It has Begun

Yes, I have been slacking.

But on the pre-couple-o-monthiversary of my wedding, I found two clutches of eggs to celebrate the day with!

The first one I found was this gal, a virgin Pastel that I have had for several years. She never bred for me until this year, and I'm kind of disappointed in the results.

She is being a very good mother, of course. So much so that when she was gravid, I didn't really want to bother her, so left her to her own devices in terms of shedding.. Eeewww.

Anyway, she got a good bath after I took her off of the eggs, but much to my dismay, here were the results.

She was bred to a Pastel Butter Spider.

Three good eggs, three slugs. Could be better, could have been worse.

I will take it.

And then I found this gal...

This is my Albino het TSK Axanthic female. I gave her a year off last year, and I'm very glad I did! She gave me three eggs last time I bred her. 

And this time?

SEVEN!

She was bred to the Spider het TSK Axanthic ph Albino, so I really hope that he proves to be Het Albino this year.

Last year was a crap shoot.

This year, we will find out for real.


So with that, I bid you a good season if it has started for you already.

We shall be back tomorrow to discuss!

Have a great day, my friends!

Albinos, Lavender and Regular

I think I have mentioned this before. Lavender Albinos are tough to photograph. 

Yes. Very tough.

Above, we have a photo with no flash. You can see the contrasting colors rather well in this light. 

Below, we have some crappy flash. The Lavender Albino looks dirty...

It is very difficult to get the true colors to show up on a white background with an amateur photographer. 

Maybe if I break open the big ass camera and try again, eh?

Maybe later.. 

 So I decided, "Screw this!" and I took out a regular Albino for comparison.

Voila! 

You can see much better (yet not as good as I would like) the comparison between the Albino (the larger one) and the Lavender Albino (the not so larger one).

You can see the tones are different. The yellows are deeper in the Lavender, and the purple pops out a smidge more. 

And can I say, I keep spelling Lavender "Lavendar"? 

It's a failing of mine. I'm not sure why. 

Thank god for spell check. 

(If you look back, only the quoted word is spelled wrong... HAH!)

So why is this photo expose important?

Well, I know some people out there are not sold on the difference between the Albino and the Lav Albino. 

But as you can see, there are clear differences, and they do amazing and different things to other morphs. 

I can't wait to show you a Dreamsicle versus an Albino Pied. 

Give me like... 5 more years on that one, 'kay?

Hope this helps, and have a great weekend, my friends!

Weekend and Plans

Albino

This weekend, I promised myself I would sit down and get a few things hammered out, as well as get the last few trades and critters complete for the next seasons plans.

I will have a bunch of new photos to share, but until then, we get to admire the babies that I have hatched out this season.

I also get to do a massive clean, which I tend to do after a show. It's hard to bring all those animals back and put them in dirty tubs, and while cleaning those, I always feel bad for the others that I didn't clean as completely.

So massive clean is on the schedule.

What is a massive clean, you ask?

Well, I spot clean and pick things out of sani-chip substrate, and of course change out the paper bedding for the babies... But massive clean means going in, bleaching all of the water bowls, bleaching the tubs, completely new fresh bedding and possibly new tub sizes (this tends to be the reorganization time, as many snakes are displaced by the cleaning anyway).

It is an all day affair, and I need to get it done. This way, I can look at all of the possible breeders of the seasons and get things hammered out, while cleaning and admiring animals as well (and possibly cursing the fact that so many of them are not keeping their tubs spotless).

Spider

It would be great to get it done as well as head over to the Pasadena Reptile Show this weekend. I plan on attending at some point this weekend just to check it out. I have to say I am somewhat relieved not to have to be vending this weekend as well. I already have a ton to do, no point in adding to it right now.

So hopefully plenty of new photos and animals and stories to share very soon.

I am going to get down and dirty this weekend.

How bout you?

Have a great one, my friends!

Sanity Check

I have no idea what the heck is going on.

I bred my Spider het TSK Axanthic ph Albino to my Albino, thinking there would be some Albinos in the clutch. He didn't prove out with the other Albino clutch, but it was much smaller, so there was a chance he could be a Het still.

NOW we have the clutch hatched, with two Albinos in it (one dead in the egg), three eggs went bad, and this thing.

Here it is again with its sibling.

Note that there were no Spiders, and that the Albino is not a known het for Axanthic.

I have no idea what is going on.

On top of everything, these guys have small heads. Not off by a ton, but they are stubby...

So I am stuck scratching my head, trying to figure out if its something that I did during the season, or if my Albino female is a het Axanthic, and if this is a random Snow from an Albino? Or if this is just a very light faded Albino...

Yeah, I need a sanity check.

Off to send some pictures to friends.

What do you guys think?

Have a great day, my friends!

Clutches hatched

All of these clutches have hatched out over the last few days, and I have to say I'm happy-pointed.

Yes, that says Happy-Pointed. Happy and dissapointed all at the same time.

Let's begin.

This clutch is the Possible Double het Hypo Albino female to the Albino male. Guess what? This is disappointment. This is the third year she has not proved out to be either Het Albino or Het Hypo. She is now a normal, and she is up for sale. I always get beautiful babies from her, but with the space issue becoming more of an issue, I'm willing to let her go.

And then the happy part...

This unexpected clutch from my Blurry girl to a Mystery male turned out to be the Firefly, and all of these critters are beautiful females! A Firefly, a Fire and a Normal.

And another bout of happy! The Spider possible het Albino proved out, but did not produce a Spider Albino for me... Disappointment.  But much more happy than disappointment...

So.... Happy-ment?

1.0 Spider het Albino, 2.1 Albino, 0.2 Het Albinos

I love it. Now the next clutches to hatch are a disappointment clutch of two normals out of the four eggs left (two more went bad) from my Normal to a Mystery male, and my Lemonblast to het Red Axanthic clutch which has not pipped yet.

So I will get to the popping questions tomorrow, with a few other surprises and things to share. This week is going to be fun!

Have a great day, my friends.

Clutch 35!

Whew! All the Albino stuff is coming together in a group. This gal is a Het Albino bred to an Albino. Simple enough, and yet five eggs in and we shall see if there are some visuals in the clutch. Fingers crossed! I'm pretty sure this female is a proven female, but hey... You can never be too careful.

So yeah, there are five eggs in there. You can't see them (AGAIN) in this photo, because I was tired and didn't get the exact angle to get all of the eggs in line.

No worries, I know its there.

Anyway, random photo time!


This gal is my Pied het Hypo that I hatched out this season.

I can't wait to plug her in with her father, the Hypo het Pied... But until then, I have another female I hope to see if I can prove.

Double recessives are a tough project, my friends. Don't mock the prices on these. It takes a LONG time to get them.

I'm already kicking myself about the Snows... I am considering just giving in and buying one. We shall see what happens this year and if I should or not.

There are a lot of what-ifs again, and I'm trying to get myself to sit down and focus while hatching and having fun.

.... Soon enough....

Have a great day, my friends!

Clutch 34: Hmmmmm

Welcome to the world, Clutch 34!

This is a clutch in which I have some regrets...

Why, do you ask? Well... I am fairly certain that the Spider het Axanthic is NOT a het Albino, so now I am not going to get my Albino Spiders out of this clutch.

But, of course, how would I have known? And maybe, JUST MAYYYBE... He is a Het and I hadn't hit on it yet.

So my fingers are crossed, but not super crossed.

Five chances. Let's see what happens in a couple months, eh?

Oh! Yesterday and today things finished hatching.

Here is clutch 17, Pee-Oh-Gee to Het Ghost. Apparently, it was not to be with this pairing in more ways than one. 3.0 Het Ghosts, 0.1 Pastel het Ghost.

Ouch.

And another ouch, this time more painful. My Lemonblast to Pastel clutch went partially bad, and only three eggs made it thru.  Of course, I end up with a Normal male. But... in the end:

1.0 Normal, 0.1 Super Pastel, 0.1 Lemonblast

I love the way the Super and the Lemonblast look. Here's to some growth and progress to see how they look in a month.

While waiting for cool new babies to pip out in a few days, I took some fun pictures of what I have here at the collection.

Here we have one of my Spotnose females. I have no idea what I plan to do with her, but I know that it's going to be AWESOME when she is ready. We have another year or so, so the wheels aren't quite turning yet, but... we shall see.

And this girl is my Bumblebee het Hypo female from last year. I know that she will be going to something Hypo, but I am not sure what I want to do with her either. 

Seems to be a trend? Yes, well... I keep what I know will be great to have, and figure out what to breed to them when they are ready.

So now I have to get a something something het Hypo and something that would be great to work with the Spotnose.

Hmmmmm.

What do you guys think?

Clutch 29 and Axanthic Spiders

I love the way Spiders look, and this gal is no exception. She is one of my favorite Spiders I own, and she is also possible het Albino.

So of course, I put her in with the Albino to prove her out this season.

I would love to hatch out some Albino Spiders.

6 good chances IF the mother is a Het. 

Fingers crossed.

And of course, Clutch #8 has hatched out with a big surprise for me.

I thought I would only get one Spider Axanthic this season.

Apparently, I get two!

The Spider het Axanthic poss het Albino was the sire, not the Axanthic het Albino for this clutch.

I attempted to prove out the Spider to be Het Albino, but apparently he is not.

He is for sure Het Axanthic, and has proved himself several times so far.

And I have another Axanthic Spider to prove it!

1.0 Axanthic het Albino, 1.1 Het Albino Axanthic, 0.1 Axanthic Spider het Albino.

Here are the Axanthics in the clutch.

I really like the new Spider female. I wish it was a Male... but oh well!

She's so pretty!

The two Axanthic Spiders next to each other.

The one on the left is the older one, which is just an Axanthic Spider, and the one on the right is the Axanthic Spider het Snow.

I will be having many holdbacks this year already... I'm kinda worried about space!

But that is a good problem, right?

Have a great day, my friends!

Brrrrr... It better be Snowing

It has been a long time since I have been working on the TSK Snow project. This will be my third year trying to hit it. I debated even breeding this gal again, since she has been such a spotty eater, but I did.

And she gave me four more chances at Snows this year.

Four BIG chances, so I hope maybe even twins? But I doubt it.

I have to say, I'm glad these eggs are on the ground, and I'm glad this gal gave me another chance at Snows, but she looked HORRIBLE after egg laying. So of course, I cleaned her up, cleaned her tub, and decided she needed another tub to live in. So now she is in the Trouble Makers Rack.

The Trouble Makers Rack are the snakes that I need to keep a bit more of a closer eye on, and she is absolutely one of those. Lets hope she recovers quickly from this season... I have a date for her next year if she can handle it with my Spider het TSK Axanthic poss het Albino male.

Anyway...

Here we are with the four eggs, looking hugemongous like they are.

So fingers and toes crossed for my TSK Snows this year. Some double visual recessives in the collection would work out fantastically, if I do say so myself.

And since I've struck out twice so far on Snows, it would be so so so nice to actually get one in these eggs this year.

Please.

PLEASE!!!

So there you go, my friends.

Hope, wish, and pray with me on these clutches... The odds gods need to be nice to me this year.

Have a great day, my friends!

Things are happening

It is always refreshing to see that your hard work and planning does pan out, especially when breeding season comes about.

Pairings have been happening, but not so many locks as of yet.

But I have to say, I don't check every five minutes, so I may be missing things.

Here are two that I did catch yesterday.

Above is my Pastel het Pied with a Het Pied. I would LOVE to hatch out a few more Pastel Pieds, including some females. I'd like to bulk up my Pastel Pied group...

We shall see how that goes. The Pastel Het Pied has a date with a few other Het Pied females at this point, so we shall see... COME ON, ODDS!

And below, my beloved Albino male, the first recessive visual I owned, attempting a breeding with one of his Het girlfriends. I never get tired of hatching out Albinos, and my guy throws some awesome babies, so I can't complain!

Hopefully things will start picking up here, although this weekend we had summer temperatures, the likes of 85 degrees during the day. I hope my boys don't think it's time for a summer vacation... It needs to be winter again here soon.

Oh well.

Until tomorrow, my friends, have a fantastic day!!

Introducing the Rhino Ball!

 Well, not really. 

I wanted to touch on the fact that Krystal brought up about nose rubbing and "pacing" in males.

This is something that you really can't avoid if you have no intentions of breeding the male.

The best you can do is keep the males away from each other, or away from other females. But in all honesty, I have not seen anything really work persay... 

It's just a fact of the breeding season. You can try and move things around in the tub, change it up a bit, clean up the room and such, but overall, boys will be boys, and they are out to get some. 

But I wanted to say, it's not just the boys. "Pacing" happens for both genders, mostly when excited, stressed out, or hungry. 

This female is my girl Rhino. 

Do you see why?

 Yes, she has a bad nose bump. She was housed in a Vision rack, and the holes that are on the tops of the tub setup, this female decided to force her face thru.

She didn't get far at all, but managed to create a keloid scar of sorts, wherein her nose has a full bump of tissue that although disfiguring, is not harmful, nor causes pain when touched. 

It's not pretty, and to be honest, she looks a bit ugly, but in a endearing sort of way. She is a part of the colony, and she is very much a stand out kinda animal. You will not forget which Albino she is... 

I have not taken her to a vet, as this issue is a cosmetic one to say the least, but I'm sure she can be "fixed" so to speak. 

But why should I? I think its kinda cute. 

For the record, she has stopped trying to push out of the tub for a while now... but the evidence still remains.

So there you go. You can change things up, you can see if you can calm them down if you think it is a husbandry issue, but bottom line is, there is no real "fix" to "pacing".

Have a fantastic day, my friends.

Hey Boys! (Continued)

 So of course, I am not done with the boy introduction. 

Above is my first recessive morph boy, my Albino. He has been with me for a long time now, and I have to say, I am always floored by the colors and photos that he takes. I LOVE Albinos. 

They do so much, look so fantastic, and really just are amazing morphs. Even Joe Blow down the street appreciates the Albino morph. 

And below, my beloved Pee-Oh-Gee. 

POG?

Pastel Orange Ghost. 

He is awesome, and a great breeder. He has a date with his Spider het Ghost girlfriend from this past season.

And here is my Pastel het Pied male. He is not so bright, but he does his job, and he does it well! I really love his pattern too... 

And my TSK Axanthic het Albino male, that I hope and pray will actually make me a Snow this year. He has a date with his Albino het Axanthic girl friend. I just hope she gives me more than four eggs this year... And that she actually breeds and gives me eggs!

How can one forget my amazing male Genetic Stripe, with his solid awesome kick-ass stripe?

He has a date with his Het Gals, as well as maybe a Mojave or something? I love the Butter Stripe!

Pastel Yellowbellies are AWESOME, and this guy is no exception. He is a great breeder, and although I have no real idea what to put him with, he will be breeding with something this year..

How can you go wrong with a Sterling? Pewters and Pastels is the least he can provide... This guy is one of the prize males I have here, and I am sure I will find him a bevy of females that he will like. 

More to come again soon! 

Have a fantastic day, my friends.

I am so behind...

I have not had enough time in the day, my friends.

I really need a day of catch up, and I have yet to acquire it.

But, here we are, Friday, and I really hope to be able to get things in gear for this weekend, which is a Snake show here in LA called the LA Pet Expo. Should be a good one, and I will be there wandering around on Sunday. If you see me, stop and say Hi!

But before that day happens, and before the weekend arrives, I have to get my butt in gear and show you all some of the babies that hatched out these last couple of days.

Let us begin with the Pastel het Pied to Het Pied clutch.

1.0 Pastel Pied
1.2 Pastel 66% poss het Pied
2.0 66% poss het Pied

Yeah.

Here are the boys

My very super excited to have Boy

And the Girls

So there we have it.

And of course, there is this clutch...

I'm going to be very honest with you all. I have no idea what is in here other than a Super Pastel Lesser male, some Pastel Lessers and maybe some Lessers, and a Normal.

Boys on the bottom, Females on the top. 3.2

I am waiting until these guys shed to make the call on this one.. Unless for some godforsaken amazing reason I may have not hit on any Lessers (or Pastel Lessers), I'm going to wait it out.

If you have a guess, please feel free to share.

And then this guy pops out of the Pastel Yellowbelly to Normal clutch. I know what this guy is, and yes, he is a BOY.

Pastel Yellowbelly number one to hatch out this year.

He's a hottie!

And, to not spare you the gory details, here is Clutch #36

This female waited until the LAST minute to do anything about anything, and I was really actually expecting some slugs out of this one. She was doing NOTHING for a while, so I let her do that. But, she came thru and laid these gems.

Yes, this is my Albino Pinstripe project attempt. Lets hope that I can see some results from this clutch with some actual LemonBlasts...

Fingers crossed.

Have a fantastic weekend, my friends, and I hope to see you around on Sunday!