A Busy Week!

Firstly, apologies for the long post - it's been a busy week or so!

"My first, my last, my everthing..."

Well, we're getting very close to the "official" start of breeding season. Monty currently sits at 1627grams and continuing to feed every 10 to 14 days, with Ifrit not too far behind at a healthy 1370grams, so assuming both remain in good health, it looks like we're just about reading to start putting on some Barry White, and letting nature take it's course. In preparation, I've (sorry, "we've" - thanks Paul!) moved the vivariums upstairs into the snake room. This ensures I can give the adults a proper day and night cycle in terms of natural winter daylight hours, with minimal interruption from the lights being turned on and off. It also ensures their privacy from nosey parkers (me), which should hopefully in turn result in a better chance of interest from my adults.

The big decision for me at the moment is whether to put the adults through a "cooling period" prior to introducing them for breeding. I've been reading with much enthusiasm a brief guide to breeding written by Makus & Jayne - I have an enormous amount of respect for this couple, as not only are they the largest breeders of Royals Pythons in Canada (a country which I very much love), but they are a small family business which started from nothing more than sheer enthusiasm and a love of animals, and it is very evident that that enthusiasm and genuine appreciation of the animals remains as strong today as it did from the start - I will be consulting their brief guide an awful lot over the next 6 or so months I imagine! Anyway, enough kiss arseing, back to cooling. Whilst Markus & Jayne state that they drop the temperatures for a month prior to introductions, general opinion amongst UK breeders seems mixed; some do cool their adults, and some do not. I will be consulting the opinions of others over the next week or so before I make a decision - if anyone has any thoughts on this I'd be particularly interested in your comments!

Also this week: I bought an incubator. I have been planning to build my own for some time as an alternative to purchasing an "off the shelf" hobbyist incubator available in pet shops - whilst I have no experience with them myself, a read of a few reviews online shows reports of the thermostats being particularly poor quality and often failing (killing the eggs, which would obviously be a disaster), thermometers being inaccurate, as well as the incubators themselves being very small and only suitable for one clutch of eggs. I decided to build my own initially from a small chiller cabinet large enough to hold a couple of clutches, a heat cable and a Microclimate pulse stat. After a chance encounter on the classifieds section, one was listed for sale for cheaper than I could build one for, so I snapped it up (thanks Paul!). Over the next few months I will be experimenting with various incubation methods and substrates, and testing the incubators ability to hold temperature and humidity, so that I am fully prepared come the hopeful arrival of eggs.

Also also this week: I've been invaded by a trio of breeding weight Corn snakes! Whilst collecting the incubator from the seller, I was shown his collection of various morphs of Corn snakes, which were fascinating - so much different from my Royals both in terms of looks and personalities. The seller mentioned that he was scaling down on snake keeping and breeding due to work and family commitments, and that a fully kitted vivarium would be for sale shortly if I was interested - I'm always in need of vivariums as my young ones will not stay young forever, so will mostly likely be upgraded to vivariums once they are big enough, so once again, I snapped it up.

Rory and Cornelia

After speaking to Paul later in the week, he mentioned that "Rory" - a 4 year old breeding weight female "Reverse Okeetee" Amelanistic - was one of the girls up for sale. She had to be mine!! It seems Paul was destined for a life as a salesman / hypnotist, as somehow, shortly after agreeing to buy Rory, it seems I had been further convinced into also buying her viv-mate, Milly (renamed "Cornelia") - another breeding weight female, but this time an Anerythristic morph. I have no recollection of this conversation, so I have no idea what happened here...

Cornelius - Charcoal or Anery: Guess we'll find out!

I immediately started hunting for an appropriate male to pair the girls with, and with a little help from some very kind RFUK members, a local sale of a Charcoal male complete with vivarium was found. Welcome Cornelius, the handsome devil that he is.

The trio of corns will not feature too heavily on this blog, as they will be a side project to my plans on breeding Royal Pythons, but they may get the odd mention here and there, as I'm very excited about breeding them - plus they will fill the blanks during periods of inactivity from the Royals. Breeding the Corns will be interesting, as Corn morphs by large (including my three) are recessive traits, so in order to produce visual morphs, both parents must be at least carrying (or het for) the genes of that morph. Pairing Cornelius with Rory for example, will only produce Normals, although all the offspring will be 100% het for both Charcoal and Amel - the genes required for Blizzards. Pairing Cornelius with Cornelia however, will be particularly interesting, as Charcoals are actually another form of Anery (Anery B) just with subtle and often mistakable differences, so there is a very good chance he has been misidentified and could actually be an Anery A - the same as Cornelia - in which case, the offspring will all be Anery A's. This is the only definite way of proving Cornelius's genes, so regardless of the outcome, it's going to be highly anticipated either way!


So, there we have it, it's been a very busy week, it's going to be a very interesting and exciting winter and spring, but now, I'm bankrupt. Thanks Paul!!

Thermostats

A thermostat is an essential piece of equipment for every vivarium - there are a few different types in terms of how they work, but essentially, they all do the same job; regulate the temperature of the heat source to a desired degree, ensuring that vivarium temperatures are safely maintained at a set level. Without a thermostat, the heat source, be it a heat mat, light emitting heat lamp, or ceramic heat bulb, would not be controlled, and temperatures in the vivarium would be whatever the maximum output of the heat source could manage – this could very easily lead to illness, injury, or even the death of the animal. No snake-accommodating vivarium (or RUB) that uses any type of heat source* should ever be without a thermostat. Ever.

*Note: AHS devices incorporate a thermostat internally to control temperatures, and as such, do not require an additional thermostat.

The two most popular brands are Habistat and Microclimate. Each produce a range of thermostats, which all fall into one of three types;

• Mat-Stats: These are “on/off” devices which turn the heat source off once a desired temperate is reached, and then back on again once the temperature falls below a certain range of the desired temp. As the name suggests, these are designed to be primarily used with heat mats.
• Dimmer Stats: Similar to a household dimmer light switch, these automatically maintain the temperature by gradually turning the heat source up or down as required. These are designed to be used with light emitting heat sources such as Infra-Red bulbs or basking lamps, but can be used to control any heat source (such as heat mats or ceramic bulbs), so long as the minimum wattage is achieved.
• Pulse Proportional: Similar to Mat-Stats, these control the temperature by turning the heating device on and off, but with a much higher rate of frequency. The heat source is accurately controlled by short “bursts” of power to hold the temperature at a constant level. These are suitable for ceramic heat bulbs, or any other non-light emitting heat source, such as heat cables. These are not suitable for use with any light emitting heat source, as the light will flash on and off continually, which will not only drastically reduce the life of the bulb, but will also cause stress to the snake.

As well as the three types of thermostat, each manufacturer produces different models which incorporate additional features, such as dual circuit thermostats for controlling multiple heat sources or vivariums, and models which have different heat settings for night time, automatically switching over at dark. All thermostats come with a lengthy warranty period from both manufactures for peace of mind.


I use a couple of different types by both Habistat and Microclimate for my vivariums, tubs, and incubator, depending on the heat source. My hatchling / juvenile rack, which currently houses Scully and Rowntree, is heated by heat mats underneath each tub. These are controlled by a single Microclimate B2 “Pulse Proportional” thermostat. In a moment of Monday morning madness, I accidentally plugged my iron into the multiplug for the thermostat, rather than the one which powers my other appliances in the "snake room". This overloaded the maximum wattage of the thermostat, frying the circuit. As an emergency, I had to very quickly steal the pulse stat from my (currently vacant) incubator so that my young ones would not be at any risk of overheating, until I source a replacement.

I emailed Microclimate customer services this morning explaining my error, and asked if they offer a repair service which I would be happy to pay for, explaining that the damage was completely due to accidental misuse on my part, and that this is obviously outside of the warranty limitations. I received an immediate response from a chap called Clive, who said that they would be happy to repair the thermostat free of charge, with just £5 required for the return postage.


+1 Happy Microclimate customer!!