I've got ball eggs finally!

Dewshine last night....



Dewshine this morning....




I'm not sure how many eggs she's got in there. I'm just going to leave her alone for now. She'll uncoil or move away from them for a drink at some point and maybe I'll get a count then. When I last palpated her I think there were 5 or 6 follicles so I'm going to guess there are that many eggs in the pile. She was bred earlier this year by a normal and was with a pastel over the past month or so. I'm going to let her maternally incubate since she did such a good job last year. If anything seems amiss I have an incubator up and running just in case.


I'm still waiting for Ailynn to lay her clutch and she's about a week behind Dewshine so anyday now. It's the same story with her being paired early this year with a normal and with a pastel a month or so ago. I'd love some nice pastels from these girls but healthy normals are great, too.

Kyriel, my het pied female, has 5 big follicles growing and is still locking up with Gabriel, my het pied male. I'm very anxious to get a healthy clutch and potential pieds from her. I keep peeking in on her hoping to see her ovulating but haven't caught it yet. I'll be sure to get pics if I do.

Congrats Sandy! Looks like we'll have hatchlings about the same time! We can pace the floors together. LOL

Got my fingers crossed for pastels for you!

Thanks, Pam, and yes we'll both be counting days together and practicing patience for the next couple of months. LOL

Got my fingers crossed for spiders for you!

Thanks much!

It will be the "pic wars" in a few months . . . whose babies are hatching first?! LOL "I got a slit!" "Well, I've got a head sticking out!" "Oooh, I had one emerge!" "Well, I've almost got one out!" LMAO

I've got two clutches on the ground now!











This is Ailynn, my daughter's ball python. She laid her clutch earlier today. I believe she's holding 5 eggs (possibly 6) but I'm not going to pester her to get a full count. I'm sure I'll find out what she's got all in due time. So far both of these girls are guarding their eggs beautifully and from what I can see of the eggs, they're doing well too. Last year I was able to candle Dewshine's eggs while she was coiled around them and I may try to candle these in a few days. If I do, I'll try to get some more pics.

Nice! Congrats again.

I got a couple more shots of the girls incubating their clutches.

Ailynn.. just 8 days brooding



Dewshine.. 11 days brooding



Dewshine's eggs have a weird mottling effect going on but I have candled both hers and Ailynn's clutches and each egg looks healthy with big red veins. I couldn't get any pics because I only have so many hands and the mothers aren't particularly fond of having me bothering them or their eggs right now.

Got more pics and tried to get a decent shot of some egg candling.

Ailynn 11 days in...




Dewshine 14 days in...

your eggs right there look better with the arteries than mine ever did, even when they were brand new i could still only see a few.

They aren't that big and noticeable in the beginning. I didn't really notice anything with last year's clutch until they had been sitting for a few days. The only reason I knew they were "good eggs" was that they were candling pink rather than yellow. When they candle yellow, it's just an empty dud egg.

It's possible your eggs may have been weak to begin with but if MJ had stuck with them they probably would have pulled through. I think that when she abandoned them it left them too exposed to the elements in the tub. You want high humidity but direct contact with moisture and being rolled around may have done them in. This was her first time and with the move things may have just been too much for her. If you want to breed her again next year she may be better prepared for motherhood. Don't give up!

I really need to get someone to help me get pics/video so the images aren't so grainy and/or blurred... but I got video of Ailynn's clutch a few minutes ago and got to see a little worm in one of the eggs.


Ailynn's clutch on Day 16

Dewshine's clutch on Day 20

Dewshine's clutch is at Day 23 and Ailynn's is at Day 20 now... Ugh.. waiting sucks!

Ugh, doesn't it? I can't wait for July 10th . . . LOL

PythonPassion wrote:

Ugh, doesn't it? I can't wait for July 10th . . . LOL

Maybe they'll be patriotic and come a little early.

I wouldn't know :-( sniff sniff, but i bet it is really exciting lol I got all kinds of excited when i got lucy to eat a friggin rat instead of a mouse. I will just concentrate on getting mj back to being a fatty for next year's clutch.

Are you still having issues with getting Lucy to eat for you?
All the changes from the move may have thrown MJ off and caused her to abandon the eggs. Exposure probably did them in. I think next year will probably be a lot better for you.

lucy ate her first rat the other day on the second. I was excited. took forever though for her to take it.

The Anti-Poon wrote:

lucy ate her first rat the other day on the second. I was excited. took forever though for her to take it.

That's great!

Glad they're takin those feeders, Devin! (And I promise, the rat room smells much better now. Finally getting caught up at work and am not having to stay over constantly. LOL)

I'm not too worried about the room really, amanda was the one about to pass out lol. but it is good that is smells better haha. Yeah I am gonna try again soon for the second feeding of mj

Crossing my fingers that she takes it!

And yeah, the bad part about my rat setup is that it's hard to vent the room, but still seal it up enough to keep it cool/warm. Extra cleanings help, and finally I have time when I get home before it gets too dark to see anything in there. LOL

Taken on June 14th..


Ailynn at 25 Days



Dewshine at 28 Days



I'll upload new candle videos later.

Forgot to put the vids up..


Just updating with more pics:

Taken on June 14th..

Ailynn at 25 Days
Video -



Dewshine at 28 Days
Video -

You need written descriptions of pictures, captions please :-( Dirty dial up I hope they are doing well, and I am guessing they are from what I read :-P

The Anti-Poon wrote:

You need written descriptions of pictures, captions please :-( Dirty dial up I hope they are doing well, and I am guessing they are from what I read :-P

Sorry, Devin! lol

They're all doing well. Ailynn's eggs are misshapen and crinkled a bit, likely from her putting her weight on them, but they're all healthy. I was checking on them earlier today and saw a baby's tail curl and uncurl a bit in one of them (CUTE!). Dewshine's eggs are weird this year. They're "snowflaked" like one of my corn snake clutches last year. They didn't adhere to each other at all and one of them actually rolled out of its mom's coils. I've been checking on the eggs and moms regularly so it couldn't have been out of her coils for more than a day. I picked up the egg and checked it to be sure the baby inside was alive and well after having been rolled around. It looked okay so I put it back in her coils only to see it back out later the same day. I pulled Dewshine off of the eggs long enough to push the roll-away closer to its sibling eggs and then let mom recoil the entire group. It hasn't rolled out again since. The last video clip I posted of Dewshine's clutch actually features my problem egg and the baby inside is definitely alive and well so being rolled around didn't seem to affect it. I know we've all been taught by all those before us that turning or rolling an egg meant certain death for the baby inside but I'm learning now that that isn't necessarily the case. I think as long as the yolk sac inside isn't damaged that the baby should be okay in instances like this. I guess we'll see if the tumble had any negative effects on development when the little one hatches.


I believe that Dewshine's clutch will hatch on Day 53 (like last year) which gives me a due date of July 9th and for Ailynn, I'll say July 12th.

Checked on eggs tonight and they're definitely getting softer.

How long until they hatch?

I'm maternally incubating both of these clutches so I'm not sure if that will play a factor in when they will begin to pip. Last year, I let my female maternally incubate and they started pipping on Day 53. I'm anticipating that it will be around the same time this year. They're currently on Days 43 and 46 so I expect them to start hatching next week.

They are such cute little snot covered slugs when they come out :-P

I love the look of the snakes as they guard their eggs. I can't help but think of dragons from Anne McCaffrey's Pern series, hehe.

lol *holds and L shape to his forehead.* I have read them too.....

Hey, at least I am literate. : P

That is a definite plus n my list for you :-P

I decided to offer the two moms a light snack just to see if there was any interest. I gave each of them a rat pup (little dinky thing, but food nonetheless and nothing so big that it would make brooding uncomfortable). Ailynn just stared at hers so after a couple minutes I removed it. Dewshine, on the other hand, grabbed hers moments after I put it in her tub. I would have taken a pic but I didn't have the camera at the time and as fast as she was swallowing it wouldn't have mattered anyway. lol

While she was working her snack down, I checked on the eggs and their shells are so soft right now and sink in with a light touch. It's like touching a paper lantern. Soon now! Very soon!

The eggs are ridiculously soft now. I will be surprised if they don't hatch by the end of this week.

Anything going on today?

Right now I'm out in West Knox helping my mom. I'll be leaving here soon and will check when I get home.

The suspense is killing me, and they're not even my eggs!

I know i did the same thing last year with the jungle carpets :-P

Ailynn at Day 51


Dewshine at Day 54


Nothing new to report just yet.. but got new pics of the moms and their clutches. Dewshine's eggs are smoother now than before. The "snowflaking" isn't as obvious when you touch the eggs now (it's still apparent in the pic). Not sure why, but it's neat nonetheless.

Dewshine's behavior has changed dramatically over the past couple of days. She had been very laid back with me checking in on her and the eggs, but now she's suddenly hissy and more aggressive. I can only assume she's feeling changes and it's nearly time.

Haha, yep, she defintiely looks like she's ready to take fingers in that pic!

Today the snowflaking on Dewshine's eggs seems to be all but gone. I really don't know the chemistry behind what causes the eggs to be laid that way or what caused it to disappear now.. but there ya go.

Still no pips.

The egg I cut last night has a cute little head peeking out now.





That's the egg that rolled out of the pile a few times.

Congrats on the new babies! I know you've been waiting on them for a while. Looks like you don't have to feel guilty about the snipping either. Good luck with the rest!

Thanks!

I'm still on the fence regarding the snipped egg pip. It almost looks pastel to me but it's too soon to make that call, I think. I need to see the rest of it. lol

glad to see he\she is doing alright. keep us updated.

All of Dewshine's eggs have pipped now but they all look like normals to me. I may change my mind when they leave their eggs, but I'm thinking 4 normal babies here.







Ailynn currently has two eggs pipped and these also look like normals to me.

eh they probably are normals. Cyban was late.

They're cute as can be, regardless. There are still three eggs that haven't pipped yet in Ailynn's clutch. I'm not giving up just yet.