Breeder Loan from Pam =)

As some of you already know, Pam loaned me two of her boys over the weekend - Alchemy, one of her male het albinos, and Hercules, her piebald. I'm going to be updating this thread with pics of them and info for her benefit as well as my own.

I'll add pics of these guys soon. I want to give them a little more time to settle in and since Alchemy ate for me last night, I'll give him some time to digest.

Exciting! Can't wait to go on this ride with you through pics and posts

Very glad Alchemy ate for you! He's been refusing as of late, so a good meal for him before he begins breeding is always good--a little boost of energy to get the job done! LOL

I can't wait to see what those guys produce with your girls! I'm hoping Alchemy gives us some nice white-back albinos. And hoping Hercules produces us a couple of pied girls. I wonder if we should try and make some sacrifices to the Genetics Gods, and if so, what kind of sacrifices?! LOL

Here's to hoping for lots of locks, huge piles of healthy pearly whites, and some genetically-altered babies!

LOL Do virgin rats count as sacrifices?

There is no such thing as virgin rats. I think the babies come out breeding.

Haha. Degan, that's exactly what I started to say . . . I wouldn't swear those rats were virgins. I seprate the sizes, but I don't seprate boys from girls. By the time they get to medium size, they might have done a little bit of breeding before I kill them off (and the boys can breed before that).

As promised, here are some pics.




Hercules is gorgeous but his belly is starting to go pink and his color is a bit dull today so I expect him to shed soon. I'll be sure to get more pics after he does.




Alchemy is reeeally nice. He's long, dark and handsome. I'm so looking forward to pairing him with Henna. He's sure to produce some stunning albino babies! lol

Wow, this is so odd . . . seeing pics of my snakes that someone else took/posted.

I'm glad you can get Alchemy to pose for you! He never will pose for me! You mamanged to get his black back, his lava lamp spot, his hook swirl, and his hearts all in one shot! LOL His darkness should hopefully produce some nice high-contrast babies, though I can't say I'd be disappointed with a faded albino either. I just love albinos, so I love them all.

And if Hercules is going into a shed, you'll fall in love all over again once he gets his new skin and his neon orange pops out! hehe When I got him he was going into a shed, and once he shed I almost hit the floor in shock.

I was using a shipping box with styro liners for photos. They didn't really have any room to run away from pics. lol

I'm really looking forward to seeing him freshly shed. He's beautiful as is but I know he's going to shine after shedding.

After cleaning Henna's tub (there was no putting that off... phew!) I figured I'd see how she would react to Alchemy. Don't mind the new mess they made in the back of the tub.




Hercules is still working his way up to a shed and I'll wait until after then to pair him with Kyriel.

Ooo glad they're already locking.

Haha, I figured it would take Alchemy all of 0.5 seconds to decide to breed. He's a little breeding machine! Glad to see they're locking up already, though! Here's to a good pile of healthy pearly whites in the spring!

Henna is deep in blue at the moment and Alchemy doesn't seem interested. When I put him in yesterday, the two just stayed on opposite ends of the tub. Hercules shed last night and I put his freshly shed skin in Henna's tub. This morning, I found them back together.








Since Hercules shed, I figured now was as good a time as any to introduce him to Kyriel.





I found Dragon, my mojave male, had just shed as well so I put his fresh shed in Kyriel's tub in hopes of spurring Hercules on a bit more.

Nice! Alchemy is making up for last season--I didn't have any girls to put him with, so he got a year off.

And hopefully the pied will breed soon. It may take him a bit since he's young and has never bred. It took my pastel about 6 weeks (granted, I didn't pair them every single weekend) to figure everything out, so hopefully the pied figures it out a bit sooner. But the good news is, I don't really need the pied back for breeding this season, since the female I was gonna put him with isn't going to make weight this year, so you can hang onto him and keep breeding him until the female ovulates if necessary.

Btw, Sandy, I'm saving the pics you're posting for records, but do you mind if I re-post them on forums? I will, of course, give you credit for the photos. Just thought it would be kinda neat to say "Here's the joint projects me and a friend are working on"type of thing. (I can either post your last name or leave it off when giving photo credit, whichever you prefer.)

PythonPassion wrote:

Nice! Alchemy is making up for last season--I didn't have any girls to put him with, so he got a year off.

And hopefully the pied will breed soon. It may take him a bit since he's young and has never bred. It took my pastel about 6 weeks (granted, I didn't pair them every single weekend) to figure everything out, so hopefully the pied figures it out a bit sooner. But the good news is, I don't really need the pied back for breeding this season, since the female I was gonna put him with isn't going to make weight this year, so you can hang onto him and keep breeding him until the female ovulates if necessary.

Btw, Sandy, I'm saving the pics you're posting for records, but do you mind if I re-post them on forums? I will, of course, give you credit for the photos. Just thought it would be kinda neat to say "Here's the joint projects me and a friend are working on"type of thing. (I can either post your last name or leave it off when giving photo credit, whichever you prefer.)

I don't mind you using the pics at all.

I would love to find them with tails twined but it's not happening yet. He just lounges next to her. Hopefully it's not going to take him weeks to figure this out. lol

Try misting them lightly with water if ya need to. I use that some--sometimes it seems to work, sometimes it doesn't.

I posted joint-project pics on Fauna and on My Reptile Planet (great bunch of people there, though not locals). Thanks for allowing me to share! So far not many respnses, but most of the "big" forums are oddly kinda slow right now . . .

So, I'm feeding everyone tonight and I'm happy to report that Hercules finally ate for me! The room was definitely scented with rats because the feeders I got from Shane sat untouched in there for about an hour. Nothing like opening a tote full of rats and getting a lung full of "eau de rodente". lol The snakes loved it. They were all front and center in the rack just waiting for me to pull out their tubs. The frozen/thawed rodents likely smelled no different from the fresh killed by the time everyone was being fed. I offered Hercules his small and he shied away from it, but I put it in front of him and left him alone. I figured I'd be coming back to a stiff rat in the tub but I just went back there to check on him and the rat was gone.




Alchemy, on the other hand, wanted nothing at all to do with his rat. He had been paired with Henna last night/this morning and I found them locked before I was running errands this afternoon. When I separated them this evening to feed, I suppose he still had other priorities. I'll not complain.

Nice! Alhcemy lands another lock!

And that's typical for the pied--I usually have to leave the rat in front of his hide and then check a few hours later. Most of the time it's gone. And I am thinking positive . . . . he WILL lock up, he WILL lock up . . . LOL

No new locks to report, but did get what I thought was a cute pic of Henna and Alchemy.

I had moved Henna into a tub with Freckles, another female, for a couple days to see if getting another female's scent on her might encourage more locks (I'm willing to give anything a shot to get as many locks as possible).. I just put her back in with Alchemy and he's courting again. Yay!

Checked in on Hercules and Kyriel and one of them had left me a dog-sized present.. Their tub is all cleaned up and last I saw, he wasn't completely avoiding her. His tail was draped over part of her, which is a step up from keeping his tail tucked under himself. lol Cross your fingers!

Pam, I think we may have a problem.

Since he wasn't doing anything with the female I had picked for him, I put Makalo (the pastel I had you pop at Gina's and that I've popped/probed here at home) in Hercules' tub in an effort to rile him up and get him more interested in his intended female, Kyriel. I opened the tub to the two of them seemingly locked. Now I'm just confused. I've come up with a few ideas on it... 1) this is a form of male combat I've never seen before, 2) Makalo actually is a female and even though young/small was receptive to Hercules, or 3) Hercules has a preference for boys.






Don't mind the bit of shed on Makalo. He had a weird explosive shed yesterday and there was still a piece attached to his back and head. I've separated the two of them and put Kyriel into Hercules' tub. I'm sure there's plenty of scent marking in that tub considering the position I found the two in and maybe he'll still feel the urge to lock despite the fact that it's not Makalo in there now. lol

After I made that post I went back to check in on Hercules and Kyriel and .. well.. see for yourself!





I fully expect them to be locked soon!

Woo-hoo! Come on pied babies! LOL

He's just about got it figured out! He should be locked completely by this evening--tomorrow morning at the latest. Glad to see he's doing what he supposed to do with the right female. hehe But maybe it's boys that turn him on to begin with, and he has to have that to motivate him. LOL

PythonPassion wrote:

Woo-hoo! Come on pied babies! LOL

He's just about got it figured out! He should be locked completely by this evening--tomorrow morning at the latest. Glad to see he's doing what he supposed to do with the right female. hehe But maybe it's boys that turn him on to begin with, and he has to have that to motivate him. LOL

LOL

The whole scenario was just bizarre. Definitely a jaw drop moment when I saw them. I'm going to have to keep my eye on that pastel. Maybe it will turn out to be a female after all? I could have sworn I saw him/her/it locking with Ailynn, though. Ugh.. so confusing.

Huzzah!

YAY! Go, Hercules, go! LOL I knew he'd have it shortly after that last round of pics.

Would you believe that they're STILL locked?

QuietTempest wrote:

Would you believe that they're STILL locked?

Anticipation . . . LOL

Now that he's got it, he doesn't want to lose it! LMAO

Neither male seems interested in locking or eating right now. It's very, very frustrating.

In other news, Dragon, my mojave male, will apparently lock up with anything-anywhere-anytime.

I put Hercules and Makalo, the ambiguous pastel, back together again in a tub for a few hours this evening in hopes of recreating the last scenario and it seems to have worked. When I checked on them, Hercules was either courting or just pushing his weight around with the pastel. I removed Makalo and put Kyriel back and now she and Hercules are back to courting. Hoping for locked tails by morning.

Thought so!

Wow, how did I miss this huge thread? These snakes look massive in the photos, by the way. Perhaps you could take a pic with a quarter or dollar bill for size reference. I'd love to see Freckles' size in comparison to something I know, haha.

Sounds like Makalo is a magic maker. I wonder if you will get any het pied pastels...hahaha!

DaganGecko wrote:

Wow, how did I miss this huge thread? These snakes look massive in the photos, by the way. Perhaps you could take a pic with a quarter or dollar bill for size reference. I'd love to see Freckles' size in comparison to something I know, haha.

Sounds like Makalo is a magic maker. I wonder if you will get any het pied pastels...hahaha!

No, no chance of het pied pastels. I'm leaning towards Makalo being a submissive male rather than a female and he hasn't been in a tub with Kyriel. The only male that has been in the same tub with Kyriel has been Hercules so whatever clutch she produces will be his and his alone.

I can get a pic of Freckles with something for size reference. I'll get a pic and put it in the other thread when I get a chance. She's not as massive as Pam's girl(s) but she's the biggest female I have here and I just know it's going to be a challenge trying to figure out how far along she is in terms of egg production milestones.

I just tried a similar scenario with Alchemy. I put Henna in Mitch's tub so she'd pick up his scent and I put Mitch, my normal (and always amorous) male in with Alchemy. I had the tub on the floor just to keep watch over the two of them since they're very close in size and I didn't want to chance anything getting out of hand in there. As soon as Alchemy realized Mitch was in there, he acted a bit defensive and when Mitch started to flick his tongue along his side and moved towards his head, he jerked upward and towered over Mitch. It was impressive. lol I let them do this for a few moments and then I removed Mitch and put Henna back into the tub with Alchemy. Being in Mitch's tub must have done something for her because she's now harassing Alchemy and wagging her tail. Haha!

Brian walked in to see what I was doing and after I explained it to him he said I was a pimp. I explained these guys were on a temporary loan and I wanted to make the best of the time they spent here with us. lol

I'll get more pics later tonight or tomorrow if they lock again for us.

I love winter storm fronts!

Yay! Go Alchemy go! Make some yellow and white babies!!!!

Okay, I can't be sure but I *think* that Alchemy and Henna locked up again last night. When I peeked in on them, they're tails were in the right place.. it looked like I got there a little too early or a little too late to catch anything. lol Neither of them will eat anything for me now.

Nothing really new to report with Hercules and Kyriel. She's still feeding for me but Hercules has refused everything. Haven't had any recent locks (that I'm aware of), either. I'll probably be trying the "bait and switch" method with my poor pastel male again.

I meant to come back in here and comment again on Kyriel and Hercules. lol

The "bait and switch" seems to be a fail-safe method with Hercules. Stroke his male ego and he's ready to breed! He locked with Kyriel immediately after a motivational session with Makalo. LOL


I checked in on the snakes just a few moments ago and found Henna and Alchemy have locked again. It's about time!

Kyriel and Hercules were locked again last night. I forgot to post in here at the time.

It sucks not having a camera... Can't wait until my Amazon shipment gets here.

Kyriel and Hercules are still locking regularly.

Henna and Alchemy.. only occasionally.. oh and please ignore the mess on Henna's head. After I changed out bedding in tubs to cypress rather than aspen, she decided it would be fun to go burying her snout in it and burrowing around.

Yay, new pics! This must be the longest thread in history though. I kept scrolling and scrolling...haha.

How do you like your new camera?

DaganGecko wrote:

Yay, new pics! This must be the longest thread in history though. I kept scrolling and scrolling...haha.

How do you like your new camera?

I like it a lot, actually. The one it replaced was very hit or miss (mostly miss) but I haven't had a bad shot from this one yet. Every picture seems clear - no fuzziness, no over/under-exposure. Definitely glad I got it. Oh and since I ordered it online I was able to pick the color I wanted. It's a pretty baby blue.

That's cool, glad you like it. You should try some outdoor photos of the snakes.

I guess Henna and Alchemy got inspired sometime between last night and today.

More locks from both pairs and Henna is wrapping her bowl. Good signs, no?

Sounds good to me, Sandy. I wish this thread would go to page 2 already though. It takes five minutes to load.

DaganGecko wrote:

Sounds good to me, Sandy. I wish this thread would go to page 2 already though. It takes five minutes to load.

Maybe if I add a comment it will! Lol!

It does sound good, though!!

Aww darn! It didn't work! Geez!

I don't get why it hasn't started a new page, either.