Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Every year it seems my black milks are late, but better later than not at all. My 1998 female has shown no signs of slowing down with her laying. This year she gave me 14 perfect eggs on Aug. 9. Of course she made me wait an agonizing 18 days post-shed (same as the past two years) before laying but they all came out fine. The clutch is being incubated at 78 degrees and is just starting to dimple. I would expect they'll hatch around Oct. 18 or so which means I'll have black milks shed and likely eating for Halloween. It's a long wait but they seem to be late in the season every year.

Pictured are the mom and her clutch right after laying back in August. These are San Antonio Zoo line.

Rob

WOW!,....that is one heck of a pile of nice big eggs man!

Look forward to seeing pipping neonate pics later on Rob, and awesome looking female there that laid them for you of course!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Will do. Looking forward to a nice pile of healthy hatchlings.

I will, at some point, have one of these beauties in my collection...maybe when I get tired of breeding Hondos!

Very cool man!

-Rusty

Rusty:

If you like Hondos you'll love black milks. Very similar but they do better at room temps so very low maintenance. I find them to be a little calmer as hatchlings too. Right now I only breed Hondos and black milks though I recently added some pines to my collection (Jani, deppei and LA).

How large is your female? Mine just had her first successful clutch this year with six eggs and 100% hatch rate. Incubation was 75 days at 80 degrees F. She is between 4 and 5 feet in length.

My female is a little over 6 feet and weighs 1,600 grams. I know the weight is accurate and current because I use that to track my females throughout the year but the length may be a little off - I haven't measured her in over a year so she might be closer to 6.5 feet. She is a giant and a sweetheart.

I usually tell people not to breed black milk females until they reach at least 5 feet which often means waiting for their fifth year before breeding. I think this results in bigger clutches and a longer reproductive life cycle. For example, the first year I bred this female was when she was a six-year-old adult (I bought her as a 5-year-old adult and gave her a whole extra year of growing). That first year she laid two clutches - one of 15 eggs and one of 7. They all hatched. Each year after she has laid at least 12 eggs and in the 6 years I've been breeding her she has only had one infertile egg. She only double-clutched that first year. I have not attempted it since because she normally lays so late in the season as it is.

My other female that I since retired from breeding and sold as a pet did not have the same stellar career but she was still a massive and beautiful snake.

congrats Rob! Great clutch! Well worth the wait.

Dave
DNS Reptiles - Milk Snakes

Thanks Dave!

Congrats on the beautiful clutch!
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~Danielle

Can't wait to see neonate photos, Rob!

-Cole