diamond

[shaunyboy]

Originally Posted by Hillsberry

Their so pretty. Kim why are they so much in the States? Are they hard to come by or something?

australia has forbidden exports of their wild life since 1982 hillary.so all thats out there is bloodlines that have been out of australia from before 1982.pure diamonds a very hard to come by.ones with tracable blood lines are an even rarer occurance.if you go on a specialist diamond forum they are very strict on what they accept as definate pure diamonds.australia does let the odd reptile leave the country to zoo's in other countrys but i dont think they do it very often.percey39 was telling me his goverments thinking of releasing some rough scaled pythons out the country to various zoo's.so fingers crossed maybe 10 years plus from now i might be able to get my hands on some roughies.diamonds are amazing to work with hillary they are facinating to sit and watch.i would give all my collection away just to keep my diamond,shes that special to me.i live in hope for the day i successfully breed some diamonds.
cheers shaun
p.s. better get of my backside and find a male,as i wont have much success without one of them,haha

[gonesnakee]

My orginal Diamonds came from Don Patterson out in BC & his orginated from some Zoo stock if I recall correctly. I also got some from him that were of US bloodlines & one male from another friend that was from US bloodlines as well.
Don got out of them altogther now I think, but there are a few others that should be able to produce now or soon here in Canada.
To the best of my knowledge in the 10 years plus that I've been keeping snakes the only people I know to have produced Diamonds for sure in Canada are Don Patterson, Craig Stewart - Urban Python & myself.
I've produced 36 over the last 3 years & hope to produce some this year as well.
I have 3 girls I'm trying this year, previous years I only bred the one, so we'll see hopw it goes here. THX Mark
P.S. Bredli get pretty big as well for Carpets

[shaunyboy]

36 awsome new diamonds thats one great acheivment mate.i wish you all the best with your diamond breeding this year.hopefully you will be posting a lot of pic's of a lot of new diamonds.how big is your breeding group and how many diamonds do you have in total.what is the average clutch size you have experienced from your females.sorry about all the questions,i could read about diamonds all day long.
cheers shaun

[Chu'Wuti]

Shaunyboy, you might try thawing & warming a pup & a fuzzy together, Feed the pup to get her started, then the fuzzy. If she drops it, cut the head open to release some blood immediately after reheating the head, and try again.

Sometimes they take a bit of adjusting to the fur.

[shaunyboy]

[quote=marvelfreak;558160]

She was born on my 40th b-day. COOOOOL! LOL Hillary they can get up to 10 feet. I believe they're the only carpet even close to the size of a coastal.

never thought about that before marvelfreak,i turned 42 on august the 15th 08.diamonds usually sit between the 6 to 10 ft mark.there are exceptions to the rule as there have been males as little as 4ft fully grown.but that is quite unusuall.compared to my other carpets my diamond is a much more muscular stream lined snake.its like comparing a professional athlete to a part time jogger.imo diamonds are in a league of their own.go on hillary buy one of gonesnakee's hatchlings from this coming breeding season.he's got some cracking diamonds.
cheers shaun

[Chu'Wuti]

BTW, I got interrupted on the above post but wanted to add my compliments to the others'--your diamond is gorgeous! My DH fell in love with the diamonds, but finding one--well, you already know the challenges! We clearly need to save up some $$ and buy a pair . . .

[shaunyboy]

Originally Posted by Chu'Wuti

BTW, I got interrupted on the above post but wanted to add my compliments to the others'--your diamond is gorgeous! My DH fell in love with the diamonds, but finding one--well, you already know the challenges! We clearly need to save up some $$ and buy a pair . . .

i know mate they are as expensive as they are beautifull.i am having to part with my bredl's and a jungle just to make up the cash to make the guy an offer on a male diamond.i am doing everything i can to try and get an offer on the 05 pair that have just come on the market.if i can pull it off then i have a chance at breeding next year.that would be a dream come true.....!!! (and cover my initial outlay) i was trying to move the diamond up a food size so a pup and a fuzzie would be too much.its either a heat thing or imo the food item is still slightly too big for her.she strikes and constricts it then examines it for up to 10 minutes then drops it.the next night she ate 2 pups no problem.so shes eating fine.i will only give her 2 of the bigger pups i have for the next couple of month then try her again with the bigger food item.i only brain things if the snakes not eating as to be honest the sound of crunching rat heads are not the best of things to listen to.i hope you get a diamond soon as imo they are in a class of their own.truely fascinating to watch and work with.
cheers shaun

thanks for all your kind comments folks,shes my pride and joy.

[gonesnakee]

Originally Posted by shaunyboy

36 awsome new diamonds thats one great acheivment mate.i wish you all the best with your diamond breeding this year.hopefully you will be posting a lot of pic's of a lot of new diamonds.how big is your breeding group and how many diamonds do you have in total.what is the average clutch size you have experienced from your females.sorry about all the questions,i could read about diamonds all day long.
cheers shaun

Initially I had 2.1 & then aquired another 1.2, currently sitting at 2.3 adults.
All 3 years I produced (07, 08 & 09) were my orginal female & now I have her 2 sisters this year as well.

07 - 21 eggs = 13 hatchlings
08 - 30 eggs = 21 hatchlings (included 1 set twin boys)
09 - 33 eggs = 2 hatchlings

I lost eggs in incubation every year despite them appearring good to begin with last year being my worst year with some major molding issues DOH!
I have had perfect hatch rates with other Python cluthces in the same incubator at the same times, but had crappy luck with lots of Diamond eggs the last 3 years though
Still cannot complain too mcuh as I have produced more the past 3 years than anyone else in Canada I am aware of anyhow.
I'll have to find the thread here where I threw up all the Photobucket slideshow links, Mark

[shaunyboy]

truely amazing stuff gonesnakee,i have seen a lot of your diamond slide shows.i have read of people who say you should breed every second year for better amounts of eggs.imo you have prooved that wrong as your getting more eggs each year.thats testiment to how healthy your diamonds are.its pretty strange how it was only your diamond eggs that were effected in incubation.still mate to have put 36 new diamonds on the planet is one amazing acheivement.a lot of people think they look ugly as hatchy's i think they look awsome especially knowing what they will look like a few sheds later.ive shown friends pic's of young diamonds they all pretty much had the same reaction " oh what ugly wee snakes they are " then when you show them an adult they think your taking the p*ss.i have never once had anyone see an adult and not fall in love with them.i hope all goes well for you this season mate.i just cant wait to see them gorgeous wee dudes...!!
cheers shaun

[emseeKAY]

how much do diamonds usually run around in canada? sorry for interrupting the thread lol

[gonesnakee]

On the eggs lost in incubation.
I never candle my eggs, but its not hard to pick out obvious slugs either.
mind you after much discussion etc. with other breeders there are many eggs that appear to be good & fertile that in the end are actually not.
I have experienced it with Colubrid eggs where I cut ones open after they all hatch & they look perfect outside with nothing inside.
I'm thinking I may be experiencing this with the Diamond eggs every year.
These egss that look good & fertile like the rest of the bunch that are indeed NOT & then they start to rot/mold & tend to cause mold issues for some of the others they are adhered too as well.
I've seperated them all & left them all together as well as doing both within a clutch & still have issues going on it seems. It frustrating for sure throwing out Diamond eggs every year.
I too think that in many cases female pythons need years off etc. as well.
In the case of this one girl though she not only continues to grow every eyar but continues to lay more every year as well whle being maintained on a reasonable diet (not powerfed) despite weanting to eat pretty much all of the time LOL
I dont even feed any of the adult Diamonds for 3-4 months every year (winter) & then they start every spring & go until fall again. THX Mark
P.S. Diamonds in Canada go for pretty much cheaper than anywhere else in the world.
Largely due to the small population & the last couple years due to the poor economy as well.
They used to go for $2500-$3000 a pair, but are closer to the $1500 range per pair now.
Single males can be as low as $600-$700 even if there are more of them than females.
Its definitely a buyers market here in NA right now, specially in Canada IMHO
Lots of folks are "dumping" subadults & adults for cheap right now as well to make ends meet at home in troubled times (for some anyways).

[shaunyboy]

i feel for you mate as i could only imagine how soul destroying it must be throwing away diamond eggs.the snake market over here has pretty much the same as in canada.its really hard to sell anything at the minute.there are exceptions though,them being the very top high quality snakes and just my luck diamonds are holding there price.there is still a big demand for diamonds over here.but that said right now there is 2 pairs up for sale.1st 06 female 07 male,2nd 05 pair.this is usually unheard of,but as you say mate people are trying to make ends meet under our present financial climate. i'm away to find out the exchange rate so i can work out your canadian prices.
cheers shaun