Lock & Lay

A free ball python game and breeding simulator · real genetics · one shared clock

Start with one plastic rack and two snakes. End up with the animal everyone else wants.

Start breedingFree, in your browser

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The snake room in the game: racks of tubs, and the animals in them
Your room in 3D. Pull any tub and there she is.Your room: every rack, what needs doing today.
The desktop game: an animal page with a photo of a Cypress Clown Axanthic Puzzle, her genes and her value
Every animal has a page: her photo, her genes, her worth.
The desktop game: the incubator, with two clutches pipping and ready to cut
Cut day. Two clutches pipping, ready to open.
The phone version: an animal sheet for a Spotnose het Tri-Stripe female, ready to pair
Tap a tub for the animal, then pair her.
The phone version: the eggs screen with two clutches ready to cut
Clutches waiting to be cut.

How a season goes

About a year of game time

  1. 1Rack up.A plastic shelf rack, six tubs, one strip of heat tape. Cheap racks work; the snakes just eat a little worse.

  2. 2The lock.She needs 1,350 grams and a year. He needs 550. Cool nights, warm days, patience.

  3. 3Lay and incubate.Fifty-eight days at 88 degrees. Don't roll the eggs. Don't peek more than you have to.

  4. 4Cut day.Every egg is a roll of the genes. Keep the best, list the good ones, wholesale the rest.

Start breedingFree, in your browser

Questions

Is Lock and Lay free to play?

Yes. It runs in your web browser on a computer or phone, with nothing to download and no ads.

Is Lock and Lay a ball python simulator?

Yes. It simulates a ball python breeding operation: feeding, growth, weights, pairing, locks, ovulation, clutches, incubation and hatching, with the babies following real morph genetics. You run the racks, the money and the sales.

Is it a reptile game I can play online?

Yes. Lock and Lay is a free online reptile game about ball pythons. It plays in any web browser, with a lighter version for phones at mobile.lockandlay.com. There is also a free ball python morph calculator and a guide to every gene.

Are the ball python genetics real?

Inheritance follows real ball python morph genetics: recessive genes need two copies and hide as hets, incomplete dominant (co-dominant) genes show with one copy and make a super form with two, and dominant genes show with one. There are 86 real genes from the morph lists (61 incomplete dominant, 19 recessive and 6 dominant), plus 21 mutation-only genes that only turn up by hatching them.

Is it multiplayer?

Yes. Everyone shares one clock, one market and one feed. You can buy and sell animals with other breeders, trade, lend out a proven male, visit rooms that are open, and post your animals to Hatch, the in-game photo feed.

Can I play on my phone?

Yes. mobile.lockandlay.com is a lighter version made for phones, with the same account and the same room.

What happens while I'm away?

The clock only runs while someone is in the room, and nothing in your room gets sick or dies while you're gone.

Is this a guide for real breeding?

No. It is a game. The genetics are simplified for play, so use real breeders, vets and care guides for real animals.