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I called my good friend Tony Nicoli this morning to tell him about the event that is seemingly unfolding. My 6' textbook basin is at day 120 or 121 and she was in the striking position with her tail hanging and the tip of it clinging to the branch. Now it would be early for her to drop but after checking with Tony, Mark Leshock, Al Montejo, and Joe Polanco all believe that because of the naturally elevated temps in my snake room and where I live that she could easily be full cycle at this point. Below are a couple of pics from this morning and this afternoon. Hopefully baby pics by morning!

Now she is just cruising the cage looking extremely uncomfortable! Maybe babies soon?

Awesome! Keep us posted.

cant wait to see the kids........

You and me both! It's 8:45 and she is still looking uncomfortable so who knows. She will probably hold them for another two weeks and keep faking me out!

What a nerve wrecking experience your going through matt, the best of luck for the both of you man. Just looking at those pics, its really exciting. Her rear end looks she looks like she had like five nice meals in her, only difference is their babies

If you dont mind me asking, what's the "high" temperature average in your snake room?

Arnold

The high average is probably right around the 90 degree mark. The window in the room faces east and I have seen it get into the low 90's in there with no problem. Take this morning for instance, at 10:30 it was almost 90 degrees outside and it was 88 degrees in my room. She has probably spent no more than 5% of her time under the heat light I have in there for her because the room is always warm. Aside from the rains, I guess she has spent almost 100% of her pregnency in natural weather conditions because the room is always open and it indirectly connects to the outdoors. The temps are almost the same and the humidity is definately the same in there. This week the weather calls for temps in the low 90's and that is what it will be in the room where the snakes are. Hopefully it will work for her!

During her prenency I have also treated her exactly the same as always. She constantly goes outside and gets showered on and gets plenty of fresh air. This is my first attempt at this so it is kind of a learning process.

Hello Matt,

Sounds very similar to where I live, only the other way around. Right now, the average temp is 81 at night and 83 during the day. This started around july and will go all the way to mid-january. Being slightly cooler in november and december, around 80 during the day and 76-78 at night. But starting Feb to May or June, its around 88 DTH and 84 NTL. I still think Im gonna need an airconditioner if I intend to cycle the animals in the future. What do you think?

All the temps I have mentioned are room temps. with open windows. It has already started to rain here in the beginning of july. I take my animals out on average twice a week. Especially when its windy, and raining. or windy and hot.

regards,
Arnold

Hey Arnold,

I am on the phone with Tony and the first thing he said when I read him your post is that you are very lucky to live in such a great climate! He thinks the temps are fine and the animals will adjust to them as they grow into adulthood. One thing he says you might want to do is to make sure the daytime air leaves the room when the cooler night air is in full swing. Sometimes in my room when it's night time it is still warmer than the air outside even though the doors are open. So a fan that actually blows air out might be a good idea. He said that 76 - 78 is pretty good for night temps. He will give me more details this afternoon. I also agree that they will adjust to the climate and naturally cycle themselves. There are plenty of snakes around there that are doing just fine reproducing

Thanks for the advice Matt and Tony,

When I first got my emeralds, I kept them in the snake room with the doors closed, but the windows open, the windows were located one across the other. During that time, my main concern was merely temp and humidity ranges.

During that time, I have discovered exactly what you guys were talking about, stagnant air in the room, the temps and humidity were right, but when I went in, it was hard to breathe. I found my emeralds to coil properly, but their mouths were not completely shut. It was as if they just ran a sprint in the olympics I kind of felt that like me, the animals were not comfortable. I also get the same results with my animals if I sprayed/misted their cages and closed the doors afterwards. The air felt heavy.

Today, I always leave my snake door opened to the living room. At night, when I watch TV, the living room has an airconditioner, which pushes air into the snake room and keeps the air inside "fresh". During the day, I open my living room balcony door to create an ambient air temperature draft through the snake room. Also now, I never mist my snakes in the snake room. I have found that with the proper cage ventilation control, I did not need to mist my animals to maintain proper humidity. Misting only increased the chances of molds in the cages, and bacterial/fungal infections. One of my animals actually had such an infection, which was minor and was treated properly. Luckily my wife's a doc

As a result of these changes in husbandry, I now feel that the animals are more comfortable, mouths always shut. I like to keep my snake room humid and windy. with the humidity dropping to the 70s at night. I feel that it was a hard road for me, and I changed all my cages twice over the past year. from tupperware to melamine and now to acrylic.

It truly is a lifestyle to work with these animals. I guess only time will tell if Im doing the right thing....Thanks for the reply matt, it has certainly helped in my confidence in keeping these beautiful and challenging animals.

Arnold

You see Arnold if Stan Chiris can breed them indoors in his home in Colorado which is a totally artificial environment you should have no problem in an environment that is close to their own.

maybe one day

Velvet did that shortly before she delivered. She and the others all moved as far away as possible from the heat 2-3 days before they delivered. Sometimes they'll dump a "plug" 24-48 hours before they deliver. We know you are really anxious, but it sure will be neat to find babies in the cage. Just be careful, the little buggers tend to be real bitey for first couple of weeks. Keep us posted.
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Karen Clark
Gems of the Rainforest

>>I called my good friend Tony Nicoli this morning to tell him about the event that is seemingly unfolding. My 6' textbook basin is at day 120 or 121 and she was in the striking position with her tail hanging and the tip of it clinging to the branch. Now it would be early for her to drop but after checking with Tony, Mark Leshock, Al Montejo, and Joe Polanco all believe that because of the naturally elevated temps in my snake room and where I live that she could easily be full cycle at this point. Below are a couple of pics from this morning and this afternoon. Hopefully baby pics by morning!
>>

Well I don't know.....I would feel pretty content having the most insane looking mad on the planes! That thing is sick!!!!!

They should be some Awesome,offspring ! ! Cant wait to see the pic.'s of the offspring,maybe you'll get Lucky and catch the Miracle of birth,with some birthing pic.'s ! That would be Cool ! !
Have A Good One ! !
Kenneth