Introducing...Cuddles

Just a quick yet delayed one tonight, as I have a little free time. So, pretty much since I started keeping snakes, if not before, I've wanted a Boa - I can't quite put my finger on why, perhaps it's something to do with their larger size or increased strength compared to my Royals maybe. Not sure, but there's something very appealing about them. What has put me off previously and for so long, were my hesitations about housing a large bodied snake - so the obvious compromise was to look at dwarf species, such as Hog Island or Cawl Cray localities which tend to stay around the 6 foot mark.

So some time in November I decided to bite the bullet, and set about looking for a suitable candidate. After not too much hunting, a female CB11 "Hog Island" came up for sale quite local to here, complete with a 4' x 2' vivarium... or so I was led to believe.

On arrival at the sellers house, I was quickly spun a line about how the vivarium that she was supposed to come with, had been damaged (yet was no where to be seen), "but it's ok, you can have this vivarium instead", and was pointed to a 3' x 1' vivarium, which despite being completely inappropriate for housing a 5'+ chunky bodied snake, had certainly seen better days. I was assured that this absolutely was not what she was being housed in and was just a spare that I could take if I wanted.... which is all well and good, but that didn't explain the overwhelming smell of stale urine or the presence of fresh excretes... I had clearly been lied to.

This presented me with a bit of a problem. I had immediately become quite attached to this snake - both figuratively and literally, as she had wrapped herself around my shoulders and had made herself comfortable. Ethically and morally, I do not believe in rewarding neglect, in terms of handing over money for animals that have been abused or intentionally neglected by their owners, as I feel this sends the message that it is ok to purchase animals on a whim and fail to look after them properly as the option of selling them at a later date is available. This in turn provides the seller with the opportunity to buy more animals, and repeat the cycle. I know it's a touchy subject, and not everyone agrees with me, but that's just my view on it. The difference here, is that I had not gone to "rescue" a neglected animal - I had gone with the intention of buying a snake that I believed was housed correctly - and I didn't want to leave without her, despite my annoyance at both being lied to. As a compromise, I offered the seller a lesser amount than agreed for the snake, and even this was a bitter pill to swallow for me.

The next problem of course, was that I could not immediately remedy her bleak conditions - I did not have a suitable vivarium to immediately house her in, and unfortunately had to take the stinking 3 foot vivarium too. This did not sit well with me. At all. The very least I could do was strip it down, give it a bloody good scrub, and fill it with fresh substrate - and immediately raid my piggy bank to order a brand new 4' x 2' vivarium (and matching cabinet). It was a guilt racked two weeks waiting for the new vivarium to come whilst watching Cuddles (as she had suitably been named) sitting in an enclosure that she was almost twice as long as. It could not come quick enough.

Swollen eye socket

And it doesn't end there. Cuddles came with some "hidden extras". Namely, snake mites. Joy. Somehow, I was not surprised, in fact I'd go as far as to say I was expecting them. Fortunately, and down to basic good practice, Cuddles had been in isolation since her arrival, so the risk of contaminating the rest of my animals was minimal (but real). The last thing i was to deal with is treating 40+ snakes for mites.
Those of you that have read my previous blogs know that I know a thing or two about snake mites, about how they live, and how you can treat them and prevent spread - yet I have never had an outbreak amongst my own animals. Knowledge is power and all that jazz, so no panicking here, just some basic extended quarantine practices, and simple treatment - my method of choice on this occasion was Frontline flea treatment coupled with the condemning of her vivarium, as thankfully, her new vivarium arrived a few days into her treatment. A few weeks later I was happy to sign her off with the all clear, and stop treating her as if she had a confirmed case of the Bubonic Plague, and I could EVENTUALLY enjoy come cuddles with Cuddles.

Despite everything - the crappy conditions she had come from, the stress of the move, being bathed and treated for mites, and being transferred into a new enclosure - she is a lovely mannered snake. A powerful-gentle dwarf-giant. She is extremely tolerant of handling, very curious and inquisitive, and is a genuine joy to own and keep. There is not an aggressive bone in her body it seems, and I very much enjoy some hands-on time with this big strong girl. She is purely a pet to me - I have no intentions to breed her, but just to enjoy keeping and observing her - and despite the stress and ballache of the circumstances of her acquisition, I'd do it all again if I had to.

Introducing... Tick & Tock

Well I don't know what to say! The last 6 months of this year have been absolutely crazy here in the Reptile Room (notice it's no longer just called the Snake Room? You'll see why). As well as hatchling season coming and going, and looking after 65 little snakes, there has been lots of other work going on, with LOTS of new residents joining me. My free time is still at an all time low, so to update you on everything over the last half of the year would be as painful for you as it would be me - so I'll do things one bit at a time, and give each of the new residents their own introduction, which will keep things short and sweet.

Ok first up, say hello to Tick and Tock, the Red Eyed Crocodile Skinks (Tribolonotus Gracilis). These are very much the result of a chance encounter - I'd never even heard of this species before, and just happened to spot a picture of one which gave me a definite case of "wow" - I'd never seen anything like them!
Lizards aren't particularly my thing, generally, but the crocodile-like appearance of these, coupled with their red eye masks (hence their name) really struck me, and I actually think they look more like miniature wingless dragons, with their prehistoric features and ridges of horns down their backs.
So, out of curiosity more than anything, I set about doing a little bit of research on them, and it turns out they not commonly kept in captivity as pets, which Is why I'd not seen them before, and consequently, information on them is a little patchy and inconsistent, to say the least. I figured if I was to try and find a pair, I'd have my work cut out - and be prepared to part with a nice chunk of cash too - but I'd keep my eye out and maybe see a pair for sale somewhere in the new year maybe.

So over the next couple of days I set about doing my homework in terms of their care and habitat requirements, as well as their overall behaviour and ease of keeping, and I figured that although I have no prior experience with lizards, they don't seem overly fragile, so perhaps I could manage with a couple of these. Then as a massive stroke of coincidence, a pair were advertised up for sale, complete with enclosure, and only 30 miles away too! Well, an hours drive later, and Tick & Tock (named after the crocodile in Peter Pan) were in my nervous care. And that's why it's not longer just a Snake Room.

Tick and Tock are still settling in at the moment, and I don't see a great deal of them - but they're a fascinating pair of critters! I have set up a nice enclosure for them with lots of coverage for them to pick and choose where they hide, deep soil substrate for them to dig new burrows, and a large shallow waterbowl for them to have a paddle around in - which they do nightly, given the amount of soil they leave in there for me to clean out. Their only special care requirement which sets them many other lizards is their need for constant high humidity yet relatively low temperatures, as they come naturally inhabit cooler tropical areas, so their enclosure has been adapted a little to retain as much moisture as possible.

They are very much a hands-off species and can find handling a little stressful, and have a party trick of playing dead when threatened - which I'll admit did panic me the first time! I tend to keep handling to a minimum and just leave them to their own devices, but if I'm lucky I occasionally catch sight of them at lights out. Over time, they may become more confident and begin venturing out in plain view a little more, but we'll see, and if not then that's fine too. I'll certainly enjoy catching fleeting glimpses of them in the night - and making roaring noises in my head ;)

Hectic Schedule!

Ok I have 50 minutes before I need to start feeding the Royals, so thought I'd squeeze in a very quick blog. As you may have gathered, I'm very busy lately - looking after 65 hatchlings, plus the other residents of the snake room really takes it's toll on my free time (free time? What?), with something needing doing pretty much every night, and usually most of the weekend too - usually feeding and / or cleaning.

On the subject of feeding: It's pretty common to get a few none feeders out of a clutch of Corns, and hatchling Royals are notoriously difficult to get feeding - well that's certainly been true here! Of the fist clutch of Corns which hatched, most of them took their first feeds without a problem, and as the weeks rolled by more and more caught up too. Except one. Stubborn little number 8. After two months (and all the other clutches had hatched and mostly fed in this time) he had still not fed of his own accord, so I was forced to take matters into my own hands, and resort to force feeding him. This was after trying just about every trick in the book with scenting and prepping pinkies, to no avail. I initially started off force feeding him bits or rat tail and chick legs, before moving up to small pinkies. The first attempt actually wasn't as dreadful as i was expecting, and he took to being force fed with no real issue, and kept it down too. Unfortunately I'm still continuing with this on a weekly basis, but it gets easier (and I think less stressful for him) on each attempt, so I'm hoping he'll strike or drop feed of his own accord any day now. The second clutch to hatch also produced 3 none feeders - this is hardly surprising and actually a lot better than I was expecting, due to the large number of hatchlings from this clutch (27) and their tiny size. The three none feeders had their first force feed this week, which again, went without any real issue. They are a lot smaller than #8, so I'm really glad I've had the opportunity to get the practice in first on a slightly larger hatchling, as I think I may have struggled here without a little prior experience. The third clutch however have been great and all feed with regularity, so no issues here.

The Royals, however, are being little buggers...typically. I shouldn't complain, as it's to be expected, and what I've come to learn is that a lot of breeders actually get their hatchlings started off on live mice - but it's not openly spoken about all that often. I'm really not comfortable with the idea of live feeding, so this will always be a last resort option for me, for if all else fails. Two are actually strike feeding reliably and are now ready for their new homes. Another one sometimes strikes, but often doesn't, so it's work in progress with him. The other 5 however, are being assist fed at the moment. It's not actually that bad, and again, gets easier with each occasion - a couple of them actually constrict my hand when they're feeding too (which is kinda cute). I'm confident they will strike feed soon, it's just a matter of patience, and trial and error in terms of prey type and size. Now that they've all had a few feeds, and can give drop feeding another go, so we'll see how the next few weeks turn out. All of the hatchlings from this clutch have been reserved, with some very anxious people looking forward to receiving their new snakes, so I'm hoping I don't have to keep them all waiting for too long - but it takes as long as it takes.

And on the subject of sales (that was handy wasn't it!): It's going pretty well! I mentioned in my last post that many people have difficulty selling Corns, and this is true - they are cheap to buy and easy to breed. Right now there are lots of people in my local(ish) area alone that are also selling hatchling Corns, so it's easy for people who are wanting to buy one, to find one. I'm quite fortunate in this respect - I make a couple of sales a week, and to very good homes too. Most of the first clutch have all been rehomed now, and a few from the other clutches too. Again, there's no rush here, and I even turn some sales away if I'm not confident in the persons experience or knowledge in keeping snakes - I'm certainly not desperate to sell them as I can house them for many months yet, so I won't just offload them to anyone who asks. If it means that they go to good homes where they'll hopefully live long and healthy lives, then once again it takes as long as it takes.

Well that pretty much wraps it up. I do have some news to share in regards to an influx of new additions a couple of weeks ago (and a hectic week in setting up homes for them), but I'll save that for another day when I have more time and some decent pictures of them. Right, must dash, feeding to do. Ciao :)

End of Season

Now that everything has hatched for this season, and the incubators are empty and switched off for the year, I thought now would be a good time to have a little catch up. This season - my first breeding season - has gone brilliantly as far as I'm concerned. The breeding process for both the Royals and the Corns has been like clockwork, despite the initial delay in confirmed locks between the Royals - eggs were laid exactly when expected, and I was able to predict with relative accuracy when each clutch would hatch. Out of a total of 65 eggs laid over 4 clutches (one from the Royals, and three lots of Corns) only one egg was lost, giving a successful hatch rate of 98.5%. The total countup for the season is;

Corn snakes;

• 6 Carolinas
• 6 Amels
• 36 Anerys
• 8 Snows

Royals;

• 6 Fires
• 2 Normals

I am obviously really pleased with the overall result, and am pleased to say that most of the hatchlings are doing well. There are one or two stubborn feeders that are proving to be difficult to get started on frozen/thawed pray, but this is really to be expected with large clutches, and the none-feeding blues is a topic I'll touch on another day. Additionally, all the mothers are doing great, are in fantastic physical condition - in fact you wouldn't even know that they'd been through the trauma of egg laying! Monty (female Royal) is back up to the weight she was before she laid and is feeding with continued aggression, and might be back in for another season next year. The Corns are preparing themselves for their annual brumation at the moment, but will be given next year off from breeding.

It's been a hectic year all in all, and a massive learning curve - plus the rush and expense of getting everything set up to accommodate such large numbers of snakes - but all in all I really have very few errors to iron out, and I don't think I'll be doing anything much differently next season, with the exception of delaying the pairings of Royals until a little later.

For now however, before the next season begins, I'm extremely busy with the results of the season gone - or more accurately, the routine of feeding, cleaning, and selling of 65 little snakes. I think it's important mention this, as it's not something that's often spoken about, and I feel many people wade into breeding without much thought as to what happens after everything has hatched. My daily chores have gone through the roof, at the expense of my free time. Looking after 65 young snakes on top of my original snake room residents keeps me very busy, with something needing doing pretty much every night - hence the lack of updates recently!! Corn snake hatchlings require cleaning and feeding twice a week, or every 4-5 days, so there is always paper to fold and waterbowls to scrub. Of course, pinkies are consumed by the 100 in a very short time - and certainly initially at least, I was paying for these out of my own pocket.

Corn snakes particularly are arguably over-bred in captivity, mostly by hobbyist breeders such as myself. Unfortunately many of these are by people woefully under prepared to house and feed large numbers of snakes, sometimes as a result of co-habiting mixed sexes, and as a result the market place is quite saturated. Often people will wade into breeding with a completely unrealistic view of making money - the reality is that many people often struggle to sell or even give their young snakes away - resulting in petshops and rescue centres bursting at the seams with them. I have been lucky in this aspect - the Royals were all reserved as soon as I had sexed them, and with the Corns I sell 2 or 3 a week, most weeks. It's certainly not a quick process - I put a lot of work not only into looking after all the little snakes, but also into listing them for sale and responding to advert enquiries - as well as vetting the people who have contacted me. I can't force people to keep snakes exactly as I keep them, and nor would I want to, but I can make the decision as to whether I want to hand over one of my animals to them, and unfortunately, sometimes the answer is no. I have sold quite a lot at this point, and I still have many to go, so I imagine I'll be looking after lots of hatchlings for quite some time yet.

It's important to remember that by choosing to breed your snakes, the results are your responsibility - to house them appropriately (separately), provide heating, feeding, and cleaning. This will all be at your own expense, both in terms of time and cost, certainly initially anyway. It will not be an overnight thing - expect to house hatchlings for many months, and don't get too carried away with illusions grandeur of making much (if anything) in the way of profit either. It's not all fun and games - these are completely dependable animals we play with.

But this makes it all worthwhile ;)

Hatchling Season

Well, I'm not sure where to even start. It's been so long since I last wrote, I just had to have a little skim-read to check up on where we'd last gotten to. I'll try to do things in order.

Firstly, another update from the Corns: As I last wrote, my first clutch had just hatched giving a mix of Snows, Amels, Anerys and Carolinas - which confirmed Cornerlius (the male) as an Anery. Rory (the gender confused female) had also laid a second clutch a few days prior. Well I'm pleased to say that those eggs are still doing well, and even though one of the eggs was a "boob" (not fully calcified) and developed a mouldy patch, application of a little sphagnum moss soon sorted this out and stopped it in its tracks, and all eggs have gone full term. Today marks day 60 actually, so I'm expecting this clutch to pip any day now, giving another mix as per the first clutch.

Cornelia, the female Anery that laid a massive 28 egg clutch is now a proud mother too. Her clutch went full term despite the tiny eggs, and 27 out of the 28 eggs hatched out tiny little Anery Corns. Unfortunately one didn't quite make it any further than pipping and died soon after - but thankfully the other 27 all hatched out just fine and are as healthy as can be. Incubation of this clutch coincided with the heat wave of summer, and a few other breeders experienced whole clutches of deformed hatchlings that had to be culled. Fortunately, I avoided this, thanks in part I think to me taking the decision to turn the temperature of the incubator down a little to stabilise temperatures. A huge sigh of relief when they all emerged!!

And now for the bit that I've been eagerly waiting for for over 18 months now: The Royals! Monty (female normal) did me proud, as you may remember, laying a whopping 8 eggs as a first time mum. Everything about this season has been like clockwork, right from day one - and true to form the incubation was no different either.

On day 59, I was greeted by the sight of the first one poking it's nose out of the egg and blowing snot bubbles. Things work a little slower with Royals than they do Corns - where as with the Corns all are out of the eggs within 48 hours of the first pip, with the Royals this took the best part of a week. A week of biting my fingernails down to the flesh, and sat in front of the incubator near-constantly, watching it like a television. Eventually, they all pipped, retreating back into the eggs for a couple of days, before fully emerging.


The total count up in the end, as a bonus to the 8 healthy little hatchlings, was a very impressive 6 Fires (3 males / 3 fermales) and 2 Normals (1 male / 1 female). Ifrit (the father) did well it seems, and it's great to see that the strength of his genes has transferred to the offspring. He is one of the best examples of an adult Fire that I've ever seen - and I'm not just being bias here, he really is. The hatchling Fires have blown me and a lot of other people away. Sometimes the difference between Fires and Normals can be quite subtle to the untrained eye - well not this time.

Well that just about wraps things up for today. I still have so much to update you all on, such as how feeding is going for all the little ones, my new racks that I build to house them all, and a couple of exciting new additions to the room - but unfortunately looking after over 65 snakes is really taking it's toll on my free time at the moment (hence the lack of updates these last few weeks), so I'll save it all for future days.

I need a holiday...

A Nice Surprise...

Firstly, my apologies - this post is a little delayed, it's been a very busy week, and you'll soon understand why.

As I ended my last post, I mentioned that Rory (female Amel Corn) was looking very close to laying a double clutch, after laying her first clutch 5 weeks ago. Double clutching is fairly common in a good condition female, but the odds of these being infertile (slugs) is increased. Well, I'm pleased to say that a couple of days after writing, I decided to have a rummage in the nest box, as I'd not seen Rory that day, so my suspicions were aroused. After carefully removing some moss, I found 13 neatly laid healthy lookijg eggs, ready to be placed into the incubator. All have candled fine, so that's a nice bonus!

So then on Monday, I come home from work, and set about doing my evening checks - which basically involves wandering around with a temp gun and a jug, opening vivariums and tubs to check temperatures, looking out for excretes for spot cleaning, and topping up waterbowls. I always have a look in the incubator, just to check everything is working as should be and humidity is good, and then just as I was about to close the door, I spotted... something...

 Sure enough, a little Corn snake pipping away out of the shell, right on day 56 of incubation. For a few minutes, due to the initial excitement, I failed to even notice it was pink - this is (or rather, was supposedly) from an Amel x Charcoal pairing, so all hatchlings should have been Carolinas (normals), which are a dark chocolatey brown in colour when first hatched. After a quick bit of identification work with some help from the knowledgeable folk on RFUK, it was decided that this little hatchling was in fact a Snow - which is a mixture of Amel and Anery. We know that Rory is an Amel, and we thought that the sire, Cornelius, was a Charcoal, but the pipping of this little hatchlings proves that he is actually an Anery instead.

What's more interesting, and a complete surprise, is that both Rory and Cornelius are carrying a hidden heterozygous gene of each other. As, on a whole, Corn snake morphs are generally recessive genes, both parents must be carrying genes for the offspring to inherit and visually display them. This mean that Rory is actually an Amel, het. for Anery, and vice-versa; Cornelius is an Anery het. for Amel. Hidden hets are impossible to determine visually, and must be proved out by breeding - as is the case with the little Snow above. This has come as a very nice added bonus, and a complete shock.

Over the next two days, the other little snakes we're not far behind, with a new one pipping every hour or so, and a variety of different coloured heads poking out - confirming the new genetic identities of the parents, with a mix of more Snows, Anerys, Amels, and Carolinas. Soon enough, the first one was out of the egg and racing around the incubation tub, followed closely by the rest of the offspring. By the Wednesday, all eggs had hatched, giving me a 100% hatch rate with no defects (which is a huge relief), and a nice mixture of little Corn snake morphs.

All hatchlings are now housed individually in the hatchling rack I've just finished building, and are getting ready to go through their first shed - after which they'll all be offered their own feed, which I'm keeping my fingers crossed for being a drama-less affair.

The next clutch is due to hatch sometime in the first week of October, from Cornelia - so this will now be an Anery x Anery pairing, which "should" result in all-Anery hatchlings... unless we're in for any more surprises. This does of course mean that my plan for breeding Blizzards is now out of the window, but I'm equally happy at the surprise clutch of Snows - especially since I've just saved three years proving Cornelius out - and I will of course be keeping one back for myself. The hard bit will be deciding on which one...

Bumper Clutches

As I was nearing the end of writing my last post, Cornelia (female Anery Corn) was right in the middle of laying her eggs, so I left her alone, finished off the post, and checked in on her the next morning - I like to leave the snakes for at least 12 hours after I think they've finished laying, just to make sure I don't stress them out too much and increase the chances of egg binding if there are a stray couple of eggs that they are taking their sweet time to lay.

So here's what lovely sight I was greeted with the following morning: A whopping clutch of 28 lovely plump eggs. Their a little on the small side - much smaller than Rory's clutch, but I can hardly say I'm surprised, what with there being nearly twice as many in all. This girl was in great condition prior to breeding, which is evident in her clutch size (even if it did make it a little tricky to palpate her), but I'm even more pleased to say that she has remained in great condition after laying eggs, carrying a large portion of her weight and size with her - which is a relief, after seeing how Rory looked after her clutch.

And here they all are in the eggs tub. All eggs have been candled and are looking good to date - I'll candle them again in another couple of weeks, but at present I have no reason to suspect that any are infertile. Having spoken to a couple of breeders that I know, it seems that this clutch of 28 is the largest of this season to date, or certainly of the people i have spoken to - so I'm obviously really pleased with how this season has turned out so far. I'm very much looking forward to this clutch hatching too, and this pairing confirms Cornelius's genetics - either as an Anery, or a Charcoal. We'll find out soon enough!

And it doesn't end there. Monty (female Royal) has been showing all the right signs of getting ever closer to laying eggs over the last month. The last time I wrote, I had prepared a nest box, and Monty was laid on her back - which is a sign of been very close to laying, and positioning the eggs before the big day. In the latter stages of follicular development back when it was possible to palpate her to count for potential eggs, I thought (with a heavy emphasis of distrust) that I could feel 8 large follicles, but this being her first season, I was expecting 4 really, as this would be a realistic clutch for a first season.

Well, bang on day 30, I return home to find...

After carefully removing her from the clutch and temporarily popping her in a tub, a quick count up revealed 8 large eggs, with a total clutch weight of 705 grams. I had to recount a few times as I couldn't quite believe the result! She had decided to lay them inside her hot hide rather than in the nest box I had prepared, so they were a little sunken from being dehydrated, but nothing drastic, and nothing that a few days at the high humidity of the incubation tub hasn't fixed. As the eggs had been laid in a pile and had been allowed to dry together, I decided to to attempt to separate them, and have placed them in the incubator as they were found.

This is a brilliant result from any female, but almost unheard of from a first time mum at her young age - and I think it goes some way to proving that the overall condition and health, as well as a healthy balance of overall size, muscle tone and body fat pays off. As well as being obviously very pleased at the result of the count up, I extremely pleased with just how well Monty looks after laying this clutch - she looks almost as good as she did before she became gravid, and weighs in at 1350 grams. She has resumed eating with her previous aggression and reliability, and will be back up to her former size in no time at all.

Well, this just about wraps up my season this year at a total egg count of 51 - it's looking increasingly likely that Rory (Amel Corn) will double clutch, with her eggs expected any day now, but the odds of these being infertile are quite high, so we'll see. Either way, I'm amazed at how well this season has gone for me, and I'll be back shortly with news of hatchlings.

Sheds and Eggs

It's been a while since I last wrote, so I thought now would be a good time for an update on the season so far - and it's gotten very exciting!

Firstly, Monty (female Normal Royal), is very close to laying eggs. Last time I wrote I mentioned that she had ballooned in size and gone through a colour change, and was approaching a shed cycle, which I cautiously assumed was to be her final shed before laying eggs. Well I'm very pleased to say her behaviour since then has been very encouraging - she has been refusing food for a couple of months now, and for the last week has been laying on her back and contorting her body - this has filled me with confidence that she is very close to laying eggs.

In preparation for the event, and in order to minimise the risk of any laying issues such as egg retention/binding, I have made a nest box for her to lay in. This is a 9ltr RUB partially filled with sphagnum moss, with a little ventilation and a large entrance added to the lid, and placed in the vivarium. This should ensure she has somewhere comfortable and secure to lay her eggs, and the soft moist properties of the moss prevent her from getting any bark stuck in her vent during / after laying. The humidity of the nest box will also prevent the eggs from drying out before I can move them into the incubator.

I'm pleased to say she has been using the nest box near-constantly since I placed it in the cool side of the vivarium, and I'm hopeful she'll use it to lay her clutch in. Sunday 16th of June marks the 30 day point from her pre-lay shed, so not too much longer now.

Moving on to the Corn snakes now: The last time I wrote, Rory (female Amel) had completed her pre-lay shed and was scouting round her vivarium for somewhere suitable to lay. Well, on May 10th I came home from work to find...

 ...a nice healthy looking clutch of 15 pearly white eggs, laid in the nest box with Rory looking quite defensive of them. Thankfully removal and transportation to the incubator was without issue, and all the eggs are showing healthy veins when "candled" with a torchlight held against them. This clutch should be due to hatch some time around the 5th of July.

I think it's important to touch on the negative side / risks of breeding, as it's not all excitement and anticipation - it comes with a degree of worry and concern too. Rory looked like crap after laying this clutch - very skinny, like a liquorice bootlace. She had only eaten 3 mice since coming out of Brumation in March, and prior to that stopped eating in October, so she wasn't carrying as much weight as I would have liked her to have, and used up the weight she did have in building and laying eggs. Additionally, something odd happened to her eye - it went very cloudy beneath the lens, at the back of the pupil. Observing her behaviour as the moved around the vivarium in the days after laying, I became increasingly concerned that she had lost her eyesight, as I noted her wandering aimlessly and bumping into objects, seemingly unable to find entrances to hides and coverage. She also seemed completely unaware of food being held right in front of her, bumping into it and recoiling in surprise. It's fair to say that breeding / eggs laying had taken it's toll on her, and I was quite worried. I'm happy to say that since gingerly taking a feed a few days after laying, she has continued to feed with enthusiasm, returning to her normal self and picking up nicely. Her eyesight has returned, the cloudiness to her eye has disappeared, she is putting on weight nicely with increased feeding, and looks a thousand times better than she did in the days after laying - in fact having palpated her stomach a few days ago, it seems she is not far from laying a second clutch. I'd rather she didn't double clutch as I'd much rather continue to build her back up, but it's out of my hands. They may all be slugs yet, but if they are viable I'll consider it a bonus, just so long as Rory continues to bounce back into health.

Moving on to Cornelia (female Anery Corn): I intially thought I'd missed the boat with this pairing, so to speak. Due to bad timing of pairing the male with Rory, and his rest days coinciding with alternating shed cycles, I didn't get as many opportunities to pair this couple as much as I would have liked to in the initial weeks following from the post-brumation shed, so I was beginning to think that it wouldn't happen for her this season. Well, it seems I was wrong once again - around 2 weeks ago I felt a string of eggs being developed, and shortly after she went into shed. She's a little late following her pre-lay shed, but I'm pleased to say that - as I write this - eggs are currently being laid: 7 so far, all looking good, with what looks to be at least the same again to come. Update to follow.

As a final update: There have been a couple of new additions to the Snake Room over the last couple of months. Firstly, there is Jack, a late CB12 male Cinnabee (cinnamon+spider) Royal python. He is my first 2-gene snake, and I have big plans for him next year. He's doing quite well at the moment, feeding with a degree of consistency and growing slowly but surely. Next up, is a CB10 female Green Phase Western Hognose. She hasn't been named properly yet - still working on that. She's very hissy and aggressive, as all good hogneses should be, but she calms right down once you pick her up - that's what I love about Hognoses, so much character packed into a tiny snake. Depending on how Little Hank (male Hognose) grows this year, I may consider adding her to my breeding place for next Spring too.

Well, that brings us fully up to date - the next few months are going to be busy with more eggs, and my first hatchlings in no time!

Countdown!

I'm like a kid waiting for Christmas at the minute, as the countdown to eggs is well under way! Firstly, Monty (female Royal) is looking fit for bursting. I didn't personally spot ovulation, as A: this is my first season so I'm not too sure what I'm looking out for, and B: she's spending the majority of her time in the hot hide now, so I'm just leaving her alone.

Not long now!

Her size, however, has ballooned over the last two weeks, with her lower half now extremely bloated and almost solid to the touch - further palpating is now impossible. Additionally, the colour change to her appearance has continued, as she's coming out in some lovely light tones and blushings. 

Her belly is showing the tell tell signs of approaching shed very soon, which coupled with all the other signs, I'm taking as being her pre-lay shed, which she should start going into in around 4 days or so. As soon as she has completed her shed, I'll be putting a moss box into her vivarium which she'll hopefully use as a nest for laying her eggs in. So in around 45 days, I could have a few eggs!

Additionally, the Corn snakes have been busy. Rory (female Amel) completed her pre lay shed yesterday, and is now scouting round her vivarium, presumable looking for somewhere good to lay her eggs, which could be with us sometime this week. She also has a moss box and keeps going in and out of it, so I'm hoping she chooses to use it - this will make removing the eggs so much easier and also stops them from drying while I'm in bed or at work.

Meanwhile, Cornelia (female Anery) has been paried a couple of times with Cornelius (male "Charcoal"). I'm particularly looking forward to this pairing as it will put to bed my doubts on whether the male is actually a Charcoal, or an Anery - if the hatchlings from this pairing are dark, then he's an Anery. If they are Carolina / Normals, then he's definitely a Charcoal - which makes Rorys hatchlings 100% het for Amel and Charcoal - the genes required for Blizzards, which is a long term project of mine. She isn't showing any signs yet, but if she follows the same schedule as Rory, she should be going into her pre lay shed sometime next week.

The incubator is on and up to temps, and vermiculite has been mixed. Bring on the eggs!

Go Go Go!!

I've been a little busy recently, what with the work on the website and Facebook page, and bringing the Corn snakes out of brumation, but time for a quick update on where we are.

Starting with the Corns - it's been a busy month with them. I brought them all out of brumation during February and gradually warmed them up throughout the remainder of Feb. After giving them a couple of weeks to wake up properly, they were all offered a feed - and I'm glad to say they all took the opportunity, making this their first meal since October. The male began his shed cycle at the end of March, with the female not too far behind him - the other female is just going through hers now. The post-brumation shed marks the start of their breeding cycle, so once they'd both freshly shed, I gave them another few days, and popped them in a breeding tub.

The difference in the courtship ritual of Corns compared to Royals is amazing - very aggressive, and very fast! I popped the female in first, and before I'd even got the male in the tub, he instantly started to "fight" with me, becoming very aggressive and twitchy. Once in, he instantly made a bee-line for the female, and began positioning himself on top of the female - she didn't take too kindly to this, so they spent the next 10 minutes chasing each other around and thrashing it out, with the male keep his head constantly just behind hers. And then... (look away now if you're easily grossed out)...

Yep, that's Corn-porn right there. Sorry about that, but you know, I'm trying to be all educational and whatnot. The "lock" lasted for about 10 mins, and then it was all over and done with. I used kitchen roll in the breeding tub, as evidence of copulations will appear as a yellow smudge on the paper - obviously no evidence was required here! I paired the two again later in the week, and once again, the courtship process was immediate, with another successful lock. I'm going to aim for 4 successful locks with each female, and with a little luck, in around 30 days time I should have the first clutch of eggs.


There has been some development from the Royals too, or more accurately, the female (Monty). As you know, I've been pairing her with my male Fire (Ifrit) since November, observing the first lock on Dec 27th. Since then, I've continued weekly pairing, averaging at about 2 locks per month. I've been tracking the development of the female closely throughout, and attempted to palpate, or physically feel for developing follicles on several occasions. There have been a couple of time where I've thought that I'd felt something, but couldn't be sure. Well, it seems we have some progress. My suspicions were aroused a couple of weeks ago, when she refused a food offering - this has never happened before. This was repeated 2 weeks later with another feed attempt. In other behaviour to note, as well as the none feeding, I've also noticed her become more active in the vivarium recently, and spending more time at the hot end.

In terms of physical development; well this is where it gets really interesting. I've keeping a close eye on her build throughout, and  I've suspected her to be gaining weight in the lower half of her body, despite to recent refused feeds. She appears to be going through a colour-change at the moment, getting progressively lighter in tone with more blushings appearing to her pattern - at first glance it's not so easy to distinguish her apart from the Fire. I brought her out of the vivarium earlier this week for a proper check over, and got a shock to see the true size of her - she's developed a beer belly overnight! There is an unmistakable bloat to her underside, from her halfway point to a few inches short of her vent. I thought this would be a good time to attempt to palpate for follicles again, and felt 8 very large ping-pong ball size lumps, spaced evenly in the lower third of her body. Compared to prior palpation attempts, this was a world of difference, leaving me with little doubt that she is on the way to producing eggs.

Time for a look at the chart:

Comparing the behaviours and physical signs observed this week (large follicles, refusing feeds, and actively heat seeking) to the timescale of the chart above, it would seem these tie in somewhere in between the latter stages of follicle maturation, and ovulation. I'm anticipating signs of ovulation any day now, and for her to begin going through a shed cycle in around 30 days or so. Ifrit has timed his shed cycle perfectly - this is his "go go go" time. Monty should fertilize the eggs with the sperm she has stored in her special pocket from previous locks, and may reject any further locks attempts - but it doesn't hurt to have him present for any additional copulations where required, so for now, pairings continue.

So that brings us up to date. I'm not going to start counting my chickens just yet, as it isn't unheard of for all the right signs to lead to nothing, but at this stage it is all looking very promising, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't getting a little excited - in as little as 60 days we could very well have eggs! Remember to check back soon for further updates.