Snakes and Stones Pr. 2

[Lord Sorril]

For those interested: The embryo I attempted to salvage from Clutch #3 did not have fully functioning lungs.
When I disconnected it from the ChorioAllantoic Membrane (egg respiratory life-support) I noticed it struggling an hour later and promptly euthanized it.

In Other News:
My clutches #4 and #5 were laid within a day of each other.
Both clutches were maintained at the same regulated temperature 87-88F.
My Clutch #5 hatched out completely at Day 61 while my clutch #4 showed no signs of pipping.
I thought the temps. inside the egg bin for clutch #4 might be wonky....so I tested the eggs (temp gun) and they were all reading 87F.
It took 10 additional days of incubation time for my clutch #4 to pip.

I don't mind them being 'fashionably late', but, 10 extra days of cooking seems a bit much.

[Lord Sorril]

Photo #581

BP = Hidden Gene Woma/Yellowbelly
This bp looks a bit odd to me. It looks like the HGW pattern has been heavily reduced...the headstamp is a giveaway though...

Stone = Uncertain. It resembles Jasper, but has a 'waxy' feel.
For whatever reason this stone did not want to accept a polish and I was forced to finish it by hand after multiple failed attempts in a tumbler.

+Breeders Note:
I just hatched an entire clutch from parents Het Axanthic/Clown x Het Axanthic/Clown.
I produced 3 Clowns and NO AXANTHICS--Oooof!....I have another clutch upcoming with the same config...hopefully I do better on that one...

[Lord Sorril]

Clutch #20! (Special/Het Monsoon x Clown)


Most of my females have reabsorbed their follicles at this point. I still hold out hope that I might get one or two more clutches.

Next year I'm not relying on my Super Blade Male (with a 1/16 track record this year...So that will free up 16 breeder females for mating).

[Lord Sorril]

I managed to land a decent job recently. Figured I'd celebrate with a bit of rock shopping.
I handpicked the following stones (took me several hours).

Starting at Top Left:
Rainbow Sheen Obsidian (Mexico)
Lavender Quartz (Madagascar)
Tree Agate (India)
Smokey Quartz (Brazil)
Carnelian (Morocco)
Dark Smokey Quartz (Malawi)

[Homebody]

I managed to land a decent job recently.

Congratulations.

[Bogertophis]

Yes, I'll second that...Congratulations on the new job!

[Lord Sorril]

Congratulations.

Yes, I'll second that...Congratulations on the new job!

Thanks!
There is a lot of employment instability in my field right now. I cross my fingers and hope that it will be a viable long-term option.

Photo #582

BP = Ivory/Possible Het for HGW, Lesser, and Spider (in-shed for photo)
Stones = Turritella Agate (Wyoming, USA)
As I mentioned previously these aren't true Turritella fossils, these are Elimia tenera a type of freshwater snail trapped in brown chalcedony.
The rough stone I started with had an overabundance of fossil snails embedded and it made it extremely difficult to tumble and polish.

Breeders Note:
Also, I noticed the unusual 'Ivory' I produced last season seems less and less like a 'typical' Ivory over time.
The parents were: Leopard/Pastel/Het VPI Axanthic x Spider/Pastel/Het VPI Axanthic
The snake is patternless and is solid white (even as it grows). Most ivories have some sort of color or patterning (even if minimal).
Seems to be doing fine though...(quick photo below against an Ivory).

It will be interesting to proof breed in a few years.

[Lord Sorril]

Photo #583

BP = Spider/Gravel/Yellow Belly (aka Spider Highway)
Stone = Amphibolite (speckled metamorphic rock) I collected from the Connecticut River, USA.

Breeders Note:
I have fully hatched two entire clutches from parents: Het VPI Axanthic/Het Clown x Het VPI Axanthic/Het Clown (this was their first mating cross).
Out of 13 eggs I produced 5 Clowns and all 'normals' with NO Axanthics. No other noted traits at play.
The odds of producing an Axanthic were 1 in 4: and there were none. The odds of producing Clowns were also 1 in 4, and somehow I got 5 (which was disproportionate).
The parents of the breeders themselves were an Axanthic Male x Female Clowns (I bred them myself)...so I know my breeders *should be* double Hets.

What do you think? Is this just really bad luck, or do you think there is something genetic going on here? Why are almost half my eggs clowns when they were Het x Het?

Technically those clown offspring I have now should all be 66% Het for VPI Axanthic, but if I can't produce Axanthics using 100% Hets...I'm reluctant to hold back 66%'s. Historically 0% of my 66% Het VPI Axanthics have proven out.

Next season I have the option of making the same breeding pairings again of Double Het x Double Het or I can use the females against an Axanthic male for a proof cross. I have no alternate visible Axanthic/Het Clowns available next season...so any offspring by a proof mating will end up as 50% possible Het Clown and of no use for my breeding projects. If I do retain the Clown females from this season and then I prove the parents to be Double Het (as they should be) then the Clown retains should be 66% Het for Axanthic...but then I'm raising 66% Het Axanthics which have a super bad track record for genetic carryover.

I don't like to inbreed so I have another Axanthic/Clown line in the works Pastel/Axanthic x Pastel/Clown with a clutch hatching soon. The offspring should also be 100% Het for Axanthic + Clown...I could eventually cross males from these to the Clown/66% Het Axanthic females...that would mean I would be raising snakes with unproven genetics in the 'hopes' they prove out...

Hmmm....

[Bogertophis]

Ugh, so frustrating! And why I'm not a snake-breeder, lol. I wouldn't inbreed, & only you can decide from here how badly you want to produce axanthics, & how many snakes you have room for.

[Lord Sorril]

Ugh, so frustrating! And why I'm not a snake-breeder, lol. I wouldn't inbreed, & only you can decide from here how badly you want to produce axanthics, & how many snakes you have room for.

Yeah...I miscounted in my last post. I actually produced 6 Clowns (not 5), and zero axanthics from 13 eggs.

Some fast math and the compound odds of six clowns and zero axanthics from 13 eggs from double Hets is about 1 in 750. So something went wrong here. I will have to proof breed the female parents next season to evaluate their Het Axanthic status. I'm not going to risk using the same 'Double Het' breeder males again--so I suppose they are going to get sold as proven Het Clowns.

I will hold back the female clown hatchlings with their shaky 66% Het VPI Axanthic status until I figure this out. If the mothers fail to prove then they are all getting sold.