When my king laid her clutch, I thought they were perfect. It didn't take me more than a couple of days to start fretting... Were they bad? Did the assymetry mean they were bad? Could I candle them without a penlight, and in a clutch? Would it make a difference? Would they go bad? Did I brumate the snakes properly? Were my young snakes even fertile? Were the eggs going bad?
Then I got sort of fatalistic, and I said to myself, "These eggs are all bad, but it's a good experience, and since everyone says only really stinky brown gloopy eggs are bad, I'll wait till mine are at that stage until I throw them out"
Finally, almost three weeks after they were laid, I'm starting to say to myself... "Wow, something about those eggs is different, I think they might actually be good!"
Does everyone go through this?
And WHY do the eggs smell like spearmint?
Will it get BETTER when my Blotched King lays her eggs, or will it get worse? Then I'll have two clutches to worry about, overlapping for about a month. THEN I'll start biting my nails and explaining to the kids why they can't check the eggs every single day. (I plan to have a planned time when the family takes a peek, mists if necessary, and then closes the lid for another twenty four to forty eight hours before the next peek) (yarite, I'm sure it'll be once a day checks)
Anyway, I'm sure that this is all old stuff, just thought I would share.
Hey Kerby, since I saw one of your old messages about crossing this'n'that I wondered if you had an opinion, we've crossed the High White you bred, to the newport phase dot/dash yellow/black female. Any ridiculous predictions on the outcome (ridiculous since the hatchlings, if there are hatchlings, are going to be what they are and all the predictions in the world won't change it!)
~Sasheena
