Justin Kobylka, a selective reptile breeder from Georgia, claims that he spent eight years trying to create a snake specimen with detailed smiling emoji patterns. He finally did it, and the result looks as unreal as you can imagine.
As a selective breeder, Kobylka specializes in taking relatively common reptile species and creating specimens with striking physical features which he then sells for a much higher price. He has created a number of visually-impressive over the years, but none as stunning as the Emoji Ball Python, a Lavender Albino Piebald Ball Python with three orange smiley emojis on its skin.
The unique pattern is caused by recessive mutations, and while these occur naturally, the chances of them occurring in the wild are "astronomical", according to Kobylka. He claims his Piebald Ball Python is the world's first to have three detailed smiley face emojis on its slithering body.
Piebald Ball Pythons, commonly known as Dreamsicles, are the smallest of all African pythons, which makes them a very popular choice for snake lovers looking for a pet. A standard specimen is usually priced between $40 and $150, but Justin Kobylka says that, due to its uniqueness, his Emoji Ball Python could easily fetch $4,500.
But if you're even thinking of shelling out thousands of dollars for your very own emoji snake, I have some bad news - Justin is not planning on selling his one-of-a-kind creature.
Since we're talking about a live snake covered in smiling emojis, simply posting some photos wouldn't have convinced anyone that it's actually real, so Kobylka also posted a short video of it on his YouTube channel.
That was also met with skepticism, though, as the snake looks very rigid and doesn't move around at all. However, if you look carefully, you can see its slithering tongue a couple of times, so I'm fairly convince that it is in fact a real live snake.
