Hoooo Boy!

Well, today has been a crap shoot of emotions..

We have the bad to begin with. The POG to Het Hypo clutch hatched out, with the one POG and some Pastels Het Hypo and a Het Hypo.... but this little guy, the other POG.. didn't make it. It looks like its umbilicus was twisted and it died very recently.

This kinda hurts, because I have not gotten any Hypos so far this year other than the Pastel Orange Ghost male that made it. Would have been nice to have another... 

But at the same time, the Crystal clutch hatched out, and although there was only one Crystal, he came out already, and it's a HE! The rest are Specials, Mojaves and I think a Normal. We will see tomorrow or Weds for sure.

And of course, another interesting item... I come home from work to get ready to ship something, and a tub is wide open! The Clown male managed to escape apparently from my own lack of paying attention and leaving the tub cracked enough where he could push out.

So I get down on my hands and knees and search everywhere for this boy... It takes me a good thirty minutes, but I finally find him behind an adult females tub two racks over.

Here he is right after being found... no worse for wear.

So overall, things worked out well!

And things are still hatching out, so there are things to look forward to.

With that, I bid you a good day, my friends!

Hatchings!

This weekend was face paced, a good time, and not a lot of snake.

I met some people, did some stuff, bought my dress, and had a grand ole' time.

But I did have some hatchlings, a few of which are out, and many of which are not.

Here are the few that are.

We have a Pastel Orange Ghost male, and a Het Ghost something.

He is pretty sexy, if I do say so myself. It appears that there may be one more in the egg..

And just for fun, a random shot of Kona dog, wiping her paws and laughing.

I'm sorry this blog was so brief. I'm hoping to compile some Daytona pictures to share from friends.

Tomorrow should be an exciting one!

Clutches 23, 24 and the WORST MOTHER EVER

YAY FOR MORE EGGS!

This gal is a Het Hypo I picked up last year from a friend, and had a hard time getting her to eat. Luckily for me, she is a older female, and didn't have too bad of a time breeding.

Het Hypo of course was bred to my Pee-Oh-Gee, so this clutch should be a bunch more fantastic POGs. 

Seven eggs! Not too shabby!

But then I went thru and checked a few other females, and look what I saw when I opened up the tub?

Worst mother EVER.

Wasn't even coiled around them. She was a first time breeder, so I can't give her too much grief, but at least keep them SAFE! Oh well...

Three good eggs and two slugs to help prove her out. I hope she is a Het Caramel, but we will see.

So after that shock, I went thru the babies. You know how much I love silly sheddings, so I caught the Pewterbee looking ridiculously cute with his shed, and I had to take a picture. 

Awwwwwww....

How cute is he?

Anyway, we are at almost full capacity in the main incubators again, so I may have to go set up the extra one soon. We will see. 

Have a great day, my friends!

Pattern or color?

Pastel Orange Ghost

I have been thinking about this since I started taking photos recently...

Which is more appealing?

Patterns or colors?

Of course the answer for me would be both, since I have a fondness for everything... but in general, I'm rather curious. 

Back in the day, when I first started, the big thing was Pastels. That, of course, was color... 

And then, it became all about Spiders... And that would be pattern. 

And then it was all about the Bumblebees.

i.e. both!

So let us review some of the base morphs and where I categorize them:

Colors = Pastel, Ghost, Fire, Sable, Mojave, Albino, Axanthic, Caramel Albino

Pattern = Spider, Woma, Pinstripe, Calico, Clown, Genetic Stripe, Het Red Axanthic

Spinner

Now of course you don't have to agree 100% with my categories, and as you can see, I didn't go into all of the possible morphs, but that is what I came up with. Did I miss some you guys can think of? 

I was not trying to come up with all of the combination ones, ala Lesser or Butter, which in my opinion is both a pattern and a color morph, but more a color morph than a pattern... so I left it out.

Anyway, back to the story at hand. Which of those groups is more appealing to you?

I'm intrigued and would love some feedback. 

So chew on that, and get back to me, my friends.

And have a fantastic day!

Breeding and hatching

 Well, a few of the babies hatched out of the two clutches that were left for the season. Since they are hatching at the same time, I put them all together. 

So far, we have 1.2 100% het Pieds, with 2 Pieds in the egg, and the rest (5 or 6 more off the top of my head) are 100% het Pieds.

One of the Pieds looks like a screamer, so lets hope its a girl!

And while waiting for the eggs to hatch, and while the rains are pouring down here in the southland, breedings are afoot. 

I caught these two locks while with the camera, so here we are. 

Here is my scarred up Female Pastel. I call her "Baby" just cause I feel so bad for her scars. They are a few years old now, but they still are scars... They will always be scars. 

But she got one of the babies too. She is being bred by my "I thought he may not be interested since he is so small" Spotnose het VPI Axanthic male. 

I look forward to having a few Pastel Spotnoses in the collection. Poss het VPI Axanthic doesn't hurt either!

And this guy is no stranger to pairing up. You all remember "Pee-Oh-Gee", right? Well, he is getting it on with one of his poss het girls (This gal is het for Albino, but yet to be proven het for Ghost. Fingers crossed!) She had been put with him before a few years back, but I don't believe he produced with her. Lets hope to see some Ghost babies in this clutch.. That way I can make the Sunglow Ball Python!

The rain isn't going to let up any time soon, so hopefully tomorrow I can get some photos of some other locks to share with you all. 

Until then, have a fantastic day, my friends!

Photo fun time!

Photo fun time, because I'm not sure what to touch on today.

Here are a few pictures I have taken over this week. 

This is my holdback Pastel Het Red Axanthic. I really like the pattern on these guys, and although they darken up the Pastel with the Het Red characteristics, I really think this combination is pretty awesome in its own less impressive way. 

The yellows turn a nice deep gold, darker than the bright lemons that you would see typically in Pastels.

 Speaking of bright yellows, this is my Pastel Mojave, with lots of bright yellows and side blushing. I also love the pattern typical to Mojaves, the floating circles and weird alien heads... and those curly-cues on the spine? Yeah, this one is a hottie.

And again, bright yellows.. but this time, deep oranges and purple tinges. Caramels are absolutely GORGEOUS, and I love this one too.  They only get better with age as well, so this guy is going to be stunning. They also have red pupils, which is super cool.

 And one of my Axanthics, those in which I am very proud. Axanthics are very hard to get correct colors in photos, and this one I didn't get perfect, but it is close enough, I suppose.

And this one is my Pastel Orange Ghost, and I love this morph! So much to be done with it, and so cool looking to boot! Hypos are awesome, and I have finally gotten a decent group of them together. I'm pretty happy with that, but to have them all ready to breed would be fantastic. 

Until then, I can plan and play around like I do every year. 

 

And of course, I'm sure you do too with your own collections. 

Have a fantastic weekend, 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.

Honey, but not Humble

Well, its been an odd clutch hatching weekend, but things are out, so I'm going to talk about them.

The mystery clutch that was supposed to hatch out this weekend did not. I believe something went wrong with the clutch, as only one normal hatched out, and the rest appear to be stillborn. I'll give them another day before I see what is going on.

But on a happier note, the Spider het Ghost was actually proven this season, with bells on!

Welcome to the world, clutch of five.

Five whats?

Well, lets put it out there for you all to see:

1.0 Honeybee
0.1 Bumblebee het Ghost
0.2 Pastel Orange Ghosts
1.0 Ghosts

So this female is for sure a Het, and four out of the five animals in the clutch were visual recessive. I am happy with these odds, considering I wasn't 100% sure the female would prove.

Here are the Ghosts and Pastel Ghosts. I'm planning on keeping the two girls, as I actually do not have any POG females. Now I do! YAY!

And all four Ghosts... I was kinda surprised I didn't hit on the Humblebee (Bumblebee Ghost), but with what I did get, I'm not complaining.

My group of Ghost holdbacks for this season.

And this pretty man all by himself. I can't wait to see him shed out! This guy has a date with my Mojave het Hypo female in the next year or so. I'm glad to have another visual Ghost co-dom male. Pee-oh-gee is awesome and all, and this dudes father, but I have to say, combining Spider Ghost into things isn't too shabby!

Have a fantastic day, my friends.

Sheds and admiration

So, things are shedding out from the clutches from before, and I can't help but admire some of these critters I hatched out.

Here is the Super Pastel Lesser I hatched out. He's got a wild and wacky pattern going on... I'm intrigued!

His sister does too... This is the female Pastel Lesser I hatched out. She is crazy with the blushing on the sides.

And the other brother, another Pastel Lesser, one that I thought may have been a Super.

Also very interesting blushed out sides... not as orange as his sister. I'm not sure why, but hey, I'm not complaining!

And to complete the group, the Lesser. This guy is very very pretty. I really like him! All of the Lessers in this group came out wierdly banded and interesting.

Gotta love genetics!

And just for kicks, here is the POG that shed out.

He is the only one I have ever produced, but he is a hottie for sure!



So to console me from my recent bad luck, here I was, taking pictures of cool animals.

And there will be plenty more to come, I hope.

Here's to having more cool 2010 animals to photograph.


Have a fantastic day, my friends.

More hatchings

Well, I lied, apparently.

These guys hatched out on Tuesday..

We have here Black Pewters het Ghost, as well as Pastels and Black Pastels het Ghost and Normal het Ghosts.

Sex odds were as follows:

2.0 Black Pewters het Ghost
0.1 Pastel het Ghost
0.1 Black Pastel het Ghost
2.0 Het Ghosts

Yeah...

I'm not sure how I feel about this, because I'm not sure if I wanted a male or female Pewter het Ghost, or what I really want to hold back, if anything.

So there they are!

I really like how the Black Pewters look, I've actually never hatched out any before. They have all been Cinnamon Pewters.

And speaking of Ghosts...

Here is the Pastel Orange Ghost I hatched out, as well as Mister Awesome, the tiny little Pastel het Ghost male.

I really like how the POG turned out! I think he is gorgeous, and will get better with time. It's going to be fun watching him grow until he finds a new home.

This is true also of Mister Awesome, although he is already spoken for. He needs to bulk up a little before I will be ready to send him anywhere, for fear of his being broken.

So there it is for now. Next clutch out is a bunch of Lemonblasts, I hope. We shall see how that goes, but until then, I hope to be able to finally touch on the topics that people have been asking about. I promise, I haven't forgotten.

Have a fantastic day, my friends.

Happy Belated Fathers Day

Happy Belated Father's Day to all you proud poppas out there.

I say the same to some of my males here, as it was a busy weekend this weekend in terms of clutches.

Here is a clutch I caught on Saturday night. This normal female was bred to the Lemon Blast mostly, but I think she was also with the Sterling and the Pastel Lesser. Thus, the question mark...

But this so far has been my largest clutch. 10 nice eggs! ALRIGHT!

And then, I checked a few more females that night to make sure they were on the up and up.

I opened the tub to see this...

Yes... That looks as painful in the photo as it did in person.

So I left her alone, and went to check the incubator.

Hey...

What's this?

They are a week early! I'm not sure why this is the case, but most of my babies come out about a week early. I have my incubator at 90 degrees Fahrenheit, but... here they are!

So again, I let them be, and go to bed.

Fast forward to Sunday.

I go back to check on Miss Dog Tongue, as I call her, as she was purchased from a Pet Store without her fork. She has no fork...

I shall try to get a photo eventually of this phenomenon, but I digress..

The first eggs that she laid was this two egg combined slug. I saw her kick it out, and it was very weird. That actually was what she was laying while I was taking pictures.

So I'm bummed, cause if this slug is there, what about the rest?

Well... It wasn't horrible. But it wasn't awesome either.

8 good eggs, from what I believe is the Sterling. We shall see.

So I clean her up, set her up, and realize she has one more left in her. CRAP.

I leave her to her business, and a few hours later come back to see another slug.

So final count for Dog Tongue (which I realize now I spelled wrong on the card), was 8 eggs, 4 slugs (or 5 slugs if you count the two melded together individually).

Not my best clutch... but it could have been worse.

And in my rush to get these counted and done, I forgot to take pictures (AGAIN) of the momma on eggs, but here is the other clutch of the day on Sunday.

Hopefully this gal should prove out to be Het Ghost. I need some POG females.

Five good big eggs.

Can't complain!

So three more clutches on the ground, plus one hatching.

Oh right!! Gotta go check on those babies...

By Sunday evening, they were all out.

Final count: Pastel x Pied clutch

0.4 Pastels Het Pied
1.1 Het Pieds

I have to be honest, I was kinda hoping for a Male or two that were Pastel Het Pied. I know people prefer to have them than the females, but... I guess for my own benefit, I lucked out!

So goes the world, I guess. 

So the season is a GO GO GO so far, and we are now officially in 2010 and have 2010 babies!

HOORAY!

And YAY for my proud snake poppas. Good job, buddies.

Have a fantastic day, my friends.

Clutch #14: POG x Black Pastel

This clutch is a massively important one to me, as this is one of my own females that I produced and held back when I was starting out.

Granted, I have had this happen before, but this is one of the Black Pastels that I kept in the beginning. One of my first morphs that I hatched out!

WOOHOOO!

So although she is skinny and dirty, I am very proud of her, and very glad to see these pearly whites.

She gave me a good batch of 6 eggs, one roll out (the one on the left), and although they are small, I have to say, I am very pleased. I palpated five. Obviously I missed one. 

So these will be my first Black Pewters, and they are all going to be Het ghost as well. And maybe, just maybe.... they will be ghosts!?!?!

Yeah, not that she is poss het that I know of... It would just be really cool.

So lets at least hope for a few Pewters in there. Anything else would be awesome.

Black Pastels and Pastels het Ghost wouldn't hurt either.

So let us watch and wait, and in a few short weeks there will be babies to share, as well as more eggs to have.

It's getting exciting!

Have a fantastic weekend, my friends.

Lots of clutches and the little engine that could

So it first began with Clutch 7 on Saturday, with one of my Poss Het females laying six gorgeous eggs.

She is a first time mother, and I have yet to prove her out. I hope she does, as Caramels are one of my favorites, and I hope that the kinking issue does not come up. We shall see!

If you can tell, the one on the far right is freshly laid. Still nice and shiny!

And then, there were two more on Sunday. These two girls laid without my knowing, as I wasn't watching them on my "Egg Watch".

This female is a Het Albino, proven, that was bred to my Albino male.

She was trying to hide...

But I got the eggs, much to her disappointment.

And then there was this gal. She was a small female, one of the trio of double poss het Albino Ghosts. She had yet to ever give me eggs, so this was her first year.

I bred her to the Pastel Orange Ghost. 

She didn't disappoint.

A very protective mother to say the least. I didn't even get a count until I uncoiled her from the eggs, and this is what I found.

Yes, there are four eggs in there. Two normal sized, one gigantic, and one dwarf.

I was initially very concerned about the little egg. It is the smallest egg I have EVER had, it is as big as a chicken egg.

But so far it is viable. This is going to be an interesting clutch to watch develop. I hope the little runter egg makes it.

So there we have it, folks.

This is going to be interesting!

The little engine that could. We shall watch its progress often.

And as for you all, have a fantastic day, my friends.