vanderkm
08-06-04, 01:03 PM
I held out no hope for this breeding - we bred the female simply to prevent her from producing a clutch of slugs again this year - but they never managed to actually lock up during multiple breeding attempts so I expected another year of slugs
the pair
http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/509/63Dixie_Elvis_body.jpg
she laid 3 slugs May 20 and I could feel a lot more in her - figured she would pass them with time. On May 30 she laid 18 eggs - 6 typical yellow slugs, and the rest with weak looking shells but I put them in the incubator anyway.
http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/509/6304_May_30_Dixie_Elvis_12_eggs_1_reduced.jpg
Six candled as fertile but the rest appeared completely clear. Over the course of incubation mold set in quickly and I removed those that had candled clear, were now moldy and not attached to the cluster. I did not treat the mold - just let it go assuming it would only attack dead eggs. By the due date they looked like this
http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/509/6304_July_23_Dixie_Elvis_eggs_reduced.jpg
The five cleanest looking ones still showed vessels, the one with the arrow started to leak fluid by about day 55 but resealed. None ever dimpled like normal eggs near term. On July 31, the leaky egg pipped, one active little head.
I pipped the remainder the next day, despite the fact that the solo one had not come out of the egg yet. The two largest held normally formed, term babies that might have survived if I had pipped them earlier. There was one live baby, half the size of the rest, with brain external to skull that I euthanized immediately. The last egg - the shrunken, moldy one by the leaky one - held an underdeveloped hatchling that appeared to have been dead for a while.
The following day, this guy left his egg
http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/509/6304_August_04_Griddle_3_reduced.jpg
http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/509/6304_August_04_Griddle_4_reduced.jpg
I am left with lots of questions on this one - mostly wondering if the two full term appearing snakes might have lived if I had pipped earlier (loss of egg tooth or just too weak to pip themselves). And of course the question of whether I should have pipped them, or gone with the theory that if they are too weak to pip they should be left to die.
Other issue is whether these might have been weak or abnormal from being retained in the female long past when she started to lay - 10 days from first slugs deposited (about day 14 post shed) to when the fertile eggs were laid - does that make a difference - has anyone seen good clutches come so far after slugs?
At least it wasn't a complete failure - he is just a regular little cal king, but the only one we have ever hatched - so guess that makes him a keeper. His name is Griddle.
mary v.
the pair
http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/509/63Dixie_Elvis_body.jpg
she laid 3 slugs May 20 and I could feel a lot more in her - figured she would pass them with time. On May 30 she laid 18 eggs - 6 typical yellow slugs, and the rest with weak looking shells but I put them in the incubator anyway.
http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/509/6304_May_30_Dixie_Elvis_12_eggs_1_reduced.jpg
Six candled as fertile but the rest appeared completely clear. Over the course of incubation mold set in quickly and I removed those that had candled clear, were now moldy and not attached to the cluster. I did not treat the mold - just let it go assuming it would only attack dead eggs. By the due date they looked like this
http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/509/6304_July_23_Dixie_Elvis_eggs_reduced.jpg
The five cleanest looking ones still showed vessels, the one with the arrow started to leak fluid by about day 55 but resealed. None ever dimpled like normal eggs near term. On July 31, the leaky egg pipped, one active little head.
I pipped the remainder the next day, despite the fact that the solo one had not come out of the egg yet. The two largest held normally formed, term babies that might have survived if I had pipped them earlier. There was one live baby, half the size of the rest, with brain external to skull that I euthanized immediately. The last egg - the shrunken, moldy one by the leaky one - held an underdeveloped hatchling that appeared to have been dead for a while.
The following day, this guy left his egg
http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/509/6304_August_04_Griddle_3_reduced.jpg
http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/509/6304_August_04_Griddle_4_reduced.jpg
I am left with lots of questions on this one - mostly wondering if the two full term appearing snakes might have lived if I had pipped earlier (loss of egg tooth or just too weak to pip themselves). And of course the question of whether I should have pipped them, or gone with the theory that if they are too weak to pip they should be left to die.
Other issue is whether these might have been weak or abnormal from being retained in the female long past when she started to lay - 10 days from first slugs deposited (about day 14 post shed) to when the fertile eggs were laid - does that make a difference - has anyone seen good clutches come so far after slugs?
At least it wasn't a complete failure - he is just a regular little cal king, but the only one we have ever hatched - so guess that makes him a keeper. His name is Griddle.
mary v.