Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here's the 2008 clutch... nine good eggs! Does anyone else have gaigeae eggs yet? Mine seemed to go a little early this year.

Nate

Very cool!,......Black Milk's are fabulous animals!

I hope I'm wrong, but the second egg from the left could very well be a bad one,....time will certainly tell though.

good luck with those!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Thanks! Yeah, that one is a bit funky on the near end, but the rest of it looks fine. Luckily, if it is bad, it should be easy to separate from the clump of eggs in the center... it isn't attached to the one all the way to the left.

n/p
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I should have my one and only clutch of gaigeae in two weeks. It should be smaller than in the past (my guess is 6-10 eggs), probably due to her age and feed schedule. Definitely my favorite milk to keep and breed.

Phil I like that picture with an adult and a baby side by side. It shows what a drastic change they go through as they grow.
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Randy Whittington

I like that picture as well; too bad I shot the photo on an unmade bed.

Embarrassing

Hey Phil,

How's it going man? Good to see you're still working with gaigeae. Do you still have that pair I sold you back in 01? Maybe I'll see you at the Raleigh show.

Dave
DNS Reptiles

Hey Dave,
The breeder female that I use is the original that I bought from you in '01. She still produces good offspring and is an amazing animal. I now have a younger male that I use for breeding. Sadly, the original male passed during brumation two years ago.

See you at the Raleigh show,
Phil

That's awesome, Phil. I loved that snake. Glad she is doing so well. See you in Raleigh.

Dave
Link

Congrats Nate! I don't think you're early. My moose is due to lay tomorrow (at least tomorrow will be the 10th day post shed).

I'd be interested to know when you brought her up from brumation? I brought mine up mid January and still cant get them to breed and lay eggs in June no matter what I try!

Good luck with the clutch.

Dave
DNS Reptiles - Updated

Thanks, Dave. I don't brumate them, just put the male and female together after the female's first spring shed. There is very little variation in temperature and duration of daylight in their natural habitat, so it's not really necessary to cycle them in captivity. It certainly doesn't seem to hurt anything if you choose to do it, though.

Nate:

Congrats on that clutch. Well, you are earlier than me -- by a long shot. One female is in her pre-egg lay shed right now and the other is probably two or three weeks behind her. So, I'm looking at eggs in late July again this year, maybe not even until early August. That means no hatchlings until October! It was the same deal with me last year. I didn't get hatchlings then until late October and early November. But, at least they were big clutches (12 and 13 eggs each).

I do cool them down for winter and then warm them up with a 50-watt spot bulb for basking in late March. The rest of the cage still stays coolish in the low 70s. During the winter I do stop feeding them for three months and the room gets down to around 60. This works for me but maybe I should change so I'm not producing "Thanksgiving" hatchlings.

Rob