OK, so with the purchase of a new house, adoption of our first dog, and birth of our first son all in the six months prior to this last breeding season, I'm WAY behind where I'd normally be this time of year. I usually have my first clutch hatching around this time (I remember back when I was one of the first to hatch babies this time every spring....now it seems like some folks are having babies hatch in January....). Right now I've got several females due to lay just about any time, but no eggs in the incubator. I'm seriously wiggin' out about the lack of eggs....just doesn't seem natural.
Anyway, since I don't have any eggs to monitor or really anything else going on snake wise, I thought I'd contribute to Jay's recurring tip thread....
I recently changed my method of recordkeeping, and it has saved me a ton of time and has been easioer to use. When I hatch babies, I generate individual record cards with pictures, then keep track of feedings, sheddings, etc (as most of you do). I have to admit, however, that I've gotten more than a little lazy with my adults. My collection is still small enough that many of my snakes have names, and I recognize them by sight. I could keep track of most husbandry things in my head. I really stopped keeping written records of feeding, etc, for most of my adult stock (the ones that I know I am keeping and not selling). Of course, if there was something I was concerned about, or if a snake had been refusing meals, I'd document that in a little notebook, or worse, a sticky note.
Here's what I've done lately with great results (meaning it gives me good recordkeeping, without too much work, and without individual record cards for my adult stock):
I've word processed a document that contains several tables. Each table corresponds to one of my racks (I have 4 racks that house my ball pythons). Each table has the same number of spaces as that particular rack has tubs, and is laid out on the paper in the same manner as in the room. Each space gets the name or ID number of the snake that lives in the tub.
Now on feeding night, I pull out one fresh card, date it, and record all my feeding information on the card in the appropriate space in the appropriate rack. ANy sheds, ovulations, pre-lay sheds, etc., that happen during that week also get recorded on that card.
The end result is that I have all the important info recorded on a single card for each week. Its easier for me to do (and easier to use later to glean important info from), and its something that I can keep up with.
If I've done a rotten job of explaining what I do, and you're really interested, I could e-mail you a copy of my sheet.
Just thought I'd share.....
