Meet Vern

[presspirate]

I picked him up to just a little over an hour ago, it's been a hectic day of running around. I have to say, aside from the fish tank he lived in his living conditions were deplorable.:no: He had no heat. His bedding and climbing things were covered in urates and feces. Water bowl was filthy.
The guy that had him was terrified of him, Never picked him up on feeding day. I was thinking to myself, if you feed this snake 1 live mouse every two weeks, I guarantee he is always hungry. This is one of the calmest most laid back snakes I have had the pleasure of handling.

Currently he is Blue, so I'll be curious to see how he lightens up after his shed.
He is right around 5' long, and a bit underweight. From what I have read from the experts here I may have a chore trying to switch him to F/T rats. He hasn't eaten in two weeks, should I attempt a feeding any time soon, or should I wait another week or two? Should I start with a large rat right away or should I try a small one? Thanks in advance.

And without further ado......Here's Vern:yes::yes::yes:

[Freebody]

for 5 feet he does seem a little underweight, or at least thinner than my adult carpets, but not by much, i would give him the night off and try to feed it tomorow night. if hes nice and calm and does not seem to be stressed out by the move you can try tonight im sure. very nice looking snake tho, cant wait to see pics after his shed.

[presspirate]

Thanks Freebody. I may try him tomorrow, I have him bundled away for the night. Hate to disturb him yet again. So, what do you think? Coastal right? He just doesn't seem to have and diamond patterning on him.

[Lankyrob]

Looks coastal to me, and now he can live his life in luxury with the best care. Fairplay to you mate.

[marvelfreak]

:Wow:Sweet looking coastal x diamond IMO. At that size and with what he been getting fed you could probably start him with a small rat every two weeks. I would try feeding tomorrow night. Best of luck can't wait to see more pic after his shed.

[sephinflames]

He is pretty...but I have to say I vote for a new name for him....

[presspirate]

:no:He is pretty...but I have to say I vote for a new name for him....:no:

Nope, He's Vern.

Thanks Chuck, I'll throw a small rat at him tomorrow and see if he's interested. Man I hope so. :3eyes:

[sephinflames]

:no::no:

Nope, He's Vern.

Thanks Chuck, I'll throw a small rat at him tomorrow and see if he's interested. Man I hope so. :3eyes:


yeah yeah.....:)

[presspirate]

^ HIJACKER! :shocked: :yes:

[sephinflames]

hahahahahaha.....you have snakes to feed, get off the interwebs.

[Freebody]

i think hes a coastal for sure, i dont see any rossetes, but he does have a diamond type of look to him, i mean the golden sclaes. i could see their being some diamond in him, but im not the greatest at looking at snakes and figuring out what morph they are...Yet< :) Imho i would say hes definitly not 100% coastal. oh and theirs nothing wrong with vern, thats my uncles name. :)

[percey39]

He looks good, congratulations! Vern is a good name too.

[shaunyboy]

going by the pics (try and get a coser or larger shot of his pattern.his back and a side).

id say a coastal cross or a jag sibling

i don't see any diamond in him mate

what age is he ?

if he's sub adult he's not too thin .ive found coastals tend to stretch in length fast then fill out later.they would eat all day long if you let them,so imo you would have no problem feeding him up.

nice healthy looking wee carpet and another one for the cause,can't wait to see how many carpets you have this time next year:yes:

cheers shaun

[presspirate]

Thanks Shaun, I'll get better pics once he sheds. The guy had no idea how old he was, Anything I could tell you would be only a guess.

Now for the good news. Nina, (My Nic. Boa) Decided she was not in the mood to eat tonight. So, I took her large rat, re heated it and offered it to Vern. It only took him a few seconds to strike and coil it. YAY! :freakedout: I'll check on him in an hour or so and see how it went, Then I'll leave him be for the next few days.

Currently, I am very relieved!

[presspirate]

he ate it!:yes:

[percey39]

Nice, thats when you know they are good feeders.

[presspirate]

Thanks all for the help and great comments. To celebrate his "Liberation" we listened to Men at Work and Cat Empire on the way home.:yes:

[shaunyboy]

he ate it!:yes:


carpets eat for fun mate especially coastals

your going to have with him mate awsome snakes to work with


the men from down under ?

cheers shaun

[Will0W783]

Poor fellow is definitely underweight...don't you hate when people think they can underfeed their snakes to keep the size down? It doesn't work, you just end up with thin, unhealthy, long snakes instead of fat and happy long snakes. When I got my SD retic, she was 6 feet long and had been getting fed 4 mice every week to keep her size down. At her size they were like toothpicks. She now gets two large rats every other week and has grown 2 feet and filled out to a healthy, but still slender, weight. I've also seen people go the other extreme and blow up snakes like blimps.

[presspirate]

The thing that gets me, is that both the guy and his girlfriend each made it a point to tell me that the snake will ONLY eat live MICE. I offered him the large f/t rat and he took it and gulped it down with no worries whatsoever. I was like, "You people didn't even try!"

Also as I mentioned before, his cage conditions were deplorable :no:

But I'm just happy as can be with him, he fits in nicely with the rest of my collection. Hopefully I'll see him filling out after a couple of feedings.:yes:

[kenchenzo]

nice one mate.

[presspirate]

Snapped a few pics of his back today. May help with his identification. He's pretty calm and very active. I took him out and he was all over the place... and me. I'm still thinking straight coastal. But someone with more experience may see something that I don't.

[Xanafein]

regardless of what exactly vern is he is a beautiful snake, thanks for saving him from deplorable conditions

[Feebo]

His face doesn`t look right for a coastal I don`t think, I`d say he definatly not diamond so that leaves jag sibling for my vote :) Vern is a great name! It`s Sephinflames I`d think about changing... LOL :) I`d have to agree about the weight, they do tend to atretch out before filling out....

[marvelfreak]

I am with Feebo and Shauny after looking at a ton of pics i think it's a Jag sibling.:)

[presspirate]

Thanks guys for your expertise. Now can somebody explain Jag Sibling to me. and everyone else who might have no idea. From what I have been able to glean from the inter googles A jag sibling is a normal coastal without the jag genes. Does that sum it up?

[marvelfreak]

Thanks guys for your expertise. Now can somebody explain Jag Sibling to me. and everyone else who might have no idea. From what I have been able to glean from the inter googles A jag sibling is a normal coastal without the jag genes. Does that sum it up?
That correct, but sibling sometime do have unique color or pattern compared to a normal coastal. Just not the jag gene.

[shaunyboy]

Thanks guys for your expertise. Now can somebody explain Jag Sibling to me. and everyone else who might have no idea. From what I have been able to glean from the inter googles A jag sibling is a normal coastal without the jag genes. Does that sum it up?


the thing that causes the most confusion imo is the jag part

when you put a coastal jaguar with say a jungle

the jaguar gene is a co dominant gene mutation

in theory you would get 50% of the clutch turning out jungle jags the rest would be siblings

a snake is either a jag or it isnt there are no percentages with jags.its either a jag or not.

the siblings in this case would be reffered to as jungle jag siblings

the jags would be called 50% jungle jaguars

50% from the jungle influence

50% from the coastal influence

that aside it would also have 100% jaguar influence from carrying the jag gene which is recognised by the pattern mutation

if you were to put one of these offspring with another jungle they would produce 75% jungle jags and 75% jungle jag siblings

the 75% part would be reffering to the amount of jungle influence in the breeding the other 25% would be the coastal influence

the jaguar part would be reffering to the jag gene they carried which would show visually in the jag pattern they had on them.

the siblings would be just normal carpets with 75% jungle influence and 25% coastal influence.

so when thinking jags as said thee are no percentages of jag it is a jag or it aint.

hope thats not written to fuddled up to understand mate.i have problems when trying to write the jag thing down:wacky:

cheers shaun

[presspirate]

:wacky: I am confused. Genetics confuse me. I have no plans to breed him, but if I were to breed him with say another jag sib, what would I get? What if I bread him to a Jag? :no:

[marvelfreak]

That i am not sure of. I would think a coastal sib x sib, and sib x jag some sweet jag i would think, but i am not sure.

[shaunyboy]

if your coastal sibling is from a coastal x coastal jag pairing

then he is a straight coastal as he does not carry the jag gene

coastal sib x coastal sib = more coastals.no jags as neither of the siblings carry the jag gene.

coastal sibling x coastal jaguar (it carrys the gene)

the jag gene is a co dominant gene so it would in theory produce 50% jags and the rest siblings

it has been said that using a coastal jag sibling with a coastal jaguar produces better looking jaguars than just using a pure coastal

it will click in your head mate it took me a long time to get my head round jag genetics but one day it all just falls into place


you need at least one jaguar in the pairing to produce any jaguars in a clutch

cheers shaun

[presspirate]

So, one could safely assume that siblings would be equally susceptible to the neurological disorders that can affect jags? (I have not noticed this with Vern, but I am curious)

[marvelfreak]

So, one could safely assume that siblings would be equally susceptible to the neurological disorders that can affect jags? (I have not noticed this with Vern, but I am curious)
Very good question now you got me wondering if the sibling could show neurological disorders.

[presspirate]

Very good question now you got me wondering if the sibling could show neurological disorders.

Shaun would probably know the answer. I would think though, coming from the same clutch.....But then genetics kind of baffle me.:crazy:

[marvelfreak]

Shaun would probably know the answer. I would think though, coming from the same clutch.....But then genetics kind of baffle me.:crazy:
Mark might know. Haven't seen him on here in a couple weeks.

[presspirate]

Mark might know. Haven't seen him on here in a couple weeks. I Pm' Shaun and got an answer. (Thanks again Shaun!) Here was his response.

jag sibs
hello greg,as far as i know they are not

it seems to be the jag gene that causes these neuro issues

im thinking since the sibs dont have the gene thats why they show no signs of it

some theorys are that the jag gene causes a tube in the brain to be abscent

when you breed 2 jags together you can produce leusistic carpets

NONE of these have ever lived.the record being a few hours out the egg

most dont make it out the egg

theorys on that are they can breath ok in the egg but have trouble breathing as soon as they are off the ambilical cord

so they think their lungs or part of their breathing system are not properly developed

the jag gene is whats thought to cause the above issues

no one has ever prooved the exact cause of this to my knowledge mate

but the jags as do spider ball pythons can suffer from issues from head wobbles to full corkscrewing even turning upside down and having difficulty righting themselves

2 out of 4 of my jags show very slight signs.usually when excited about food or the first few seconds i take them out their tanks

the other 2 are fine with no symptoms

all the best shaun

[pythonman]

Well looks like i am to late to answer any issues with Vern as that fine fellow Shuanyboy has provided you with all you require.
, but i will say that that carpet after a shakey start should now mature into a healthy and rewarding animal in your capable hands. good on you for taking responsibility on a beautiful animal

[presspirate]

Thanks for the kind words Pythonman! (I feel like I'm talking to a super hero:freakedout:) Seriously though, yeah Vern is a good boy he's only tagged me once, but I took him out anyways and he was just fine. He is very active and curious. I had thought about re homing him at first, but he's family now, so I guess he's stuck with me. I appreciate the wealth of information I have gotten from Shaun and Chuck, and I look forward to getting your input in the times to come. I am learning about breeding different species now, so I will more than likely have many many questions.

[pythonman]

Thanks for the kind words Pythonman! (I feel like I'm talking to a super hero:freakedout:) Seriously though, yeah Vern is a good boy he's only tagged me once, but I took him out anyways and he was just fine. He is very active and curious. I had thought about re homing him at first, but he's family now, so I guess he's stuck with me. I appreciate the wealth of information I have gotten from Shaun and Chuck, and I look forward to getting your input in the times to come. I am learning about breeding different species now, so I will more than likely have many many questions.Presspirate, we are all on a level playing field, and this forum would soon be spoilt if we could not learn from every members acheivements and sadly failures. We all can-not keep every species,we all will have dissapointments, but we all can learn, and we all can support fellow members. Regardless of what colour, country, faith whatever i believe we share a fantastic and rewarding hobby with some of the most facinating animals we share this planet with, there are no pedestals to put people on.... we are here to share experiences, and to do our best for the animals we keep, and i think this forum has the right members at every level to make our hobby even more enjoyable:)

[Lankyrob]

What he said ^^^^^^ :) :) :)