Hamburg pickups- the puffy crew!

Will0W783 · 02-24-14, 08:58 AM

This past Hamburg show turned out to be great for me. I made enough money to complete my puff adder future breeding group. I really love these cranky sausage snakes!

First up is my adult Tanzanian female, Bubbles. She's in shed right now, but she's a nice chocolate color with a bit of pink and grey. She's pretty calm for a puff adder, but has her moments!

Next is Blossom, a Tanzanian x Cape female I got in a trade last week. She's got some great color to her, and I can't wait to see how she looks as she grows. She's also got a great temperament.

Next is Buttercup, a Namibian female yearling I got at the show. She's very light and stunning, but so far seems to have a typical foul puff adder attitude. Gotta love it! She's probably the prettiest puff I've ever seen, with cream, red, tan, black, white and yellow.

Finally, here is my male Doma, Tanzania locale male, P. Diddy. He's a little fellow right now, but I'm hoping he will be ready by next season.

Sharlynn93 · 02-24-14, 09:09 AM

beautiful! I wish I had known you were going to be there...I love your posts and would loved to have met you!

Jinxygirl · 02-24-14, 09:12 AM

they're gorgeous!
and I LOVE the 'Power-Puff Girls' names

Will0W783 · 02-24-14, 09:20 AM

Sharlynn, I'm there at every Hamburg show. I help my friends run their table. It's over in the second aisle from the left, towards the entrance. There are always mostly venomous on the table.

Sharlynn93 · 02-24-14, 09:25 AM

omg! I stopped there twice to admire!

I will look you up next time...we want to take my step-kids down...we wanted to scope it out for ourselves to see if it was worth a trip with a 9 and 10 year old for 4 hrs one way first...LOL

Will0W783 · 02-24-14, 10:02 AM

Wow, 4 hours is a long way! You probably saw me- I had on a gray shirt and straight dark brown hair, glasses. I'm always happy to meet other snake people.

Sharlynn93 · 02-24-14, 10:05 AM

yes, I did see you! hubby and I are fascinated with hots...just dont want any here..LOL...but he LOVES when I show him your pics! he mooned over your table for a while both times...too many people for you to remember, but he is 6'6" tall, so next time watch for a really tall skinny guy! with a wife about a foot shorter...LOL

Will0W783 · 02-24-14, 10:06 AM

Thanks Jinxygirl, the Powerpuff girls names were my fiance's idea. I HAD to name the male P. Diddy, lmao. I always said if I ever got puff adders, the male would be Diddy.

Puff adders are really interesting snakes; each locality has its own coloration and slight difference to the patterns. In fact, there is talk of reworking the Bitis complex to include only puff adders, and breaking them down into various species. I'm not really on board with that- puff adders can and do interbreed with Gaboon vipers in the wild. In my mind, if two species can breed, they are in the same genus. That's historically one of the hallmarks of a genus. Regardless, I think that puffs at least need to be broken into subspecies- there are some really neat differences. For example, Cape puffs are usually bright yellow and black, Namibian puffs are very light in color, with lots of cream, buff, reads and yellows, Tanzanians are your standard chocolate and cream puff, etc.

SSSSnakes · 02-24-14, 10:32 AM

Great looking snakes as always. Your collection is getting pretty big by now. I did not go this time, but sent someone to pick up something for me. I got an Egyptian Cobra. That I will post pictures when I get some free time.

Will0W783 · 02-24-14, 12:11 PM

Egyptian cobras are beautiful. Yes, my collection is growing nicely. I've made the tough decision to find new homes for the majority of my non-venomous snakes. I want more time and space to focus on breeding the vipers. Right now I'm at 31 snakes, which is a good number. I like to try to keep it under 40 snakes.

Will0W783 · 02-25-14, 09:55 AM

Ugh, so I got put in an awkward position last night. My friend that sold me Buttercup, the really light and beautiful yearling puff adder at Hamburg, texted me that he found a male he wants to pair her with so he wants her back. He'd assured me all the previous week that he only needed one from that pair of siblings, and I could definitely buy one. I did, and I gave him what he paid for her.
I do not want to part with this snake; I'm trying to build a nice little breeding group and I want her blood in my group. I offered him a breeding loan, and he said "I don't want it on a loan. I want it to pair with this unrelated male I got last year that looks like her." I said, well I want the bloodline, so would you trade the female for the male sibling? He said he'll "think about it."

This is a friend who has done me favors in the past; he's given me a few baby snakes and I have promised him offspring from any and all litters produced by those snakes. I thought we had a good working relationship where we could exchange snakes as needed on loans/trades/etc. I feel like he's being a bit out of line to demand an animal back that he sold me and not want to work out a loan with me....

Anyone have any advice on how I should handle this? I don't want to ruin a friendship or create hard feelings, but I'm really really attached to this snake and I need a few good quality animals for my group. He has about 10 awesome puffs already....

Sharlynn93 · 02-25-14, 10:17 AM

wow...kind of a tight spot there...would hate to break a good working relationship, but I totally relate with the bonding thing with a snake...I had an offer for my AC garter, but I do NOT want to part with it...tough call, sweetie...hope your decision works out for you..keep us posted, I LOVE to see your posts and updates...

SSSSnakes · 02-25-14, 07:57 PM

He needs to understand that he made a deal with you and he needs to live up to his end of it. It is very important to be a man of your word. If he as a friend does not understand this, then he is not much of a friend no matter how long you have known him. You are being more than reasonable. It sounds like he wants everything his way, and if this breaks up a relationship, then so be it.

**Tsubaki** · 02-26-14, 08:29 AM

Beautiful animals!

and personally i believe your friend is completely out of line demanding buttercup back. He decided to sell her, so if you loan her to him that is already very lenient. I would make that very clear myself, it's not a video-game but a living breathing animal. And a deal is a deal.

Will0W783 · 02-26-14, 08:40 AM

Thanks guys, I'm going to stick to my guns on this one. I have given two options- trade for her brother or loan her. In the past, he asked me to return a really rare arboreal viper because he'd found a male. I was ok with that scenario, because she was the only one in the country and the species needs to be propagated. It turned out the male was misidentified (it was another, more common species) so I still have that female. In that case, I was sad but willing to send her back to him, because I know he'd have a better chance of breeding her successfully. In this case, though, I have a male puff and am more than capable of breeding them. I'm also not saying he can't breed her, just that I won't return her permanently. Hopefully everything works out. Either way, I'm glad to have a nice little breeding group of puffs and can't wait for P. Diddy to be big enough to breed my girls!