first time eggs, long time coming

so just in case you forgot.. here are a picture of the Sire AtamO

 and the Dam Luna

so, its been a long time goal for me to breed my Green Tree Pythons. this is my first breeding attempt, and although things are going pretty text book, i feel so under prepared and un educated. for starters, i wasn't taking things seriously at first so i didn't do any documenting, so i have no dates on when i started cycling, pairing, courtship or copulation. as well as perceived follicle development or ovulation, although i can clearly remember when i noticed it, i cant, however, remember the date. but once i noticed the ovulation i realized i needed to start taking things seriously. she started her pre-lay shed in the last weeks of april, and sloughed her skin the night of the 30/1st of may. she layed her eggs on the morning of the 18th . obviously 18 days after the sloughing of her pre lay shed. she spent most of the time with no heater, and ambient temps of 85-87 highs and night times lows of 76 and above.

i candled the eggs and marked them, i spent all morning freaking out and stressing. she looked like death warmed over after laying, but i soaked her for a few minutes while i cleaned her cage. gave her fresh water and everything else and placed her back in the cage. she is perched and resting. i will attempt to feed her this weekend and we will see how it goes.

so here is a picture of the 19 eggs, set up in my collerbator. all eggs were plump and white, and looked healthy, but as this is my first attempt i don't know what to look for so... yeah.

when candled all the eggs had some vein structure, some strong, some weak, and maybe i dont know what im doing but i couldnt see the embryo on some of them. others it was clear.. maybe the eggs will all hatch, maybe they will all crash.. i just keep praying and do my best to hatch them. i will keep you updated, yo.

this is my poor ragged girl.. thirteen eggs in that picture i think.

and this is her perched and resting.

so its been a learning experience for sure. i am hoping i can do right and  hatch my clutch, but if they all crash and i only hatch one i will be satisfied. im excited to see the fruits of her labor, and i am looking forward to future pairings.

anyway, im out, look for more updates. and the countdown begins... today is #01.. 53 days can't come fast enough..

later.
brandon

incubator build

hello all who stumble across this blog. 

so its been a slow build because i have time and am lazy, however the incubator or "coolerbator" ha ha is built. i built this incubator, not of my own design. but rather based, no rather stolen dezigne from Damon Salceies. here is a link to the youtube video from where i took the dezigne.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iPXnA3Z5tA

no there are a few differences in my incubator, and his. and they are basicly a 1/3 scale version of the incubator in the video.

so i started out with this 52ct marine igloo cooler. i wanted the large 120ct like in the video but this cooler offered everything i was looking for, and since i was only looking at incubating one clutch, i decided to go this route. this cooler was only 50 bucks, compared to the 3x larger 120 cooler for 150 bones.

now what i did here was make the pvc frame, smaller to fit my smaller cooler of course, and wrap it with the easy heat freeze protection chord..

you can find that here:

http://www.morelectricheating.com/default.aspx?page=item+detail&itemcode=EASY10164&gclid=CjwKEAjwpLa5BRCTwcXS6_rpvC4SJACTDQMMGI7JjO2UFc0gAD5YPvl1IFe_NqvH8Q4CM0iW1QPhjhoCQSHw_wcB

placed the frame and chord on the bottom and then cut out the light grating i think it was 12 bones for a 4x8' sheet.

now on top of that sets three stainless steel trays i picked up from the websturant online store. here's there link:

http://www.webstaurantstore.com/1-4-size-standard-weight-anti-jam-stainless-steel-steam-table-hotel-pan-2-1-2-deep/4070429.html

on top of those set another pvc frame, im using 3/4 pvc round tube also here in this picture you can see the air stone in the center tray

ok, so on top of that sets another light grating. under which i zip~tied two cpu fans i picked up off amazon for 15 bucks. i wired them up together and then wired them to a simple two pron cell phone charger, ad they work great. no sweat.

so here is a picture of the final result. i skipped a few steps but you should be able to get the idear. i bought three cheap thermometers to monitor the egg box temps. they are resting on the acrylic sheets i cut to fit. i used a jig~saw and a pvc cutting blade to cut it to shape and used a da~sander to sand the edges to fit snug and perfect. i also got the polycarbonite tubs from the websturant store, here is their link: 

http://www.webstaurantstore.com/1-4-size-clear-polycarbonate-food-pan-4-deep/700PLPA8144.html 

and i bought matching tops to go with them. they are a real sturdy tub, very clear and i really like it.

here is another actual reptile incubator egg box. i would have bought these if i had seen them before i purchased the other tubs. 

http://www.simcontainer.com/gallery.html

got all kind of wires and things coming out of the bottom, but i have them organized as best i can, and the easy freeze chord plugged into my thermostat. im using a Herpstat 1 from spyder robotics. personally my favorite thermostat on the market. not cheap but certainly worth the moneys.

http://www.spyderrobotics.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1

in closing i will say that my poor gravid lunabell is due to lay around the 15th. im pretty excited and look forward to that. this incubator was pretty neat to build. it wasn't cheap but i believe it will be worth the moneys. now, in the Damon's video he advocates the use of a thermistor, which i did not buy, im not going to run the thermistor, i have read mixed reviews on their capability in a 100% humid environment, on top of that they are expensive, and used for the temp flux incubating method, which i am not going to do. i will be baking my eggs straight 87.5* for the duration. check back for the forthcoming eggs, yo.

Brandon

pictures or the breeding pair yo

i know i said no pictures until next week some time, but here are a few pictures of the breeding pair..
we have

Luna (female)

AtomO (male)

and just for fun.. here is my bad boy, and probably my favorite out of my animals.
Frank!

that snake will bit you i said...

that's ok, i wanna hold him anyway she said..

now that looks like build up of blood, but that's actually red flesh and the littlest amount of blood. it didn't bleed much, but man he laid that hand open!

perch holders..

hey everyone! found these at the home depot and thought i would share my thoughts.

so all they are is rod holders for closets and such, nothing new i know, but the first picture the rod holder will hold a rod/ pvc tube or some such perch up to  1 3/8" and is white plastic.. that's probably plenty big for any size perch but for me i thought the larger perch would be more accommodating for my needs. i like that its wood, which feels more natural to me, and i don't use pvc tubing for perches, i use sugar maple branches i cut, which aren't always available in .5 .75. and 1." dia.. 

so i thought the wood appearance would be more aesthetically pleasing and the larger size would accommodate a broader range of potential tree "type" perches.

thanks,

brandon

good morning america

dang ol' man! september 2014 was my last post yo.. lazy much?

so here is a brief update.. i now have 14 snakes, 11 green tree pythons and 3 colubrids, nothing special.. but whats really exciting is that my first breeding project is underway. i have never bred snakes before and leave it to me to try to breed among the hardest animals in the snake hobby. but i paired up AtomO and Luna back in february, and since then, i observed courtship, mating, follicle development, ovulation and a hormonal blue color change. currently she is in (pre lay) shed and should be laying 14-23 days after sloughing her skin. i am so bad at documenting things and taking pictures.. although i do have some pictures of the courtship, but none on anything else. however, very soon i will be building an incubator, very closely copying Damon Saliceies's design and will be posting that on the blog within the coming week. since i have been SO lazy about keeping up with this blog, as well as documenting this 1st breeding attempt i will be making a stronger effort to discipline myself to post atleast once a week.

no pictures this week, HOWEVER, i will have plenty for you next week, as well as a step by step diy build of the incubator, yo.

until then,

be good... or be good at it.

brandon

man, arnt they beautiful animals!? i would like to prefis that the above pictured animals ARE NOT my animals and i AM NOT using these photos to make any moneys just to show anyone who may look at my blogg these beautiful animals. 

so, NARBC is coming up at the end of this month, the Arlington show.. my side kick Randy and I shall be attending the show. look forward to a few pictures from that show. i should get my ConstrictorsNorthWest cage in soon as well, so an upcoming review is in order. also, i bought a fucking colossal Short tail python. oh my, i haven't weighed him but i bet he is every bit of 25lbs.. maybe more. just a huge creature! i don't have him in my possession yet, but soon, so very soon!!!! anyway just wanted to post..

later..

new pictures and update

hey every one, its been a minute since my last post everything is fine and all my animals are doing well and look great, i thought i would do a quick picture post.

first off, remember this little guy?

well this is what he looks like now!

here are the rest of the males in my collection.

both my females are in shed right now.. also my short tail python has a shaddy disposition so i decided not to bother him. although he is a beautiful animal too..

i ordered a new cage, and i am looking forward to it. its for the above mentiond STP but i like the cage designe and if its as sturdy as i hope it is i may switch all my cages to these new ones. atleast i am going to buy one for Gorgous George. anyway its due to arive in 7 freaken weeks.. but stay tuned for a cage review.

later
brandon