Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is is true that tricolors commonly multi-clutch in one season??I read that they have been know to have 5(five) clutches in a season, on what looked to be a pretty reliable website.Im just use to N.A. Hoggs,not tri's,so has anyone heard of this or had it happen?
---thanks

every year 4 to 5 clutches. but most clutches are small 6 to 10 eggs. except my big girl 18 is her largest clutch and then get fewer in each additional clutch.

Wait til Jenea comes on....she can give you the real truth about multi-clutching tris. LOL. She has over 80? tri eggs cooking already and more on the way. Truely our resident egghead! Luv ya J.!
-----
Kare

"keep smiling; it makes people wonder what you're up to!"

these guyz are outta control....its raining lystrophis.....where do all of them go????

As Jenea points out below, it's hard to prevent them grom multi-clutching (we have 60 incubating now from two females!), but hatching all these eggs is far from a foregone conclusion. They are in my experience quite sensitive to incubation temp fluctuations, and do not like even brief spikes of high temperatures AT ALL (usually leads to full-term, but dead-in-shell and kinked embryos). Also, infertility cam be a problem if copulations are not timed right. Overall, as I've said before, it usually takes folks a bit of practice to "get on" to consistently producing this species.....

-----
Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

The Avalanche has already started-it is too late for the pebbles to vote....

Brad, what do you typically incubate your tris at? I shoot for 78 to 80. My first baby to hatch this year came out on day 87. I am finding that they are hatching out anywhere from 85 to 100 days at these temps.
-----
Jenea
Guardian Reptiles

"When your memories are bigger than your dreams, you're headed for the grave" Author unknown

I'm incubating now at a constant 78-80, and am getting pipping around day 80. These temperatures are quite difficult to achieve here in SW Texas from Spring until late fall. Even with ac, some days spike up so high that unless you can be right there to monitor incubators you risk getting a spike. And even a couple of degrees above 80 for a few hours is courting disaster. I've taken to cycling mine in reverse-cutting down feeding in April then increasing it and introducing pairs in the fall.
-----
Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

The Avalanche has already started-it is too late for the pebbles to vote....

Well, I am in the panhandle of FL so I understand the temp spikes. Shoot, we were wearing shorts at Christmas, so the whole cycling thing is a potshot at best.
-----
Jenea
Guardian Reptiles

"When your memories are bigger than your dreams, you're headed for the grave" Author unknown

and already fed up. My snake room is upstairs and not connected to central ac or heat. I've got a window unit in there but I wouldn't call the setup stable at all. I'm one or two heat spikes away from breaking ground on a dedicated building.
-----
Herp Conservation Unlimited
Mexicana Group Directory
Photography by Joseph E. Forks
Captive Bred Locality Matched Desert Kingsnakes

Thanks Kare! Yes they can multiclutch, good luck getting them to not do it! I have one female that I try stop laying beginning the 4th clutch.....last year she didn't stop until after eight (shakes head) She normally lays 12 to 14 eggs, so the eggs do pile up
-----
Jenea
Guardian Reptiles

"When your memories are bigger than your dreams, you're headed for the grave" Author unknown