Quiet Tempest Reptiles

The above pic was Kyriel, my het pied female, on Day 43. I've candled her eggs and I just really can't say whether there are any pieds in there or not. I would like to think that at least one of the eggs I've been squinting at looked like a pied in the light, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

I'm still unsure if I'll be holding back any of the babies in this clutch. We'll see in a couple of weeks, I guess!

I meant to post before, but it slipped my mind...

At the end of August, we went on a road trip to Shelbyville, KY to pick up a new mojave female named Eve. I thought the pics of her looked really nice but now that she's home and has shed, her colors are just unreal. She's very small for her age, but I am certain that she'll gain weight without any problem. She definitely has no qualms about eating. Below is a picture of her with my male mojave, Dragon, to show the difference in their colors. Eve is the lighter of the two.

My friend, Pam, runs PythonPassion and put together a contest on her forum. My daughter helped me pick raffle tickets and the number she chose wound up being the winner. The prize is a 2010 spider ball female. I'll be able to pick her up as soon as she's had a couple more meals. I got to see her last night and she's cute as can be. I'm looking forward to bringing her home soon. My daughter wants to name her "Spyra".


Photo taken by my friend, Dagan

I received my new pastel on Wednesday and my first experience with ReptilesExpress was perfect. The snake, however, is not. He has a slight defect. He has a kink at the base of his tail and I'm not sure yet if it will interfere with his ability to breed next year. Only time will tell. He did eat for me just last night so I'm hopeful that he'll do just fine.


Fiyero

On Days 59 and 56, my ball python clutches finally began pipping. So far, each looks to be a normal baby but not all eggs have pipped yet and only one has actually left its egg, so time will tell.


Ailynn's Clutch


Dewshine's Clutch

I finally settled on names for my two newest snakes. One of these is still not here yet. I've paid for him, and a carrier is set but it's just too hot to ship right now and I'll wait until next week when this heat wave moves out of here. The female butter I've named Elphaba (Elphie) and the male pastel with the bizarre pattern I've named Fiyero. These are characters from one of my favorite books, "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West". It's a great book. I highly recommend it. 

A new shipping service that incorporates UPS as its carrier has launched and I signed up for membership last night. This looks to be a promising service and I'm looking forward to using it.

My butter female arrived early this morning. She's an adorable little thing! I've set her up in a hatchling tub and will offer her food in a few days. I'm so happy to have her!

I saw a gorgeous butter ball on Kingsnake and fell in love with her. After talking it over with my partner, he gave me the green light to pick her up. She's coming from Desert Dweller Reptiles in Arizona. She's on her way here now and I'm so anxious I'm having trouble going to sleep. I won't be able to relax until she's in my hands. I'll be sure to take some pics of her before I get her set up tomorrow. In the meantime, I do have a pic of her from Desert Dweller. 

Two of our ball pythons, Dewshine and Ailynn, laid their clutches on May 17th and May 20th. I have been candling them periodically to see the embryos developing inside. Because I'm allowing these girls to maternally incubate, it makes things a little awkward but they're both becoming more comfortable with my visits. 




Our piebald project is finally coming to fruition. Gabriel and Kyriel, my het pieds, have been paired since early November and Kyriel ovulated on June 4th. I am very excited about this clutch because I've been wanting to produce a pied of my own for some time now. She should go into a shed cycle soon and then I can start counting down for her due date. 




I'm borrowing a friend's pastel and he has locked with both of the females who have already laid their clutches but I won't know if he sired either clutch until after they hatch. He has also been locking with my albino female, Henna. She stopped feeding early on, however, and just isn't at an ideal weight for breeding so I highly doubt that she'll go this year. The other female, Freckles, doesn't seem as receptive as the others and I'm doubtful that she'll produce any eggs this year either.