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Well, based on the oviposition date (on or about 4/7/2004),
I wasn't expecting them for another week, but I checked one of
the incubators a few minutes ago and there were two little
Coastal Carpet heads peeking out at me from their eggs. So, my
CB04 hatching has officially begun. Based on the dates of
oviposition, I should see more coming along as follows:

Brisbane Coastal Carpet Pythons (Morelia spilota mcdowelli) --
Oviposition: 04/07/2004
Hatching: Happening now

Diamond Pythons (Morelia spilota spilota)
Oviposition: 04/17/2004
Hatching: On or about 06/17/2004 (if not earlier)

Children's Pythons (Antaresia childreni), CLUTCH ONE --
Oviposition: 04/27/2004
Hatching: Prob. by mid-June based on past exp.

Children's Pythons (Antaresia childreni), CLUTCH TWO --
Oviposition: 05/06/2004
Hatching: Prob. by June 30th based on past exp.

Northwestern Carpet Pythons (Morelia spilota variegata),
CLUTCH LAID BY CB98 HYPOMELANISTIC FEMALE --
Oviposition: 05/10/2004
Hatching: On or about 07/10/2004

Northwestern Carpet Pythons (Morelia spilota variegata),
CB98 NORMALLY PIGMENTED FEMALE APPEARS GRAVID --
Oviposition: ??/??/????

Northwestern Carpet Pythons (Morelia spilota variegata),
CB00 HYPOXANTHIC FEMALE APPEARS VERY GRAVID --
Oviposition: ??/??/????

At this point I'd say that while there's still a chance
of a clutch of Irian Jayan Carpets (Morelia spilota "harrisoni"
as well as a clutch of Jungle Carpets (Morelia spilota cheynei,
Barker X Vandeventer), after examining them again recently, my
confidence level in their possible gravidity is much lower than
my confidence level with the other two Northwestern females.

So far, so good. Stay tuned. I hope to be taking some
photographs prior to the NRBE in August. If I get some that I'm
happy with, then I'll begin building some photo pages and post
a link here to them as soon as I have them ready. Cheers!

Mitch Hiers
Hiers Herpetoculture -- http://www.hiersherp.com
mailto:mitch@hiersherp.com
Hiers Herpetoculture

>>Well, based on the oviposition date (on or about 4/7/2004),
>>I wasn't expecting them for another week, but I checked one of
>>the incubators a few minutes ago and there were two little
>>Coastal Carpet heads peeking out at me from their eggs. So, my
>>CB04 hatching has officially begun. Based on the dates of
>>oviposition, I should see more coming along as follows:
>>
>>Brisbane Coastal Carpet Pythons (Morelia spilota mcdowelli) --
>> Oviposition: 04/07/2004
>> Hatching: Happening now
>>
>>Diamond Pythons (Morelia spilota spilota)
>> Oviposition: 04/17/2004
>> Hatching: On or about 06/17/2004 (if not earlier)
>>
>>Children's Pythons (Antaresia childreni), CLUTCH ONE --
>> Oviposition: 04/27/2004
>> Hatching: Prob. by mid-June based on past exp.
>>
>>Children's Pythons (Antaresia childreni), CLUTCH TWO --
>> Oviposition: 05/06/2004
>> Hatching: Prob. by June 30th based on past exp.
>>
>>Northwestern Carpet Pythons (Morelia spilota variegata),
>> CLUTCH LAID BY CB98 HYPOMELANISTIC FEMALE --
>> Oviposition: 05/10/2004
>> Hatching: On or about 07/10/2004
>>
>>Northwestern Carpet Pythons (Morelia spilota variegata),
>> CB98 NORMALLY PIGMENTED FEMALE APPEARS GRAVID --
>> Oviposition: ??/??/????
>>
>>Northwestern Carpet Pythons (Morelia spilota variegata),
>> CB00 HYPOXANTHIC FEMALE APPEARS VERY GRAVID --
>> Oviposition: ??/??/????
>>
>> At this point I'd say that while there's still a chance
>>of a clutch of Irian Jayan Carpets (Morelia spilota "harrisoni"
>>as well as a clutch of Jungle Carpets (Morelia spilota cheynei,
>>Barker X Vandeventer), after examining them again recently, my
>>confidence level in their possible gravidity is much lower than
>>my confidence level with the other two Northwestern females.
>>
>> So far, so good. Stay tuned. I hope to be taking some
>>photographs prior to the NRBE in August. If I get some that I'm
>>happy with, then I'll begin building some photo pages and post
>>a link here to them as soon as I have them ready. Cheers!
>>
>>Mitch Hiers
>>Hiers Herpetoculture -- http://www.hiersherp.com
>>mailto:mitch@hiersherp.com
>>Hiers Herpetoculture

One of the eggs in the Diamond Python (Morelia spilota
spilota) clutch that I have been incubating was pipped by the
time I got home from work today (06/01/2004). The oviposition
date for this clutch was 04/17/2004. I know this for a fact
because in this particular case I was able to collect the eggs
as the female was laying them in the evening and place them
separately in the egg tray rather than dealing with a tightly
adhered clutch the next morning (which is the more common case).

Counting 13 days from 04/17 to 04/30, plus 31 days for the
month of May, plus June 1st comes to a total of 45 days of
incubation from the oviposition date to the date of the first
pipping -- for a Morelia spilota spilota clutch. This clutch
was incubated at approximately 88.5 Fahrenheit. I have had
45 days of incubation several times for Antaresia childreni
clutches, but I've never had an incubation that short for any
taxa in the Morelia genus with which I've worked. All of the
literature that I have in my personal herp library cites
incubation times averaging around 52 days for M. s. spilota,
with the shortest being 50 days and the longest being 65 days.

Needless to say, since the one egg had pipped I went ahead
and (very carefully!) manually pipped the other eggs in the
clutch. As long as one is extremely careful not to sever a
major blood vessel and cause an exsanguination, manually pipping
the remaining eggs is preferable to possibly losing a hatchling
that may be unable to break out on its own. I will, of course,
check them again in the morning before leaving for work and
carefully monitor them over the next few days. It will be
interesting to see how long it takes any viable babies to emerge.
This was the female's first clutch and the first breeding with
the young male who fathered this clutch. The clutch originally
numbered 13 fertile eggs and 1 "slug," but 3 of the fertile eggs
went bad within the first week. Hopefully, all 10 of these
remaining eggs will produce healthy baby Diamond Pythons!

Mitch Hiers
Hiers Herpetoculture -- http://www.hiersherp.com
mailto:mitch@hiersherp.com
Hiers Herpetoculture