablity to breed.
 
Focal X said:
Why could it not be a breeder? The overbite isn't genetic, doesn't hinder food consumption, and won't make breeding difficult or painful. Just curious as to the opinions on this. Spiders, caramels, and super cinny's are all produced knowing the outcome could be genetic deformities. They are prepared for the worst that could happen, why not with this snake? Not looking to argue, just curious.
Click to expand...

How do YOU know the overbite isn't genetic? I could just be in his gene pool. You don't know if it is, but why take the risk?
 
I realized that post didnt capture what I was actually thinking. I'm not trying to say the guy is lying or not, but we haven't seen the jaw yet and going off what was told, let's say it isn't genetic. Would it be a personal preference or something unhealthy for the snake? I don't think it would be passed on if it wasn't genetic but I have not the experience to say it isn't possible. I'm really looking for reasons why he would not be a good breeder if it isn't genetic.
 
If you could be 100% certian that the jaw wasn't genetic then 'yes' the snake could be a breeder. It is just that when you are breeding you should only breed the best of the best (if you want to be a good ethical breeder) and breeding an animal with an obvious deformity is not good breeding practice. It is one of those deals where it would be a risk, and you'd have to be ready to deal with the consequnces of having babies with deformities.
 
I agree with Lauren, breeding it would be irresponsible because he doesn't know for a fact why the snake is deformed.
His friend lied about the deformity fixing itself, what's keeping him from lying about why it happened?
 
Focal X said:
I realized that post didnt capture what I was actually thinking. I'm not trying to say the guy is lying or not, but we haven't seen the jaw yet and going off what was told, let's say it isn't genetic. Would it be a personal preference or something unhealthy for the snake? I don't think it would be passed on if it wasn't genetic but I have not the experience to say it isn't possible. I'm really looking for reasons why he would not be a good breeder if it isn't genetic.
Click to expand...

I haven't read the second page yet so I dont know if anyone has elaborated on this so here it goes:
Okay so say the owner of this pastel decides to breed it to iunno... A spider female. Now I buy a bee female from him cause none of the babies had the defect the father had and was told it wasn't genetic and was an incubation issue. Okay fine. Few years go by, I breed that said bee to an unrelated male, let's say a pastel butter. Okay so the bee drops 6 eggs. One killer butter bee (killer queen), two killer bees, bee, super pastel, butter bee. In other words AWESOME ODDS from the morph gods. Okay so I'm ecstatic! Then all the babies come outta the eggs..... Every single one has the same deformation their granddad had. You bet I would be contacting an attorney. One cause I'm out a lot of time and money and the bee female I bought and raised is worthless and all my hard work is for nothing basically. So worse case scenario is that pastels jaw is genetic and the person could expect a lot of law suits in the future. Cause if any buyer is like me I would get it in writing guaranteeing that the jaw problem isn't genetic. So it is worth it in the end to breed something that could possibly be genetic? Heck no!!! Every breeder/hobbyist has to look at every angle of every situation and think of all the what ifs and if the what ifs are actually worth it. In this case I would say no. Not only would the owner of the pastel have one suit on him but they can expect multiples from ever person that bought babies from them and was promised it wasn't genetic. All it takes is for one person to have it in writing.
 
Matt2979 said:
:
How long have you had him? How long ago were his ribs broken? And what did you mean when you said, "He is ok, moving everything and just has a few scraps."?
Click to expand...

We had him for about a month before the accident where his ribs were broken. His ribs were broken a month ago. And what I meant was that he wasn't paralized, his body formed back to a normal shape. When I found him he was fairly flat. Im lucky he didnt suffocate.
 
Alright guys, it took me a while to get pictures up and I apologize! I want you to know that he is eating, and that we have not bred him. He was purchased for that, but if it turns out we can't he will be kept and loved. I have talked to Josh Ketchum of Jeremy Stone Reptiles and he also said it was an incubation issue. Im not saying that it is, just throwing that info out. Forgive me for the multiple replies, I dont know how to quote in one post! Here are the pics

bite 2.jpg
bite.jpg
 
snakesRkewl said:
Who told you the ribs were broke?
I'd hope a vet but it doesn't sound like it...
Click to expand...

No it was not a vet. But when you come home and his lower body is trapped between a bar and the top of the cage, and he is almost flat, then it doesn't take a vet to know he has broken ribs. I wish I had taken photos but I was in such shock and distress that it wasn't what I was thinking of first.
 
Back
Top