Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Not really; this is Zafina (in blue no less!) eating the left overs again. She just ate a couple of big eyes-almost-open crawlers yesterday, too. She ate the three pinks quickly. I had to be fast with the camera. She is an 09 and twice as big as her sister Zuni and about a third bigger than her mate Zane, an 08. She likes to eat every few days, unlike my other pyros, who are happy with once a week.
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

Absolutely beautiful............I love those cross-overs.
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Jerry Kruse
www.zonatas.com

And God said, "Let there be zonata subspecies for all to ponder..."

Thanks! I am thinking at the rate she is eating and growing she may be ready to mate nest year!

09 Zafina at bottom with her 08 mate Zane at top. No mating activity or male fasting this year; they know to wait until next year.
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

>>Thanks! I am thinking at the rate she is eating and growing she may be ready to mate nest year!
>>

I had a pair of 2008s that reached 200 grams or more in 18 months but the following Spring (2010) they wanted nothing to do with each other.

I don't know if this is the norm for Pyromelana but it seemed like they were large enough but were not mature enough.....Unlike Mexicana or getula of the same age.....
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

Most likely pyromelana take longer to mature because in the wild they live in high mountain places with harsh weather conditions, where growth would be slower than those species who live at lower and milder elevations. So even if they get artificially larger in captivity, other factors are in play governing their maturity. At least that is my theory! LOL!

Zafina and Zane live together full time. When they are ready to mate they will do it. I am not worried about them doing it too soon. The little 08 male is not in breeding mode at all; he could smell the pheromones of my other two mature females in their other cage this spring and it did nothing to his libido, or lack thereof. He has been eating well this year, a first for him! I had another little female, Zafina's half sister, in with them, but Zafina outgrew her little sister by twice as much so I put Zuni by herself, thinking she is too little to be with the other two.

Zuni last June. She likes to eat, too, but her half sister is voracious.
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

Yes, that's a nice little "flame thrower"..LOL!

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

my website -Serpentine Specialties

Thanks!
Yes, that's a nice little "flame thrower"..LOL!

She's my ideal pyro! Fire in a midnight sky!
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

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

my website -Serpentine Specialties