Reptile & Amphibian Forums

These nice looking babies hatched out last night...

they are cloudy because they are pre-first shed... the blurryness is due to my poor photography skills.. I wish i knew how to take nice/clear photos %^&*%@^&*(^)*!

~ Mike Russo

Hatching now...

~ Mike Russo

These are hatching now as well.. I was about to throw the half rotten egg (top left) in the trash, but i cut it and there is a live baby in there?? I guess you never know..

~ Mike Russo

This small clutch was WAY overdue so i cut them open last night.. None of them are poking thier heads out, but they are all live and look ok..

~ Mike Russo

This clutch is hatching right now as well.. The perfectly white egg with the yellow inside at the top of the pile is a dud, all of the others look good..

~ Mike Russo

all those babies look really nice, and your photos are getting better everyday. Keep it up.
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Herp Conservation Unlimited
Mexicana Group Directory
Photography by Joseph E. Forks

Thanks Joe.. these were taken with my point and shoot.. i have given up on the SLR Canon Rebel until i have time to figure it out..

~ Mike Russo

Mike GREAT job!

Please share some pointers about your incubation sucess.

Thanks for sharing!
Jim

Thanks Jim..

I did a few things differntly this season and so far it seems to have paid off for me.. First i lowered my incubation temps down from 82 to 77 degrees this season (Thanks Coach!!), Then instead of using damp vermiculite i used a much drier 50/50 perilite vermiculite mix and then I covered all of the eggs with a damp (not wet) paper towel from day one of incubation. I did this because the last few seasons i was losing a lot of the eggs that were not in direct contact with the vermiculite.

Also, because i was losing several babies fully formed but dead in thier eggs as soon as the first egg popped i cut the rest of the clutch open, but i am leaving them to come out on thier own.

I guess we will see how it turns out once they are all out!

Talk to you soon!

~ Mike Russo

I am a total amateur but perlite seemed to allow mold to spread quickly. I have heard of people lightly misting the tops of eggs and substrate with anti fungal spray, but was far too doubtful to try.

How did you cut those eggs so carefully? Looks like a sharp razor and a stead hand, no? I cut my eggs, as I heard it was the thing to do and it worked well for me.

Why is a lower incubation temperature better? What is the idea behind a low temp? I kept it low because I was worried about cooking them where I am located.

Your pics still dominate mine so know you are still better off than some. Very cool images regardless.

James

I have never heard that perlite promotes mold?? But, I would appreciate input from others that have had success or failure using perlite??

I cut each egg carefully using a small surgical scissor

I lowered my incubation temps mainly due to recommendations from Alterna friends and conversations that we had here on the forum after last breeding season.. All in all I feel this was the biggest change that I made compared to previous seasons..

Right now I am planning on incubating the same way next year, but I would be willing to cut out the perlite and just use course vermiculite if I hear from others that they saw an increase in mold when using perlite.

~ Mike Russo

I would not say that perlite promoted the mold but it did nothing to keep the setup from getting blanketed over with mold. I heard covering the tops of the eggs with sphagnum changes the ph enough to prevent mold and keeps the tops of the eggs moist like your paper towel idea. I tried this on a couple of my clutches and they seemed to mold less (keep in mind this is a limited scope, as I am a rookie), maybe it was just a coincidence.

Thanks for sharing some great incubation details. Has anyone else been successful using any other methods?

Hey Mike

Great post,nice pics and great looking alterna! Thanks for sharing.

How much did your incubation time increase with the change in temp?

Stu

Thanks Stu,

My decrease in temps really didn't change incubation days as much as i thought it would a few days more if anything.. I will check my dates from last year and post again.

~ Mike Russo

Thanks for sharing photos Mike. These animals look stunning! Must feel good to see them hatch!

~Tony
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You can never have only one snake!

Thanks Tony!

~ Mike Russo

Don't mention it, buddy! haha
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You can never have only one snake!

Godd Job Mike,
really nice looking hatchlings. Sometinh new about the Anerys?

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Greetings Malte

www.lampropeltis-alterna.de (german site)

very clean blairs morphs, are any of those babies from wild caught adults you found in your trips to texas??

>> are any of those babies from wild caught adults you found in your trips to texas??

LOL. say what?
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Steve W.

"LOL. say what?"

What does that mean?

~ Mike Russo

>>"LOL. say what?"
>>
>>
>>What does that mean?
>>
>>~ Mike Russo

I think he thinks you've been out there. Hopefully someday you can make it out there and have some fun. But beware, if you go you will become addicted to the whole experience. Later.
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Steve W.

I think you missed the sarcasm that drips from most of jon101's posts, this post included. I believe you are mistaken about what he thinks.

DB

Dripping sarcasm!!!! Say it ain't so! I just can't believe that. BA

Trust me, the sarcasm was NOT missed Doug.. I am used to it by now..

And, I am fully aware that I can't possibly know anything about alterna because i have not been out hunting in W.Tex..

Hope all is well

~ Mike Russo

Thanks... Although I have been breeding alterna for a while now i have never been out to W. Texas.. I will make it out there one day though..

~ Mike Russo

After looking at Mike's great pics and reading all the excellent posts it made me wonder about the topic of "egg cutting".

I would really like to hear what everyones spin on this is and I'm sure others would too.

Q: When does one start cutting eggs? I start when I see the first slit.

Q: What technique and tools are used to slit the eggs. I make one length wise slit with an exacto blade. I used to make an "X" but too much fluid seemed to come out.

Thanks in advance to any and all responses.

Stu

Hey Stu,

Is fluid coming out a bad thing? I thought the idea was to allow some air into the egg so the offspring doesn't drown?? This year I had 7 good eggs go the distance. When I saw the first pip, I slit the rest, leaving a 4cm by 2mm window. I also made sure a little fluid came out to allow for a good air pocket in the egg. All 7 eventually made it out. With my first clutch of GB a couple years ago (they weren't locality), I didn't slit, and 4 out of ten died in the egg.

I don't have a lot of experience with these, so I could be off here, but it made sense to me and worked...I'm interested to hear your thoughts...

Max

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Snakes to the Max

Max

If it's working for you then you must be doing the right things. I've been working with and breeding alterna since 1978 and the only thing I have learned that is absolute is how much I don't know and how much there is still to learn! The only reason I try not to disturb the ambiotic fluid is because I'm thinking if I am opening the egg up prematurely then I should leave the egg as undisturbed as possible to allow nature to do as much as possible. I'm not saying this is right. I'm just explaining my thinking. I usually wait until the first eggs pips but I still lose some in the egg.

Stu

Stu,
I know what you mean. I've had a baby cut open its egg without any help, stick its head out, then tuck back in and die! From "drowning"??? I don't know but it toally sucked. Fortunately thats only happenned once. Thats enough. Another time a good looking egg was overdue as its litter mates had allready slit. So I slit the egg, touched the baby just faintly to see if it was alive and it was. I left it alone. Several days passed. I touched it everyday to see if it was still alive and it always responded but wouldn't come out. After 10 days of waiting on it [which was 12 days after its litter mates had hatched] I finally decided to open up the egg completely. Thats when I discovered a hideous looking mass of fused together alterna. The snake was alive and alert but the worst case of birth defect I have ever seen. It was fused together into a ball, hence the reason it couldn't crawl out of the egg. What a pitiful site. I put it in the freezer. Has anyone else had that experience with alterna? Hope not. Hear you scored over the weekend. Lets see a photo. BA

I have had this happen as well a few years ago and I agree it's not pretty.. The head and first inch of the snake looks fine and the rest is all fused together in a knot... I did the freezer thing as well.

~ Mike Russo

Hey Brad

Yes I have had the same experience a few times with alterna and once with a honduran. Real bummer...slit the egg and think I have a "good" one only to find out days later a fused mass still alive! I did the same think...freezer treatment.

I'll try to get a pic up on my recent "observation" in a few minutes.

Stu