January 10,2012 Well the first post of 2012 is good and bad...first on a personal note, today 3 years ago Daddy died. He was a great man and I miss him dearly every single day. On to the snakes, I had a first this past weekend. Even though inventory was low, I completely sold out at Repticon Charlotte!! That was a great feeling but will limit us to no more shows until probably July. Breeding going good and starting to see some ovulations. We look forward to our best season yet. Thanks to all of you, its gonna be hard to beat 2011!!! I will once again track all clutches on here and will have pics on Facebook. Look me up if we are not already friends. My personal page is, Frankie Burney, and my business page is Fat Boys Ball Pythons. Get ready 2012 here we come!! If you havent already got a Fat Boys animal in your collection then 2012 will definatly be the year to do so!!! Later...........Frankie December 23, 2011 Wow...been a while since I blogged. First of all...MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone. I hope you have a fun and safe holiday season. Breeding season is in full swing. We are doing several recessive breeding including Pieds, Albinos, Caramels, and Hypos. We are doing lots of codom X codom breedings this season too. Some of the highlight breedings are LesserBee X BumbleBee, Lesser X Enchi, Black Pastel X Lesser, Lesser X Pinstripe, Mojave X Mojave, LesserBee X Spider and many more. We are also still doing our codom X normal pairings for the show circuit. Things are looking good and this should prove out to be the best year at Fat Boys yet!!! Later.........Frankie November 7, 2011 The old saying Gotta take the bad with the good is a must to live by in the reptile business. After getting skunked in Atlanta last month we had a great Columbia show this weekend!! Thanks to everyone who stopped by and visited, hung out, and bought animals. Everyone needs a Fat Boys animal on their collection!! September 26, 2011 Time to rant a little (I very seldom do that) I love the reptile industry. I love working with the animals, I love doing shows, but I hate the DRAMA involved. I have never been a big fan of drama. Before, during, and after shows all you heard is this vendor talking crap about that vendor...one promoters show is better than the others...complaining about the venue...trying to steal sales...undercutting each others prices...complaining about who they are set up beside...worried about who is making more money than them, you cant spend it. I have been guilty of complaining every now and then but I will not get caught up in the DRAMA. I will keep a level head and open mind. I challenge others in the reptile industry to do the same. Love each other and stop the DRAMA. If you cant say anything good....well, you know the rest!!! September 22, 2011 Well the bator is off...the last albino egg went bad. I had a great year, guess albinos were just not in the plans. Now the breeding starts all over again so I can fill it up again with bigger and better things!!...Later.......Frankie September 11, 2011 GOD BLESS THE USA!!!!!!!!!!!!! September 11, 2011 Just organized and weighed females preparing for the 2011-12 breeding season. This season I will be breeding a total of 48 females including 17 Morph females and 7 recessive hets. September 10, 2011 Fat Boys Ball Pythons has moved up into modern technology. I now have a smart phone with a credit card reader. Can even take cards over the phone. So you have no excuses now...Buy a snake!! September 9, 2011 With my computer crashing I have not updated my last few clutches. #17 was 0.4 normals. #18 was great.. 2.1 spider/fires and 1.1 fires. #19 not bad either. 2.0 pewters and 1.2 pastels. August 29, 2011 Clutch #16 are out of the eggs. Got 1.1 Pieds, 0.2 Het Pieds, and 0.1 Het Pied Ringer. August 22, 2011 Clutch #14 are out of the eggs...Got 0.1 Pastel, 0.1 Spider, and 1.0 Bee. Had a normal die in the egg. Clutch #15 is also out. Only one egg survived, got 0.1 Het Hypo. August 18, 2011 Clutch #13 are out of the eggs. One egg went bad during incubation, ended up with 1.0 normal and 0.1 Mojave. August 15, 2011 Looks like the 2011 season may be over. Have 4 or 5 more girls that I thought may go but they are eating weekly now and just not acting the part. I am VERY happy with my season and look forward to starting all over again in a couple months!!...........Later.........Frankie August 14, 2011 All of clutch #12 are out of the eggs....Got 1.1 normals and 0.2 Super Cinnys. Was hoping for a male super but I will take the little girls. August 13,2011 Clutch #11 are out of the eggs...Got 1.2 normals and 1.2 Cinnys. One Super Cinny has came out in clutch #12. Its a female and has a slight duckbill. I think its cute. Will have some decisions to make with her. Maybe the 2nd one will be a male. August 11, 2011 Clutch #10 are out of the eggs...Got 1.2 normals, 2.1 Mojaves, and 1.0 Super Mojave BEL. The BEL is definately a keeper!!! August 10, 2011 Clutch #9 are out of the eggs...2.1 normals and 0.3 Pinstripes. August 5, 2011 Clutch #8 are out of the eggs. Ended up with a female Caramel and 1.4 possible het Caramels. The little Caramel chick is perfect!! No runs, no kinks, no errors....later....Frankie August 3, 2011 First of all I want to say happy birthday to my wife, Christy. She is my best friend, my herp partner, my life. Love you Babe. Clutch #7 are out of the eggs. 0.1 normal and 2.2 Yellowbellies. Good looking YBs but nothing like last year. The Caramel is out and its a female. Sure was hoping she would be a he!!!!.....Later.....Frankie August 2, 2011 Clutch #6 has hatched...we got 1.0 normals and 3.1 Black Pastels!! I will take that!!! July 22, 2011 Clutch # 5 are out of the eggs. 2 eggs went bad in the bator. Ended up with 0.1 normals and 2.2 black pastels...Great odds!!!! July 19, 2010 Clutch #4 are out of the eggs...not good odds, morph wise or sex wise. Ended up with 4.1 normals and 3.0 Lessers. July 18, 2011 2011 Clutch #20 is in the bator. Albino X Het Albino. 4 good eggs, 1 slug. With 20 clutches, 104 viable eggs, and 5 or so more clutches to be laid, this is by far the best season ever here at Fat Boys Ball Pythons. We love working with the animals. Thanks to you all. Later............Frankie July 17, 2011 2011 clutch #19 is in the bator. Cinny/Blk Pastel X Pastel. 5 good eggs. Really need a male Pewter. July 16, 2011 2011 clutch #18 is in the bator. Pastel/Pin/Fire/Bee X Spider. 5 good eggs. Witnessed locks from the Pin and Fire. Will take what I get but Fireflys will be nice! Ball Blog July 10, 2011 Clutch #17 is in the bator. This is a dinker male I call an IMG X normal female. Lets see if any of the babies come out with his unusual characteristics!! Later.........Frankie Ball Blog July 5, 2011 2011 clutch #16 is in the bator. Pied X Het Pied. 5 good eggs. Ball Blog June 27, 2011 2011 clutch #15 laid today. 1 good egg and 5 slugs. This is from Hypo X het Hypo. Not complaining. Took 81 eggs this season before getting my first slug. I will take that!! Later.........Frankie Ball Blog June 26, 2011 2011 clutch #14 is in the bator. This is Lesser/Black Pastel/Spider X Pastel. This will be a fun Whos yo daddy clutch!! I witnessed locks from all 3 males. Later............Frankie Ball Blog June 24, 2011 Clutch #3 is out. With help from some snake buddies I have declared 1.1 normals and 1.2 fires. I will keep the nicer female fire and the other 2 will be up for grabs soon. Later...........Frankie Ball Blog June 19, 2011 Fathers Day was good to me. 6 years of collecting ball pythons and 4 years of breeding I had a first today. I saw my first female in the process of laying eggs. Very special moment. 2011 Clutch #12. Cinny X Cinny 4 good eggs. Later.......Frankie Ball Blog June 19, 2011 Happy Fathers Day to me. 2011 clutch #11. This one is Cinny/YB/Bee X normal. Only confirmed locks from the Cinny. 6 good eggs Ball Blog June 17, 2011 2011 clutch #10 is in the bator. Mojave X Mojave. I did this pairing last year and hit on the BEL, I sold it and regret it til this day. I bet if I get a white snake this year it will be staying with the Fat Guy!!! Ball Blog June 16, 2011 2011 Clutch #9 is in the bator. Lesser/Cinny/Pinstripe X normal. Another Whos yo Daddy clutch!! Gonna be like Christmas around here when eggs start hatching!!! Later.............Frankie Ball Blog June 9, 2011 2011 Clutch #8 in the bator. Het Caramel X Het Caramel. 6 good eggs. Later.........Frankie Ball Blog June 8, 2011 Clutch #6 is in the bator. YB, blk pastel, lesser X normal. 5 good eggs Clutch #7 is in the bator. Cinny, lesser, spider X nice normal. 5 good eggs Later...........Frankie Off Topic Blog June 6, 2011 Fat Boys Ball Pythons is releasing a new line of snake shirts called Snake Life. You can view them and get information here http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/photo.php?fbid=1758325323470&set=o.450001520018&type=1&theater Thanks for looking, Later..........Frankie Ball Blog May 26, 2011 Clutch #5 is in the bator. This is Mojave, Black pastel, and Butter X normal. Can you say "Who yo daddy???" 7 good eggs, 1 is a boob egg but has good veins. Later........Frankie Ball Blog May 23, 2011 Clutch #4 is in the bator. This is Lesser X Normal, 9 good eggs. After 2 good fertle clutches sired by the Lesser male this season, I have laid to rest my worries of him being infertle. Last season he had 4 or 5 clutches completely slug out. I feel like I can now put 100% of the blame on my temp spike after moving in the new snake room. That makes my happy cause he is one hot Lesser and I cant wait to see how good his offspring looks. Hoping for good odds on this one. Later..........Frankie Ball Blog May 20,2011 Clutch #1 has hatched. We got 2.2 normals and 1.2 cinnys. Later.........Frankie Ball Blog April 29, 2011 2011 Clutch #3 is in the bator. Fire & Yellowbelly X Normal. 5 good eggs. Later.......Frankie Ball Blog April 18, 2011 2011 Clutch #2 is in the bator. Lesser X Pinstripe. 6 good eggs. Come on Kingpins!!! Later........Frankie Ball Blog March 25, 2011 Just like last season I will be posting blogs keeping up with clutches laid & hatched. I got Clutch #1 this morning. This is from a Cinny X Normal. 7 good eggs. A much better start than last season!! Really excited about a long productive egg season. 2011 Clutch #1 3-25-11 Cinny X Normal 7 good eggs. Later..........Frankie Ball Blog February 9, 2011 Sorry for the lazy blogging!!! Didnt realize I have not posted in 2011 yet. Breeding season is going pretty good. I am breeding a total of 35 females this season with 8-9 being borderline in size, 1100g range. I am cycling several codom males through codom and normal females along with some recessive pairings, I am hoping to produce albinos, pieds, hypos, carmels, black pastels, blue eyed lucys, bees, cinnamons, lessers, mojaves, pastels, pinstripes, spiders, yellowbellies, kingpins, super pastels, and pewters. This is panning out to be a very exciting season and my biggest yet. I have built a new incubator that will hold 50+ clutches so I am prepared!! Good luck to all my reptile friends this breeding season, later.......Frankie Ball Blog December 20, 2010 Just a quick blog to let everyone know that breeding season is going pretty good. As the collection grows it seems to get more difficult to pair breeders!! It seems like it would be easier but with so many options it has seemed harder to me. I do have some good stuff going on and look to produce 30 or so clutches this season. Fat Boys is making a calendar!!! I had planned on doing just one for me but have had some interest, so I will be printing about a dozen. If you are interested in getting one send me an email. Here is a link on my favorite ball python forum, Ball-pythons.net showing the pictures that will be featured on the calendar. http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?135023-2011-Ball-Python-Calander Later.........Frankie Ball Blog November 25, 2010 HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone!!!! Thanksgiving Sale: From Thursday, November 25, at 12pm to Sunday, November 28, at 12pm all orders over $150 will ship for free. Take advantage of these savings and put a Fat Boys animal in your collection today!!!....Later....Frankie Ball Blog November 18, 2010 Well its that time of year again...BREEDING SEASON!!! We are looking forward to a very exciting season as we produce new and exciting morphs. We are hoping to add a couple Carmels this year from hetXhet breeding, along with some new codom combos we will be working on. We are really excited about finally getting my Cinnamon female big enough to work on a Super Cinny project. I love solid white and solid black snakes. We will be breeding 30-35 females this year and expect a lot of babies. Next season I will be pushing internet sales a lot more than in the past. Its time to put a Fat Boys animal in your collection!!! I want to give a shout out to one of the coolest Ball Python sites out there...http://www.worldofballpythons.com/ This site has a complete list of all the amaizing morphs in the industry along with a very cool genetics wizard. If you are wondering what 2 snakes bred together will make the wizard will calculate it for you with a simple click of the mouse. It also has an informative blog page and several videos and articles about Ball Pythons. This is the site I sit and browse when I am bored!! Well thats all for now, good luck to all my Reptile breeding friends this season!! ....Later....Frankie Ball Blog October 31, 2010 Midnight tonight officially starts the Fat Boys 2010-2011 breeding season!!! T-stats are set to start cooling females at 12am sharp. All girls are weighed in, pairings determined and males ready to go...now about 2 weeks of cooling and we will be pairing up males to their girlfriends!! Looking for a real good season, have already witnessed a little bowl wrapping. Got my new breeding rack built last week just in time for the season to start thanks to my good friend Dwayne Ard. Looking forward to Repticon Columbia this coming weekend, this is by far the best reptile show in the Carolinas!!!Hope to see you there....Later....Frankie Ball Blog October 19, 2010 Just cut the last clutch of the year ... 3 Albinos and one het...what a way to end a year! Ready to start pairing again now! Later.........Frankie Personal Blog October 5, 2010 What a sad day...We have had a pet marmoset monkey for 2 years now, lately he has become very sexually aggressive towards my wife, Christy. He loves on her then starts biting her very badly. She has had a hard time with this because Bud has always bonded with her and she is the only one who can take care of him. We have tried everything and tried to think of every possible option to this problem. The only choice to assure Christys safety was to relocate Bud. There is a really nice zoo about an hour and a half from our home, this zoo is a small family owned zoo with loving caring owners and workers. We have known these folks for a while and visited the zoo before. When I told them of our situation they did not hesitate in offering to home Bud. We took him today with the understanding that he is still ours and we have visiting rights anytime we want, free admission of course. When we left him tonight he was chirping and communicating with the other monkeys. I truely believe this will be what is best for Bud and for Christys safety, but this was as hard as anything we have ever had to do. Keep our family and Bud in your prayers....Thanks......Frankie Ball Blog October 4, 2010 Repticon Charlotte was fun, got to see all my snake buddies, made some new friends, and business was good. I was able to sell several animals, picked up some animals, and still came out ahead. I picked up an Enchi male, Black Pastel male, Butter male, and a Pinstripe female. Fun was had by all!!! Looking forward to the next show.....Later.....Frankie Ball Blog September 27, 2010 Clutch #15 are all out of the eggs. Ended up with 1.1 Bees, 1.1 Pastels, and 1.1 normals. Would like to trade the normals for a couple of Spiders but Im not going to complain!!! One more clutch in the bator. Feeding the girls pretty heavy right now trying to get everybody ready for the rapidly approaching breeding season. This year has been my best year to date and I am looking for 2011 to be twice as good!! Gonna be working on a lot of first time breeding projects this year. Good luck to everyone in this wonderful hobby!!! Later..........Frankie Personal Blog September 16, 2010 3:05pm today will be the two year anniversary of the car accident that changed my life forever. Some things just outright SUCK!!! :-( Ball Blog September 10, 2010 To selll...or not to sell...? that is the question. Any other breeders suffer with this? I have produced a BEL and 3 very nice Pieds that I need to sell, I am also holding onto a couple Mojos and Cinnies, YB, Lesser, Butter, Bee, Enchi, all females. I need to put some of these guys up but want to KEEP THEM ALL!! Any other breeders suffer from this compultion????? Ball Blog September 9, 2010 Het Pied X Het Pied clutch is all out of the egg. Great odds for het X het...3 Pieds and 3 possible hets, one PH has great markings. The 3 Pieds are PERFECT!! One is almost exactly 50/50 and the other 2 are very high white. Pieds are 2.1, I will definately keep the female and will make my decision soon as to wheather or not to sell the males. I have already had lots of interest in them. Spider X Pastel clutch has started hatching too. Ended up with 3 Spiders, 1 Pastel, and 1 normal. So far 2 Spiders have left the eggs, will update later. Later..........Frankie Ball Blog August 30, 2010 Well breeding season had its ups and downs...Temps were a problem early as I made a move to a new snake room. I was expecting 15 clutches this year and ended up with 16. 5 clutches went bad due to temps, my advice is to NEVER move snakes anywhere near breeding season, lessen learned!!! Had several clutches of Mojaves and Cinnies. Missed out totally on the Lessers and Pins. Had some YBs and of course plenty of normals. Hatched my first Blue Eyed Lucy from Mojo X Mojo. Still have 4 clutches in the bator, Het Pied X Het Pied, 2 clutches of Spider X Pastel, and Albino X Het Albino. Already making plans for next season and will be shooting for 20+ clutches. I dont say it enough but I really enjoy the opportunity to work with these amaizing animals. Later............Frankie Ball Blog August 29, 2010 Put my 16th and probably last clutch of the season in the bator today. 4 good eggs from Albino X Possible Het Albino. Sure hope she proves out...4 times!! Later........Frankie Ball Blog August 23, 2010 The last 2 snakes are out of the BEL clutch. Ended up with 3 mojos, 2 normals, and the BEL, which ended up being a girl. The last mojo out was in a boob egg, it is only 30g and has 3 kinks near its tail, all the others were in the 65-75g range. Seems healthy but will wait to see if it sheds, eats, and poops. It has a really cool pattern!! Overall happy with this clutch. Later...........Frankie Ball Blog August 22, 2010 Clutch #11 is out...2 normals, 3 mojaves, and I hit on a Blue Eyed Lucy!! This is the first Lucy I have ever produced and it is beautiful. I usually dont sex my animals until after their first shed so I am waiting and hoping it is a boy. Either way, its beautiful and is not going anywhere!! Now waiting on 2 clutches from Pastel X Spider and one Het Pied X Het Pied clutch. Also looks like I may get a late clutch from a Het Albino bred to an Albino. Later...........Frankie Ball Blog August 5, 2010 Clutch #14 is in the bator, another possible Bee clutch, Spider X Pastel. 8 eggs (one questionable). The bator is holding 26 eggs right now with the possibilities of getting Pieds, Bees and BELs!!!! Lovin it!!!!!! Later............Frankie Ball Blog July 21, 2010 Clutches 12 & 13 are in the bator as of last week. 12 was 6 good eggs from a Het Pied X Het Pied pairing. 13 was 6 good eggs from a Pastel X Spider pairing. Hoping to hatch out some Pieds & Bees real soon. Got the available page updated, some real nice mojo girls up. All the 2010 babies are doing real good. Later...........Frankie Ball Blog June 28, 2010 Clutch #11 in the incubator...6 good eggs from a Mojave X Mojave pairing. Sure do hope I get a couple white snakes with pretty blue eyes!!!.....Later.........Frankie Ball Blog June 26, 2010 Man...sorry for not keeping the blog updated. We have been super busy around here!! Wanted to run a clutch update. Clutches 4 & 5 were all slugs, clutch 3 was one egg that was dead in the egg, clutch 6 was slugged out. Now it gets a little better. Clutch 7 was 7 eggs, 1 died due to a defect, got 3 normals and 3 mojaves. Clutch #8 hatched yesterday, not good odds but was excited to hatch my first split sire clutch, 4 normals, 1 cinnamon, and 1 mojave. All look really healthy, now just waiting for a shed and a couple meals in them. Bout time to add a Fat Boys animal to your collection!!! Later..........Frankie Ball Blog May 14, 2010 Sitting in my hotel room near Baltimore, MD. Got set up for the show today, met up with some friends, hung out, now getting ready to get rested up for the big show. Wanted to update on Clutch #2. All 8 snakes are out...6 normals and 2 yellow bellies. Not good odds but 8 good healthy little snakes. I love them all. Later........Frankie Ball Blog May 12, 2010 OK...3 of clutch #2 has come out of their eggs. 5 of them are obviously very comfortable!!!! 2 normals and one smokin hot yellow belly so far. If you LOVE YOUR PETS and value your ability to keep animals as pets... call Gov. Charlie Crist 850-488-7146 and tell him to VETO SB-318 snake ban!! (even if you dont keep snakes as pets, this could open the door for more bans on pets the government decides could be problematic.) Please email or call Gov. Crist now!!... Spread the word..... Be polite, but super important! Ball Blog May 8, 2010 Clutch #9 is in the incubator. 4 good eggs from a normal girl that I ran several codoms through.....Who knows who the daddy is????????????? Later...........Frankie Ball Blog May 7, 2010 WOW...Clutch #1 is out, 4 healthy normals and 2 cinnies dead in the egg. Unreal!!! My luck has got to get better. Later.......Frankie Ball Blog May 6, 2010 Well clutch #1 has piped. Have 4 little heads looking out at me. Bad news is 2 of snakes died in the egg during incubation, one of which I have confirmed was a cinnamon. The 4 heads I can see now look like normals, have not checked the other one yet. I will update for sure when they come on out of the eggs. Later.....Frankie Ball Blog April 22, 2010 Alright...I didnt post on clutches 5 & 6 because they were all slugs. #5 was lesser to pinstripe, my highlight clutch of the season!! And #6 was lesser to normal, all slugs. Last night I got clutch #7, pinstripe and pastel to normal, 7 good eggs. I talked about my temp problem in my last blog, now that I got another good clutch I am back to questioning my lesser boy in the back of my mind. I am still expecting more clutches, none from the lesser, so if they all come out good I will turn my attention back to him. Sometimes the males just cant produce good sperm. I hope it was the temps because he is a killer lesser and I would love to get some babies from him....We will see. Clutch #7 Pinstripe & pastel X normal resulting in each egg having a 50/50 chance in being a normal or pin/pastel. 7 good eggs. Later...........Frankie Ball Blog April 13, 2010 Well I have bad news...Clutches number 3 & 4 have been laid. #3 was a very exciting clutch for me, a very nice lesser to a normal that always throws off nice babies. She laid late last week and had 8 slugs!! What a blow that was. Clutch #4 was dropped yesterday, it was from a normal paired with a mojo, spider, and cinny. I call that a "Whos your daddy clutch". Well when we got her off her eggs we find one good egg and 5 slugs!! One of the slugs has the slighest veins in it so we are incubating the whole clutch. Not too sure what is going on, I have checked everything over and my only concern is temps may be a little too hot for the gravid girls. The first 2 clutches were fine so I am not sure the temps did any harm. I have dropped temps a little just in case. Moving into the new snake room requires plenty of adjustments and that may be a factor too. I will really be concerned if clutch 5 slugs out too. All for now...later...Frankie Ball Blog March 22, 2010 Well we put our second clutch of the season in the incubator today. I was checking girls and found them, my timing was a little off so they were a surprise to me. Christy came home from work long enough to assist me in getting mama situated and eggs in the bator. Thanks Christy!! She was paired several times with a YB and a few times with a cinny, I never witnessed a lock with the cinny so I am declaring YB. Clutch 2 was YB X Normal, resulting in each egg having a 50% chance of being a YB. 8 good eggs and one slug. Thats all for now...later...Frankie Ball Blog March 18, 2010 Well breeding season is starting to pay off as we are starting to see the results. I put my first clutch in the incubator last week, Cinny clutch. I have also witnessed 5 more ovulations through the girls, with many more to come I hope. I have not stopped pairing yet, in the past we have stopped pairing the first of March, after talking with several other breeders I have decided to keep on keepin on!! We will continue to pair until the female ovulates or copulations stop. Still shooting for 10-15 clutches this season. I will update as clutches are laid and will record the pairings and possible results. Clutch 1 was Cinnamon X Normal, resulting in each egg having a 50% chance of being a Cinny. 6 good eggs, one questionable, and one slug. Thats all for now...later...Frankie Ball Blog February 17, 2010 I sure didnt realize this was my first blog of 2010!! I have been really busy between the snakes and the shop. Everything is going good around here. I made a big step up last week when I moved all my snakes in one room. I have not been able to sleep in my bed since my wreck due to a shoulder injury so my room was being waisted, in the meantime I had snakes in the computer room, the dining room, the kitchen, a bedroom, and even at another house I own about 10 miles away! I moved my daughter in my room and turned her room into a SNAKE ROOM. I have all my guys and gals together now, it makes feeding, cleaning, breeding, watering, and monitoring so much easier. I am loving it. Been doing a lot of snake shirts at the shop lately, Royal Q Pythons, Prototype Pythons, Reese Reptiles, and the new I KEEP SNAKES AND I VOTE shirts being offered by NatPET. I love printing snake shirts. Breeding is going good, my 08 lesser boy is a stud, he has been breeding 4 girls including a pinstripe. I have had 2 ovulations from girls he has bred and one from a cinny breeding. Looks like the het pied, mojo girl, spider girl, pastel girl, and a couple more could ovulate any day now. Really hoping for 10-15 clutches this year. Thats all for now...later...Frankie Ball Blog December 13, 2009 Breeding season is going well. Getting several locks from some projects. I really enjoy being able to work with these amazing animals. Please do your part with all the bans we have going on. HR2811 is just one of the major bills being bounced around congress trying to stop the import, export, and sales of boas and pythons. You can go to www.natpet.org to see how you can help fight for your rights as a pet owner. I am doing my part by calling and writing my senators, I will also be offering reptile T-shirts at the Charlotte and Columbia Repticon shows. 20% of all sales will be donated to NatPET. The National Pet Association was founded by Adam Wysocki and his wife Kelly of 8ballpythons. Adam is fighting really hard for our rights and needs all the help he can get. Please visit www.natpet.org and do your part. Later...........Frankie Ball Blog November 21, 2009 We have been doing the "show circut" and enjoying it! So far we have set up at Raleigh & Charlotte, NC, and Columbia, SC. That may be as far as we go but we are really having fun meeting all the folks involved. We have been able to move some snakes and have been getting a lot of valuable advise from breeders that have been in the hobby for a while. The shows are over for the year but we will be back in Charlotte in January. Breeding season is the main focus now and I am able to concentrate more on breeding projects this year. I am cycling 15 females now and have 6 more that will start a little later. Projects I will be working on hatching this year include pastels, pinstripes, cinnies, lessers, kingpins, spiders, bees, mojaves, pieds, BELs, hypos, YBs, and albinos. I am praying for a much better season than last year. Come out and see us at the shows!! Things are really moving and shaking with the Fat Boys. Later...........Frankie Boa Blog October 10, 2009 Hey everyone, Breeding season is right upon us. We set up in Raleigh and in Charlotte in Sept. I was able to sell a lot of 09 babies as well as some Adult normal girls to make room for new projects and 2010 Babies. I still have a good selection of beautiful Hypo Hoggs that are exploding with red and orange colors. I also have a litter of 100% Het Albinos. The Hets and the hypo hoggs will be on display for sale at the Columbia show. Check them out on the Available Page. All of my breeders are priming up heavy for breeding season which is rapidly upon us. See you in Columbia. Todd Ball Blog October 8, 2009 Well the 09 season is rapidly winding down and the 2010 season even more rapidly approaching. The ball season was slow here, I am going to contribute that to the rough year I had personally, the wreck, losing Daddy, losing my arm, and losing an Uncle...WOW, what a year!! This coming season will be better. We have been doing some shows, we moved a lot of animals and will be doing one more show this year. I did produce some female pastels to hold back as future breeders and produced one super pastel. The 2010 breeding season is looking to produce Cinnies, Pastels, Lessers, Mojos, BELs, Spiders, Pinstripes, YBs, Bees, Albinos, Hypos, and Pieds. Wish me luck...I need it. Later...............Frankie Ball Blog August 14, 2009 Got a big surprise last week...I had a pastel girl lock with a spider and another pastel male early this season, she showed no signs of being gravid. She did go off feed but I never saw an ovulation and she has shed normal. The last witnessed lock was March, I had given up on her going this season and had unplugged the incubator. I came home earlier in the week to find her curled up on 6 perfect eggs!! All candled good with strong veins. I got everything set back up and cannot wait to see some bees or supers piping soon. I am also getting excited about the Fat Boys doing our first Reptile Expo! We will be at the Gila show in Raleigh, NC September 5-6. I am working on some nice looking display cases now, we will graduate to the acrylic display cases as we grow. We will be boa heavy in Raleigh but will have several ball pythons with us. Come on out to the show and support the reptile industry. Later......Frankie Ball Blog July 25, 2009 Well I had a very disappointing breeding season!! Only one good clutch, one pastel and 6 normals. 2 more clutches went bad and another slugged out. Man that was tough. We will start now preparing for next season and wont miss a beat. I am pushing rats trying to get those several girls I have on the edge over the weight limit. I like 3 years and 1200g, I have several girls right around the 1000g mark and entering their 3rd winter. Got some nice codom boys waiting that were not ready this year. Make sure to visit us at the Raleigh Expo September 5th. This will be the first of hopefully may shows to come. Well thats all for now...Later...Frankie Boa Blog April 29, 2009 Yesterday, I arrived home from school, walked in my snake room, and found many babies. After Frankie and Sky showed to help me. I totaled 22 babies and 10 slugs. We are still going to sell out of the boas to concentrate on ball pythons. However these are beautiful babies. The litter consisted of hypo hoggs and normal/hoggs. Stay tuned for pics after their first sheds and meals. Once again check out the available page. Thanks. Todd Ball Blog April 21, 2009 First off...continue to send emails to congress opposing HR669!!! 2 days left! Visit www.nohr669.com for info and instructions on how to voice out against this bill. Fat Boys has made the decision to sell our boa division and concentrate solely on Ball Pythons. Operating the business out of 2 seperate locations is getting very difficult as the business and collection grows. This will be a very productive move for us and will allow us to concentrate more on the business working together. Visit the available pages if you are interested in any of the boas. They will almost all be breedable by next season. Turn your investment around fast with these adult boas. All feed really good on FT rats or guinnea pigs. Later.........Frankie Ball Blog April 13, 2009 Well the blog today is mainly about HR669. Do your part to fight this bill. HR669 will basicly eliminate all pets except cats and dogs. Go to www.nohr669.com watch the video and do your part...TODAY!!! Breeding season is pretty much over. I had a couple borderline girls that I thought about breeding late but figured they would be more productive if held off til next season. Right now it looks like maybe a 6-8 clutch season. I was shooting for 10 but will take what I get. Had a couple boys not do their jobs this year and a few girls that just did not get up to weight. Next year is really looking good though. Later......Frankie Ball Blog March 23, 2009 I suffered my first loss as a reptile keeper yesterday. I had a older ball python that I rescued from a guy back in 2006. She was very weak when I got her but I was able to nurse her back to health in short time with future plans of breeding her. She had gotten healthy and was up to 1700g, this was the year to breed. She developed an RI 10 months ago and we went through the quarennteen, antibiotics, ect. Well she appeared to be pretty healthy so I moved her back in the reptile room 2 months ago. After the move she stopped eating, I contributed it to the move and of course cool weather and breeding season. I cleaned last week and she was fine, I checked water Saturday night and she was fine, I was gone all day Sunday and when we got back home we walked in to an unpleasant smell. First thought was a regurge. After searching through some tubs we opened her tub to find her dead. I am guessing the RI never truly cleared up, even though the symptoms were gone. The remaining RI along with the move must have severly stressed her out. She was bleeding from the mouth and the cloacia. The loss is devistating to us but there were lessons learned. Do not rush things, if an animal gets sick make sure they have plenty of time to get completely over the sickness before making any moves. As for everyone else, things are going great. Breeding season is winding down and I have a few girls that may lay any day now. Will keep you posted. Later.....Frankie Ball Blog March 7, 2009 Today was incubator day. Dwayne and Samuel came over and them, me, and Sky built 2 incubators. I have an incubator that was handed down to me from Adam at 8ballpythons but I have outgrown it. It will hold 6 - 6 quart egg boxes. I am anticipating about twice that many clutches this year. I have an old standup freezer and an apartment fridge out in the building. We fixed up the freezer for me and it will hold 29 - 6 quart boxes. I give the apt. fridge to Dwayne and it will hold 10 - boxes. Everything went well and I should have my first clutch on the ground soon to put in there. All that is left to do is for Sky to sand mine down and paint it. All the snakes are fine, nonbreeders eating well and the breeders still pairing. I have not seen and ovulations this year, missed one for sure. Hopefully starting to see about a dozen or so soon. Later....Frankie Ball Blog March 2, 2009 Well it has been a while since I blogged and I needed to catch everyone up. First off on a personal note...The arm that was injured was amputated Feb 26th. It was not going to get any better according to the Drs and it hurt all the time. I was at risk of having to deal with continuous infections and I was tired of that roller coaster ride. I am already feeling better, except the expected pain, and will have the stiches taken out in 2 weeks. After that I will be fitted for a prosthetic hand. Now for the snakes...I have witnessed one ovulation and will be expecting a few more. Hoping to be seeing some pastels, spiders, mojos, cinnies, and maybe a pied. I promised myself when I started this adventure that I would not buy a pied but produce my own. I may not be able to hold off if I do not get one this year. I will keep everyone updated on the snakes and the arm. Before I sign out I want to thank all my family and friends that have supported me through this arm ordeal, especially my late Daddy, Christy, Whitney, Sky, Jimmy, Marvin, Mama & David, Todd, and Dwayne & Heather. Thanks guys, I love you all. Later.....Frankie Boa Blog February 16, 2009 Hey everyone, sorry it has been like six months since I posted. Unfortunately I have had to put snakes a little further back on my schedule than I want. Between working two jobs, coaching baseball, going to school and trying to plan a wedding time has been scarce. Good news though. I have cycled six girls into breeding. My Hogg Island girl is gravid. I matched her with a hypo male. Those should be some outstanding looking animals. I have four normal girls I have been cycling a hypo possible jungle with. He has been a breeding machine. Each girl i have rotated him with he has jumped all over. I am so excited about the litters for this year. Saturday night I put my hypo male in with a beautiful peruvian female I have that you have seen on the site. At the snake show Frankie, Christy, Sky, and myself went to in Charlotte this weekend, I saw a hypo Suriname combo. The color was amazing. I figured a hypo peruvian will produce just as beautiful of an animal. The show was small but such a good time. We met some new breeders. It was good getting back in the mix with the snake world. Well thats all I have for now. Babies should be coming soon then I will post again and get the new pics up. Cya soon. Ball Blog January 10, 2009 Just a short blog to let you know Daddy passed away this morning at 3am. I was by his side and he was at peace with God. He will be missed but I am positive he is in Heaven and I will see him again one day. Frankie Ball Blog December 30, 2008 Hope you all had a very merry Christmas. I have to admit, I have had a lot better. The presents were great, the family gatherings, watching the kids enjoy getting gifts, it was just personal feelings that made my Christmas a little less than par. First of all the Thursday before Christmas I went in for yet another surgery, this time a skin graph. The spot that they took the skin off my thigh hurts worse than my hand most of the time. Second, and more importantly, I found out the Monday before Christmas that my daddy has inoperable cancer in his pancreas, liver, and stomach. They are saying he has less than 6 months to live and that is tearing me up inside. My daddy has been my inspiration my whole life and he is by far the greatest man I have ever known. He has been my best friend for years and I will miss him every single day for the rest of my life. As for the snakes they are going as expected. There are a few that are breeding pretty good and some not, I am not worried because the season is still very young and they will get the job done. So far some of my best locks have been from an Albino male to a Spider female, a pair of het Pieds, Spider male to Pastel female, and a few more codom males locking with normals. I will keep you updated on the breedings and definately any ovulations. All for now...Later...Frankie Ball Blog December 4, 2008 WOW time flies when you are bored out of your mind! Did not realize how long it has been since I blogged. The hand is getting better but still has a long way to go. I will be seeing a surgeon on January 2nd to get another evaluation on any more needed surgeries. I still can not use my hand and with all the medications I am on they still do not want me driving, I do not have a vehicle anyway, so I am pretty much home all the time. It is kinda boring but I am getting used to it. Thanksgiving was wonderful! Believe me, I may be a little depressed about my current situation but I am smart enough to realize how much I have to be thankful for. We ate at Christys parents Thursday night, with my mama Friday, and with my daddys side of the family Saturday. Needless to say we ate really good. The snakes are doing good. Eating has really slowed down with the breeders but the hatchlings are still pounding pups every week. There is some cold rain moving in tomorrow so I will talk Christy through who to pair up tonight so they will be ready to get it on. Got a couple of lazy boys that I may need to work on to get them going. Well that is all for now and I will try not to wait a month before I blog again. Later....Frankie Ball Blog October 26, 2008 I want to give a big THANK YOU to my friend Dwayne (roosterman2173 from BP.net) and his wife Heather. My hand is healing good but I still have no use of it and cannot do anything with it. Well another friend of mine, Carrol, of Carrols Pets in Lumberton, NC, called me last week and needed to get rid of his overcrowded rat population. He give me about 75 rats!! Well I did not have the room to add them to my collection without adding to my rat rack. Dwayne was only a phone call away and him, Heather, and their son Samuel came to my house yesterday and built more levels to my rat rack and done some construction to the rat barn. He is really good with his wood work and Heather is a great assistant, when Dwayne is not giving her a hard time LOL. They are also great people, that showed in how well behaved Samuel was. I cannot thank you guys enough and when I get well if I can do anything for you just let me know. Snakes are doing good. Still pairing guys up including a het Pied pair. The little light colored Spider I got from Morph Makers is a breeding machine. We pair him up and he chases the female all over the tub until he locks! I have witnessed 2 locks so far with him and my Pastel female from 8ball, hopefully some Bees a buzzin!! All for now......Later, Frankie. Ball Blog October 10, 2008 Well I had another surgery on my arm this week. Things went pretty good I think, they took off all the dead tissue and skin. There were a couple spots on the top of my hand that they had to dig all the way to the bone. I am still doing therapy 7 days a week and it is freaky to look at your hand and see the bone. They also found a small pocket of infection that concerned them and they are doing cultures on it to see what type of infection meds to start me on. The recovery is going slow but steady. As far as the snakes are concerned they are doing great. Eating every week and growing. With the front moving through this weekend I have made some pairs just to see what happens. Right now I have paired Mojave X normal, Cinny X normal, Spider X normal, Spider X Pastel, Yellowbelly X normal and 2 pairs of Pastel X normal. Have not seen any locks yet but a lot of courting going on. Will keep you updated on the arm and the snakes. Later....Frankie Ball Blog September 26, 2008 Well is has not been that long since I blogged but a lot has changed in my life. Almost everything I do as far as work and hobbies need good motor skills. Developmental Therapy with handicapped children, screen printing, musician (drummer), coaching, sports, and of course ball pythons. On September 16th I was traveling at 45mph and a young kid went through a stop sign and hit me in the left rear tire. The impact spun me out and I started flipping down the road. I flipped 4 or 5 times and started skidding on the top of the truck, while I was skidding my right arm was pinned between the truck and the road. When the truck stopped my arm was pinned under the truck. Luckily for me there were people nearby and they lifted the truck off my arm. Most of the damage was done while it was pinned and the truck was skidding on top of it. I have realized a lot in the last week, the importance of God, family, and friends. I finally went to see the truck after therapy today, Wow!! I can honestly sit here and say I cannot see how anyone survived that wreck. It is totally destroyed, I feel lucky to be sitting here, and to have my arm attached to me. As far as my injuries they included a severe bump to the head, busted up shoulder and knee. My right arm is my main concern. I sit and look at it during therapy and will feel lucky if I can just be able to use it again. Pick up stuff, drive, personal care, just small stuff. Now I am a positive person and my goal is to make a full recovery and I will work hard at it. I have gotten a lot of help during this. Naturally Christy has helped a ton with the snakes and the screen printing. I have tried to not put too much burden on the kids. Sky is very into sports and I want him to be able to concentrate on that. Whitney has went to work for Christy several days so she could be with me. Todd has been a lot of help with the snakes and rats. Daddy has helped at the shop and my buddy Dale has been a life saver keeping the screen printing going. Mama has been moral support as always and my step mama has cooked for us several times. My Uncle Marvin has sit with me a few mornings for Christy to work. I wanted to thank everyone who has prayed and helped out. I will keep you updated on my progress and this will not slow down breeding season! Later Frankie Ball Blog September 15, 2008 Well where do I start. The snakes are doing great, I weighed all my girls to get an idea about breeding season and things looked pretty good. I have 17 girls that will be breeding size come November. Most are normals but there is a Pastel, a Spider, and a het Pied in the bunch. As far as males go I have a het Pied for the het girl, a Mojave, Cinny, Spiders, Yellowbelly, and several Pastels. I am looking forward to an exciting breeding season. I was privileged to be invited by Adam Wysocki to the "8ball Fest" this year at his place in Bel Air, MD. Christy, Todd, and myself all went to the Mid-Atlantic reptile show then off to his place for a great get together. The company was outstanding and the animals unbelievable. Adam has a very nice ball python collection and I really enjoyed seeing his animals again. I even came home with a pair of Yellowbellies and a Lesser boy. I will also be getting a het Carmel pair as soon as they take a couple of meals. We met some very nice people including Jamie and Amy from Glass Reptiles, Joe Compel himself, Rodney from Blackrock Captive Bred, Phil from Creative Creations, Tyree from BP.net, MeME, Frank and June, and of course Kelli, Adams new wife. A good time was had by all and I hope we can do it again next year, or next month will be fine with me!!LOL Adam lives on a very nice ranch with horses and of course Ball Pythons. His animals are second to none and I look forward to putting many more into my collection. I was on top of the world sitting and taking in information on the business from Adam, Joe, Phil, and Rodney. Phil used to work with Ralph Davis. We camped out in Adams front yard which was new to me, first time sleeping in a tent! Was not bad but my bed sure felt good Sunday night. Well all else is going good and cannot wait until breeding season!!! Later.....Frankie Ball Blog August 25, 2008 WOW... We are tired but we had a great time in Daytona. Make sure to click the link on the home page to see all the pics we took. It was a great experience, we got to see some great animals and meet some very nice people. I met Brian from BHB, along with Lori & Dr Chewy!! They were the hit of the show with SnakebytesTV going strong now. Almost like seeing movie stars!!! I met Brock Wagner, we have had a few discussions through the internet but never met in person. Brock is a great guy with some very nice animals. His story is inspirational to all the small breeders, you can visit his website to read about how he got started in reptiles. Mr. & Mrs. Jones was there from Morph Makers. I have had the pleasure of meeting and talking to them at several shows around the East coast. They are two of the nicest people I have ever met and also have wonderful animals. Jeremy Stone and Pete Khal were there with some good looking boas along with some ball morphs. Exotics by Nature had a nice setup with some really nice balls and boas also. We had a good time Saturday night when we attended the auction at the Hilton. "Pete" runs the auction and does a good job raising money for different groups. I also picked up a Spider and Mojave male at the auction. Other pickups were an 08 Pinstripe male, an 08 Spider female, and I picked up an 06 Het Hypo female in trade with Cook Reptiles for T-shirts. This girl is originally from 8Ball Pythons. Again...check out the photo link on the home page to see the Daytona sights! Ball Blog August 22, 2008 Well the time has finally arrived!! We will be leaving here shortly for Daytona. We are very excited and cannot wait to see everyone and all the exciting animals that will be there. Kinda nervous with the storm brewing, Fay has taken a toll on FL and we are heading right into it. I have talked to a couple of folks that are already there and they say it is not too bad. Todd will not be making the trip, his mama had to have a hip replacement and he felt like he needed to be home with his immediate family. I would have done the same if it was my mama. We will miss him on the trip, he is normally the "life of the party". We will try and get plenty of pics and post them on the site for everyone to see, check back often for the pics link on the home page. Well that is all for now, it is 11am and we plan on pulling out about 1pm. Gotta finish packing the truck and get all the little things done before leaving. If your going, see ya in Daytona!! If not look for pics here in the next couple of weeks. Later.....Frankie Ball Blog August 3, 2008 HAPPY BIRTHDAY Christy!!! My wife Christy turns the big 30 today. She is the heart and soul of my family. She is a wonderful wife, mother, organizer, and a great ball python diva. She has been the best thing to happen to me, along with my children, and I love her dearly. She never hesitates to help with the snake business and all of my other interest. Christy is a one in a million chick and and I am one lucky man to be able to call her my wife. I love you babe!! Hey, enough of the mushy stuff....DAYTONA is 3 weeks away. The new vendors list is on the website. The only big breeder really missing is Ralph Davis. I was really looking forward to seeing the Dreamsicles in person again this year but, oh well. I think most of the other big boys will be there. The vendors list in general is as large as last years. Hope to see you all there. Fat Boys is now on youtube. Check out the link on the home page to see the videos we have. I am not the most technical person in the world and my videos are not as good as some of the other ball python videos, but they are mine. I will always be honest on all my videos and you get what you see. All the babies and breeders are doing good, eating well, and getting pumped up for breeding season. I hope to be producing spiders, mojos, cinnamons, pastels, bees, het albinos, and het hypos next season. Me and the snakes have pep rallies every Sunday night getting ready for breeding season!!! See you in Daytona!! Later, Frankie Ball Blog July 24, 2008 Building a new rat rack. Well the rat rack that daddy built for me has gotten to the point that we are having a lot of chew outs. When he built it he did not take into consideration the rats wanting to get out. His thought was that if they have food and water 24/7 they will not want to leave. Well he built it where the rats had access to the wood and they have really chewed it to pieces. They can come and go as they please!! They are out when I walk in and they run back in the tubs, pretty cool actually. They do get frisky when out of the tubs and have a tendency to chew on water lines ect. The process is coming along good but I am taking my time and building this one right. The rats will only be able to get to wire and tub, no wood. Todd comes and helps when he can, it makes it alot faster. When Todd cannot come Sky is always there to help dear old dad. All the snakes are doing good and growing. Here are some pics of the new rat rack. Later, Frankie Ball Blog July 12, 2008 Hey all...have not blogged in a while and had a chance. Baseball has kept me very busy over the last couple of months. I have just enough time to get home from the park and clean snakes as much as I can, I have actually not been keeping up as good as I need to. Christy and Whitney really help out keeping the snakes clean. Todd and Sky have really been helping out keeping the rats clean for me. I have been having a LOT of chew-outs with the rats and I am in the process of building a new rat rack. I have been working on it in my little spare time over the last 2 weeks. Now that baseball has slowed a little I hope I can finish it in a couple more weeks. Football is right around the corner but that does not occupy near as much of my time as baseball does. Todd has more time involved in football. Daytona is only 6 weeks away!!! We will be there. I hope to pick up a few more co-dom males and possibly some pastel girls if they are available. Look forward to seeing some old friends there and making some new ones. All the snakes are doing great. I did hatch out 4 new babies from my second clutch! All but one is eating well. One still has not taken a meal but looks healthy, I will keep working with her and I think she will be OK. I did "venture" out just a bit, I purchased a few "oddball selects" from J&J Reptiles. They are all very pretty normal females. Even though they are normals they all have very cool colors and patterns. I also picked up one wild caught import. Figured I would try my luck, I needed some more girls anyway. Well now that things has slowed down I will post a little more often. On a personal note: I am glad to see Adam Wysocki back up and running. Adam has been "off line" for a few months getting a lot of personal stuff straight. This industry does not need to lose people like Adam, he is a great guy, breeder, and willing to help any way he can. I for one am happy to see Adam back in the mix and wish him the best of luck. You can read Adams blogs at www.8ballpythons.com Later Frankie Boa Blog July 10 Been a while I know but Frankie and I have been swamped, especially Frankie. Our Sports life is taking a lot of time and we are knocking at the door to Football season. There is one exciting thing about Football season coming though, and that is breeding season is close and also the Daytona trip. Cannot wait for breeding season. I have more projects to try this year than last year. All of our snakes are doing great. Eating us out of the barn. Well thats all for now see you guys in two months in Daytona. Todd Ball Blog June 7, 2008 Hey...did not realize how long it had been since I blogged until I was browsing the site last night. I have been really busy with work, the snakes, and baseball. I coach Skys 14 year old team and I am the director of the 12 and under league for 2 counties!! Hard to find a free minute. Snakes are doing good, the first clutch hatched and like I expected only one good egg. It was a normal little girl! She will be a keeper since she was our first and her name is "Fatty"! The clutch hatched on day 53. Today is day 53 for the 2nd clutch so I am keeping a close eye on them. All 4 of those eggs are still good. Had a bad situation with the rats this week, if you are not from the southeast you will not understand how HOT iit is here!! It has been 100* outside for 3 days in a row and it is expected to last for 3 or 4 more. Unbearable heat! Well the rat barn is ventilated real good and we have fans everywhere, it was not enough. We went out Wednesday afternoon to water and found 5 dead and 3 or 4 more suffering the heat pretty bad. We took an old window unit daddy had and stuck it in a window and started cooling them. Thursday morning me and Todd went to Lowes and got another A/C for the 2nd room. They are cooling good now but have no ventilation. We will have to change the bedding 2 times a week until the heat breaks and we can vent them again. It is cool enough for them but smells really bad. I will keep you updated on the eggs and will blog again when they pipe. Later Frankie Boa Blog April 30, 2008 Yesterday was an unbelievable day. We won our baseball game 7-4 and on my way home I had a message from Carrie to get home immediately. The thirty minute ride home was intense trying to figure out the emergency. When I walked the house she had this suspicous grin on her face and I happened to glance at the snake room door and saw a ribbon and bows on the door. I said what the hell. My beautiful girl Miss Piggy had babies. Because I was at my game she called Dr. Frankie to come over and help with the delivery. I was estatic on the inside. I know how Frankie felt when he had eggs. There was no jumping for joy but a lot of nervousness and anxiety. It was a very small litter. She produced two Columbian Hogg Cross Males, 1 stillborn, and two slugs. The babies are beautiful and I am a proud daddy. I cannot wait for next season when I will have way more males and females to breed. All and all this was a good learning experience and gave me a good feeling of things yet to come. This is a small but big step in the FatBoy family. Now I cannot wait for those pretty little heads to pop out of those eggs at Frankies. Till next time keep feeding a breeding and keep the mites away. Later, Todd Ball Blog April 19, 2008 I amm sure you have heard of the "snake in the hen house". Well we had the "snake in the rat barn". Our rat barn, which was named after watching Ralph Davis videos on you tube, is the single wide mobile home we raise rats in to feed our snakes. We take good care of it and actually enjoy going out to the rat barn to work. We went out today to look for new babies, check on everybody and check water, we clean on Sundays. Well we were standing in the grow out room where we keep our feeders and Todd got this funny look on his face. He looked at me and said "step over here a second". I knew something was not right because he was looking at the ceiling as he was talking to me, I though maybe I was standing under a wasp nest. I walked away and turned to see a chicken snake sitting on top of the light fixture. Todd said he came out of the fixture and was about 5 inches from my head. We knew it would eventually happen but still was not totally prepared to deal with it. We got the snake down and finally got him in a container, he was A LOT faster than our balls and boas. Christy spent most of her time laughing at us. We are still dreading the day we walk in and find a rattlesnake or cotton mouth. We took the container and put it in the back of Todds truck so he could relocate the snake when he left, went inside to talk about it, went back out later to check on it and it was gone! Pushed the top off and was out of here. We know we will find more and get a good laugh out of catching them. All else is good with the Ball Pythons and Boas. Later Frankie ** NO snakes were harmed in the removal of the "snake in the rat barn" ** Chicken Snake Ball Blog April 15, 2008 Exactly one month after her prelay shed my 2nd female laid today. I was at a baseball game and Christy knew it was about time. She went in the room and checked her every 30 minutes until I got home. She last checked a half hour before I got back home to see nothing. I got home around 10pm and walked straight to the snake room to find 5 pearly whites. Man, Christy was upset, she was happy about the eggs but she really wanted to find them. This one was a little harder to get off the eggs than the first one, I did not have Todd there to help me either. Christy and Sky pitched in and helped a little and we got the job done. The eggs look great but I had one rollout as I was taking mama off them. I candled them when I got them in the vermiculite and 4 looked really good. The rollout was hard to see veins in, I put it back just like it was but do not know if it is good or not. It will stay in the clutch and we will see what happens. Mama is settled back down and I give her some fresh water. She will get a chance to eat Sunday. Everything else is going good here and everyone is still eating and growing. Still looking forward to Daytona! All for now. Later Frankie Ball Blog April 9, 2008 DAYTONA DAYTONA DAYTONA A short 19 weeks away!! We have started making plans and getting ready. The rooms are booked and the "funds bucket" has been opened for donations. If you would like to contribute to the Fat Boys invasion of Daytona please feel free to contact me!! We accept cash, cash, and cash! All spare change and the little EXTRA money here and there from now on goes into the "funds bucket". Hope to see you there, if you have never been, it is worth the trip! All is going well here. Eggs staying warm and still waiting on the second clutch to drop. She is a little smaller than my other girl and from looking I am expecting only 4 or 5 eggs. I will take it!! Everybody else is eating well and growing. All for now. Later Frankie Ball