Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Man.......TWO days and no posts....I guess everyone is busy with breeding.....snakes that is!
What kind of luck is everyone having so far? I have many gravid snakes, but two females already dropped infertile eggs for me....I hope the rest come out better. I am even going to try a proven male with one of the females that laid slugs. She is a first time breeder, but is about 5 years old. The male that bred to her was a first time breeder too...maybe the proven male can do the job...
John Lassiter

Here is the proven male that I hope does the job....

Sorry to hear about the slugs John. Wow a five year old female and she's laying bad eggs. Must be the male.

I'm fortunate enough to own a microscope and usually try and check my 1st time males just to see if there are swimmers in that mess.
Any time you see some kind of "life" in a sample its a real treat just to see. Almost like seeing the rings of Saturn for the first time. Isn't it fun just seeing Gods creation all around us.

I don't mean to get religous but have any of you ever read Proverbs 30:18-19. It reads;
There are three thing which are too wonderful for me, Yes four which I do not understand:
The way of an eagle in the air,
THE WAY OF A SERPENT ON A ROCK,
The way of a ship in the midst of the sea,
And the way of a man with a virgin,

It's almost summertime. Life is good.

Good luck everyone with your "projects" this year.

CG

lol! Hey John,

Does get kinda boring in here this time of year when none of us have much time to sit at the keyboard and all our buds want to share notes! Gotta take care of the friends via e-mail first though, we all need each other's advice and experience. Never got a response from you on my last e-mail reply... did my reply not get through?

Anyway, busy as ever here... modifying incubators and building zero-substrate egg boxes to give them a shot this year, I hear they are the way to go for easy moisture control. Ever give any thought to them?

Sorry to hear about the slugs, but I understand that it is common for a first time female. I have a few first timers here this year also, and although they all look great I don't expect a lot from them even though they are in top shape, fully mature and everything else was done right. The "kick 'em in gear" first year... a good chance the second clutches will produce fertile eggs. My melanistic female thayeri(first year) is in what should be pre-lay shed but man, it is early for her so I expect her to punch out slugs this first go-round. Greeri typically have horrible fertility rates and I am used to that from last year, so I won't be too dissapointed if my first-timers fail to produce well.

I did finally get my second dark alterna female to be receptive to the male with a couple definite hook-ups, her first year as well so I am at the very least getting her jump-started. Life here is good so far.

Good luck with all the rest, I know those orange thayeri are on your mind...

Hey John,
My condolences for the slugs. I know how excited you were and are!
Good Luck for the rest of this breeding season,
Uncloudy
Chris

That is why I was told years ago 2 things:
"Never count your snakes until they hatch" and
"The snakes are in the driver's seat and we are merely along for the ride."
These setbacks are heartbreaking sometimes, but I don't let it bother me as much anymore.....there is always next year and so on and so on....
John Lassiter