Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was bad when I went to the Vivarium yesterday, but I have been wanting to start a new project now that it seems I have some ability with the BRBs.
I bought a female Brown House Snake from them yesterday, she is a little turd, but just needs handling and should calm down once she is used to me and gets a bit older. I purchased a male BHS from them about 8 years ago, Nellie (gave it a girls name only to find out that its a boy...oops).
So she looks about a year old, maybe a bit less, but I think I could get her up to size by next year for breeding in the fall...or whenever they breed, I can't recall.
Anyway, here is Lacie's picture.

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Jess
2.4 adult brazilian rainbows
1.1 baby BRBs born 6/18
1.0 normal corn
1.0 african brown house snake
0.1 hypo Boa constrictor
0.1 normal ball python
2.3.1 crested geckos
1.1 western hognoses
0.2 kitties Marina (aka Mayhem)and Chaos
1.0 boyfriend to keep me spoiled
1.1 paranoid parents "too many snakes!"

She is cute!

The Vivarium is where I picked up my two female spotted pythons from. They both seem a bit agressive, but should calm down nicely. If not they will still make good breeders.
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Mike

1.1 BRB
1.2 Spotted Python
1.0 Cal. King

I thought your mom was already "full up" with your snakes? Gonna sneak it in while she's not looking?

Cute lil slitherer!!
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
21.29 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

No my mom was okay with it, I just havent mentioned it or made it noticeable to my stepdad. Fortunately I was able to squeeze her in on our tiny rack. Fortuantely she already seems to be calming down a bit.
Although I remember when my male was her age and he was a nasty little thing and then didnt eat for almost a year. I really think they would be popular petes though, they're just not very prominent in petstores, just here on Kingsnake or at EBV.
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Jess
2.4 adult brazilian rainbows
1.1 baby BRBs born 6/18
1.0 normal corn
1.0 african brown house snake
0.1 hypo Boa constrictor
0.1 normal ball python
2.3.1 crested geckos
1.1 western hognoses
0.2 kitties Marina (aka Mayhem)and Chaos
1.0 boyfriend to keep me spoiled
1.1 paranoid parents "too many snakes!"

re-read it several times, I see nothing wrong with my wording.

Although it would be odd to have an entire species all named "Pete"??

>>I really think they would be popular petes though>>
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
21.29 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

I just have a dirty mind I guess, but then I have to watch my words carefully, otherwise some highschool sophomore comes around the corner at work and thinks I meant something completely different. Maybe they're rubbing off on me too much. *sigh* high school kids...
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Jess
2.4 adult brazilian rainbows
1.1 baby BRBs born 6/18
1.0 normal corn
1.0 african brown house snake
0.1 hypo Boa constrictor
0.1 normal ball python
2.3.1 crested geckos
1.1 western hognoses
0.2 kitties Marina (aka Mayhem)and Chaos
1.0 boyfriend to keep me spoiled
1.1 paranoid parents "too many snakes!"

have a dirty mind, you're the one talking about "high school kids" "rubbing off on you too much" !!

LOL, that was too easy, couldn't resist it!!

Sorry Jess (not really but sounded good)
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
21.29 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

I just remembered I have this test to take and i should really be far from this forum.
I cant win for losing tonight.
Oh yeah, feeding night tonight.
In hindsight, live pinkies seem to work much better on newbies. Only Aladdin has eaten so far.
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Jess
2.4 adult brazilian rainbows
1.1 baby BRBs born 6/18
1.0 normal corn
1.0 african brown house snake
0.1 hypo Boa constrictor
0.1 normal ball python
2.3.1 crested geckos
1.1 western hognoses
0.2 kitties Marina (aka Mayhem)and Chaos
1.0 boyfriend to keep me spoiled
1.1 paranoid parents "too many snakes!"

Live is definately the way to go, Ziggy and Zoe both wolfed their pinkies. Both struck, grabed it, dropped it then later ate it. Baby snakes are so easily distracted. It's like their born with ADD or something.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
21.29 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

I am glad that they ate well. Aladdin ate just the one, but Ms. Bianca ate two! Right off the bat, I didnt even mean to give her a second, but I have been taking out two at a time to try and feed and went to the wrong container to dangle a dead baby pinkie in front of their nose with chopsticks.
In retrospect, should have invested in some good hemostats from EBV on Sunday.
Goodness I am still fiddling around with the babies and its 1...ugh work in 7 hours. So glad school is almost over.
Also, defrosting pinkies...in the microwave is not such a great idea. Just two seconds on lowest defrost and they explode.
I dont think I will tell my family about that experiment gone wrong.
Ah, the simple joys of owning snakes. I'm still laughing!
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Jess
2.4 adult brazilian rainbows
1.1 baby BRBs born 6/18
1.0 normal corn
1.0 african brown house snake
0.1 hypo Boa constrictor
0.1 normal ball python
2.3.1 crested geckos
1.1 western hognoses
0.2 kitties Marina (aka Mayhem)and Chaos
1.0 boyfriend to keep me spoiled
1.1 paranoid parents "too many snakes!"

Glad to say I have never tried or blown up feeders in the microwave. I bet that was nasty to clean up.
I did make the mistake of putting a rat into boiling water when I first started feeding F/T though. Rat stew has a unique and very unplesant smell for those wondering. Now I leave them out in the morning and feed at night.
Aren't learning experiences fun?

Fortunately they didnt leave too much of a smell but they were browned! It was pretty gross, they didnt get too messy either because I had put them in a paper towl and kinda wrapped them up. Usually I will just leave them out too, but I got lazy last night. I was still up until about 2 working with them. Then I had a nightmare this morning that I had let someone babysit another one of my females (actually my stepfather's) and she came back having babies and no tail!
I must need a vacation.
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Jess
2.4 adult brazilian rainbows
1.1 baby BRBs born 6/18
1.0 normal corn
1.0 african brown house snake
0.1 hypo Boa constrictor
0.1 normal ball python
2.3.1 crested geckos
1.1 western hognoses
0.2 kitties Marina (aka Mayhem)and Chaos
1.0 boyfriend to keep me spoiled
1.1 paranoid parents "too many snakes!"

Wrong!!! No wonder I like fresh killed:

No waiting

No thawing

No trying to guestimate exactly how many feeders you will need (I can put the live ones right back where they came from

I have yet to see a live one (or F/K) explode but then again, no need to put it in the mocrowave.

My snakes seem to like em still twitching.

Want to feed a snake, as simple as go out to the garage, select appropriate size, swing, whack, feed.

Every once in a while I'll get a bleeder but at least there are no chunks falling off or sides splitting open etc.

BTW, was a light feeding night, only fed 43 snakes of which 41 ate, Thw two refusers are notorious problem children. Always get fed in the early rounds so I can re-utilize the food they typically don't eat.

I'll throw food at all the larger snakes tonight. Phew, having a larger collection means feeding takes a while. I do notice this year i am not so preoccupied with checking for babies, still plenty to do to care for those snakes who are eating and processing it out the other end.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
21.29 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

My stepdad was tired of my rats getting out, unfortunately good cages are expensive and hard to find unless you buy a gigantic breeder rack. So he told me to sell off and get rid of about 80 rats babies to breeders and 100 mice babies and breeders....$30 is all I got, including all their cages. What a rip-off!
And now i have to deal with the nasty frozen things. Its not as fun anymore to watch them eat. Just business. Now I get to go out and find 10 live pinkies and hope that all of the babies who havent eaten will decide to, otherwise I have more frozen pinkies. Joy...What I would give to have fresh killed again. I envy you Dave.
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Jess
2.4 adult brazilian rainbows
1.1 baby BRBs born 6/18
1.0 normal corn
1.0 african brown house snake
0.1 hypo Boa constrictor
0.1 normal ball python
2.3.1 crested geckos
1.1 western hognoses
0.2 kitties Marina (aka Mayhem)and Chaos
1.0 boyfriend to keep me spoiled
1.1 paranoid parents "too many snakes!"

i Made these cages many years ago and used them for over a decade without a single escape. I stsarted with 10 gallon fishtanks. Using a glass cutter I cut them to half height. Designed and built lids and poof, instant rat cage! The lids are heavy enough the rats could not lift them. Spaces for three water bottles and a top load food hopper.

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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
21.29 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

I think a friend bought some like that, how many did you end up making? I tried something like that but my version didnt work, and I know my stepdad wont let me switch back.
Anyway back to work, I'm ordering toys for the kids at work. I love my job I get to play with toys.
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Jess
2.4 adult brazilian rainbows
1.1 baby BRBs born 6/18
1.0 normal corn
1.0 african brown house snake
0.1 hypo Boa constrictor
0.1 normal ball python
2.3.1 crested geckos
1.1 western hognoses
0.2 kitties Marina (aka Mayhem)and Chaos
1.0 boyfriend to keep me spoiled
1.1 paranoid parents "too many snakes!"

At the peak of that method of breeding I think I had 24. I've sold all but four I held onto for protable caging for shows etc. Most were sold at the Petaluma and SJ shows.

Sounds like fun!!
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
21.29 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Dave, how many rat tubs/colonies do you have going to supply your collection?
I only breed a small amount of rodents now (6 rat tubs at 1 male to 3 females, and 5 mouse tubs) just for those picky eaters that I have and otherwise buy F/T. I used to feed my snakes only what I bred but I found that with a lot of snakes I never seemed to have enough to keep all my animals on a good, constant schedule.
My main problem with the F/T I buy is the outrageous shipping costs so I have been considering getting more rodent racks and breeding and freezing my own but it seems that I would have to have a lot of breeding racks and a lot of housing racks while I let the feeders get up to size.
Of course my reservation with going back to breeding a lot of rodents is simply the fact that I hate rats and mice and despise cleaning cages. The downside of owning reptiles.

Hey Jason ever thought about investing in a food/vacuum sealer and just ordering once or twice a year? The shipping costs is pretty much that box that it comes in so the more rodents you get the same shipping cost but you just need a way to preserve the food longer and the sealers last up to 5x's longer than conventional methods but this is just a thought though. The only bad thing about this way is less dry ice you got to make bombs
Bob

Thats funny, I have always made dry ice bombs when I recieve a shippment of rodents.

I actually do have a vacumm sealer. I buy F/T about every 3-4 months now (full freezer) and they do charge by the box, but I buy a lot of boxes at once and they add up. Last order was 8 full boxes around 40-50 lbs apiece. Just ends up being a lot to ship and I feel that most places jack up the prices to make a profit on shipping costs (or cover the differences in their lower than everyone else advertised prices). I have ordered from a guy who charges exactly what he pays on shipping but he can't always fill my orders due to the volumes that he may be doing at the time.
There are a couple of local dealers of frozen rodents but I have heard some negatives about their feeders so I haven't bothered even checking with them.

I have two racks of 24 tubs each, kitty litter box size and also have a 8 drawer larger mortar tub rack for rat growout. Running about 6 litters per week plus prepping the mouse colony mice for the babies when they get here.

>>Dave, how many rat tubs/colonies do you have going to supply your collection?
>>I only breed a small amount of rodents now (6 rat tubs at 1 male to 3 females, and 5 mouse tubs) just for those picky eaters that I have and otherwise buy F/T. I used to feed my snakes only what I bred but I found that with a lot of snakes I never seemed to have enough to keep all my animals on a good, constant schedule.
>>My main problem with the F/T I buy is the outrageous shipping costs so I have been considering getting more rodent racks and breeding and freezing my own but it seems that I would have to have a lot of breeding racks and a lot of housing racks while I let the feeders get up to size.
>>Of course my reservation with going back to breeding a lot of rodents is simply the fact that I hate rats and mice and despise cleaning cages. The downside of owning reptiles.

-----
Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
21.29 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Thats a few clonies you've got going there. I like your homemade growout racks. It's funny but I started laying tile about 10 years ago, and have been around the flooring industry since I was 6 (that's when my parents opened thier store in Ca.) I always see those tubs sold with tile supplies but have only seen them used by people in the reptile hobby, never seen one actually used to mix mortar in.
How much time do you have to spend cleaning all those? I bet you've got a lot of trash come trash day.
Oh, also, what do you mean by "prepping the mice colony"? Do you seperate pregnant females or cycle males?

I cycle breed everything so I'm always seperating out the prego female to give birth and raise her young, both rats and mice. That's how I closely control production. Each week I "start" litters by tossing females to the "wolves" the get ravaged and typically 3 1/2 weeks later drop a litter.

I'm prepping the mice by breeding ahead for new breeder females, feeding off the males. When the baby snakes arrive, I'll have a supply of females all ready to "toss to the wolves" and have production up to full speed within a few weeks.
-----
Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
21.29 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

That makes sense, sounds like you really step up your mouse production when you have neonates. Do you start all your babies on mice?
I have heard conflicting theories on which are better and easier to digest for young snakes. I start everything but rosy boas and rubber boas on rat pinks strickly to aviod diffcult switching down the line.
Do you ever have problems with your male rats and mice being overly aggressive to female when they are re-introduced after having a litter? That is the main reason I stopped seperating pregnant females. Especially the mice seem to get aggresive. I do think that is a great idea to control your production like you mentioned. Seems like most my females will end up cycling together so I always have a bunch of pinks at once when fuzzies or hoppers would be better or vise versa.

I feel like i spent the whole morning talking rodents.

LOL, just keep mon posting and not starting a new thread for everything. The more replies to an individual thread, the higher pour post count for the three pages of threads (150)!!

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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
21.29 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

fat fingers and not checking for errors......

LOL, just keep on posting and not starting a new thread for everything. The more replies to an individual thread, the higher our post count for the three pages of threads (150)!!
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
21.29 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Fat fingers huh? You just did that so you could post twice. Sneaky, sneaky.
This is it for me I'm outa here for the day.

Shhhhh, don't tell anyone.....have a good one!!
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
21.29 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Yeah, baby season significantly increases the feeder head count required for feeding days. My basic system is I start as many litters as fed off that week. Of course there are adjustment weeks since litters are not always the same size. but the basic rule of thumb is one new litter for each 10 - 12 prey items fed off. Does not matter what size.

I'va always started my BRB's on mice, typically fuzzies or hoppers and quite often babies get pinkies on a more frequesnt schedule, every 4 or 5 days until they grow a little.

I've always cycle bred and I always do my introductions on cleaning day. I move male and existing females to new clean tub (pulling the 3 week old prego one if present) and after done with all cleaning, add females as needed for the weeks starts.

Never had any noticable problems, yeah, will have the occaisional turf war but pecking order us usually quickly established and courting begins.

That's exactly why I breed that way, I always have an assortment of sizes and can closely control production. I can and have supplemented the line from a local rodent breeder but usually able to control production to fit my needs.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
21.29 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Thanks for the info Dave. I am always curious to hear the different ways that people do things. I really like the simple fact that you can have an assortment of sizes of feeders the way you do things. I am going to have to consider cycling now. Maybe if I start feeding off the more aggresive ones it will scare the others straight, lol. I bet it helps that you only add females on cleaning days. That way they are all getting used to the newness toghether.

I've posted this several times over in the feeder forum:

The rat rules:

Don't produce - fed off
Kill babies - fed off
Sick - fed off
Jumpy - fed off
Bite me - whacked on cement then fed off

Getting the idea?
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
21.29 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

For me, not having to raise rodents is one of the few perks of having few snakes....
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Renee

2.0 amel & anery corns (Foxfire & Daguerre)
1.0 BRB (Loki)

Never and I mean NEVER bite the hand that decides which rodent goes when!!!!! Punishment is swift and final.

Actually raising rodents is no big deal and after years of enforcing the rules, I rarely get bit, have weened that out of my colony. Now mostly fine except for the bouncingf "teenage" rats, they just bounce all around the cage, nothing to be done but grab em one at a time and keep the tub mostly closed.

BTW, years ago I raised rodents for a pet shop, was lucrative but I got tired of it, they did buy me lots (and I do mean LOTS) of tools and even bought my wife a really nice pair of diamond earings!!
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
21.29 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Wow, Dave! So you're not just breeding a better boa---you're breeding a better rodent (one that doesn't bite)!

A whole new species of non-biting snake food (with never any problems attacking the hungry serpents) would make live feeding more attractive !
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Renee

2.0 amel & anery corns (Foxfire & Daguerre)
1.0 BRB (Loki)

Renee,
....I have been using the same "you bite me and you die" policy with my rat colony for many years and many generations of rats. It is a very effective method of selective breeding to produce docile rats. I can be cleaning cages and move a female while she is nursing new babies and she will not bite. I also have a no escape policy. Any rat that escapes gets slammed dead in a trap. I have several old style rat traps on the floor under the rat trays. I think that distinctive "thwack" noise that the rat traps make is very effective in keeping the other rats from thinking about escape;o)
Jeff

>>Wow, Dave! So you're not just breeding a better boa---you're breeding a better rodent (one that doesn't bite)!
>>
>>A whole new species of non-biting snake food (with never any problems attacking the hungry serpents) would make live feeding more attractive !
>>-----
>>Renee
>>
>>2.0 amel & anery corns (Foxfire & Daguerre)
>>1.0 BRB (Loki)

I had a rat get out once about a 8 years ago that I was unable to catch and smart enough to ingore the rat traps. (I've had others get out but I have always been able to catch them) I left this guy alone figuring he couldn't get out of the room since I had installed an exterior door with a threshold on my snake room in that house, and that I'd eventually be able to catch him or a trap would get him. Well he didn't get out but did get thirsty. Ended up chewing throught the water lines on my Freedom Breeders, soaked the food troughs (smells wonderfull) and drowned a couple of drawers of other rats. The next weekend I got him during a night of drinking and the great ideas that you tend to get. My college roomate and I duct taped his night vision scope that he got from the flea market to a pellet gun and sat in the dark room until the rat was adventerous enough to come out and we finally killed the thing. Needless to say that was probably the strangest way I have ever dealt out the death penalty to a problematic rat.

rat sniper - one pellet, one kill!
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
21.29 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Actually, my roomate and I were taking turns, he got the first shot since it was his pellet gun and shot it in the hip. I did get the kill shot though.

Ahh...fun with booze, pellet guns and Russian night vision technology. Good memories, lol.

Hey Jason be sure to post pics of those het leopards you got and do they have any tell tale markers on the head?
Bob

Bob, funny you should ask and good timing. I had a little photo shoot last night. Took over 90 pictures. I always take a bunch just to have a couple of good ones to save. I'll post some later today after sorting through them and resizing. Also I found some baby pics of the female hypo that I posted the other day and took some new ones of her last night too. I'll post those for you as well.
Milo

...
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Thanks,

Frank Roberts
Roberts' Realm Of Reptile Research