Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello to everyone,
I am new posting here, have been reading the forums for some time. I am a tricolor fanatic and have many milks and tricolor kings. My question is about my pair of stuarts and my trio of polyzona. I have bred many northern milksnakes in the past but this is my first time breeding these more southernly species. I read somewhere that some of the more tropical milks can take a while to breed after there post-brumation shed and I guess my question is if this is true or not.
Thanks
Matt

My gaigeae didn't breed until her third shed last year...sometime in August. My babies pipped on Thanksgiving Day.

I bred andesiana a couple years ago and it seems like they bred after the second shed post brumation.

In my limited experience, the southern triangulum breed later in the year. There are a lot of other guys on here (where are you Dave???) who have a lot more experience with breeding than I do who could be more helpful.

Thanks,
Michael

Welcome to the forum!,...

Well, here in Florida where I am, my Latin milks typically don't start wanting to breed until mid April into May. Others people I know in my area have similar results too, but it can vary in different parts of the country considerably, and really depends on many different factors. If you are up north(or anywhere for that matter) and start a very cool brumation early on, they can be brought out in March, eat good, then breed earlier than many others would. Mine usually go about their second spring shed, but have had some take until their third before breeding. I am waiting on several females as we speak to have their second shed in a couple more days and breed..LOL!. My kings are the same way. The first snakes to breed for me seem to be my corns. Also the photo-period of lighting you use will play an important roll in their breeding cycle in conjuction with temps.

BTW, can you share some pics of your stuarti and polyzona?. I'm sure many here would love to see them..

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -Serpentine Specialties

That one Honduran sure looks a lot like one of mine.

I am very fond of her. Love the look.
--Dennis

Yeah, Dennis!..they sure the heck are VERY similar looking bro!

I really like the look too man. That's a real sweet looking adult you have there!..

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

my website -Serpentine Specialties

just like that.

here is one that is a female.

here is one of her brothers.

here is another sibling but tangerine instead of tri-colored.

yet another sibling.

here is a more recent pic of one of them.I think this one is gravid as we speak.

this is probably my favorite hypo in my whole collection and she is probably gravid as well right now.Also, all of these are het anery.The ghost below is a brother of these girls.

sibling ghost.

p.s. Doug,I thought you would think this is cool.I dug out some of my old Applegate cages from my storage and put them back to use.I have had them about 18 years and used to use them a long time ago.They are still in good shape and work pretty well for pairs/trios etc...
Bust out one of the real old T.F.H. books and you will see these cages in there.

L8r

All beauties, Shannon. That female you said is probably gravid is real close to mine in appearance. Mine is going into pre-lay shed cycle as we speak. I sure hope all goes well. This will be her first year breeding. This picture is from about a year ago.

A different baby I like a lot.

--Dennis

Dennis, almost twins man.Thats pretty funny.All mine are from over the pond.Who's line is yours from?
Thanks Shannon

this is one I produced a couple years ago.she is almost patternless.I sure wish I would have held this one back.

here is another one I should have held back.LOL... you can't keep them all shannon!

L8r

Shannon, that one with only black on the head is really cool looking.
Regarding my female, unfortunately I don't know her background. I bought her at the Daytona Expo 2007. No one at the table knew what the story was at the time. I went back a couple of times and decided I better snap her up if I wanted her, while the getting was good. She just stood out as special.

I sure hope things go well for me with her this year. All the best to you guys too.

--Dennis

"I bought her at the Daytona Expo 2007"

I probably un-knowingly walked right by you several times there Dennis..LOL!. I was on a mission to get several ghosts and some hypos at the show that year, along with a few other things. I walked out of there with 7 snakes that year. Those ghosts are huge breeders now..LOL!

My favorite female ghost I got there was probably this female I got from Marc Bailey. She was the nicest ghost in the entire expo in my opinion.

And she followed suite and turned out to be one of the nicest adult ghost I've ever seen too. This is the photo of her that Terry Dunham used for his nice Honduran article in the 2011 annual "Reptiles Magazine".

The Falcon ghost male I got is a real sweet one too. His father is thought to be an extreme hypo when I later asked Mike, so that is a real plus as well obviously.

Here is a photo of him I took today.

Here is a nice hold-back female the above Falcon male and the Bailey female ghost produced in '09.

-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -Serpentine Specialties

Those are great Doug. I have drooled over that photo of the one in the article several times. All of the ones you showed are incredible specimens. Thanks to you and Shannon for the comments.

--Dennis

And best of luck with your breeding season. Hopefully your nice vanished tricolor gives you a nice fertile clutch of eggs.

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

my website -Serpentine Specialties

Shannon, it's been a while since I looked at the website, but this first pic seems a lot like one labeled as a "Sunrise Honduran". Am I correct about that?

--Dennis

Great looking animals there Shannon!, A few of those DO look like carbon-copies man!..

Yep!,....those cages are on pg. 22 of Applegate's "Advanced Vivarium Systems" book..LOL!.

Mine came from Anthony, who got them from Paul Weaver. I am quite sure all of ours originated from the European hypo line as you mentioned earlier. Some being outcrossed lines, and some much more just like the original European strain.

Good luck man!, I am checking in on a few things I introduced this morning as well...

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

my website -Serpentine Specialties

Jeebus, Doug... some killer animals you posted there, man. There is just something about those Euro-line hypo hondurans that you, Shannon, and Dennis posted that gets me all excited. They're almost fake looking they're so richly colored!

-Cole

Thanks Cole!

Yes, they do have a very pleasing look to them. and the vanished black rings make an interesting accentuation too in my opinion.

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

my website -Serpentine Specialties

In my experience, the temperate forms breed much sooner than the Latin American forms. I've got multistrata, gentilis, etc. about to drop eggs any day, while my hondurensis are still courting.

-Cole

Thanks for the information everyone. I will try and get some pics and post when I get a chance.

Thanks again,
Matt

Lk Perry , 3 eggs 3 duds
OC Tempo dudded out and ready to drop second clutch
St Mary 15 good ,half way to second
amel Ruthveni, 7 slugs
campbelli 1 7 slugs
campbelli 2 no signs
hondo, duh...eat...
sinaloan, any second now...
amel nelsoni, any second now
cave rats, 10 BIOG eggs yesterday....
2 balls laid of 30 females....slow start

and anyone thinking finding snakes is easy, stay out of New Jersey barrens in April....real slow...LOL...yesterday.....
1 toad, 2 sceloporus, 1 worm snake, saw one turtle butt swim away ,1 cool big click beetle, roaches,and 6 cool huge black beetles.....aaaaaah...that's about it....oh...and Jersey and Philly area drivers are the stupidest people ever created...they should pull all their driving privleges....seriously....the paint rubbed off my truck by bushes in the woods is one thing,,,but the paint rubbed off by morons passing on both sides when they really don't have room is ridiculous....(doing 75 in a 55 and they fly on by(then wonder why they stopped dead for hours in traffic jams....???)

fun day....warmer next time....!
..
...origional story....my stuarti used to breed and drop eggs all after first post-brumation shed like clockwork...they were easy....good luck....

....
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........JY