Quiet Tempest Reptiles

Dragon & Eve (mojave x mojave)
 I'm hoping to produce some super mojo BELs with these two but I haven't ruled out the possibility of throwing Erebus, my black pastel, in with Eve and make this a who's your daddy clutch. Erebus is approximately 6 months old now and is already slamming small rats and producing sperm plugs. I'm going to put a few more meals in him before I consider trying him with Eve. I'd be happy with either mojos and BELs or mojos and black magics - and ecstatic if I had both in a multi-sired clutch.
 
 
  
 Glyph & Ailynn
  Ailynn is currently deep in blue so her normal light coloration is completely hidden in this pic but it provides really nice contrast for Glyph, the little yellowbelly I got from Dagan. He has figured things out and is an absolute stud now. Don't mind the mess. They like it dirty. I'll be cleaning the tub after I separate the two of them. LOL

 


Glyph & Freckles

^ Top Left - male pied #2, Top Right - female pied (Pam's), Bottom Left - pied male #1, Bottom Right - 100% het pied male

Finally!!

Day 69 and Kyriel's clutch is beginning to pip. This is the longest incubation duration I've ever been through. So far I've only seen one head peeking out but I'll be sure to check in again in a few hours and get more pics if there are more heads out or if the first has emerged.

Henna's clutch started hatching yesterday. There's definitely one albino in the clutch. I'm hoping there are two. Time will tell. :)

**  Well... unfortunately only the one albino in this clutch. It's a little boy, though, and will very likely remain with me. The rest of the clutch consists of 1 male and 3 female hets.

There are four healthy eggs. The first photo taken as the last egg was being laid and the second photo is of Kyriel 10 days into brooding. These are due to start hatching sometime mid-September. Hopefully there will be a pied or two among them. At the very least all of these babies will be 100% het pieds.

Henna finally laid her clutch.  :)   There are five big eggs.  These are due to hatch around August 14th.

He's so little!  :)  He seems really mellow and didn't puff, hiss or try to strike while I was unbagging him. He's a handsome little guy as is but I think he is starting to go into a shed cycle because his belly is a bit pink and his skin seems a bit dull. I'm anxious to see him freshly shed! All in all, I'm really happy with him and Raul Campos of West Coast Jungle was very easy to work with. He even called me this morning just after FedEx dropped off the package and left a voicemail letting me know that the snake had arrived. I called him right back to let him know I'd gotten up early and had met the FedEx guy at the door.  ;)

Well, I went against my own advice and cut one of the eggs because worry had been nagging at me. It's the little one that had spent some time at the top of the pile as a chin rest for mom. It had wrinkled much earlier than the others and though it reflated a bit after I moved it, it has just stayed smaller than the rest and I wasn't sure if the baby inside was going to have much room in there as a result. All of the eggs have been sweating like crazy this week and I was getting water spots on the little egg and one other. I just didn't want to wait any longer on the little one so I snipped it yesterday. Inside I saw a perfectly healthy looking, albeit small, baby and it was definitely alive so I placed the egg back on the pile and left it alone. I didn't get any pics until the following morning and saw the hatchling peeking out of its egg.




The following day, I noticed that the cord seemed to be wrapped around the baby or the yolk sac. I waited until that night to remove the baby. I placed it in a deli cup with lukewarm water and paper towels. The baby seems to be absorbing yolk, just slowly. The little one is growing plump and is very active for a newborn. I feel confident that it will be fine.








As I was returning the deli cup to its mother's enclosure, I noticed that her clutch is beginning to pip. Today makes day 62 and so far I see two eggs pipping.

Edit (5/25/2011)




There are 4 normals and 4 mojaves. The "deli cup" baby is a little bit smaller than its siblings but is otherwise fine. I'll get them sexed and take individual pictures after they shed.

 PythonPassion's piebald male, Hercules, and het albino male, Alchemy, have been with me for some time now and things are finally starting to look as if they are coming to fruition on our joint projects. Hercules has been paired with Kyriel, my het pied female. Alchemy has been paired with Henna, my albino female.





Kyriel has been eating anything I offer her lately and is now going into a shed cycle. I'm hopeful that this may be a pre-ovulation shed. Kyriel laid a clutch late last year so I fully expect her to be staggered a bit behind the rest of the girls again this year because she had some catching up to do in the weight department.




Henna stopped eating a few weeks ago and has been hugging her bowl and lingering on the cool side of her tub. She shed a week or so ago and when I checked in on her last night, she appeared to be ovulating. I could be wrong, of course. It wouldn't be the first time I've mistaken late stage "building" for an ovulation. If she moves to the warm end of the tub in a few days and remains there, however, I'll assume that this is, indeed, her ovulation and will start counting down until her post-ovulation shed and then to her estimated lay date.  :)

Above is a photo taken while candling Freckles' eggs 27 days into incubation. Everything appears to be developing normally and Freckles doesn't appear to be nearly as agitated by my infrequent visits to check in on her and the eggs as before.



I got a short video clip as well.