Snakes and Stones

[Lord Sorril]

Photo #347

Pastel/OD/Het Clown ball python with a stone from Lake Michigan (Basalt suspected).

2024 breeding season is going well-my incubators are about to be overwhelmed.
I thought about placing two clutches laid at the same time (with different potential outcomes) in the same egg bin, but, I'd rather not because a lot of the clutches are already taking up a lot of real estate.
My first clutches should start hatching the first week of July-so I just need to hang on a bit longer to free up some space.

[Bogertophis]

"Your cup runneth over..." as they say. Or it's about to.

[Lord Sorril]

"Your cup runneth over..." as they say. Or it's about to.

My cup runneth over with serpents...sounds like a good christian statement...

In other news: I like to take photos of my snakes with my iris gardens, and I do enjoy my online anonymity. This year: someone from a popular Massachusetts horticultural group photographed the front of my house and gave everyone my address (to check out the gardens). I didn't think many people would bother-or care. I was wrong...tons of people have been visiting my property-photographers-painters-amateur artists. My gf has been flattered by all the attention and welcomes the guests, but, I have been annoyed with all the randos wandering around (I have a few acres). I wasn't able to take many snake and flower photos because my property has been under the magnifying glass. Hopefully next year will be 'quieter', but, I suspect the same people are probably going to be showing up again...time to charge admission...lol...hmmm...*thinks to myself* maybe that is not a bad idea....

[Bogertophis]

Your place is every bit as beautiful as your serpents, I'm sure, but I'd not welcome the intrusions on my privacy. I guess there is such a thing as eye-candy over-load, if only for the excessive attention. Have you tried scaring them off with all the snakes?

[Lord Sorril]

Your place is every bit as beautiful as your serpents, I'm sure, but I'd not welcome the intrusions on my privacy. I guess there is such a thing as eye-candy over-load, if only for the excessive attention. Have you tried scaring them off with all the snakes?

The majority of people who visit my property are merely stopping to take some quick photos to post on social media platforms. The last thing I need is to go viral swinging a snake around and hurling insults like a madman. I did run into a few people that saw me taking pictures with an albino ball python and they kept exclaiming 'What is he holding?'--and I was so annoyed that they were bothering me on my property-I felt I did not owe them an explanation and went back into my house.

Again: I keep my identity as a ball python breeder very secretive as I am only a few miles from a town with an incredibly high crime rate, and theft is common.

By July most of my irises have finished blooming and I expect the sightseers to stop. I hope they find some new flavor of interest to entertain them next year.

[Lord Sorril]

Photo #348

Brazilian Agate with a Pastel (+Het Gravel or YB).

Breeders Note: There have been violent thunderstorms in my area the last few days, but, I did not lose power. Last night I noticed one of my incubators was offline and the fuse in the thermostat had been blown. I check my incubators briefly every other day-so in the worst possible scenario: the incubator was disabled for 36 hours. I keep water bottles stacked inside to sustain a stable temperature, but, the thermal energy had been fully depleted-and the incubator was at the room temperature of 80F. The incubator was the first in my series and is holding eggs that are between 45-55 days old. Temperatures in nature are not perfectly stable, but, nor do they guarantee a successful hatch. Anything above 20% mortality on a clutch I consider unusual...I guess we will find out in a week or two...

[Bogertophis]

Beautiful snake and agate! & I sure hope those eggs are okay. Like you said, nature's not perfect either. Finger's crossed!

[Lord Sorril]

Photo #349

Het Clown BP and a chunk of Amazonite from Brazil.

Breeders Note: With 4/5 of my most anticipated females reabsorbing eggs-my 5th has laid!
I almost cheered...until I saw the eggs...then I felt pretty disheartened...take a look at my worst clutch so far this season:

You don't get a good sense of scale from the photo, but, all of these eggs are too small and/or weigh 50% or less than they should.
The egg on the far left is the largest and the lightest-most likely a dud
The egg on the far right feels dense and has a wet spot-I'm fairly certain it is dead.
The three eggs in the center seem viable, but, are so small-that if they hatch I will have to force feed the offspring to keep them alive.

This is the first clutch from this female-and it should be no surprise that she was hatched from a small egg (like one shown above).
I had to force-feed and then assist feed her for months before she took food on her own.
I don't look forward to repeating the process again with any of her offspring (regardless of genetic outcomes).

[Bogertophis]

So sorry for your disappointing clutch...I don't think I'd keep breeding that female, it seems like you'll just get more of the same. Breeding snakes can be very frustrating at times, especially when those most-anticipated snakes resorb their eggs. But look at the bright side, maybe "nature" knows what it's doing- not everything is meant to be.

[Lord Sorril]

So sorry for your disappointing clutch...I don't think I'd keep breeding that female, it seems like you'll just get more of the same. Breeding snakes can be very frustrating at times, especially when those most-anticipated snakes resorb their eggs. But look at the bright side, maybe "nature" knows what it's doing- not everything is meant to be.

As someone from the medical field: I do my best to defy Nature.

While I could stop breeding this female: Her mother just recently produced a solid clutch of 6 healthy eggs-which would suggest that past performance is not indicative of future results.

In addition: The clutch from this female has a 1 in 8 'egg chance' of meeting one of my final project goals (my first focused breeding goal-which I started 15 years ago).

Just in case: I have two females next year that will be reaching maturity from a separate breeding line, they will have a 1/16 chance of meeting the same goal...however I would prefer not to produce copious amounts of Hets if I did not have to...