New Petstore Pickup!

Picked up this girl at the local pet store today.  She is really light and clean.  For 70$ I couldn’t pass her up.  She eats frozen/thawed rodents too!

Here are some pics…what do you think she is?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used to work at a petshop and the old crotchety owner picked up this snake from someone who didn’t want it anymore.  The guy tried to tell him that it was worth more than a regular ball but the old guy said “A ball is a ball” and gave him 20$ for it.

Later,

Brandon

 

 

Getting Ready to Be a Vendor!

Getting Ready!

I have been looking online for a while now for an acrylic display case to put on a table at the next Montreal Reptile Expo (October 23rd).  I have learned a few things while looking.

1.  They are quite expensive.

2.  There aren’t many/any producers in Canada (and the shipping on these things is also expensive).

3.  They are very nice once they are all set up.

I decided that I would try my hand at building one…and it turned out much nicer than I thought.  Thanks mostly to my friend Andrew who is apparently a very skilled acrylicer.

We found some scrap pieces of acrylic and started cutting the pieces and then glueing it all together.  Unfortunately I only have pics of the end product and not the process.  After how tricky it was to build I learned something else…why they are so expensive.  Luckily this only cost me about 40$.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is what it looks like with a few of the babies produced this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TOP (left to right): Pewter (produced by Simon Hamelin), Het Red Axanthic G-Stripe, Pastave, Pastel Het Red Axanthic (poss het g-stripe).

BOTTOM (left to right): Normal, Mojave, Het Red Axanthic, Pastel Lesser.

 

Andrea is helping to make the images required for a banner and some business cards.  Once I pick those up I will be ready to make my entrance as a vendor for the first time at the upcoming Montreal Reptile Expo at the Holiday Inn in Pointe-Claire on October 23rd, 2011.

Here are some closeups of the snakes while I had them out.

 

Het Red Axanthic G-Stripe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mojave

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pastave

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pastel Lesser

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pastel Het Red Axanthic (poss het g-stripe)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me know what you think!

Later,

Brandon

Clutch #4 – Two Sires Makes it Confusing

My female pastel was bred to a mojave initially, then a het red axanthic het g-stripe male and then at the very end of the season I acquired a pastel lesser male that I put with her once (visible lock).  I was obviously keeping my fingers crossed for a pastel lesser sired clutch and I think I at least partially got my wish.

Here’s a group shot –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what I think it is…..but please correct me if I’m wrong.

Left and top = Super Pastel (maybe one of them is a pastel het red?)

Bottom = Pastel Lesser (maybe a super pastel lesser?  but I don’t think so)

Right = Het Red Axanthic 66% Het G-Stripe (I think I figured this one out 🙂 )

Here are some individual pictures to give a better idea.

Left

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bottom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So what do you think?  Help…..

Later,

Brandon

Decent Odds and a Pretty Neat Morph!

I know it’s been a while since I posted about this 3rd clutch but they took their time getting out of the eggs and then they all shed at different times so when 1 was ready the others weren’t.  They are all out now and I couldn’t be happier really, the results are pretty good.

0.2 maybe 0.3 Het Red Axanthic Genetic Stripes

0.1 maybe Genetic Stripe

1.0 Het Red Axanthic 66% Het G-Stripe

1.2 66% Het G-Stripe

Look at these pictures and tell me what you think.

In this picture you can see the group, the two Het Red G-Stripes are on the right.  The one in the top left corner is the one I can’t tell 100%.  It’s either a lesser grade of the ones on the right or it’s a ridiculous G-Stripe with not even a trace of pattern anywhere.

This is my keeper for sure.

This one is very nice as well – there is very little striping at the front end and then the stripe comes back in further down the body.  This is one will be available after a few more meals.

This last one is a little harder to tell.  I am leaning toward a regular G-Stripe that is very nice but I am not 100% sure.  What do you think?

There are no more clutches for me until Labour Day weekend – if I’m lucky there might be some supper pastel lessers waiting for me.

Patience Brandon…..patience.

Later.

The Results Are In! Clutch #1

Well, I guess the lower incubation temperatures (around 88 degrees Fahrenheit) caused the babies to take their sweet time coming out of their eggs.  They are all out now though (day 62) and I put them in a bin to take their picture.  In the end there are:

1.0 Normal

2.2 Mojaves

0.1 BEL

Not too bad at all.

Clutch #2 is on it’s way – I cut the eggs to see what’s inside and unfortunately this Spider x Normal clutch has given me a lot of normals.  The weird thing is though, not all of them are normals but there aren’t any spiders as far as I can tell either.  I am anxiously waiting to see what’s up with this clutch.  They should be out any day now.  I will update as soon as I can.

Later.

Had to Peek

Day 51 of Clutch #1 – Had to peek!

I cut into my first clutch of eggs of the 2011 breeding season. It was day 51 of incubation and I just had to take a peek. I tried to explain a little bit of what I was doing while cutting the eggs.

So it looks like I have: 1 normal, 4 mojaves and 1 BEL. Not bad odds…I suppose they could have been better but I am not complaining. Now I have to wait until next week for clutch #2.

Later.

Season 2 Begins

There are only a couple of days left until I can cut into the first of my ball python clutches of season #2 here at Rodgers Pythons. I am extremely excited, I can’t wait to see what odds I hit on this year. The first clutch is a Mojave x Mojave and there are 6 eggs. Will there be a BEL? I certainly hope so.

I am going to record part of the process of cutting into the eggs and post it here so stay tuned. Hopefully it will help some of you out there who are not sure how to do it.

This is my 2nd season breeding ball pythons and it looks as though it is going to be a success. My first season, although not a complete failure (I did produce a beautiful female BEL pictured here), definitely did not turn out like I imagined. I counted my chickens before they hatched so to speak and was dissapointed.

In this blog I am going to share some of those experiences and dissapointments with you for a few reasons.

1. To vent a little bit to someone other than my wife;

2. To help out other beginners who might encounter the same problems; and

3. To brag a little bit about my successes

I hope you enjoy the read.