tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-194410932024-03-14T01:12:13.620-07:00Simply SubocsThis is a place intended to be a companion to my new website, Suboc.com, and also a forum for myself and others who enjoy Trans-Pecos ratsnakes to post comments, questions, field notes, pictures and other items that are related to this wonderful reptile. It is also a "latest news" type of site for me to post updates on our animals, projects, pictures and journal entries. Please visit often as we will update quite frequently. You wouldn't want to miss out on any of the fun we're going to have!Dusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.comBlogger97125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-90525746841643685062010-05-24T12:02:00.000-07:002010-05-24T12:17:12.936-07:00New Published Mini-article: Suboc.com animals and Dusty featured in "Practical Reptile Keeping" magazine, May 2010 issue<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/S_rOI2KbHHI/AAAAAAAAAaw/1dRU9t86ooI/s1600/prk_subocs_may_20100002.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 280px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/S_rOI2KbHHI/AAAAAAAAAaw/1dRU9t86ooI/s400/prk_subocs_may_20100002.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474914948395768946" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/S_rQPO3zROI/AAAAAAAAAa4/5gtPNMejV_I/s1600/prk_subocs_may_20100001+copy.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 66px; height: 96px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/S_rQPO3zROI/AAAAAAAAAa4/5gtPNMejV_I/s400/prk_subocs_may_20100001+copy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474917257131017442" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.practicalreptilekeeping.co.uk/">Practic</a></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.practicalreptilekeeping.co.uk/">al Reptile Keeping</a> </span>is the UK's premier and best-selling reptile magazine. There's a one-page layout and description with photos of some of our most exciting and newest color and pattern morphs on page 19 of the May 2010 issue, in the publication's "What's Hot in the Reptile World?" section.Dusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-73324529392658910452010-05-24T11:47:00.000-07:002010-05-24T12:02:30.076-07:00Speaking at the upcoming 33rd International Herpetological Symposium, Tucson, Arizona USA<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.kingsnake.com/ihs/"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 152px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/S_rKrQ04B3I/AAAAAAAAAao/NauZhMPFvQ4/s400/xbwlogo.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474911141622187890" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">July 21 - 24, 2010.</span><br /><br /><br />I will be speaking on Trans-Pecos Ratsnakes and Baja Ratsnakes during one of those dates at the upcoming<br /><center style="font-style: italic;"><span style="color: rgb(208, 4, 0);"><big>33rd International Herpetological Symposium</big><br />July 21 - 24, 2010<br /><big>Tucson, Arizona USA<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></big></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Should be a lot of fun. There will be field trips to two outstanding desert museums with extremely important herp collections, the </span><span style="color: rgb(208, 4, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style=";font-family:ARIAL;color:BLACK;" ><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.desertmuseum.org/">Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum</a> and the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rodeo-New-Mexico/Chiricahua-Desert-Museum/63454188113">Chiricahua Desert Museum</a>. Lots of great speakers, including Harry Greene, and I'm sure some great conversations and herping in Gila Monster and Crotalus country!<br /><br />I will post an update on my exact presentation date, along with the title and abstract, very soon. <a href="http://www.kingsnake.com/ihs/">Click here for the IHS symposium details</a>.<br /></span></span></span></div></center>Dusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-71408903094816637502010-05-24T11:43:00.000-07:002010-05-24T11:46:55.883-07:00Interview on the UK's premier reptile forums<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/S_rJCIiXhuI/AAAAAAAAAag/CI-mOiQxFUo/s1600/logo.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 284px; height: 109px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/S_rJCIiXhuI/AAAAAAAAAag/CI-mOiQxFUo/s400/logo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474909335510812386" border="0" /></a><br />I was recently interviewed for the Reptile Forums UK web site. You can read the transcript <a href="http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/blog/subocs/">here</a>!Dusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-40448312861563426832010-05-24T11:23:00.001-07:002010-05-24T11:40:36.406-07:00The End of an Era...(sort of...)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/S_rE4sI8xDI/AAAAAAAAAaY/rlIPcRttaJA/s1600/2009_hatchling_green_blonde_het_albino_pic3.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 238px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/S_rE4sI8xDI/AAAAAAAAAaY/rlIPcRttaJA/s320/2009_hatchling_green_blonde_het_albino_pic3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474904775222674482" border="0" /></a>In the past few weeks, we have widdled down our entire snake collection to nothing...well, kind of nothing. <br /><br />We will still be able to offer people the best Trans-Pecos Ratsnakes and Baja Ratsnakes out there every hatching season. These will be the best of the best and the rarest of the rarest mutations and morphs. We will still be working with 100% locality River Road Albino Trans-Pecos Ratsnakes, Patternless and Patternless Silver Trans-Pecos, our exclusive Strawberry Blonde project, as well as Snows, Snow Blondes, Albino Blondes, Trumbower Normally Patterned and Silver Blondes, Mustard Blondes, some neat Baja Ratsnakes, and a few other goodies. BUT, they won't be at our house. They have been spread out on breeding loan to a few of my trusted partners and friends.<br /><br />Am I sad? Not really. I'll still be able to enjoy my snakes from afar. And I'll be taking my interest and passion for reptiles and biology to another level...studying tropical reptiles and amphibians at Ole Miss. Am I excited? Heck yes!<br /><br />I certainly want to thank all of the people who have enabled me to enjoy Subocs for so many years, and I hope to continue to enjoy West Texas and its marvelous wonders for many years to come.Dusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-19100266029021442882010-03-24T09:46:00.000-07:002010-03-24T09:57:28.089-07:00Selling entire Trans-Pecos Ratsnake collection<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/S6pEZSsLqZI/AAAAAAAAAZs/c-JpsXmXT2c/s1600/2009_hatchling_variety_trans_pecos_wandering_off.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/S6pEZSsLqZI/AAAAAAAAAZs/c-JpsXmXT2c/s400/2009_hatchling_variety_trans_pecos_wandering_off.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452245500189976978" border="0" /></a><br />I usually don't use this blog for selling snakes, but I'm officially going to grad school this fall and will be selling EVERYTHING in my collection. Group prices available; contact me for more information. Here's what I have available:<br /><br />'09 animals:<br /><br />*Snow male (outcrossed European x Loma Alta) -- also 66% poss. Het Blonde, gorgeous, the first and only one we've hatched! $2900 OBO<br /><br />*Albino Blonde male. He's also 66% poss. Het Silver (Snow). European line. -- $1200 OBO<br /><br />*0.2 Silver Blonde 100% HET SNOW -- these are the only European ones that exist...anyone would produce MANY Snows every season when paired with the Snow male above. $1000 each.<br /><br />*Normally Patterned Silver female -- huge baby. $275.<br /><br />*0.3 Silver Blonde females $190 each. OBO<br /><br />*4.0 Het "Strawberry Blonde" males $390 each OBO -- a new designer project; these will produce the first ever "Orange Blondes" when bred to Blonde phase females. Orange is not recessive.<br /><br />*0.0.4 Peach phase babies; outcrossed poss. 50% poss. Het Snow Blonde (hatched from Triple Het male x a Langtry locality female) $115 each.<br /><br />*2.1 66% poss. Het Snow Blonde (from a Triple Het x Triple het pairing -- these are siblings of the '09 Snow male) $100 each.<br /><br />*0.1 100% Double Het (for Silver and Blonde), and 66% poss. Het Snow. $175 OBO.<br /><br />'08 animals:<br /><br />1.1 66% poss. het Snow Blonde $225/pair<br /><br />Single Adults and Designer Breeding Groups:<br /><br />*Strawberry Blonde group. These are my best of the best holdbacks selected to produce the prettiest, orangest Strawberry Blondes ever. Included are an '08 Het Strawberry Blonde male, an '07 Het Strawberry Blonde female, an '09 Het Strawberry Blonde female, and an '09 Mustard Blonde female. All were the best standouts from their clutches. I don't want this group split up. This will undoubtedly be the best source of the most beautiful Strawberry Blondes for years to come. $1900 OBO.<br /><br />*Designer Loma Alta Orange Albino Breeding Group: 1.1 Adult Albinos ('07 male and '05 female), and 0.3 '07 Het Albinos outcrossed to Orange Panther Canyon to improve color. $3250<br /><br />*1.1 Triple Hets; proven adults. '03 female and '06 male. unrelated. the pair that produced our Snow and many other morphs. $2200 OBO.<br /><br />*1.0 '03 Triple Het male...great as a backup to the above pair. $1000.00<br /><br />*2.1 '06 and '07 Silver Blonde adults. $350 each.<br /><br />*0.1 '06 Trumbower Silver Blonde female. Inredible. Almost white. $500.<br /><br />*2.0 '07 Trumbower Normally Patterned Silver, Het Blonde, and 66% poss. het Snow males. Gorgeous! $500 each OBO.<br /><br />*0.2 '06 proven Mustard Blonde females. $750 each OBO.<br /><br />*2.2 '07 Adult Het River Road Albinos. Rare. This is the 100% locality, bright-orange Albino line that always has the frontal scale. $1000/pair or $1600/group.<br /><br />*0.1 '07 River Road Albino female. $2000 FIRM. No Triple Hets, Snows, Snow Blondes, or Albino Blondes exist from this line yet. Pair with Het male for $2250 or adult Silver Blonde male for $2100.<br /><br />*'06 Snow sibling male. Sibling of the first Snow ever hatched. Yellow phase and VERY docile. $175.<br /><br />*'04 Double Het (for Silver and Blonde) female. Proven. $250.<br /><br />*'07 Double Het (for Silver and Blonde), and 66% poss. Het Snow male. $200.<br /><br />*One-of-a-kind Patternless Trans-Pecos Ratsnake. '03 male. Hatched in the UK. $3500.<br /><br />We use UPS Next Day Air shipping. All are eating frozen/thawed mice. Exporting available.<br /><br />Buy from the person who literally wrote the book on Trans-Pecos Ratsnakes! <br /><br />Serious inquiries only, please. Thanks for looking.<br /><br />*p.s. I also have 1.1 '07 Bredl's Pythons for $800/pair.<br /><br />The entire collection is valued at $32,000 at the above prices. If you are interested in the entire collection, I will sell them all for $7000.00 below that. These are all holdback snakes that I've spent 10 years cherrypicking for best quality and rarest genetics; they sell fast, so you'd stand to make a great profit, whether you flip them, but <span style="font-style: italic;">especially</span> if you breed some of them.<br /><br />Thanks,<br /><br />DustyDusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-36071297769233210752010-03-04T09:44:00.000-08:002010-03-04T13:48:10.493-08:00Long-overdue update.<div align="center"><div style="text-align: left;">So, the obvious question is why haven't I posted anything in more than 14 months. <br /><br />Well, a lot has happened in that time, not the least of which was the birth of my son, finishing my degree at BYU, applying to graduate schools, taking the GRE, etc. -- basically life curve after life curve.<br /><br />I've also fallen in love with science -- particularly, evolution -- in the past 8 - 10 months or so. One of my favorite quotes about this field is "<b>Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution</b>". This was an essay by Theodosius Dobzhansky showing how all of the various branches of biology come together as a unified, consilient body when you examine them from an evolutionary context. Like most professional and academic vertebrate biologists, I've always had an interest in reptiles and amphibians (and most living organisms) since a very early age, and keeping them and breeding them was my way of "studying" them. Suddenly, however, <span style="font-style: italic;">breeding</span> snakes has taken a back seat to studying the reigning theory that explains all this biodiversity around us and all of their behaviors and interactions. Conservation biology, another topic I've always held dear to my heart, has completely opened up wider in light of studying evolution, as well. And though I've always placed just as much, if not more, importance to learning and studying their natural history, doing so even more lately has also pushed captive breeding even further away from mind. <br /><br />This is not to say that I've given up breeding snakes, but it has certainly ebbed in the past year or so. I will still have several new Trans-Pecos Ratsnake color and pattern morphs that I want to develop and present to the world, not the least of which are Patternless Silvers, Strawberry Patternless, Strawberry Blondes, and a few other goodies. That being said, I will probably not post on here as often as I used to in years past. I will update my web site, Suboc.com, from time to time, especially when baby captive-bred snakes are available. And I may write an article or two and give presentations at herpetological society meetings.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">So, in view of these changes in my life, I thought I would post a very thought-provoking article I have read over and over. There is so much going on right now in the world of science. Global warming has been confirmed by the majority of scientists who study climate change, and at least 80% of those people accept the evidence that it is human-caused. Certain fundamentalist sects of the religious community have taken evolution taught in public schools to court and not only lost, but had their Intelligent Design/Creationism views outlawed in public school science classes (e.g the Dover vs Kitzmiller case) and declared by a supreme court judge as "not science" -- a decision I personally applaud and agree with. There is a constant stream of pending pet reptile legislation proposing to ban and/or regulate non-native species of herps, and based on the 400+ alien species established in Southern Florida, many of which take their origins back to the pet trade, I can't say that I'm not for <span style="font-style: italic;">some</span> regulation. It's just too bad that the pet industry didn't regulate themselves before all this started so that they could avoid the disasters of not only being government-banned, but the even greater disaster of destroying parts of the environment with invasive species. All of that aside, I think it's important that all people ask themselves, "Well, what do <span style="font-style: italic;">I</span> think about this issue?" "What are <span style="font-style: italic;">my</span> beliefs?" Too often, it's easy to say, "Well, I believe [this or that], because I'm a conservative/liberal and ALL conservatives/liberals believe [this or that]." This article, written by a professor of linguistics at BYU, addresses this topic. Enjoy.<br /></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Diagnosing and Treating</span></div><div align="center"><br />THE </div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;">OPHELIA </span></div><div align="center">SYNDROME</div><div align="center"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">By Thomas G. Plummer</span> </div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">BYU TODAY </span><span style="font-size:78%;">September 1989</span></div><div align="left"><br />In <em>Hamlet</em>, Act I, Scene 3, Laertes warns his sister, Ophelia, to avoid falling in love with Hamlet, whose advances, he claims, are prompted by fleeting, youthful lust. He cautions her against Hamlet's "unmastered importunity" and counsels her that "best safety lies in fear." Then her father, Polonius, begins to meddle. He knows, he tells Ophelia, that she has responded to Hamlet's attention and then informs her that she "does not understand [herself] so clearly." He asks if she believes Hamlet's affections are genuine, to which Ophelia responds, "I do not know, my lord, what I should think." Polonius answers, "I'll teach you. Think yourself a baby. . . ."</div><div align="left"><br />In this scene Shakespeare has given us the essence of what I call the "Ophelia Syndrome. " It requires two players, a Polonius and an Ophelia. It is condensed into these two lines: "I do not know, my lord, what I should think," and, "I'll teach you. Think yourself a baby." Ophelia does not know what she should think, and Polonius, reducing her to the stature of a baby, presumes to tell her. Polonius pontificates. He purports to know answers when he has none. He claims to have truth when he himself obscures it. He feigns expertise by virtue of his authority. But his real interest is power: he clamors to be a parent to other adults and exhorts them to become children to his word. Ophelia is worse than naive. She is chronically ignorant, chronically dependent, and chronically submissive. She is an adult who chooses to be a baby, one who does not know her own opinions and who would not express them to an authority if she did.</div><div align="left"><br />S.I. Hayakawa describes symptoms of the Ophelia Syndrome in his essay, "What Does It Mean to Be Creative?":</div><div align="left"><br /><em>Most people don't know the answer to the question, "How are you? How do you feel?" The reason why they don't know is that they are so busy feeling what they are supposed feel, thinking what they are supposed to think, that they never get down to examining their own deepest feelings. "How did you like the play?" "0h, it was a fine play. It was well reviewed in</em> The New Yorker<em>." With authority figures like drama critics and book reviewers and teachers and professors telling us what to think and how to feel, many of us are busy playing roles, fulfilling other people's expectations. As Republicans, we think what other Republicans think. As Catholics, we think what other Catholics think. And so on. Not many of us ask ourselves, "How do I feel? What do I think?" - and wait for an answer.</em> <span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:85%;">(S.I. Hayakawa, "What Does It Mean to Be Creative?," <em>Through the Communication Barrier.</em> ed. Arthur Chandler [New York: Harper & Row, 1979], 104-105)</span></span></div><span style="font-size:78%;"><div align="left"><br />Charles Schulz characterized the Ophelia Syndrome more succinctly in this "Peanuts" cartoon: (Charlie Brown's little sister says: "We've been reading poems in school, but I never understand any of them.. How am I supposed to know which poems to like?" Charlie Brown answers: "Somebody tells you.")</div><div align="left"><br />Psychologist Carl Jung describes this dependence on others for one's thoughts in the context of his discussion of "individuation." Individuation is the process of learning to differentiate oneself from others. It is a psychological "growing up." It means to discover those aspects of the self that distinguish one person from another. Failure to achieve individuation leaves people dependent on other, stronger personalities for their identity. They fail to understand their uniqueness. <span style="font-size:85%;">(Carl G. Jung, <em>Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious</em> [New York: Pantheon Books, 1959])</span></div><div align="left"><br />I have a friend who is fond of saying, "If we both think the same way, one of us is unnecessary." The clone, the chameleon personality is the Ophelia Syndrome in another form. One reading of Ophelia's suicide later in <em>Hamlet </em>suggests that because she has no thoughts of her own, because she has listened only to the contradictory voices of the men around her - Laertes, Polonius, and Hamlet - she reaches a breaking point. They have all used her: "She is only valued for the roles that further other people's plots. Treated as a helpless child, she finally becomes one..." <span style="font-size:78%;">(David Leverenz, "The Women In Hamlet: An Interpersonal View,"<em> Signs: Journal of Woman in Culture and Society</em> 4 [1978]: 302-303)</span> Her childishness is just a step along the regression to suicide, a natural - if not logical - solution to her dependence on conflicting authorities.</div><div align="left"><br />The Ophelia Syndrome manifests itself in universities. The Ophelia (substitute a male name, if you choose) writes copious notes in every class and memorizes them for examinations. <span style="font-size:78%;">(Erich Fromm, "Learning," <em>To Have or To Be</em> [New York: Harper & Row], 17-19)</span> The Polonius writes examination questions that address just what was covered in the textbook or lectures. The Ophelia wants to know exactly what the topic for a paper should be. The Polonius prescribes it. The Ophelia wants to be a parrot, because it feels safe. The Polonius enjoys making parrot cages. In the end, the Ophelia becomes the clone of the Polonius, and one of them is unnecessary. I worry often that universities may be rendering their most serious students, those who have been "good" all their lives, vulnerable to the Ophelia Syndrome rather than motivating them to individuation.</div><div align="left"><br />And so what? Is it such a bad thing to emulate teachers? What if you are a student of biochemistry or German grammar? Then you have to memorize information and take notes from instructors who know more, because the basic material is factual. There is no other way. And this is a temporary condition of many areas of study. But eventually every discipline enters into the unknown, the uncertain, the theoretical, the hypothetical, where teachers can no longer tell students with certainty what they should think. It is only an illusion, a wish of the Ophelias and the Poloniuses that literary texts have just one interpretation or that the exact sciences be exact. At its best, even science is a creative art. Hayakawa quotes his good friend Alfred Korzybski as saying,</div><div align="left"><br /><em>Creative scientists know very well from observation of themselves that all creative work starts as a feeling, inclination, suspicion, intuition, hunch, or some other nonverbal affective state, which only at a later date, after a sort of nursing, takes the shape of verbal expression worked out later in a rationalized, coherent ... theory. </em><span style="font-size:85%;">(Hayakawa, 105)</span></div><div align="left"><br />Most of us have metaphors - either subconsciously or consciously - of our student experience. I asked several of my students about theirs. One said he thinks of himself as a computer with insufficient memory. He is able to enter information but cannot recall it. One said he is a sieve. A lot of stuff goes right on through, but important pieces stay lodged. One said she feels like a pedestrian in front of a steamroller, and the driver will not give her any hints about how to get out of the way. Another described his metaphor as a tennis match in which he must anticipate his instructor's response to each shot. Another thought of herself as a dog jumping through a hoop. Another described himself as a mouse in a maze with no directional signs and no exits. Another as a child in a candy store where you can choose only one or two pieces to take home. These metaphors describe people at various stages along the way from Ophelia to individuation.</div><div align="left"><br />Talk is cheap. It's fine to say, "Learn to think for yourself," and it's quite another to do it. A recent <em>Fortune</em> magazine article described the plight of middle managers in American corporations. Driven by chief executive officers at the top for greater profits and productivity, many are working 70 or 80 hours a week and sometimes more. The article reports that the corporate byword for urging these people on is "think smarter." But since no one really knows what that means or how to think smarter, they just work longer. And people are burning out. <span style="font-size:78%;">("Is Your Company Asking Too Much?," <em>Fortune</em>, March 12, 1990: 39-46)</span></div><div align="left"><br />Learning to think while still in college has its advantages. It may mean shorter working hours later on. It may mean not having a mid-life crisis because you chose to study what you wanted rather than something that someone else wanted you to study. It may mean becoming your own person. It may, purely and simply, mean a much happier life. I want to suggest six things you can do - six things I wish I had done - to treat the Ophelia Syndrome.</div><div align="center"><br /><strong>TREATMENT 1.</strong> </div><div align="center"><br />SEEK OUT AND </div><div align="center">LEARN FROM GREAT </div><div align="center">TEACHERS, REGARDLESS </div><div align="center">OF WHAT THEY TEACH.</div><div align="left"><br />How do you find them? First of all, they have a reputation among students. They are known to set people on fire, to inspire them. They are known to be challenging, fair, and tough. They refuse to be a Polonius, they refuse to make you a baby, and they refuse to do your thinking for you. They join you as a partner in a learning and research enterprise. I recently heard a nationally televised interview with violinist Itzhak Perlman and his teacher, Dorothy Delay, at Julliard School of Music. Perlman, now 45, was sent to Julliard as a gifted child prodigy. He was angry to have been sent to New York, far from his friends and family in Israel, and he was furious to live in the Julliard student hotel, an environment that he considered unseemly.</div><div align="left"><br />The interviewer asked him how he had liked his teacher.</div><div align="left"><br />"I hated her," he replied.</div><div align="left"><br />Ms. Delay, a gentle woman with an air of complete calm, smiled into the camera.</div><div align="left"><br />"I hated her," he repeated.</div><div align="left"><br />"Why?" the interviewer asked.</div><div align="left"><br />"She would never tell me what to do," said Perlman. "She would stop me in the middle of a scale and say, 'Now Itzhak, what is your concept of a C-sharp?' It made me furious. She refused to tell me what to do. But," he went on, "I began to think as I played. My playing became an engaging intellectual exercise in which I understood every note and why I played it the way I did, because I had thought about it myself."</div><div align="left"><br />In that same spirit, Wayne Booth in his book, <em>The Vocation of a Teacher</em>, asserts that regardless of whether a teacher lectures or runs discussions, the "teacher has failed if students leave the classroom assuming that the task of thinking through to the next step lies entirely with the teacher." <span style="font-size:78%;">(Wayne C. Booth, "What Little I Think I Know About Teaching," <em>The Vocation of a Teacher</em> [Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988], 214)</span> To this point, Booth adds three more principles that will help teachers and students avoid the Polonius role. Addressing instructors he writes,</div><div align="left"><br /><em>1. You gotta get them talking to each other, not just to you or to the air.</em></div><div align="left"><br /><em>2. You gotta get them talking about the subject, not just having a bull session in which nobody really listens to anybody else. This means insisting on at least the following rule in every discussion: Whether I call on you or you speak up spontaneously, please address the previous speaker, or give a reason for changing the subject.</em></div><div align="left"><br /><em>3. You gotta find ways to prevent yourself from relapsing into a badly prepared lecturette, disguised as a discussion. Informal lectures are usually worse than prepared ones.</em> <span style="font-size:78%;">(Booth, 215)</span></div><div align="center"><br /><strong>TREATMENT 2.</strong> </div><div align="center"><br />DARE TO KNOW </div><div align="center">AND TRUST YOURSELF</div><div align="left"><br />Perhaps it goes without saying that you cannot know what to think if you do not know who you are. People go about self-discovery in various ways, and I can only share my own experience. I did not begin a truly honest search for my "self" until I was 40 years old. Then it became an obsession. I took personality tests. I re-read old letters I had written and received. I began keeping a journal. I wish I had done it all 20 years before.</div><div align="left"><br />I now keep track of myself and my thinking through writing. I write letters and keep copies of what I write. I have had two sons on missions, and I make sure that I say things to them not only that I want to say but also that I want to remember. Second, I keep a journal - sporadically but frequently. I never take more than five or ten minutes to write in it, and when I write, I write intensively. I write to find my own voice, my own thoughts. I do not worry about who may read it later. It is for me. I write about my subconscious as well as my conscious self, because I believe that dreams do much of my thinking for me. Here is a dream from November 15,1987:</div><div align="left"><br /><em>Louise and I were driving through a sparsely populated, desolate area, The car engine faltered and quit. Luckily just across the road was a Chevron station. I knew the repair work was minor and pushed the car into the station. It was ready later in the day.</em></div><div align="left"><br /><em>The service station attendant pushed a credit card bill toward me and said, "Sign here. "</em></div><div align="left"><br /><em>I signed. "How much was the repair?" I asked.</em></div><div align="left"><br /><em>"$963," he replied.</em></div><div align="left"><br /><em>"$963? What cost $963?" 1 was incredulous.</em></div><div align="left"><br /><em>"Well, the repair work, and we put in a new dashboard."</em></div><div align="left"><br /><em>"A new dashboard? How come a new dashboard?"</em></div><div align="left"><br /><em>"The old one was scratched up," he replied.</em></div><div align="left"><br /><em>"Why didn't you ask me before you did that?" I was now screaming. "I won't pay."</em></div><div align="left"><br /><em>"You've signed the bill," he said. "You have to pay." His voice was gravely, firm.</em></div><div align="left"><br /><em>He was right. I'd signed the bill. I had to pay.</em></div><div align="left"><br /><em>"Just let me see the bill again," I asked. "I won't destroy it. I'm not a cheater."</em></div><div align="left"><br /><em>Reluctantly he let me take it. I could tell he didn't trust me. Other mechanics surrounded me and stared, sober faced, menacing. Heavy, burly faces. I looked at the bill. $963. It will take months and months to pay off.</em></div><div align="left"><br />As I look back through this journal, I rediscover myself. There are notes about my son's crisis with his mission president, a painful chapter, and my efforts to play diplomat. There is a love note from my wife, notes on a line from Blake's poem,"London," reflections on a painting in our dining room, a list of highlights from 25 years of marriage, a greedy wish list for ourselves, plans for a trip to Tokyo. a red horse chestnut blossom from a BYU tree. and a poem in reference to William Carlos Williams:</div><div align="left"><br /><em>The chocolate hazelnut torte</em></div><div align="left"><em>At the Market Street Broiler</em></div><div align="left"><em>After a bowl of clam chowder</em></div><div align="left"><em>Makes more of a difference</em></div><div align="left"><em>Than that red wheelbarrow.</em></div><em></em><div align="left"><br />There is a tribute to shrimp scampi, eaten at dinner at Sundance on May 5, 1989, with Elizabeth and Daryl Pedersen:</div><div align="left"><br /><em>Hail shrimp scampi, a flourish of trumpets!Shrimp beats the hell out of tea and crumpets!Shrimp and pasta and garlic butter,Divine crustaceans, you set me aflutter.</em></div><em></em><div align="left"><br />The point is this: as I write my life, I learn my thoughts, whether good or ill, conscious or subconscious. They are my thoughts, and as I come to recognize them I become less and less vulnerable to the Ophelia Syndrome through which others once dictated my life to me.</div><div align="left"><br />You can also increase your confidence in your own judgment if you take courses that teach you how to ask good questions, how to define the terms of your position, how to employ strategies of rhetoric and logical argumentation, and how to employ critical theory. Such courses may be elementary philosophy classes, advanced literature classes, or math classes. One of my colleagues once quipped, "If a course isn't about method, it isn't about much of anything." I believe that.</div><div align="left"><br />As you come to know yourself and gain confidence in critical skills, you must also learn to play your hunches, to follow your intuition through. You truly are the only one who knows what you think and feel, and you, consequently, are the only one who knows what feelings and ideas you must follow through on.</div><div align="center"><br /><strong>TREATMENT 3.</strong> </div><div align="center"><br />LEARN TO LIVE</div><div align="center">WITH UNCERTAINTY</div><div align="left"><br />To put it differently, surrender the need for absolute truth. The English poet John Keats wrote a landmark letter to his brothers, George and Thomas Keats, on December 22, 1817. It has become known as the letter on "Negative Capability." In part it reads,</div><div align="left"><br /><em>...it struck me what quality went to form a Man [or Woman] of Achievement, especially in Literature, and which Shakespeare possessed so enormously - I mean Negative Capability, that is, when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.</em></div><div align="left"><br />I do not want to do Keats an injustice by oversimplifying a magnificent statement, but I believe he is saying essentially this: The world is a complex place, and absolute truth is elusive, indeed; the greatness in Shakespeare may be attributed to the fact that he didn't feel inclined to explain what he could not, but only to portray the human condition as he saw it.</div><div align="left"><br />This concept drives a stake into the heart of the notion that Polonius has the answers. Overcoming the Ophelia Syndrome, becoming an independent thinker, includes giving up romantic notions of the world as a place where everything can be explained. It includes giving up the need to be fooled into thinking that Polonius does indeed have the answers when he does not. I wish he did. I wish I did. I wish any or all of my colleagues did. We do not. We can only join with students and others in the pursuit of answers, and even then we must remain ultimately in some degree of uncertainty.</div><div align="left"><br />The corollary to this is that to treat the Ophelia Syndrome, one must develop a healthy distrust of authorities and experts. Experts disagree more often than they agree. Those who pose as authorities are as likely to be a Polonius trying to turn Ophelia into a baby as they are to have a real handle on what they are talking about. Is there a solution? I can think of two: First, for every important opinion you hear, get a second opinion. Second, in the words of the Lord in the 9th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, study it out in your own heart.</div><div align="left"><br />When I was in graduate school, I took a seminar on Heinrich von Kleist from Bernhard Blume, one of the grand old men of German scholarship. One day we were to discuss a paper by a classmate, Ken Tigar, on Kleist's play, <em>Der zerbrochene Krug</em>. The paper seemed sound enough to the rest of us. Tigar's argument was based on a description written by Professor Walter Muschg, the great Kleist scholar at the University of Basel, of a plate with figures engraved on it. Professor Blume came to class with a large volume under his arm. He opened it to a picture of the plate that Muschg had described and passed it around.</div><div align="left"><br />"Well," he asked, "what do you see?"</div><div align="left"><br />No one saw anything.</div><div align="left"><br />"Does the woman look pregnant to you?" he asked.</div><div align="left"><br />Ken's face blanched.</div><div align="left"><br />Professor Blume continued, "No. But Muschg says she is pregnant, and Mr. Tigar's paper rests on that premise."</div><div align="left"><br />Ken stammered, "I just thought Muschg would be right."</div><div align="left"><br />Professor Blume shut the book and said, "Let that be a lesson to you. Never trust anyone. You must examine the source yourself."</div><div align="center"><br /><strong>TREATMENT 4.</strong> </div><div align="center"><br />PRACTICE DIALECTICAL </div><div align="center">THINKING</div><div align="left"><br />By dialectical thinking, I mean thinking in alternatives and, if possible, in opposites. <span style="font-size:78%;">(William G. Perry, Jr., "Cognitive and Ethical Growth: The Making of Meaning," <em>The Modern American College</em>, eds. Arthur W. Chickering et al [San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1981], 76-116.)</span> If you hear one solution to a problem, look for an alternative solution. If you write a draft from one point of view, write a revision from another point of view. If you formulate an argument on a point, try to formulate a counter argument. I have one student who writes his journal entries in dialogues. The speakers argue with each other. He is thinking dialectically. If you see things from a male point of view, think about them from a female point of view for a change. Psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg defines morality as the ability to see an issue from points of view other than just your own. He cites E.M Foster's observation that most of the trouble in the world is due to our "inability to imagine the innerness of others lives." <span style="font-size:78%;">(Lawrence Kohlberg, "A Cognitive Developmental Approach to Moral Education,"<em> Humanist</em> 32.6 [1972]:15)</span></div><div align="left"><br />And this is where your peers come in. They represent alternative points of view. Their ideas are as important - if not more important - than your instructor's. The most memorable hours of my graduate education were not spent in the classroom. Some were spent with classmates in the café across the street after class. That is where Vicki Rippere, my classmate from Barnard, introduced me to critical theory. Some were spent in the graduate students' room on the third floor of Boylston Hall. That is where Bodo Reichenbach and Mark Lowry debated hotly for two hours about whether Faust was a moral man.</div><div align="left"><br />You may have to please Polonius by writing acceptable papers for him, but your peers will teach you how to escape his power as you wrestle with them.</div><div align="center"><br /><strong>TREATMENT 5. </strong></div><div align="center"><strong><br /></strong>FOSTER IDLE </div><div align="center">THINKING</div><div align="left"><br />I asked a friend of mine, a neurologist, how he thinks. He said, "If I have to tell a patient something hard, and I don't know how to do it, I sit in my office and daydream or fantasize about something that has nothing to do with the problem. When I'm through, I know what I have to say." This is a strategy for thinking by disengaging with the subject.</div><div align="left"><br />My wife, a fiction writer, gets her best ideas by taking long, hot baths. She doesn't try to think in the tub. She just soaks. Ideas float in of their own volition. Other people may take hikes, play basketball, or ride bikes. Still others may read novels or magazines. Idle thinking frees the mind for creative ideas. Hayakawa suggests that the creative person "is able to entertain and play with ideas that the average person may regard as silly, mistaken, or downright dangerous."</div><div align="left"><br />One of my students asked me if I thought television was bad for your mind. He said his father was always arguing that students in his day did more thinking than students today. I may have answered unequivocally "yes" to that question 10 years ago. Now I am not so sure. If television is a means of retreating totally from thinking, then of course it is bad. But it may be as entertaining and pleasant as a hike or a long bath. The answer is no longer so clear-cut for me.</div><div align="center"><br /><strong>TREATMENT 6.</strong> </div><div align="center"><br />PLAN TO STEP OUT</div><div align="center">OF BOUNDS</div><div align="left"><br />By "out of bounds," I mean out of the limits that Polonius may have prescribed for you. Independent thinking means to question the presumed bounds of thinking, reading, writing, or learning in general. A colleague at BYU once told me that years ago as a student, in a moment of boredom and desperation, he wrote a final examination in the form of a rhymed poem. He got an "A."</div><div align="left"><br />My own best experience with this was two years ago. It was Saturday night, the last night of final examinations, 7 to 10 p.m. I dutifully carried prepared tests to my class on "Reader-Response Theory," a course for advanced undergraduate and graduate humanities students. As I walked through the door, Holly Lavenstein, a gutsy student now enrolled in a graduate program in film making in Chicago, met me. She looked me straight in the eye and said, "We don't want to write an examination."</div><div align="left"><br />Now Holly didn't threaten me at all, but the better part of honesty told me that the written exam I had under my arm was an exercise in futility. The students had already written three papers, a weekly journal, and complete reading notes. What more did I need to grade them?</div><div align="left"><br />"Well, we have to have a final," I said. My voice lacked conviction.</div><div align="left"><br />"Yes, but not that one," she replied, pointing to the stack I was cradling. "If you'll step out in the hall for five minutes, we'll give you an alternative proposal."</div><div align="left"><br />Obediently I stepped back into the hall of the Maeser Building and sat on the steps. There was a lot of talking going on behind the door, and I could tell the tone was earnest, the atmosphere heated. In about five minutes, Holly poked her head out and motioned me in.</div><div align="left"><br />"We want a group oral examination," she said.</div><div align="left"><br />"And how's that supposed to work?" I asked.</div><div align="left"><br />"You just sit and watch," she said, "and we'll talk about what we learned in the course. "I will lead the discussion. You don't have to do anything."</div><div align="left"><br />"OK," I said, "On two conditions: First, everyone has to talk; and, second, everyone gets the same grade as the lowest performer on the exam."</div><div align="left"><br />Those were two of the finest hours of my entire career. The conversation was lively and challenging. The class became united. People who hadn't said five words all semester were talking like crazy. Of course the group would have killed them if they hadn't. They talked reasonably, they argued, they screamed and hollered at each other.</div><div align="left"><br />When three hours had passed, Holly turned to me and said, "Well, how did we do?"</div><div align="left"><br />"'A'," I said. "The best 'A' I ever gave."</div><div align="left"><br />The point here, however, is not that grade. The point is that this class, as a group, realized that their learning experience was more important than the grade, and they were willing to put all of their grades on the line to prove it. Sometimes escaping the Ophelia Syndrome means taking that kind of risk.</div><div align="left"><br />Treating the Ophelia Syndrome has its price. Only you can decide whether taking control of your education, whether using college as a time to achieve individuation, is worth it:</div><div align="left"><br />1) It may take time. A student in my class said, "I don't have time to learn to think in college." He said it sincerely. I inferred from what he said that getting out of college on a fast track was important to him. He wanted to be shown the hoops and jump through them. One of the costs of thinking is time. It means enrolling in courses not relevant to your major or minor because you want to take some great teacher outside your field. Or it may mean investing more time in discussions with classmates than you want to spare. Thinking takes time.</div><div align="left"><br />2) It means tolerating confusion about insoluble problems rather than finding "safety" in the arms of a Polonius who offers you a security blanket.</div><div align="left"><br />3) It means possibly getting lower grades than you'd like while you take a challenging teacher or try something out of the ordinary on an assignment.</div><div align="left"><br />4) It may mean going against the advice of people you love. One student noted in my class that it was hard to grow up as a good child and then study something that worries or frightens your parents. At the end of Act I, Scene 3, Ophelia submits to Polonius: "I shall obey, my lord."</div><div align="left"><br />To all of this I can only ask, which is the greater price to pay: "To think or not to think?"</div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left"><br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Dr. Thomas G. Plummer is a professor of Germanic and Slavic Languages at BYU. He delivered this faculty lecture to Delta Phi Alpha, the German Honor Society, April 5, 1990.</span></em></div></span>Dusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-37264149613548925192009-01-12T21:52:00.000-08:002009-01-12T21:54:11.368-08:00***New Suboc Genetics Findings<span style="font-family:Arial, helvetica, verdana, times new roman;font-size:100%;">Hi folks. Sorry for the long hiatus. (School has been CRAZY!)<br /><br />There are a couple of new findings in the realm of suboc color morph genetics that I believe many of you would find interesting.<br /><br />#1) First off, it has now been proven beyond all doubt that the European and Loma Alta/Hwy. 277 lineages of Albino Trans-Pecos Ratsnakes are the SAME genetically.<br /><br />Here's the story: Gregg Feaster bred a het for European Albino male to a Het for Loma Alta, Texas Albino female and got Albinos recently. Some of you may remember that I got a single Albino baby from a similar cross in '06.<br /><br />Why this is a big deal? Because this is one of the few times in the history of ANY high-end color morph of ANY species where you can OUTCROSS to strengthen bloodlines using homozygous to homozygous breedings -- in other words, Loma Alta Albinos bred to European Albinos -- and STILL get ALL ALBINO babies.<br /><br />#2) Big year for Gregg Feaster...he also proved that the Dave Hewitt River Road Axanthics are genetically the same as the Mark Bell (and Trumbower) Axanthics, which are the ones usually seen for sale by breeders.<br /><br />More soon!</span>Dusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-55828944422002693442008-10-17T20:04:00.000-07:002008-10-17T20:07:58.006-07:00"Bug-eyes" in Trans-Pecos Ratsnakes, an evolutionary adaptation<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SPlS_fkle1I/AAAAAAAAAOs/NXRqv_B61ww/s1600-h/tarsier.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SPlS_fkle1I/AAAAAAAAAOs/NXRqv_B61ww/s400/tarsier.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258325290691951442" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:Arial, helvetica, verdana, times new roman;font-size:100%;">This doesn't happen often, but sometimes I talk to people who are laboring under the myth that "bug-eyes" in Trans-Pecos Ratsnakes is a result of captive inbreeding. This is well-documented for leucistic <i>Pantherophis obsoletus lindheimeri</i>, but for <i>Bogertophis</i>, nothing could be further from the truth.<br /><br />Trans-Pecos Ratsnakes are fossorial during the day and 100% nocturnal otherwise. In other words, they're constantly in complete darkness -- in fact, in the wild, they absolutely shun light. "Bug-eyes" is an evolutionary adaptation to this lifestyle. And bug-eyes is not only seen in TPRSs -- it, as a physical trait, has convergently evolved in many unrelated taxa of animals with similar nocturnal habits. Owls, Leaf-tailed Geckos of the genus <i>Uroplatus</i> (among many other gekkonids), tarsiers, Red-eyed Tree Frogs, and the list goes on and on. Another example of "bug-eyes" in completely nocturnal snakes is Gray-banded Kingsnakes. Their lifestyle is much more fossorial and nocturnal than most <i>Lampropeltis</i>, and so they have those bulging eyes, which is a disharmonic trait for a kingsnake species.<br /><br />And there is no deleterious allele in subocs that causes extra or excessive "bug-eyedness" when subocs are inbred. In fact, of the 115 subocs in my facility, some of the most bug-eyed are from parents that were caught hundreds of miles apart -- the furthest thing from inbreeding.<br /><br />So, in conclusion, though "no bug eyes" might be a selling point for leucistic Texas Rats, it's not desirable, healthy, or normal to have a TPRS <i>without</i> them! <img src="http://forums.kingsnake.com/images/smiles/smile.gif" alt="" border="0" /> I mean, can you imagine someone selling a tarsier on the "selling point" that it has "NO bug eyes!"? <img src="http://forums.kingsnake.com/images/smiles/teeth.gif" alt="" border="0" /><br /><br />Have a great weekend, all.<br /></span>Dusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-25264354940444654572008-08-28T17:06:00.000-07:002008-08-28T17:38:24.495-07:0054 Trans-Pecos Ratsnake eggs and counting...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SLdDrbAugsI/AAAAAAAAANo/UWCKSXX_t54/s1600-h/book_on_shelf.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SLdDrbAugsI/AAAAAAAAANo/UWCKSXX_t54/s400/book_on_shelf.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5239731104733102786" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Thanks to Mike Murphy for sending this photo of <span style="font-style: italic;">The Complete Suboc </span>being sold at a booth in Daytona, Flordia. I was told it was at quite a few tables.<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">We're now at 54 Trans-Pecos Ratsnake eggs this season, so far. Nine clutches in all. Three of the clutches could have Snow and/or Snow Blonde, as well as Albino Blonde.<br /><br />Soon, I will have some informational articles on Suboc.com (I know I've been saying that for awhile now, but bear with me) and an updated expected offspring for '08 list.<br /><br />Here's a short list of what we have incubating so far:<br /><br /><ol><li>Pandale Gray phase<br /></li><li>Orange x Oro del Rio phase (Panther Canyon) -- should be some nice orange animals</li><li>Triple Het x Triple Het -- morphs galore!<br /></li><li>Triple Het x 66% poss. Het Albino clutch #1 -- fingers crossed for Albinos<br /></li><li>Triple Het x 66% poss. Het Albino clutch #2 -- fingers crossed for Albinos</li><li>Mustard Blonde x Oro del Rio (Orange) **aka Het "Strawberry Blonde"</li><li>Mustard Blonde, Het Axanthic (Silver), 50% poss. Het Snow x Bleached Blonde -- should be all Blonde-patterned babies with SEVERAL possible colors<br /></li><li>Langtry x Black Gap -- just beautiful "Normal" Trans-Pecos Ratsnakes from beautiful parents<br /></li><li>Triple Het x Axanthic (Silver) Blonde, Het Snow -- morphs galore again!</li></ol>Still might be a few more clutches to go.<br /><br />Cheers!<br /></div></div>Dusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-76756452454562150272008-08-23T12:48:00.000-07:002008-08-23T13:21:19.117-07:00Sharing a Closet with Incubating Reptile Eggs<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SLBqMCboP0I/AAAAAAAAAM4/VPSbtah_Fd8/s1600-h/IMG_0593.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SLBqMCboP0I/AAAAAAAAAM4/VPSbtah_Fd8/s400/IMG_0593.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237803121675616066" border="0" /></a><br />I often hear, at least once a year, that someone I know lost ALL of their incubating eggs due to a malfunctioned incubator that overheated and killed them. Ugggghhh!!! That would be such a kick in the stomach!!...all of that year's long hard work gone to waste in a matter of seconds.<br /><br />Something different I'm doing this year should mitigate or throw out entirely that possibility of an overheated incubator. My egg boxes, each with a clutch, are stacked on the highest shelf in a closed closet. By itself, the closet stays about 78 - 80 F. If you add a couple of heat pads and use them as "panels" against the wall, you can bump that up to about 86 degrees. That's with the heat pads on full power. If you connect them to a rheostat, which further mitigates any risk of overheating, you can lower the heat pad temps enough to bring the ambient temperature down to marginally above that of the closet's natural temperature of 78 - 80 F. Of course, you don't have to use any heat. (Suboc eggs have been proven to hatch at temperatures as low as 40 degrees!) But it takes longer that way, if you don't mind the wait.<br /><br />So far, this season we have more than 45 eggs incubating, 42 of which appear good. Only a couple more females to go, maybe three, but they're good ones.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Here's a Blonde that's Het Axanthic and Poss. Het for Snow that laid six, five of which look great. She's the "cover girl" for <span style="font-style: italic;">The Complete Suboc</span>, and this is her first clutch. She bred with the Bleached Blonde, so we should see some neat stuff out of them...perhaps a Snow Blonde.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SLBqMKtXC4I/AAAAAAAAANA/-0J5ohKAF-c/s1600-h/blonde_with_eggs.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SLBqMKtXC4I/AAAAAAAAANA/-0J5ohKAF-c/s400/blonde_with_eggs.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237803123897469826" border="0" /></a><br />I've gotta tell ya...I'm lovin' this new camera.<br /><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SLBqMQmhT6I/AAAAAAAAANI/sCmKkIhLhw8/s1600-h/blonde_with_eggs_close.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SLBqMQmhT6I/AAAAAAAAANI/sCmKkIhLhw8/s400/blonde_with_eggs_close.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237803125479395234" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">This pair was also observed showing some courting and reproductive behavior. A beautiful Normally Patterned Axanthic female with a show-stopping Trumbower Axanthic Blonde male. I really love the Normal-patterned Silvers -- they're something I will find hard to sell when I produce more of them.<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SLBqMnCWZNI/AAAAAAAAANQ/PUR-ob-YxeE/s1600-h/normal_pattern_silver_and_trumbower_silver_blonde.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SLBqMnCWZNI/AAAAAAAAANQ/PUR-ob-YxeE/s400/normal_pattern_silver_and_trumbower_silver_blonde.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237803131501700306" border="0" /></a>More soon!<br /><br />DRDusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-8173925333205192382008-08-21T16:58:00.001-07:002008-08-21T19:15:21.132-07:00How to be Good Stewards of the Earth and Conservation-minded While Still Enjoying HerpetocultureA couple of months ago, I was contacted by some friendly people in West Texas. They explained to me that they had found some adult Trans-Pecos <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Ratsnakes</span></span> on their property and were wondering if I'd be interested in buying some. Right away, I told them that I wasn't interested and that I rarely take adult reptiles out of the wild (i.e. maybe if it were an Albino or something unique like that I would, but other than that, it's just not something I would normally do -- and for the record -- I rarely even take young ones. I mostly just like to see them in the wild.).<br /><br />I gathered from our conversation that these were people who were probably not "mainstream" in the modern pet reptile industry. It just seemed that they would probably catch as many of whatever they could find on their property and sell them to anyone who would buy them...which is the way that most reptiles were bought and sold back in the early 1980's and previous to that. Now, I realize that there is still a market for wild-caught reptiles, but that market has changed drastically over the past 15 years. Nowadays, most people -- both buyers and sellers -- deal in captive-bred only.<br /><br />I explained to these people that they would probably have more <strong><em>long-lasting</em></strong> success if they only sold <em>young</em> snakes that they had legally caught. There are many, many reasons for this:<br /><ul><li>First, young snakes aren't as picky eaters and will eat feeder lab mice -- the adults often only eat K-Rats and Deer Mice and will die a long, slow, stressful, and cruel death in captivity if they never switch to lab rodents (many won't).</li><li>Second, young snakes are much more adaptable to captive situations and stresses -- they're naive and haven't had to duke it out over territory or evade predation as long as adults have.</li><li>Third, young wild snakes are usually scar- and blemish-free...older snakes often have the battle-wounds that go along with being a wild animal. And only adult <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">subocs</span></span> carry blood-sucking ticks on their bodies.</li><li>Fourth, female snakes can and do store sperm from previous <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">breedings</span></span> and will often use those stores instead of the male they currently are breeding with. The surest way to know the genetics of your captive-bred <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">suboc</span></span> babies is to raise up young animals. </li><li>Fifth, only a small percentage of young snakes survive to adulthood to reproduce. Large snakes have proven their fitness; they have won territories; they've evaded enough peccaries, owls, foxes, and other predators to stay alive for several years, AND they've proven that they can stay alive long enough to make MORE <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">suboc</span></span> babies...</li><li>And this leads me to my sixth and final point -- and this is the <strong><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">biggy</span></span></strong> -- if you only take young snakes from the wild, the older established adults will still be around to provide you with MORE young snakes as long as they are alive.</li></ul><p>I cringe somewhat when I see people selling literally <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">bucketloads</span></span> of every species of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">herp</span></span> they can find near their home. To me this behavior smacks of prodigal wastefulness and disregard for conservation of wildlife. I believe that animals, plants, mountains, minerals, valleys, rivers, oceans, and all components that make up what we call <em>nature</em> were put on this earth to bring us joy and gladden our hearts -- not for our unfettered usage. I truly believe that to my very center. It would be a sad situation indeed if we continue to lose the many species that exist among us due to our own irresponsible wastefulness and greed.</p><p>Just as there are bag limits and other restrictions on the take of White-tailed Deer, there are bag limits and restrictions on the take of reptiles in most states. Please respect those laws and regulations. Just as you shouldn't shoot a deer that walks into your yard, you shouldn't take every <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">herp</span></span> that does the same. Does that mean you can't take some? Of course, not...but please respect laws, regulations, bag limits etc. and always ask yourself if you are being a good steward of the earth and its inhabitants. If you can answer that question honestly and in the affirmative, then your efforts are commendable.</p><p>Let us see how our presence on the earth can <em>benefit</em> other species, instead of the other way around. So many people live in a "scarcity mindset"...i.e. there isn't enough money; there aren't enough jobs, there isn't enough land, etc. for everyone to live abundantly and happily. I believe there is enough, and though there will always be poor people, there will also always be a way for us to help and teach others to be more self-reliant. A more educated people are able to do more, whether it be earning their own bread or having the ways and means to be better stewards. We see time and again in undeveloped nations (where there are many illiterate, uneducated, and impoverished people) that they often use up their natural resources and sell them in the "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">bushmeat</span></span>" or black markets. There is much we can do to reverse that trend. It will take entrepreneurs, biologists, students, farmers, missionaries, doctors, teachers, and many others to make this a reality, so there is room enough for everyone to help.</p><p>*****************************************************************</p><p align="left">Below is an article in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">PDF</span></span> format demonstrating an OUTSTANDING example of how educating people in rural third-world countries is helping them financially and <em>simultaneously</em> saving rain forests and wild reptiles (among other animals) from extinction:</p><p align="left"><a href="http://www.metafro.be/leisa/1989/5-4-16.pdf">Fitting Iguanas and Forests into Central American Farms</a></p>Dusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-44474095349947938012008-07-09T22:45:00.000-07:002008-07-09T22:59:56.596-07:00New SLR camera and NINE good Triple Het x Triple Het Suboc (Trans-Pecos) Eggs...<p align="center">All in one day too! </p><p align="center"><a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SHWjy9Co99I/AAAAAAAAAKs/EWqb1HTl7Uw/s1600-h/IMG_0002.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221259438780381138" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SHWjy9Co99I/AAAAAAAAAKs/EWqb1HTl7Uw/s320/IMG_0002.jpg" border="0" /></a></p>I really wasn't expecting that many from her. I thought six, maybe seven...but Nine I can definitely handle.<br /><br />Anyway, this camera takes HUGE pics, like 12.2 megapixels...and I wanted you to see the macro somewhat so here it goes.<br /><p align="center"><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SHWjyVKzRDI/AAAAAAAAAKk/pZXqdvjMI5M/s1600-h/triple_het_july_9th_08_clutch_close.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221259428077192242" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SHWjyVKzRDI/AAAAAAAAAKk/pZXqdvjMI5M/s320/triple_het_july_9th_08_clutch_close.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p align="left">Practically every simple recessive suboc morph you can think of could come out of this clutch, even a Snow Blonde, which has not occured yet. A Snow Blonde, if it were to occur, would be the very first triple recessive homozygous morph of subocularis. </p><p align="center"><a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SHWjzjgRv5I/AAAAAAAAAK0/o7DUHDGYmFo/s1600-h/IMG_0004.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221259449105235858" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SHWjzjgRv5I/AAAAAAAAAK0/o7DUHDGYmFo/s320/IMG_0004.jpg" border="0" /></a></p>Dusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-1322620414755266212008-07-08T10:07:00.001-07:002008-07-08T10:20:08.921-07:00Gray phase eggs<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SHOfK31JeEI/AAAAAAAAAKc/h5gZpaZmgGs/s1600-h/pandale_paved_eggs_july_6th_08.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SHOfK31JeEI/AAAAAAAAAKc/h5gZpaZmgGs/s400/pandale_paved_eggs_july_6th_08.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220691402186913858" border="0" /></a>So, my Pandale Paved female laid a healthy clutch of four. She's an F1 who bred with her sibling/clutchmate. It'll be neat to see the F2s. She's seen her third winter, and I usually don't breed females until they've seen their fourth winter, but she was an exceptional size and girth for her age, which is the most important determining factor for breeding females.<br /><br />She laid them quicly and without complication. <br /><br />In other news, Triple Het eggs should be laid any day now...mommy's scouting for a place to deposit her clutch.Dusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-52803750216752237622008-07-01T11:19:00.000-07:002008-07-01T12:33:59.521-07:00Recent Happenings: Ratsnake Foundation Interview, Recent Pairings, New and Old Literature, Gravid Females, etc.Hello all! Busy, busy, busy. So much has been happening around here recently.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SGp8Y0K46iI/AAAAAAAAAKE/AMDBEZrKqS0/s1600-h/rd_front_page.bmp"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SGp8Y0K46iI/AAAAAAAAAKE/AMDBEZrKqS0/s320/rd_front_page.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218119884025162274" border="0" /></a><br /><br />One cool thing to report is that I was was just interviewed by the <a href="http://www.ratsnakefoundation.org/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Ratsnake</span> Foundation (www.ratsnakefoundation.org)</a> for their quarterly online publication, the <span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Ratsnake</span> Digest</span>. The July 2008 issue was just published to the web yesterday, and there are many great articles from a wide variety of respected experts. There's even a wonderful, lengthy, hard-to-find article on Charles <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Bogert</span> (who many species of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">herps</span>, including <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">subocs</span>, were named after) and another great rare one on Trans-Pecos <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Ratsnakes</span>. <br /><br />I would suggest becoming a member, if you haven't already. It's a great organization based in the U.K. and dedicated to the dissemination of everything related to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">ratsnakes</span>, and the content caters to the academic and hobbyist alike. Go check it out! You won't regret it.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SGp8ZEPxRXI/AAAAAAAAAKM/ll3hDpXl4kY/s1600-h/rd_dr_interview.bmp"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SGp8ZEPxRXI/AAAAAAAAAKM/ll3hDpXl4kY/s320/rd_dr_interview.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218119888340600178" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />It appears we have several gravid females. The <a href="http://www.suboc.com/triple_het.html">Triple <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Het</span></a> female (hoping for <a href="http://www.suboc.com/snow.html">Snows</a> or something cool, of course), a couple of <a href="http://www.suboc.com/axanthic_blonde.html"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Axanthic</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Blondes</span></a>, a <a href="http://www.suboc.com/peach_pink_king_mountain.html">Pink phase</a>, a <a href="http://www.suboc.com/gray_hypoxanthic.html">Gray phase</a>, and some possible <a href="http://www.suboc.com/het_albino.html"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Het</span> Albinos</a> all are not interested in food, which is weird for <span style="font-style: italic;">non</span>-gravid females this time of year (except the Pink one, she's always been a ravenous eater). The <a href="http://www.suboc.com/panther_canyon_brilliant_orange.html">Orange phase</a> animals have bred this past weekend, which was a pleasant surprise.<br /><br />At least two of the aforementioned snakes were with the <a href="http://www.suboc.com/patternless.html">Patternless</a> male, our one-of-a-kind celebrity here at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Suboc</span>.com. More news on that soon.<br /><br />Recently, I picked up a boatload of old issues of <span style="font-style: italic;">The Vivarium</span> magazine<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>along with several other older publications. I subscribed to that magazine as a young <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">teeneager</span>, and have always wanted to complete my collection. Anyway, I was pleased to find what are very likely the first pictures in print of a wild-caught Albino and an <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Axanthic</span> (aka Silver) <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Blonde</span>. Both of the photos were featured in two of the "Cutting Edge of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Herpetoculture</span>" special issues of <span style="font-style: italic;">The Vivarium </span>in 1997 and 1998. The photos were taken by the originators of those two morphs -- respectively, Dave Barker of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">VPI</span>, Inc. and Mark Bell of Reptile Industries.<br /><br />Philippe <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">de</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Vosjoli</span>, once again, praises the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">suboc</span> in these issues for being one of the most beautiful snakes in the world and for being an excellent candidate for desert vivaria displays.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SGp8ZGIm4mI/AAAAAAAAAKU/uGGGoNFhw5A/s1600-h/vivariumV8-02.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SGp8ZGIm4mI/AAAAAAAAAKU/uGGGoNFhw5A/s320/vivariumV8-02.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218119888847430242" border="0" /></a><br /><br />If you ever get a chance to buy old issues of <span style="font-style: italic;">The Vivarium</span>, do it. Though some of the info is now somewhat antiquated, content-wise, it went WAY above and beyond what any other <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">herpetocultural</span> publication has ever done, in my opinion.<br /><br />More soon!Dusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-56033433792029941472008-06-07T13:38:00.000-07:002010-03-30T23:25:46.135-07:00The Patternless male...has got his dancin' shoes on! He's been biting and courting with the<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SEr0CEFBtiI/AAAAAAAAAJs/VICK-7p0BLg/s1600-h/patternless_x_celebwen_biting.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SEr0CEFBtiI/AAAAAAAAAJs/VICK-7p0BLg/s320/patternless_x_celebwen_biting.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5209244235299141154" border="0" /></a> ladies for the past two days, though no confirmed copulations yet. Timing is a bit off this year, since I received him mid-winter. <br /><br />Things are getting pretty crazy; tops are coming off (off of humidity/nesting boxes) and aspen bedding is pushed around and ending up in water bowls. Every time I walk in the snake room, I'm butting in on a loving couple in the throws of passion! :-) <br /><br />This project is SO exciting! It's the <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">first</span> pattern morph</span> of Trans-Pecos Ratsnake to breed in captivity since the first Blondes bred for Earl Turner over 35 years ago!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">We're putting him with this beautiful Silver girl, an Albino, and a Peach/Pink phase this season.<br /><br />Thank you, Richard Trant, for sending this handsome bloke our way!<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SEr1RYLos-I/AAAAAAAAAJ8/TRwgv-f4U5U/s1600-h/patternless_x_celebwen_june_6th_2008.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SEr1RYLos-I/AAAAAAAAAJ8/TRwgv-f4U5U/s320/patternless_x_celebwen_june_6th_2008.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5209245597905236962" border="0" /></a></div><br />*By the way, the <a href="http://www.suboc.com/gray_hypoxanthic.html">Gray phase Pandale Paved subocs</a> have been pairing up too!Dusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-66595806017440465402008-06-05T14:00:00.000-07:002010-03-30T23:34:53.073-07:00Recent Happenings and Pairings at Suboc.com<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.suboc.com/images/patternless_1.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.suboc.com/images/patternless_1.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a>Suboc.com's snake room is quickly becoming quite the amorous setting.<br /><br />The <span style="font-weight: bold;">Triple Hets</span> have been breeding lately. Fingers crossed for a <span style="font-weight: bold;">Snow, Snow Blonde, </span>or<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Albino Blonde</span>, from that pairing. There are only two <span style="font-weight: bold;">Snows from the Hwy. 277</span> line - none exist from any other Albino line so far - and they're both youngsters, owned by the same person. There's only one <span style="font-weight: bold;">Albino Blonde</span> from that line too.<br /><br />Also, the<span style="font-weight: bold;"> one-of-a-kind *Patternless*</span> male started courting two suboc females yesterday. He was pursuing and passionately biting an <span style="font-weight: bold;">Albino (Loma Alta/Hwy. 277)</span> and a huge <span style="font-weight: bold;">Axanthic Blonde, </span><span>though they've both been coy and resisting his advances</span>. Can you just imagine what a <span style="font-weight: bold;">Patternless Axanthic</span> Trans-Pecos Ratsnake would look like?! That animal should be ELECTRIC! To say nothing of the Patternless Orange, Patternless Albino, or Patternless Snow...<br /><br />More soon!Dusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-43580225437754785172008-05-05T10:50:00.000-07:002008-05-05T11:07:18.358-07:00Forthcoming articles for Suboc.comI'm in the process of brainstorming some ideas for writing articles (and other documents) to be added to Suboc.com in the near future. I've thought of a couple, but would like some requests from any readers of the blog/web site.<br /><br />For example, some people have requested to see a paper on the genetics of suboc color morphs complete with Punnett Squares and all that jazz -- the classic "what-will-I-get-if-I-breed-this-het-to-that-het" paper.<br /><br />Another could be a map of the Trans-Pecos with some of the key localities pinpointed.<br /><br />Any other ideas and suggestions are welcome.Dusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-79959011829713907012008-05-05T10:25:00.000-07:002008-05-05T10:49:20.423-07:00Pure Euphoria<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SB9HLmaOk2I/AAAAAAAAAJQ/3bVzrOnLQ1U/s1600-h/waiting%2B10.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SB9HLmaOk2I/AAAAAAAAAJQ/3bVzrOnLQ1U/s320/waiting%2B10.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5196950759623529314" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> When those books arrived here a couple of weeks ago, as you can imagine, it was the biggest sense of accomplishment and relief all rolled up into one moment.<br /><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SB9D1maOkzI/AAAAAAAAAI4/yxlIs4J_71o/s1600-h/waiting%2B4.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SB9D1maOkzI/AAAAAAAAAI4/yxlIs4J_71o/s320/waiting%2B4.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5196947083131523890" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"> For my own part, it's difficult to feel like a published writer until you actually can see and feel the book in print. And when I finally did, I was beside myself with joy. LOL I couldn't and wouldn't move from the doorway when the FedEx truck pulled up...I kept telling Amy to run and get a knife while smiling and laughing out-of-control like a kid on Christmas morning. She took advantage of the moment to shoot some pictures. My feet were fixed in front of the door -- there was NO way I was moving from that spot until the deliverer deposited the two boxes into my hands -- and she knew it was driving me crazy and making me laugh even more that she kept just taking pictures instead of running to grab a knife. LOL<br /><br /><br />Ohhh, one day when she's an author...paybacks. ;-)<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SB9D7WaOk0I/AAAAAAAAAJA/xAvERvtfsCI/s1600-h/waiting%2B9.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SB9D7WaOk0I/AAAAAAAAAJA/xAvERvtfsCI/s320/waiting%2B9.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5196947181915771714" border="0" /></a><br /></div>Dusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-9073462743133056232008-05-05T09:56:00.000-07:002008-05-05T10:17:14.890-07:00Mexican Baird's are twitter-painted<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SB89EmaOkyI/AAAAAAAAAIw/77He00q4_Aw/s1600-h/nuevo_leon_bairdi_coitus_08.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SB89EmaOkyI/AAAAAAAAAIw/77He00q4_Aw/s400/nuevo_leon_bairdi_coitus_08.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5196939644248167202" border="0" /></a>My adult Mexican Baird's are actually captive-bred F1's of wild-caught parents from Nuevo Leon, in the Monterrey area. Texas zookeepers/curators Steve Hammack and Alan Kardon collected and acquired the parents legally back in the 1980's.<br /><br />In this photo, the male is biting the female just behind the head, something that this race of <span style="font-style: italic;">bairdi</span> often does during courtship. From my own observations, Baird's Ratsnakes bite females more gently than male subocs, and male subocs often bite the females all over the body...and not just to restrain her either -- it is perceived that the biting on the body is a stimulus for females to submit to the males' sexual advances.<br /><br />Hopefully, we'll see eggs again this year from the Nuevo Leon Baird's female.<br /><br />DR<br /><br />p.s. If you don't know what "twitter-painted" means, then watch <span style="font-style: italic;">Bambi</span>. LOLDusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-52804098630873585692008-04-16T17:31:00.000-07:002008-04-16T17:53:02.502-07:00The Complete Suboc early orders have FINALLY arrived and shipped, AND it's on Amazon.com<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978897951?ie=UTF8&seller=A3AO6S9Z9KY1B6&sn=Zoo%20Book%20Sales"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/SAaa56wcXNI/AAAAAAAAAIo/WHXNJKgX5uQ/s320/complete_suboc_amazon_debut.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190005940406738130" border="0" /></a>Well, the FedEx truck brought us a little something from Hong Kong this week on Monday...the first few copies of <span style="font-style: italic;">The Complete Suboc</span>, and all of them were shipped out on Tuesday morning to the people who wanted to have their books earlier than the ones that will arrive here on the 13th of May on the "slow boat from China".<br /><br />The book is awesome. I'm very pleased with it. My wife took a few pictures of me flipping out when the two boxes of books arrived, so I'll have to post those up soon.<br /><br />The rest of the people who pre-ordered will get their books as soon as they come in. Once they're here, we should have a steady flow of signed copies to sell here. Also, it looks like a couple of distributors had a few advanced copies of the book sent to them, so I was pleased to see that my book is now being sold on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978897951?ie=UTF8&seller=A3AO6S9Z9KY1B6&sn=Zoo%20Book%20Sales">Amazon.com at this link</a>. Woo hoo!Dusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-88729271663103902362008-03-10T17:26:00.000-07:002008-03-10T17:32:18.928-07:00Urgent Update for Those Who Have Pre-Ordered "The Complete Suboc"Hello to all who have pre-ordered <i>The Complete Suboc</i>,<br /><br />I have some important news/updates for the book's printing progress...first, ECO Publishing called me today and told me that the printers in China have finally started to print the book. Hooray for that! When the entire print run is ready to ship (in about 30 days from now), they will then send all of the books over to the U.S. from China on a large pallet by ship cargo. This means that it will be <b>at least</b> 35-40 days, depending on where you live in the world, before you receive your copy/copies.<br /><br />The <i>good</i> news is that since they are beginning the printing process now, ECO can have the printers FedEx Overnight me a few of the first copies of the book THIS WEEK. This would be a much more expensive way of shipping them to the U.S. (about $6 more <b>per book </b>than the per book cost of shipping by boat), but it means that I could mail the book out to you by the end of this week or start of next week -- which also means most of you should start receiving your books sometime next week. <br /><br />So, if you're chomping at the bit and you'd like to receive your book almost a month earlier than you would otherwise, you can PayPal me $6 to have the book FedEx'ed overnight from China to my house <b>this weekend</b>. If you choose to do this, I need the money in my Paypal account <u>no later than this Wednesday</u> March 12th at 8:00AM Mountain Standard Time (MST). If you're in the U.K., that's 2pm in London.<br /><br />If you paid with a check, cash, or M.O., and/or you don't want to use PayPal, you can snail mail me the $6, but I need to know by Wednesday morning that you already sent it. <br /><br />On Wednesday morning, I'll tally up the number of $6 payments and tell ECO Publishing to FedEx me that exact amount of books. Please remember to add $6 <b>per book(s)</b> that you've ordered. And if you have any herper friends who have not yet ordered, please tell them that they can also get theirs early if they PayPal me (to my e-mail account) before Wednseday morning at 8am. That would be $64.95 shipped for U.S. orders and add another $6 to that for International Orders.<br /><br />Of course, if you wish, you can wait until the bulk of the books arrive in mid-April, and yours will be shipped to you then. Remember, $6 by Wednesday if you want to receive the book a month earlier than those other procrastinators. Haha -- just kidding.<br /><br />For you snail-mailers, e-mail me for my mailing addy...<br /><br />Thanks again to everyone for ordering the book! <br /><br />Happy reading,<br /><br />Dusty RhoadsDusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-78583271794662679722008-03-07T15:22:00.000-08:002008-03-07T15:53:28.557-08:00"The Complete Suboc": Pre-Orders for the bookJust as a heads up to anyone who has pre-ordered signed copies of <span style="font-style: italic;">The Complete Suboc</span> book, we received word from ECO Publishing that the book should be ready sometime around the middle of the month. So, we're really close.<br /><br />I'll let you know if anything changes. Once those first copies of the book arrive, I'll probably do two things right away: (1) an Irish jig or a Highland fling on my living room floor and (2) e-mail everyone who has pre-ordered the book to let them know that their copy is being sent out first thing.<br /><br />We've already sold more than half of our first order of the book. I might have to order some more boxes from the publisher before the first ones even get here. That is wonderful! Thank you to all who have pre-ordered, and if you haven't done so yet, you better! :)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/R9HSXb5vBrI/AAAAAAAAAIA/pr35sAYgdRg/s1600-h/narbc_suboc_book_posters.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/R9HSXb5vBrI/AAAAAAAAAIA/pr35sAYgdRg/s400/narbc_suboc_book_posters.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5175148746894149298" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Here's a photo from the recent NARBC in Texas. More on that later! Cheers, DR<br /></div></div>Dusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-47554231537240932892008-02-12T22:45:00.000-08:002008-02-12T23:00:51.189-08:00Reptiles Magazine<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/R7KScM5wFYI/AAAAAAAAAH4/Wv0sSA92aSo/s1600-h/reptiles_magazine_april_08_cover.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/R7KScM5wFYI/AAAAAAAAAH4/Wv0sSA92aSo/s400/reptiles_magazine_april_08_cover.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5166352735744824706" border="0" /></a>Ya' know, when you've been busting your petootie for about three years to produce a good book, you gotta celebrate those little occasions that tell you that you've finally accomplished something.<br /><br />I was delighted to see a press release for <span style="font-style: italic;">The Complete Suboc </span>on page 74 of this month's (April '08) issue of <a href="http://reptilechannel.com"><span style="font-style: italic;">Reptiles Magazine</span></a>. Woo hoo! Happy day!<br /><br />And what better way to celebrate the occasion and top it off than a nice article on breeding Gray-banded Kings?! (okay, an article about Trans-Pecos Rats would have been even better, but I'll take gray-bands any day.)<br /><br />For relatives and friends who'd like to see the press release, you can get this magazine at any Barnes and Noble, Borders, or just about any pet store in the U.S.Dusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-9080892151617844222008-01-24T07:53:00.000-08:002008-01-24T08:53:27.810-08:00The Year of the ColubridIt's really exciting to see what is going on in the world of herpetocultural literature, in recent years. First, in 2003, Greg Maxwell's book hit the scene, arguably the most detailed husbandry book on one species of snake up until that point.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/R5i2ggii4hI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/VWRXrONhyuA/s1600-h/eco-chond_200.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/R5i2ggii4hI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/VWRXrONhyuA/s200/eco-chond_200.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5159074042759799314" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Then to follow up, we get two more "Complete series" on two popular boid species from Kevin McCurley and Vin Russo.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/R5i34Aii4iI/AAAAAAAAAHY/Jrvq9Le0rCM/s1600-h/completeBallPythonBook_s.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/R5i34Aii4iI/AAAAAAAAAHY/Jrvq9Le0rCM/s200/completeBallPythonBook_s.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5159075545998352930" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/R5i4JQii4jI/AAAAAAAAAHg/ng9VQonsHck/s1600-h/completeboa.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/R5i4JQii4jI/AAAAAAAAAHg/ng9VQonsHck/s200/completeboa.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5159075842351096370" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">And the Barkers hit the herp literature scene in 2006 like a ton of bricks with their new <span style="font-style: italic;">Pythons of the World, Volume II: Ball Pythons</span>. This book, hands down, set a new standard for the industry...a perfect marriage of cited peer-reviewed literature, personal anecdote, a plethora of photos, captive history, natural history, and every other angle on anything you could ever want to know about snake in captivity, in general.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/R5i_XAii4kI/AAAAAAAAAHo/wkHIHGO1jyY/s1600-h/balls.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/R5i_XAii4kI/AAAAAAAAAHo/wkHIHGO1jyY/s200/balls.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5159083775155692098" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Now, it's 2008, and the we see that the colubrids are in the limelight...<span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://suboc.com/complete_suboc.html">The Complete Suboc</a> </span>is coming out in a few short weeks and has been selling regularly as a pre-order; Soderberg's <span style="font-style: italic;">Complete Corn Snake </span>is slotted to premier in 2008, as well; and KJ Lodrigue's <span style="font-style: italic;">Complete Pituophis </span>might even be finished before the year's out. The Year of the Colubrid? It certainly looks that way...and we're not complaining. :-)<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/R5jBFwii4lI/AAAAAAAAAHw/DZZR2fzjQe0/s1600-h/suboc_cover_front_copy.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/R5jBFwii4lI/AAAAAAAAAHw/DZZR2fzjQe0/s200/suboc_cover_front_copy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5159085677826204242" border="0" /></a></div></div></div></div></div></div>Dusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19441093.post-11787164713391092472008-01-24T07:41:00.000-08:002008-01-24T08:55:11.615-08:00Going Live on Kingsnake.com<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/R5iyTwii4fI/AAAAAAAAAHA/H4_zC-o807I/s1600-h/suboc+on+KS.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_-9iLZooLRJk/R5iyTwii4fI/AAAAAAAAAHA/H4_zC-o807I/s320/suboc+on+KS.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5159069425669956082" border="0" /></a>After a long while of hiding our light under a bushel, we decided to set it on a hilltop - Kingsnake.com.<br />So, we finally took <a href="http://www.suboc.com/">Suboc.com</a> and put it as a Storefront Page on <a href="http://kingsnake.com/">Kingsnake.com's</a> list of Breeders and Book Sellers. Man, it's amazing the hits that site generates. <br />We've already gotten about 1500 hits in just mere days from KS's storefront alone! Woo hoo!!Dusty Rhoadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13706383112160034378noreply@blogger.com0