"Milagro" (translation "miracle")

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

LOL! Her new name is Wundertat (miracle in German) :D or Wunder for short...;)

I still can hardly believe this, but I'm excited! She's personable, like Milagro is, & I saw her exploring her humid hide (moss-filled) too. Snakes that don't feel good or have pain & trouble moving around don't do that stuff.

So I guess #3 might as well be Mirikel (miracle in Hebrew), for future reference.

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Good names for the new pair!!

The names for the three fit perfectly. :)

Here's to a long and healthy life for all 3 !!!

:snake::snake::snake:

Thank you, I really appreciate it!

This whole clutch was just full of surprises, huh? :D
Great to hear they're all doing well now, and I hope the third develops more of an appetite soon. I love all the names too.

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Originally Posted by aurum

This whole clutch was just full of surprises, huh? :D
Great to hear they're all doing well now, and I hope the third develops more of an appetite soon. I love all the names too.

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Thank you...and what an understatement...yes, this is quite a bit more than I was expecting. ;)

Love the name - not that any of my animals have Hebrew names (Behira, Yafe, Shayna - yiddish, but close).

Wow, this clutch is the gift that keeps giving! Wishing them all well on their journey towards a long and happy life with a great Snarent!

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Originally Posted by dakski

Love the name - not that any of my animals have Hebrew names (Behira, Yafe, Shayna - yiddish, but close).

Wow, this clutch is the gift that keeps giving! Wishing them all well on their journey towards a long and happy life with a great Snarent!

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Thanks dakski...I've been keeping snakes for a long time now, and I honestly haven't wanted to add any more, I haven't even been tempted to, for quite some time.
So of course, they just keep showing up!? :rofl: And they're so stinking cute too! It's just not fair... You wait, next year when the adult females lay all those eggs again,
I'm shipping them to YOU! ;)

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Thanks dakski...I've been keeping snakes for a long time now, and I honestly haven't wanted to add any more, I haven't even been tempted to, for quite some time.
So of course, they just keep showing up!? :rofl: And they're so stinking cute too! It's just not fair... You wait, next year when the adult females lay all those eggs again,
I'm shipping them to YOU! ;)

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I am all for it! Did you check with Katie though? She might not be your friend for long if that happens!

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Originally Posted by dakski

I am all for it! Did you check with Katie though? She might not be your friend for long if that happens!

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Just tell her you found & rescued these eggs under a tree that was about to be cut down...;) I won't tell.

I had been waiting for my mice to deliver some new pinkies but last night I saw Mirikel finally out of hiding since her shed a few days ago, & she was drinking water
& she looked hungry, so I thawed 2 pinkies, since I was also being watched by Milagro.

Mirikel had previously been offered a f/t pink but left it...but that was "then". :snake: She took her first pinkie late last night, after a little "tease" as I'd done with Milagro.
This is a technique that works well with rat snakes, but not something you'd do with shyer snakes like BPs, & it's not something I'll need to continue doing either...it just
starts their learning process: as I approached & uncovered where she was hiding, she was coiling & striking with open mouth in self-defense. Offering the pinkie on
tongs, it took a number of hits before it dawned on her that it tasted pretty good & maybe it was edible? Finally she hung on, I remained motionless & down it went! :D

The use of this technique is only temporary: what begins as a defensive bite teaches the snake what is good to eat by teasing it until it tastes the pinkie. The first time
I offered her a pinkie without much tease & left it overnight, but she didn't eat it; she was pretty shy & may not have even come out of her hide to know it was there,
or if she did, she wasn't hungry enough yet. Had I left it IN her hide, she might had eaten it, but doing so would have stressed her more than I wanted to at the time
due to the way her home is set up with lots of 'cover'. Rat snakes are looking for prey that moves, & if live pinks are unavailable for their first meal, this usually works.

The other pinkie was chowed down by a happy Milagro, who openly ate from the tongs for the 1st time last night. This was her 13th meal, & she's doing great- she's
visibly longer now too, & last night's solo pinkie was a small meal for her...she's taken 2 at a time previously. It's fun to watch a tiny rat snake learn that my presence
is nothing to fear & that I sometimes bring goodies...:D She's calmer when handled now too, off to a great start.

Wundertat missed the party last night: not quite due for a second meal and due for a check-up as well, I wanted to wait another day or so to focus on her. Checking
her home just now, I see that she had no trouble digesting her first pinkie...the results are in, or should I say, out? ;) I'm so curious to check on her, but not about
to rush her, or any of them. I've had lots of practice raising rat & corn snakes...patience is key. :snake:

bogie...

this is absolutely insane. and the fact you haven't shared a single picture is honestly on par with the acts of war criminals.

since so many seemed to have developed and survived, is it weird i lean a little more towards the world's oldest retained sperm?

but that wouldn't explain all the other clutches you didn't incubate for years would it? and the one you do JUST SO HAPPENS to produce viable offspring? is there any research on how long retained sperm can be...good?

or is she just the second coming of the Virgin Mary? hahaha.

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

bogie...

this is absolutely insane. and the fact you haven't shared a single picture is honestly on par with the acts of war criminals.

since so many seemed to have developed and survived, is it weird i lean a little more towards the world's oldest retained sperm?

but that wouldn't explain all the other clutches you didn't incubate for years would it? and the one you do JUST SO HAPPENS to produce viable offspring? is there any research on how long retained sperm can be...good?

or is she just the second coming of the Virgin Mary? hahaha.

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When things slow down maybe someday I'll try to get into some photography...:oops: lol. At the moment I have no way to take, much less share photos.

I just don't know, as far as "how & why they're here"? A recent article posted about a captive solo anaconda that had several offspring was verified to be parthenogenesis, but either way I'm pretty impressed with these. I'd like to find out eventually, but for now, I'm just sharing their story.

As far as "so many that developed & survived" there were SO many eggs produced- I swear these yellow (Florida mix) rat snakes are part-chickens? ;) Some developed but didn't make it out of eggs for various reasons, some of those were more obvious than others as to defects, & that happens either way too, partho or not.

By posting here, I'm hoping that more members post about the longest viable retained sperm they've seen. IF that's what this is, the longest I've seen previously was 5 years-a corn snake I had mated only once but produced viable hatchlings for 5 years...I truly kept looking for the 'off' switch. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

IF that's what this is, the longest I've seen previously was 5 years-a corn snake I had mated only once but produced viable hatchlings for 5 years...I truly kept looking for the 'off' switch. :rolleyes:

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FIVE. YEARS. WHAAAAAAAAT. i just...how exactly does she (any female) keep the sperm viable??

snakes are absolutley amazing.

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

FIVE. YEARS. WHAAAAAAAAT. i just...how exactly does she (any female) keep the sperm viable??

snakes are absolutley amazing.

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I have no idea, but I'm awfully glad that doesn't happen with humans, aren't you? :rofl:Can you imagine? Mate once & babies for years...? :O We'd be a LOT more careful!

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

I have no idea, but I'm awfully glad that doesn't happen with humans, aren't you? :rofl:Can you imagine? Mate once & babies for years...? :O We'd be a LOT more careful!

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...my comments are just entirely inappropriate. LOL. shoutout to bc!

I know how badly you want to put a "face" to these little snakes of mine...this is from MorphMarket, NOT one of mine, but 2 of mine look very similar to this hatchling
Everglades rat snake (the whole family, including grey, black & yellow rat snakes) have a similar blotch pattern in fairly dull coloration (muddy grays & light browns) &
then gradually their true colors come in, while the blotches fade and some have parallel stripes also. Of my 3, Wundertat is the oddball, much lighter in color, so I'm
curious to see how she turns out. Link to MM photo- https://www.morphmarket.com/us/c/rep...-snakes/271436

The reason I just call my adult rat snakes "Florida" is that I believe them to be a c/b blend of Yellow & Gulf Hammock, with possibly Everglades thrown in, and maybe
something else? The guy I got them from was in a panic to re-home them as he'd lost his teaching job in Florida & then his home & was relocating to New York for a
job. He encouraged me to breed them to see what turned out, so I assume he had been doing some crossing. My adult females look like yellow x gulf hammock, but
only one adult male does, the other appears to have some Everglades, since he has some orange mixed with his yellows, & far less of the typical markings.
https://morphmarket-media.s3.amazona...18ef552684.jpg