>>Hope this helps.

yes it does. thanks. i'll try the salad idea next time around. it looks as if the rest of the hatchlings are going to make it, except for one that hasn't grown much (about 30% the size of the rest). these guys are about half way to adult size now. i had a few that were slightly malformed, head and tail mostly. the females may have retained the eggs a little too long.

these are from the front range of colorado.

thanks for the suggestions,

matt