I can see where something that reproduces in a couple of hours would be easier to study. If you're doing things correctly, you should have evidence within a few hours. If they are all dead or failing to thrive, you know that something is wrong and you can change a variable. My oyster (and clam) experiments would have been easier if I had feedback that quickly.



I always thought that the point of freezing rodents wasn't to kill the bacteria but to kill bigger organisms that could live on a mouse. I would think that freezing for some length of time would kill most mites. Maybe I'm mistaken, but I thought bugs survived hard freezes by burying themselves in something that wouldn't freeze completely. In a frozen rodent, they'd freeze and die.



I can't say that I ever learned enough about oysters to apply to other critters. I learned some things not to do, but the real problem with my setup was likely the lack of a bacteria in the water. The guy who followed me lost about 10,000 shrimp, and the professor finally agreed to pay for a complete analysis of our water. The analysis showed that a common bacteria that was supposed to be in about every drop of water that one would find any open container wasn't living in our tanks. Without that water, we couldn't create a healthy ecosystem.



While I was struggling with my oysters, some guys in a biology-type department were working on native, fresh-water mussels. Their project was to raise the mussels to adulthood or near adulthood and try to restock many of the waterways of our state. They checked out our lab one day and copied an idea I had to make cheap oyster bed waterways in common household guttering. My idea never worked for me. My idea worked very well for them.



I think one grad student ended up taking a bottle of water from their system to ours. Their water had the bacteria needed for the system, and our setup worked afterwards. I had finished by this time.



In any case, I'm not trying to breed ball pythons right now. I'm just trying to find the right husbandry techniques to keep one animal alive, healthy, and happy. If I succeed with her, maybe I'll think of breeding someday. I really don't have time or room to house that many snakes in the way that I like to house them. I really don't have an interest in having racks full of snakes that I only see when I tend to them. Eventually, I'd also have to find homes for the young ones. I don't want people coming by all the time to buy snakes nor do I want the hassles of the license required to grow snakes for profit. I'd give them away if I knew enough people who wanted them, but snakes are a long way from having as many welcoming homes as dogs are. I appreciate the efforts of those who are breeding, but I'm not ready to join their ranks.





Bill
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.

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