Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was just wondering (since I am behind a bit)......

What is everyone's status so far this year with Mexicana?
I still have females shedding for the first time out of brumation. Out of the ones that have shed I have seen three confirmed thayeri 'hook-ups' and one mexmex 'hook-up' along with some getula 'hook-ups.'

I read below about Russ' bad luck......Sorry to hear that Russ. Cross your fingers on the other three clutches. I will do the same. I know how it is to have a ton of thayeri one year and strike out the next....believe me it is a bummer and I am sorry to hear about your bad luck.

So, just for my curiousity....
How many clutches do you guys have incubating already?
Are some of you still in the process of pairing them up?
Or have some of you, like me, just begun pairing them up?

John Lassiter

So far none of mine have laid eggs yet. I have 5 LMT's (thayeri) that are gravid. Four of the five are first year females so I'm not expecting great results. I'll be very happy if I can get three of them to lay good eggs. The first one should be ready to lay around mid May and the other 4 late May.

I also have one grey band already gravid and another one that I'm hoping will hook-up soon.

How many female thayeri are you going to breed this year John? It sounds like to me that you brumated your snakes a bit longer this year. What kind of temps did you keep them at this past winter?

Man that keyholed female of yours is sure looking good.

My Dan V keyholed male has really been flighty lately. He won't touch food yet and whips around his cage like crazy when ever I open it up. He's bred twice and I'm hoping he's been up to the task.

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Vichris

Vichris Variables

Chris,
I have 9 potential thayeri females, but 4 of them are first timers and I am not holding my breath with them producing, but it would be nice. I also have two potential Mexmex females (one dark phase and one classic phase). I am breeding my albino ruthveni male to my het female as well as an awesome orange leonis thayeri just to satisfy my curiousity since I really like the ones I saw in Daytona at the ProBreeders' table.
I have a Greeri female that is ready to go, but no male to go with her except my light phase male that possibly has thayeri blood in him or pyro, but who knows.....

I am also working with some Hondurans (2 females), Brooksi (3 females), a Blonde calking, a Splendida, a Holbrooki and some MBKs (2 females). I think that is all of them....

I DID keep them in brumation for a longer duration this year.
They were cooled off in the middle of November and warmed back up on March 15. They were held at fluctuating temps from 50F to 60F all winter in my brumation chamber. I am also trying something else different than in years past. I am keeping all my males in the brumation chamber (with the door open) during breeding season. The temps hang around 65F to 70F. The females only get put on heat after they eat. It seems to be working well so far and we shall see if this works out. I figured I would try some things different after three great years and two dismal years of producing thayeri.......
Keep us posted on your success,
John Lassiter

It sounds like you are trying to do a more "natural" brumation if you can call it that. And I think its a very good idea

I'm really lucky to live where I do. The way my snakes are set up (in my sunroom) they get to experience what ever the weather is that day. During the fall/winters here we get lows mostly in the 20's and 30's with a few teens and 40's scattered in the mix. Highs are usually in the upper 40's to upper 50's. The temps inside their boxes change very slowly. So even though the temp outside might be 20 degrees, in the sunroom it might be 35 degrees, in their box it would be about 43-47 degrees.
When I'm ready to warm them up I just plug in the rack and it raises the temp about 15 degrees in the back of their box. Most of them spend alot of time on the heat in the early spring. I've already unplugged the heat on my rack but I can plug it back in if it gets cold again one night.
Plus they get experience real light patterns. Early morning the sun shines right into the snake rack. All of them seem to hang out in the front of their boxes in the morning. Of course in the late Fall/Winter Ive got the whole rack covered so that they are in the dark.
I've taken Frank Reytas (?) ideas to another level. LOL
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Vichris

Vichris Variables

Here's a pic of my reptile room on March 14 2005. My snakes were already out of brumation so the room was being heated. This pic was taken at night so you can see some snowflakes flying but also some stars in the southern skies. In the middle window is my Chameleon setup. The snake rack is to the west (right) closest to the rest of the house. I seclude the sunroom/reptile room with a sliding glass door.

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Vichris

Vichris Variables

How do you live like that? LOL I guess your wife won't yell at you when she opens the frozen mice by accident; you can just keep yours outside.

You certainly have some challenges. Of course I have trouble keeping my snake room cold enough in the winter.

Nice set-up by the way.
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Rick
Never Enough
Reptiles

I, too think light cycles are important, but my way of thinking is different from most.
I believe, that in winter, snakes go underground when surface temps get too cold. They seek a dark/cool spot to spend the winter.
Sometimes they may emerge from their brumation locale and catch some sunshine, but that is probably the only time they see sunlight during winter (IMHO). This is the reason I have a brumation chamber lofted in my snake room. It is totally dark, humid and cool. I had to water them twice over the winter......I believe they got their sunlight then.....
Years ago breeders like Frank Retes pioneered this hobby and learned from trial and error attempts at breeding. Some breeders solely depended on light cycles for breeding without lowering temps. They believed that, in the wild, snakes would find a 72F temp below the surface and that they possibly fed on brumating lizards and rodents (where do they go in the winter?)
These pioneers of the hobby were successful at many different ways.....We modern breeders just take a method that we have read or heard and apply it........There are other ways that work.....

Chris.....I am taking some of Retes' methods into consideration too. I really like his idea of a egg laying area/box.....I am certainly going to try some different things to keep things interesting after 14 years of keeping snakes........
John Lassiter

....of females gravid, one nice pure thayeri pair (as pure as any are and that's prolly not very pure and one amel ruthveni x thayeri four generations ago from Jeff Cerula. Guess I have to hold back MORE (just seems to grow out of control, don't it

I am also expecting more baby Crotalus enyo enyo this year.

last year I had a hypomelanistic one born (but died and the trio went at it again last fall bre-brumation so I think I am good.

....locality eastern kings....blah blah blah

Chris

Cool Crotalus........

And I know what you mean about getting out of control. I held back numerous 4 and 5 years ago, but the last 2 years I refrained and only held back 1 in 2004 and 1 last year........

If you could, I would like to see a pic of the Thayeri X amel Ruthveni....I am going to start that project this year if all goes well.....
John Lassiter

the amel has been crossed back into thayero three times before (and it will be back in twice more once I am done, but of course it is dishonest to call them anything but hybrids

The other one is in a bad shed but he's orange I PROMISE

Nice looking cross/hybrid.........I (along with others) sure are glad there are honest breeders like you and that snake's producer out there..........There's nothing wrong with hybrids (I am starting some myself) but there is something wrong with dishonesty..........
Again great looking Amel Ruthayeriven.......LOL
John Lassiter

the amel has been crossed back into thayeri three times before (and it will be back in twice more once I am done, but of course it is dishonest to call them anything but hybrids

The other one is in a bad shed but he's orange I PROMISE

Hi John

Just got my first clutch of thayeri eggs from my pin-banded loenis female(VR x Applegate lineage - she's still in her laybox BTW) and my "Yellow" thick bordered Applegate female just had her pre-lay shed 2 days ago so she's soon to follow. I'm really crossing my fingers for her since she has had a very intersting year so far. One of my female knoblochi and Stillwater Hypo bulls are in blue right now so hopefully they'll be laying soon. My hondurans have been breeding like crazy the past week or so I also hope to get some nice pinstriped/widebanded hypos and anerythristics hatchlings from them this year. Same goes with my Baubel line pyros. Still trying to decide if I'll do second rounds this year since some of them(hondos & thayeri) do it on their own. If I had the same success with thayeri as last year I'll be very happy. Wish me luck!
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Jonel @ Selective Propagations
www.spsnakes.com

well since you already know that I have two infertile clutches on the ground.........this is what I'm expecting to have lay eggs the rest of the summer:

3 more thayeri clutches (for the record the two dud clutches earlier reported totaled 25 eggs).

At least 3 clutches of sonoran gopher eggs (breeding colony is very morphs but all het for blizzard)

that is it. I scaled way back over the winter and sold off all but one pair of corns (kept the 2Xhet for bloodred and lavender). Hopefully I'll get some good eggs but if not I'll keep feeding, cleaning, and look forward to next summer.
Russ

Hey John,

I have one greeri that laid 6 eggs, i thought they would be bad, but 5 are looking allright and might be ok. Other than that I have two huge dark blairs phase alterna females that are due to lay with in 2 weeks. a light alterna phase alterna that is due to lay right after them. and then i have a castle mtn local alerna due to lay in 3-4 weeks. corns are poppin right now and for the next couple weeks. i have one clutch of 20 already and should have another clutch the next time i go into the snake room. keep me in mind for a male mexmex this year and possibly a couple female thayeri.

mike
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www.southtexasherps.com