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.