Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Pandora, my Apalachicola, who was bred to Phantom and then got sick. I mentioned her before. I wanted to share my recent observations of how she is doing. She long since stopped sneezing, and is looking as robust and wonderful as ever. I was worried for a while, then worried again when her mate perished. But I cleaned her cage yesterday and I almost think she is gravid after all. She seems really thick, and after staring at all my other gravid kings and corns, I just think she looks like she might be hiding a clutch of eggs inside. If so it has been 10 days since her last shed. She's eaten one small rat fuzzy since then (last year she ate a pregnant mouse after her pre-lay shed...when I doubted that she was gravid). But she's refused further food. She's been somewhat restless, but not enough to say for sure she's gravid. But I'm thinking she is. I am really hoping she is gravid, as I've been heartbroken since I lost Phantom. Perhaps this fall, or next spring I'll find someone who has a nice '03 Apalachicola male for sale.

Hoping to give you all a nice "eggs" update on Pandora sometime soon. But even if she is not gravid, it IS good news... she's healthy and hearty and alert and just everything she was before she got sick.
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~Sasheena

If I may suggest, Len Krysko is the only breeder I know of right now that has a pair of wild caught Apalachicola Kings and he sells their offspring each year. I doubt he has any 2003s left but if you're wanting locality AKs, he's the guy to go to right now. That is until I find a female myself. I have three males from the Apalachicola Region and plan to breed one of them this year to a CB female I bought from Len. Not sure if I'll be selling any of the ofspring this year though. I think I'll probably keep all of the offspring as I expect her to lay a small clutch due to her size...she's right at 36 inches. Anyway, sorry to hear about your male. Hope you find another mate soon.

How would I get in touch with Len Krysko? I remember when I got my male, he cost something like 100 live mice and 100 frozen mice or something like that. Last year the prices on blotched kings were so all over the place that I found it fascinating the price differentials.

~Sasheena
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~Sasheena

Email me at sblude02 at yahoo.com and I will give you his email addy. His prices are are pretty reasonable too. I think I bought both of my females for $50 each. Since you will most likey have them shipped, overnight will cost you about $40 so you'll spend close to $100 if you buy just one. I think it's worth it though...especially knowing if they came from wild caught parents. If you need any info on his wild caught pair, just let me know. I spoke to the guy that caught them and was told the exact date and how they were found.

Check out the Lynn Krysko Reptiles site on the kingsnake main page (breeders list). He has a pretty good site...nice pics and so forth. His e-mail is also included if I remember correctly. And...here's hoping Pandora has a bountiful clutch of eggs! Glad she is in good health after all.

Since she's in our bedroom, I get many chances to check on her progress. Fed her a small hopper yesterday and she snapped it up like mad. After a lot of checking her out, and thinking about her behavior, I'm prone to think she's merely developing follicles instead of actually gravid. Last year she did that after her first clutch, psyching me into thinking she was gravid again, but nothing came of it. So I'm thinking she's just READY to be gravid. I'll increase her food in case she has some retained sperm, but I won't feel comfortable introducing her to any other snakes until next spring. So she'll remain in our bedroom away from all the rest of our herps, until I get her a new mate. Hopefully I can find her a really good mate. I'm inclined to wait until I've sold some of my corn and king hatchlings and then spend some good money on a very nice surplus male rather than get a hatchling.

Thanks also for the information, I'll be checking into all of that when I get home from work.
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~Sasheena