Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just hatched out my first Nueces Co.,TX Splendida. This little fat baby is the first to emerge from only 4 good eggs laid by my wild collected pair of Nueces Co. Splendida....The other three should emerge soon.....

Is there such thing as a hatchling being too fat?....LOL
This one hatched on the 57th day of incubation at temps around 82F with some fluctuation and high humidity (also fluctuated)....
Thanks for looking.
John Lassiter

Hi John

Are you shure it's not gravid!? hehe, jk. That hatchling looks like it would cover himself for awhile with that yolk reserve! That's what we really want to see when they come out. Thanks for sharing.
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Jonel @ Selective Propagations
www.spsnakes.com

......I was thinking the same thing Jonel.
You know I used to hurry the process by incubating at higher temps and get babies 45 or so days from when the eggs were laid. My experience is mostly with thayeri and these hatchlings that hatched at 45 or so days were much smaller than I would expect and were certainly more stubborn in the feeding department. Since then I try to keep my incubation temps around 80 to 82 degrees and try to let them reach a gestation period close to 60 days before pipping.
Thus the more robust neonate emerges.

Thanks,
John Lassiter

2004 hatchling thayeri...

jlassiter, that is one of the best looking thayeri's I've ever seen. Is it a hypo thayeri or what kind exactly is it?

Jake (it is Jake, right?),
Hypo is short for Hypomelanistic. Melanism is dark pigment. With the work hypo before (hypo-melanistic) it means that there is a lack of black or dark pigment or the lack of area of dark pigment.

The thayeri above has black, but it does have what is called "keyholed" saddles or washed out saddles. Some even call them ghost saddles.......

As far as I know there is no such thing (yet) as a hypomelanistic thayeri, but......I am working with some thayeri that have very reduced black pigment. I think I am getting closer to my desired result...I will not call them hypo...simply reduced black just as Bob Applegates pyros are not hypo just reduced black. I am speaking of Applegate pyros not the actual hypo pyros....
Take a look at one of my reduced black females that will breed in 2006...hopefully successfully....LOL

BTW...check out the Mexicana subforum for more info on all mexicana if interested.....

John Lassiter

Reduced Black thayeri.....

Oh okay, so if there's ANY black on a snake, it can't be hypomelanistic? That's funny because my hypomelanistic floridana has black outlining his pattern throughout it's entire body. So when (hopefully) you get a clutch that contains some hypomelanistic thayeri, there will be no black outlining their bands?

Thanks for the info.! Oh, and the name is Josh. "KingLover"'s name might be Jake I dunno.

Hypomelanism is reduced melanism or reduced area of melanism...IMHO

Amelanism is the total abscens of melanism usually replaced by white.

Hypomelanistic Brooksi have reduced melanism.

John Lassiter
Here is a pic of one of my hypo brooks as a baby. It now has less orange coloration.

Wow, that's crazy! My hypo brooksi has a totally different design on his body than yours does. You have a VERY nice lookin' brooksi by the way. I bought my when he was 4 months old (gettin' close to 5 months now), so I didn't get to see an orangish color, that is awesome! Thanks for the info and picture!