Fresh Eggs in the Incubator...

...and you know I don't live even anywhere near to a farm, so if you guessed they are some kind of reptile eggs - well, you guessed right. My female corn snake laid a clutch of eggs about 2 days ago. I don't know if they are going to be alright or not, because as things would have it I forgot to assure that the humidity level was high enough for them, and they kind of caved in a bit. Chances are though they are still alive and well, and my having moistened the sphagnum moss / coconut husk fiber blend that they are in should solve the problem. Time will tell if all the eggs are viable; if not they should start discoloring within a few days to a week or so. As for the ones that are good, they should hatch in about 60 days if I keep them at the right humidity level and proper temperature. I incubate them at about 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and am not sure of the humidity level but it has to be close to 90 to 95 percent in the incubation chamber. The chamber itself consists only of a plastic food container with the lid on, and with the lid drilled through with small holes to allow some air to circulate through it. I always amazes me how fertile and viable eggs manage not to become overridden with mold or fungus in these conditions, but they usually make it all the way to hatching without mold or fungus killing them. As for the bad eggs in the clutch, well they do get attacked by mold and or fungus, and it makes them smell pretty badly quite quickly. Sometimes I leave them in the incubator, that is if attached to other eggs, because I don't like to risk rupturing a good egg by trying to pull them apart. Snake eggs, unlike bird eggs, are leathery to the touch, and remain pliable as opposed to becoming brittle. They also often adhere to one another just after the time they are laid. Also, as opposed to bird eggs, they need to pretty much remain in the same position as they were when they were laid by the mother. The great majority of snakes (except some pythons and cobras) do not tend to their eggs, and snake eggs never need to be rolled over as to bird eggs. In fact rolling them over can reportedly kill the embryos.

For now, I'll just pretty much leave them alone, and check on the incubator's temps now and again. The incubator I use now is basically just a container in which I place the incubation chamber, and in which I place a waterproof heating unit and some water. The heater heats the water to about 80 degrees, which in turn evenly heats up the interior of the container including the incubation chamber along with the eggs inside of it. In about 56 to 65 days, I'll know if I did it right.

All the best,
Glenn B.

Woma Python

The latest acquisition in my collection of herps (reptiles and amphibians) is a Woma Python. It is a striking beautiful snake, and its kind comes from Australia. The one I have, and that is pictured here, is an average looking specimen. There are some that look much more striking in that their heads are more yellow, and their bands more contrasting with reddish color in the darker bands. This one even though being an average looking specimen is still spectacular to behold. You may not realize it from the picture, but this guy (I think it is a male) is about 4.5 to 5 feet long. Its body at the widest point is thicker than my wrist. It is a powerful beast, that in its wild habitat eats small to medium rodent sized mammals, birds, lizards, and other snakes. It kills its prey by constriction, and those coils are strong, my hand was feeling the squeeze as I took some pictures. If you don't believe that then carefully look at the color difference between my forearm and my hand, the hand is a bit on the red side. This one will probably not get much bigger as it has hit the average size for the species, but some have been known to grow to longer than 7 feet, and I have heard they can reach about 8 feet (I sure hope not).

I still have to check it to determine if it male or female by probing it (you probably don't want to know). If it is a male, I'll either keep it for a while and sell it, or pick up a female and try to breed them. That is if I can find a female at a reasonable price, and assuming mine is a male. Heck if it is a female, I may just get stud service for it, usually at the cost of the pick of the litter. This one cost me $300. That was a deal. They usually go for between about $500 and $800 each. Prices are coming down though since some people are breeding them regularly. Still though, the investment in a female would be a good one if the male and female wind up being fertile. Babies easily go for $400 to $500 apiece now, and will still be in the hundreds for at least the next few years. I would not be quite that money hungry, and would sell them at a lower price, but not too low (mama may not have raised the brightest kid at school, but mama did not raise a fool).

I know for sure that my new Woma Python has been eating. The lady from whom I bought it said it was eating frozen/thawed rats. (Yes we buy em frozen because they are cheaper in bulk and snakes will eat dead prey as long as it is thawed fully. Always fun when my wife asks what is in the bag in the back of the freezer.) I know mine was eating well because once I got it home and set it up in a tank, one of the first things it did was to answer nature's call. A nice big healthy answer at that. Nuff said, it seems healthy.

Hopefully when I try to feed it, it will eat. I like to let new snakes in my collection settle in before trying to feed them. This particular snake is a bit on the nervous side when in its tank and someone walks by. It has not tried to biter me or even strike at me when I have opened its tank, that is very good because some snakes strike like crazy when something enters their tank. Once you pick it up it is very easy going. I think it will take to the change of homes pretty well, but I still want to give it about 5 to 7 days before I try feeding it. I am hoping it is not sort of addicted to rats and that it will take large mice and other small rodents. I prefer my snakes to eat a variety of prey for health reasons (sort of like a balanced diet, they get different nutrients in different percentages, from varying prey; and in the event I can not get one type of prey item for awhile.

One other thing I have to do now, is figure out how to recoup the $300 I paid for this guy. That chunk of change will take a big bite out of my hunting budget for this year; and it may mean camping out as opposed to staying in a motel for a few nights on this year's hunting trip. Oh well, if I keep it to breed it, it will be worth the expense in the long run.

All the best,

Glenn B

New Stuff...

...that I have gotten recently and that has me a happy camper is something I figured I would share with all of you in a post with pics. As most of my readers probably know by now I am into herps (reptiles and amphibians), and into guns (shooting and self defense wise, not gunsmithing or tinkering), and hunting & fishing. My recent acquisitions have to do with all of those interests.

The first thing I want to show you is a knife I bought recently. I was not too sure if I would keep it for myself, or if I was going to give it to my son on his birthday, but I have decided this one is a keeper for me, and probably eventually will become his. Who knows, I may yet get him another for his birthday, but I think I have a better present in mind right now.

As for the knife, it is a Spyderco, Bill Moran model. I had wanted one with a drop point blade but that was not available, so I got this one. Now that I have it I like this blade more than the drop point with its more classical lines. That is about all that is classical on this knife though. The polymer handle (or whatever it is) is pretty decent in the hand. The sheath is molded plastic (or again whatever), and the knife fits into it snugly. The sheath is adjustable to be carried in several positions. Not a bad investment, I think, at only about $55. Now I have a nice accompaniment for my pistol as it sits on my belt with the knife. The blade will come in handy on hunting and fishing trips, and I hope i never need it for self defense; but in that last regard I follow the motto of the Boy Scouts: "Be Prepared".

My next acquisition was free. I got it tonight (Sunday night, it is now Monday morning by 5 minutes or so). It is a Thayer's Kingsnake. Well truth be told, I sold or gave this snake to someone about 4 years ago. I may have bred the parents to produce this one, I cannot recall right now. I know I had some that were jet black, and yes they can produce young that look like this. My friend Bill V dropped it off with me tonight. He liked this snake a lot. So much so that he actually saved this snake from death's doorstep one day a couple of, or a few, years back when another kingsnake he kept it with began to constrict and eat it (that is why they call them kingsnakes, they eat other snakes). The way he brought it back was by placing a straw into its windpipe and giving it artificial respiration. Bill is a NYC Fireman and knows how to save lives, even an animal's life. He recently started school for a second career, and has little time left to do anything else. So he has cut back on his snake collection. It was difficult for him to give this one up. Nice snake, to bad he did not get it to me on Friday, I could have taken it to Saturday's LIHS Reptile Expo and probably made him some money with it. If you are not into snakes you probably cannot figure how someone would want to pay money for one, but this one is worth at least $150, maybe $250 in this one's condition. These kingsnakes are also known as the variable Kingsnake because that when they are born they can be one of several color and pattern variations from jet black to orange with saddles to the one shown, to a tri-colored phase, and others in between. This phase is one of my favorites.

My other acquisitions, 5 of them, all came to me Saturday at the 18th Annual LIHS Reptile Expo. I was so busy while there that I did not even realize, until someone just about knocked me on the head, that one of my animals displayed in the judged show had won a first place ribbon in its category (tortoises), a first place trophy in the more general category of Turtles/Tortoises, and the Best of Show trophy for all the animals in the judged show. I have been an LIHS member for about 17 or 18 years now, and while my animals, and Brendan's animals, have sometimes won best in a specific category, or best in a more general category, we have never won the Best of Show before. If indeed I have been an LIHS member for 18 years now, what a nice coincidence that I won the Best of Show for the 18th Annual LIHS Reptile Expo. The sad thing is that I fell asleep early tonight, a long nap, and only woke up after my chance of playing the pick 3 number for the NY Lotto was over for tonight. I would have played 018. Maybe tomorrow. The man whose name shown is on the plaque on the trophy was a past president of the society, and a friend. A great guy, and a man who knew how to keep people interested in the LIHS. It was under him that our membership reached into the hundreds.

Oh yeah, the trophy was for my female Hermann's Tortoise. I have had it about 3 or 4 years now. Got it as a little one from another society member. It sure has grown up to be one good looking tortoise. I must admit while I am thrilled to have won, it is also humbling. You had to see the competition; and you have to realize that the guy who has won for the last few years in a row decided to drop out of the competition to give some of us other members a chance. I owe a lot to him, to the guy from who I got the tortoise, and to the tortoise and Mother Nature. Without all of them doing their parts, then maybe there would have been no trophy for me.

All the best,

Glenn B

A Beautiful Gal...

...or at least a beautiful female Corn Snake, is something that I was lucky enough to get hold of today. I spent most of the morning and afternoon at the New York metro reptile Expo in White Plains, NY today. Yes that means I am feeling somewhat better than I have been, still not 100%; and sitting there most of the day manning the Long Island Herpetological Society and giving out info about the care of reptiles and amphibians was not all that taxing on my system. Not eating while there helped me stay, shall I say, okay.

I digress, so back to the Corn Snake. I guess most of my readers know one of my hobbies is guns and shooting. Another of my hobbies, one I am just as passionate about, is the collecting, keeping and breeding of herps (reptiles and amphibians). I have been into slimy and scaly creatures as pets since I was a young child. no dogs, cats were allowed in our apartment. An uncle who bought me a turtle got me started, then 5 years at summer camp had my interest in such critters really blossom. Now I am an addict so to speak. So when I got a free male corn snake today I was quite the happy camper. Then when one of the other LIHS members at the show asked me if I wanted to buy a female corn snake to go with my new male I said sure. It wound up I actually traded a Ball Python for the female Corn Snake, and I wound up thrilled.

Now you may not think much of Corn Snakes, and less of snakes in general, but just let me say this gal is a real looker. I know, you are probably thinking that sometimes even a grump like me would be easy to please in my own kooky sort of a way, and you would be right; but I'll let you judge for yourselves. Just take a look at this beauty, and if you are not phobic about snakes, tell me is she a looker or what! One of the nicer of all North American snakes. She is pretty much a normal colored corn snake, though I have to point out that there are many color phases of normal colored corn snakes. There are also many, many, selectively bred color phases of corn snakes that do not appear in the wild, but as I said this one is a natural phase in appearance.

I say she is a natural phase in appearance because she is the product of selective breeding. She laid 12 eggs this year, and I saw her 12 offspring today. They do not resemble her; and the group of them is made up of three different color phases. The male I got today is also normal in appearance, and I am curious to see what their offspring will look like, but I'll have to wait until late spring or early summer for that. First I have to fatten this gal up a bit. Then she will go into brumation for the winter (sort of like hibernation, but the snake does not sleep through the winter or most of it as would a mammal that hibernates, rather it becomes very inactive, but still active to a slight degree). Once out of hibernation, she will feed and put on some weight, then when the male is ready they likely will breed. After the breeding she will carry the eggs internally for some time, then lay the eggs, which will take about 2 months before they hatch. Hopefully they will produce some nice babies.

Well maybe you think me a nut, or maybe you agree and find her to be spectacular to behold as I find her to be. Mother nature sure has a way of making some things really nice to look at, even some things that most people seem to shy away from. I am kind of happy I find them as interesting as I do, and i guess I can thank my mom for putting up with my keeping them when I was younger. She never liked them, I can say that with certainty, but she loved me enough to tolerate them. I can also thank my wife likewise, as she puts up with my keeping them now. I guess that also means I can thank both of them because I share my interest and passion with my son; and that is a good thing indeed. If the ladies never let me get away with having these things in the house, my son probably would be keeping goldfish if he kept any animals at all!

All the best,

Glenn B