Clutch #4 for 2012

This is my favorite Spider female that I own, and I produced her a few years back in an effort to make the Tarantula (aka the Blurry Spider)

I like to think I made it, but the Blurry did not end up specifically genetic, so I let it go. She is the mother to my Bumblebee Fires this past season, however, and they were ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC.

This year, I popped her in with the Firefly once, but the Butter Enchi het Hypo got her for most of the time.

I would LOVE to see some Butter Enchi Spiders.
 

Fingers crossed for some good odds on that one, since hitting on it will be a feat, but it can and will be done. Eight chances, eight ways to be astounded.

This female is part of my cream of the crop program, and I can't wait to see what else she throws.

There is a boob egg in there, but it is viable. This egg more than likely will mold at the boob area, and I will catalog that for you all to see.

Here's to more eggs!

Have a great day, my friends!

Clutch #9 and more EBP

Well, the Egg Butt Puff actually resulted in eggs early last morning, but I didn't stay around to get them all until later. I did, however, take some photos before she was done.

 She looked miserable, of course, as most females are when pushing fetal things out of holes...

But a few hours later when I had the chance to get back into the snake room, she was done.

This female was the first female to lay for me last year, but this was not the case this year (obviously). 

So a few weeks later than the first clutch, we have six good eggs from my Pastel Super Mojave male and this female Pastel. 

I am hoping for a good bunch of Pastel Mojaves and Super Pastel Mojaves.

And some more Egg Butt Puff from my proven Het Pied female. She is the next one I expect to drop, although there are a few other females that are close as well (within the next week). 

We shall see!

And I was excited to see this, as I had been missing visual locks with this pairing. My Enchi male with one of my Mojave females (in shed and dirty). Lets see if this works, eh? Should be a great clutch if I get one... 

Fingers crossed!

Have a great day, my friends!

Egg Butt Puff

 

What do I look for when I am watching for a female to lay?

Why, Egg Butt Puff of course...

Now I want to preface this blog by saying that I kind of doubt that this term will catch on in the industry, but honestly, it is the best way to describe what is going on, as well as rather amusing and more than likely easy for most people to remember.

So... 

What is Egg Butt Puff?

Well, this gal here is the next to go in the Harem, but the problem is, she was PISSED OFF at me for interrupting her egg laying procedure.

RAWR, I said. Go AWAY!

I seriously took more than 10 pictures from different angles trying not to disturb her much before moving her head to actually be able to get the pictures I needed. 

And finally, we have Egg Butt Puff. 

Do you see it?

It pretty much looks like her butt is about to explode... with an egg!

This is right before egg laying. This image is extreme, and she will give me eggs within the next few hours. Now as I mentioned before, the EBP doesn't have to be right at the vent to count as Egg Butt Puff. It can be higher, and you can tell within a week that the eggs are going to come, depending on the speed in which the puffed part moves down towards the vent area. 

It's a matter of watching and waiting. And being observant. 

EBP. 

An awesome indicator of eggs.

Also pay attention to the spine spike. It is an indicator of where the eggs are within the female (if you can't palpate, its another thing to see without touching the animal)

So I hope to have some information on Clutch #9 tomorrow for you all!

Have a great day, my friends.

Getting warmer

So this weekend, I spent a significant amount of time cleaning and prepping and feeding and cleaning some more.

And you know what, you guys?

I actually noticed some ovulations.

This is fantastic news, and makes me feel that much better about things starting to heat up.

Why, Heather, are you freaking out so much?

Well, my friends, last year I would have already had a clutch on the ground at least. This year it is looking like it will be another two weeks before I see any eggs.

This of course, is nesting, usually after ovulation. I think she is in her pre-lay shed.

This is only a problem because of the snake shows I intend to vend at. If the snakelings don't hatch in time, I won't have much on my tables.

No big deal, really, but it would be nice to have a good spread of things when the time comes.

This is where the pressure/time crunch comes from.

Of course, when eggs do come, is when things start to get more calm.

But now is the storm before the calm.

KABOOOOMM!!!

Which of course means I still have until next month to be inundated with eggs, but that is fine by me. Just bring on the eggs... EGGS!!!!

Have a fantastic day, my friends.

And Now, I'm Spent

This is officially the last clutch of the season.

And it is not super awesome, but not super sucky, like I had expected. 

I felt slugs. I got slugs. 

But I got more "eggs" than I thought. I had palpated seven, and I got nine. 

Granted, only five of them are viable (aka with veins), but its all good. This gal can lay!

Can't be mad at that.

Pied male to my second Possible Het Pied female (sister to the other one who laid the day before).

The boob eggs are slugs, and the obvious slug (on the bottom) is a slug, but there are good eggs in there!

How can I tell which are good and which aren't, you ask?

Well, it's called Candling.

Candling is when you put a flashlight to the egg and look for veins. The eggs without veins are not viable, aka slugs. 

So there you go. I will see if I can get Joel to help me get some photos of candling for the blog, as well as a few other photos. 

I've finished updating the available page, with photos!!

Check it out and let me know what you think.

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.

Almost done with the week

Well, its Thursday.

I am really frustrated.

Why?

Well, the girls that are on egg watch currently are all super slug fat like, and none of them have been laying yet.

I'm watching three of them.

All three of them are holding these eggs in for dear life. 

Please forgive the dirty tubs. When girls get ready to lay, I try not to disturb them much. 

So here they are....

See?? Completely holding them in...

Fat butts...

And you know what's wierd? They are all Hets. Wierd... 

Oh well.

Hopefully by this weekend, we will have at least clutch 10.

I'm hoping these girls lay so that I can have a respite from checking their tubs every few hours when I am home.

But that is part of the fun, right?

Of course.

Have a fantastic day, my friends.

Fun times and shed quiz answers

Shed quiz answers first off.

Shed number one was a Mojave. Yeah, Mojave desert. You guys got it. 

Shed number two was an Axanthic. Dark, get it?  

Wasn't quite the typical dark, I know, but there it is. 

So there we are with the shed quiz, and I hope you guys feel better about your answers.

This weekend was a relaxing time, and I actually unplugged on Monday completely (mostly). Phone was off (more because it died, but I left it off and charging), and we spent the day at home.

It was fantastic.

But of course, things were not all relaxing the whole weekend.

We got clutch number five this Saturday, and it was a big one.

This clutch was Albino or POG male to a proven het Albino, possible het Ghost female.

Should be an interesting one, and if she doesn't prove het for both, I am not quite sure how to sell the het babies. I'm on the fence about it, so we'll see. Lets just hope she proves het for Ghost as well. That would be amazing.

So after all of that excitement, there has been a lull again, but last night I found a great sign of soon to be eggs within the next few days.

Let me share with you.

She is bottom heavy. You can't see it very well in this one, but you can see the expanded space between the scales around the end portion of her body, a good sign, as well as her spine being pointed.

And the tail suck. I expect this clutch tomorrow, to be honest. I've been watching this one like a hawk.

We shall see if I am correct tomorrow, eh?

So I hope you had a fantastic weekend, and on to the work week!

Have a fantastic day, my friends.