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...