Reptile & Amphibian Forums

As many of you remember one of my friends Dr. Hunter and I traveled to Acadia, LA in April. We brought back a very nice group of speckled kings, including one small female. She was about 30" or so, with the girth of a penny. Well, she later started bulking up, and Doc called me over. He said, "I think she's gravid, will you come check her out?"

I did, and she was. Even at her small size she laid a perfect clutch of 12 eggs, all hatched!!

They are so diverse. I will post pics of my 3.3 as soon as they shed. Some are white, others yellow, and a few have screaming red, pink, or orange bellies. We had planned on keeping a couple of pairs and releasing the rest where their mother was collected. Now with the current situation in LA we aren't certain what to do with all of the offspring, other than enjoy every minute of it!

Just thought I would share...pics to follow soon!

i know what you can do with some of 'em
lol
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freeloaders:
1.0 Morelia spilota cheynei
1.1 M.s. cheynei x mcdowelli
0.0.1 Liasis mackloti
1.1 Pantherophis guttata
0.1 Lampropeltis pyromelanis knoblochi
1.0 Sternotherus carinatus
1.0 APBT
0.0.5 African/South American cichlids
?.? rats and mice

Man, that is a good point about the situation in LA. I guess it was just meant to be that you guys keep them. How large where the eggs? Specks are so small as compared to Brooksi...I have a proven breeder that supposedly lays 10 eggs per clutch....I can barely imagine the size of them. Looking forward to seeing pics of the babies. Tom Stevens

Tom, the eggs were roughly the size of a nickle if I remember right. Of course they were not perfectly round, more oblong, but you get the point. I should have gotten weights on them when they were laid. The hatchlings range between 4-6 grams. Some of them are almost solid black with little speckling, and others have very pronounced bands spaced very close together with a LOT of speckling in between. It will be fun to watch them mature. Of course my preference is to keep back the ones with larger and bolder spots, but I still think the blacker ones are gorgeous in their own right. I want to show them off so bad, but they are all in blue. I think it would be better for me to wait till they shed. Trust me I can't wait much longer!

I am happy for you Matt, I never tire of the sight of newly emerged hatchlings....and as you said the wonder of how they will look as they mature. Looking forward to pics Tom Stevens