I have been in my new job about a month and it is taking up pretty much all of my time, hence the lack of any significant posts or comments. I have never been so busy in my life... Thankfully Tinley is just around the corner, flights are booked, and its going to be a blast.
Anyway, the reason I am posting. A week or so ago one of my Sonoran het leopard females gave birth. This is a female that ovulated after I had separated everything after deciding we were moving from NC to OK. Well, she did the move great, in a medium sized shipping box. I left her loose in it, with plenty of shredded paper and she coiled up perfectly. I checked her every night over the 4 night drive to Tulsa. Anyway, last week I could see she was getting restless. I put in a spare tub and went to bed. Normally I would stay up when I know a birth is going to be that night, but with the new job I was slammed.
Woke up at 6am, and there was a nice pile of baby leopards and poss hets. This is my 3rd year in a row producing leopards and they are getting better each year. 6 leopards (2.4) and 18 poss hets. I am keeping 1.2 and selling/trading the other 1.2. I have to say, these are the best I have ever produced. Just stunning. Some pics to get things going:
and post shed:
I might bring a few of these to Tinley if they are still around.
Warren
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Dr Warren Booth / Director USARK
North Carolina State University
Department of Entomology
