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For a small breeder it gets pretty intimidating hearing about how many high end morphs this breeder produced or that breeder produced. I had some trouble this year with one of my projects. How many of you have had trouble with the male not doing his part or the females having no interest? Just curious. Thanks for your responses.

It happens. My albino male was nearly 3 years old before he produced his first clutch. I would put him in with the females and he would hide in the corner. Now he's a champ!
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Jay A. Martin

My 66% chance het caramel male didn't produce offspring until he was 5 years old!

I also had a few males that didn't breed this season and most were of age and weight! Fortunately my male pastel and a very pastel like reduced male really got in the spirit. I have 2 male unproven
ltc axanthics that I didn't see breed any of their girls! Maybe next year! Still should be a good year though!

Hmmm, not a story I like to regurge too often (but one I'm not afraid to tell) but last year we took 'the plunge'...partnered up and jointly invested $15K in one of only 3 adult male cinammon pastels that Greg Graziani let go of. Not the prettiest thing but a cinammon nonetheless.

Breeding season came, he was 22 months old, 900 grams, producing sperm plugs left and right...went with NINE girls and had no interest. We tried playing some Barry White and even taped a picture of Nathan Lane to the backside of a few females (okay, I'm making that part up but the rest is entirely true). We tried closed racks, open racks, high humidity, lower humidity, cool temps, warmer temps, big females, smaller females, pre-shed, post-shed, 2-to-1 male/female and 1-to-2 male/female, etc. Gay, just flat out gay (nothing against being gay, just that I'd prefer a $15K investment not be)...or at least no interest in breeding. I know it's not a SURE bet to produce with a baby from the past breeding season but when it's getting to be more common breeding 6-month old 500g males, you'd almost put money on a 22-month old 900g male to go...which is in fact what we did.

This was last year so this was before we were 100% sure of the black/chocolate balls although we all knew deep down that the snake that Brian Sharp had was a super cinammon.

So, although we expected offspring to be $5K, they would have actually been worth $8K and the snake that we invested $15K in would have been worth $20K easily. In the midst of getting over-eager and trying just about anything we could, he got paired up with a girl that started showing signs of RI as she developed follicles a week or so after breeding. A few weeks later the cinammon got it. He immediately went to the vet, got put on Baytril, quarantined, high heat/high humidity, 6 days later he was dead. I've had snakes with RI that lasted over a year and made a full comeback. This guy was sick 6 days.

Valuable lesson. Never put your eggs in one basket and never get too greedy. It's a loss I'm still trying to overcome emotionally and financially.

Jason @ Jason's Jungle

Very hard story to tell i bet but thanks for telling it. Very good thing to keep in mind for all us just starting out.

Best of luck to you!

That is some serious food for thought.
Thank you
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Charles Glaspie

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Jay A. Martin

Wow, that is a terrible story. I am sorry for your loss. I too, dont feel so bad now. Like most of us out there, I put my money, time, heart and soul into it. When you go out on a limb, and it doesnt pan out, you feel like YOU failed. Hearing Jasons story, it shows us that it isnt all roses. I appreciate the candidness and willingness to share. You helped relieve some of my anxiety for the things that didnt work out for me this year. All I can say Jason, is that I believe things always come full circle, so you will have a huge break to cover the huge loss. Good luck this season. Thanks again.

....in the future, you might want to consider ceftazidime (Fortaz) or a combo of amikacin and ceftazidime vs. Baytril...the a/c combo is highly effective.

partnerships are highly risky to say the least, particularly when they involve animals...sorry it didn't work out for you.

On a good note, the rack I got from you is working nicely-thanks!

Scott

Glad the rack is working out well!

As for the meds, the particular strand of bacteria we had was called Sudimonis (sp?) and Fortraz was not something that would knock it out. Fortraz is pretty antiquated compared to some of the new medications as far as the range of bacterial it can kill. Amikacin was but it is very hard on kidneys. I supplement lactated ringer injections even with Baytril but you have to do it 3-fold with Amikacin or you'll toast they're little kidneys. I'm not sure what the circumstances were at the time that led us to using Baytril over Amikacin, whatever it was, it was on the vet's suggestion and overall, Baytril is what I've been prescribed. I'm not familiar with the other one you mentioned but you better believe I'm going to write it down and inquire about it the next time!

Thanks and take care,
Jason @ Jason's Jungle

...you are misinformed my friend....

As a veterinarian AND A PHARMACIST, I can assure you that not only is ceftazidime NOT ANTIQUATED, is is still the DRUG OF CHOICE for Pseudomonas infections, and is substantially SAFER than Baytril. Check your facts.

Scott J. Michaels DVM RPH