Snakes and Stones

[Lord Sorril]

A few more flowers:







Breeders Note: I have six clutches of eggs so far...usually I only collect one or two in May. I'm not sure if six clutches before June is sign of good fortune or just unseasonable warmth. Nearly all of my remaining breeder females are still eating-so I can expect at least a 30 day gap before I find any additional clutches.

[Lord Sorril]

Disinfecting/Sterilizing my egg bins used to be so easy when I had 3 or 4. When I have 30+, it takes a while...

(10% Bleach:90% Water)

I was originally using a 70% IPA wipedown, and then I tried a chlorhexidine dip, but I've gone nuclear in recent years by using a bleach soak (goodbye spores).
I smell like bleach now though. Luckily this is a once a year event.
My gf said that I shouldn't bother because I am using Perlite in my egg bins, but I'm fairly certain that a fresh bag of heat-treated volcanic glass is going to be relatively 'clean'.

[Lord Sorril]

I was expecting this photo to be a bit more proportionate...this guy is growing fast...

Stones are Brazilian Agate and Pink Chert (Connecticut river, MA, USA).

[Lord Sorril]

So I noticed the growth curve on the male pictured above (Special/Het Monsoon) was unusually high. I have been observing this since I bought him.
In comparison with my current fastest growing female of 2024 (Highway-710g): he comparatively weighs 701g (pretty darn close).
Ball python breeders have had good accuracy for selling me males, however, just to confirm: I probed 'him' today and got *female* 4 times in a row.
The snake was aggressive during my probing efforts-so there is a slight possibility that I am wrong. I will try again another day to confirm...

[Homebody]

Ah! The trials and tribulations of a ball python breeder.

[Lord Sorril]

Ah! The trials and tribulations of a ball python breeder.

Yep! Thankfully I just stood there and took the bite today and successfully probed that one as a confirmed *Male*. He must have been clenching the other day so I couldn't probe accurately.
I let him chew on my wrist-so you can see his jaw is a bit misaligned in the photo below.

It would have been a wicked photo if he had my blood dripping out of his mouth...but I only lost a few drops *after* he let go.

Note: The pose above is what you see right before a ball python defensive strike.

[Lord Sorril]

Axanthic art: a triptych of spider pastel perfection:

[Lord Sorril]

I was excited to see that one of my oldest and largest ball python females laid eggs the other day: I was expecting like 10 eggs lololol....I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised with six...since she gave me nine eggs last year and my stats show an up-and-down cycle of ball python egg production year-to-year... Some females do reabsorb follicles and skip a laying season, but it is like 1 in 5 for me...

Note: I have a 7 year old female who has not laid *any* eggs. I'm hoping this is the year *Fingers Crossed*.

[Lord Sorril]

I bought a big box of broken brazilian agate bookends a while ago-they clean up nicely.