Posted by:
carl3
at Thu Sep 23 18:10:36 2004 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by carl3 ]
are awesome...its great that someone your age is into them. I fell in love with them while interning at the toledo zoo's reptile dept. I truly believe that they may go extinct someday soon simply b/c of their difficulty breeding them and their size in the wild. Very few breeders have them and it is such a pain to try and get permits for them from what I've heard....but they are fascinating... I may pick up a pair of black tailed indigos/cribos from a private breeder who had one of the adult parents at a herp show and I feel in love with them too....but nothing like a true eastern...my goodness...they really are on the top of my wish list...ah...someday.
ps...for 13 years old...its amazing you are aware of 50% and 66% heterzygous traits....WOW...I teach high school biology and I'm lucky if some of my students know what a 'trait' even means.lol....steal all the knowledge you can from people too ...... here is some stupid tricks I've learned along the way.....don't pay tons of money for supplies....you can get alot of stuff at home depot and walmart...for instance.... For snake hooks, I use a long handled paint roller but without the pad that you would use to roll the paint on a wall with. Also, I use a mild windex solution for cleaning my cages simply b/c of my fear of things like cryptozoodia.....bleach isn't as effective from what I've heard......but windex is better supposedly...who knows? Also, quarantine EVERYTHING......a small percent of people are sleazy in this business and if you're not careful, you could be buying animals infected with God knows what.... How can you quaranting easy? I get a Sterilite container at Target for $6. I always use paper towel as my substrate and a plastic 'crock' brand waterdish from walmart. I use a normal $10 heating pad with 3 settings from walmart (but not the ones with auto shutoff). To not waste time drilling air holes in the plastic container, get to a home depot and buy a sodering iron $10 (as someone for the ones that looks like a pen). They are great to use instead of drilling holes into plastic....takes too long and cracks the plastic...
Also, you may already know this stuff so sorry if I repeat or whatever but keep detailed records of all your snakes, such as when you bought them, for how much, from who....try to trace back the source for your new snakes...if you buy from one breeder, ask which breeder they got the parents from. Bloodlines are important to alot of people if you raise and breed your snakes. Also, records should be as detailed as possible...there are plenty of formats out there to choose from. Finally, take pictures of your snakes while they're young...capture their color and size now so when you breed them and go to sell them, you can use the old pics as a marketing tool....for instance, people often post pics of parents but sometimes a pic of what the parent looked like as a baby is nice to see if the one you're getting is similar....everyone likes pics. Finally, be careful with escapes...everyone has had them at one point or another so always follow a set procedure when working with your snakes....type it up and follow it as if it were written by God.lol....uhm....I'm rambling but its b/c I slept only 3 hours last night and I'm running on fumes....anyway, I'll think of another billion tips later I'm sure......that is if you're looking for practical tips vs. motivational tips.
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Sincerely,
Jason
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 www.members.aol.com/northeastsnakes
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RE: Eastern Indigos... - carl3, Thu Sep 23 18:10:36 2004