Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I had a clutch of 13 erebennus eggs deposited on April 8 after a very long post-shed wait (shed was on March 9). All of the eggs looked great but I was concerned that the long wait may have been detrimental.

I incubated them in a 0.75:1.00 (by weight) mixture of water:vermiculite at temps from around 73-78 degrees. Within a week or so 4 of the eggs collapsed and were removed.

One of the remaining 9 began to collapse at about a month and a half. I added a bit of water to the vermiculite in the vicinity of that egg and it returned to normal after several days. A second egg began to collapse shortly thereafter but I was unable to recover it.

At about 60 days I moved the remaining 8 eggs to a fresh vermiculite/water mix (same ratio). The eggs remained plump until they began hatching Sunday night/Monday morning. All 8 hatched sucessfully over the next three days (about 105-107 days incubation). I have not sexed them as yet.

Unfortunately one of the hatchlings escaped from the shoebox it was in and the large container that the shoebox was in. I never saw that hatchling, just found the empty egg.

I placed 3 f/t fuzzies on the floor of my reptile room in an attempt to find the hatchling (no luck). I then tossed the fuzzies in with 3 hatchlings overnight and this morning 2 of them had eaten (this is pre-shed).

All in all 7 nice babies and the one that got away. I think the long pre-lay period was responsible for the early demise of four eggs and will modify my nesting choices to try to rectify that next year.

Congratulations Mike, I hope you find your escapee. I had to laugh a bit though, about a month ago my adult male texas indigo managed to get out of his cage. I saw him at the back of a row of cages 6ft high and 12 ft long. I was in a hurry and figured I would make sure there wasn't too much for him to knock over and I would catch him when I got back from class. Three hours later I returned and no indigo to be seen. I keep some venomous in the room and consider it escape proof, but I had recently installed a window air conditioner in the room and there was a tiny hole to the outside. I was sure there was no way he could have gotten out, but I literally looked everywhere I could without moving that big bank of cages (that I could see all the way behind). It took almost 24 hours before he showed up and I still have no idea where he was hiding.
PS If it were me I would make a small funnel trap or two and put them in the corners. A couple of feet of 1/2" hardware cloth and funnels held in with bungi cords work great!

Thanks for the nice report and good luck.

Bob H

Congratulations, Mike! Nine perfect hatchlings to add to the captive population. It's seems that the lower temps breeders have been using now for incubation have done away with kinking occuring in the egg.

Mike,
Congrats on the hatchlings.
I had ALL the males of a clutch of Northern pines escape last year about this time. I think there were nine. I caught all of them within a week using Tomcat glueboards from Walmart. Not just any ones will work, as some are not flat, and you need the flat ones. Buy a few packs of four and place them against the walls anywhere there is a chance the baby might be. You will capture it.
Place them in the freezer for a few minutes first and the wax paper will peel off much easier.
When you get the hatchling, pour cooking oil(I use olive oil, but any food oil will work) all over it and work your fingers under its sides slowly till it is free. Wipe it down with a dry rag or paper towel and it is good as new. This harms them in no way.
Good Luck. Let me know how it works.

Mike,

Don't worry about the eugenol, it seems to have no effect on snakes, they are fiesty as ever.
This works great. I have used them with 100% success for years.

Russ Pascatore

I see you got your permit, lol?
congratulations! where did they come from?
daveb
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in the light, you will find the road...

That's an erebennus from Terry Wilkins

gotcha.very nice indeed!

daveb
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in the light, you will find the road...

Thanks Russ, I'll give it a try.

Mike

Can you sell captive born Texas Indigos to people in Texas? Does anyone know if TPWD gives permits for private collectors to purchase captive born babies from out of state breeders?