The Serpent Shanty

The 2010 breeding season is over. All of the hatch-lings are eatinggreat.  Some have gone to new homes and others are waiting to go to their new homes. We had quite a good season. The morph to normal ratio was about even. This is only because our Het Ghost Female did not prove out. But you have to take the good with the bad. If anyone is interested in any hatch-lings checkout or available page: http://www.theserpentshanty.com/available.htm We produced two Butter Bees out of the four egg clutch from our female Spider. This was very exciting. They look great and we were going to keep one of them but they both went in trades. We are getting a Male Orange Dream, High White Calico Female and a Spider Female Het for Ghost.We also produced our first Paradox It was a Mojave male.

But now the fun begins all over again. We have a few more females that are breeding size for this season. So we should have some interesting stuff. We usually begin the cool down phase mid October to November. There usually is next to no maintenance this time of year. Well we still need to check them everyday to make sure they are handling the cool down ok. Now we need to sit down and figure what to breed to what. This is the fun part for any breeder. The females that did not make weight is very depressing.  But there is always next year.

Be sure to check back as we update our Breeding page: http://www.theserpentshanty.com/breedingpage.htm

 The other day I came home from work and started to removesome of the male from the female tubs. When I opened one tub I noticed something a little off. My Male Butter was sitting on the female and his hemipene was out. Now by looking at it from where I was standing it just looked like he finished copulating and did not fully retracted yet. But when I took abetter look… Oh man, he had a prolapsed hemipene.

I quickly removed all of the bedding from his enclosure and replaced it with paper towels. Then I took him out of the female’s enclosure to get a better look. It was still red and moist but had some bedding on it. I grabbed one of my spray bottles and to clean off all of the debris. Once it was all cleaned off I placed him in his tub with the moist paper towel and started surfing the net. I remember reading a post on Ball-Pythons.net. So that is where I went. The post said to mix sugar and water into a paste and generously rub it on to the area, so this is what I did. I checked on him in a few hours and his hemipene retracted. That was a relief. It has been a week now and everything seems back to normal. I popped him last night and both hemipenes look fine and he even had sperm plugs. I will be reintroducing him back to the female next week.

 We lucked out with this guy. It could have been alot worse and needed medical attention. I think the reason it did not get worse is because it was caught in time. If he was left unattended for a few days and it dried then there would have been problems. We check all of my animals everyday.   

The Serpent Shanty

 Today is March 29, 2010 and clutch number one is here. Normal Female #7 laid a clutch of 7 eggs. All of the eggs are nice and fertile.

 I checked on her around 1AM and that is when I saw her pushing out the first of the soon to be seven eggs. I quickly grabbed my camera and by that time she had already pushed most of the egg out. I quickly took a few pictures and then left her alone.

 I let her do her thing for the next few hours before checking on her again. I checked on her around 8AM and she was all coiled up around her eggs. I removed the tub from the rack to get a better view and she appeared to be all done laying her eggs. I took a few more pictures of her on the clutch and then carefully removed her from the eggs. Like I said before this is our first clutch of the season.

The eggs are in the incubator. Her tub has been scrubbed down and new bedding has been added. She has also been rinsed off to get the smell of the eggs off of her. It is very important to get the scent of the eggs out of the females enclosure.

The Serpent Shanty

 Here it is midFebruary, 2010 and all of the females are coming along nicely. Some of thefemales are further along in their eggs development then others. A few of themshould be laying in late March early April and the rest in late April. Rightnow things are pretty quiet. We are just keeping up with feeding and cleaning.The incubator is all set up and ready to go. When the eggs come that will meanmore work. We will need to monitor the eggs and make sure the humidity level isnot too high or to low. Make sure the temps stay consistent. Make sure the eggsstay nice and plump. Then back to normal feedings with all of the females.After about 51 days of this the first clutch should start to hatch. This willlead to more work but this is what it is all about.

 Yes, it is work butis also a hobby… Hobby does not sound like the right word to use here. Hiking,fishing, bowling those are hobbies. My reptiles, well all reptiles are mypassion and have always been since I was a very little boy.

 The laying of theeggs is the second pay off of all of this. The first pay off is healthyanimals. When those little heads start piping that is the ultimate pay off.Seeing those heads piping is just a great feeling. We are hoping some of orpairings produce some really nice babies.

The Serpent Shanty

 We have been working hard here and everything is great. All the Ball Pythons have been cooling sincethe beginning of the November. Some of the females have taken small meals andmost of the males are not interested in food at all. The males have one thingon their mind… We finally figured out what we are going to pair together. Mostof our Co-Dom females and Recessive Females are not ready for this season. Allof our Co-Dom males will be paired. We may still pick up a few larger morphfemales but that is up in the air. One of the normal females we are going topair with a couple of Morph males just as a project, unless we pick up an Enchi.

 We have added a fewnew Green Tree Pythons, a female Merauke and a female Manakware. The Meraukehas been paired up with our male Merauke and we have witnessed quit a few goodtale wraps.

 The female Manakwareis a 2008 so she has a few more years to go before she is ready but she issmoken. The Manakware just took her first meal for us on 11/16 and that wasexciting. We had her for almost 3 weeks and she was not interested in food atall. At night (being that they are nocturnal like snakes are) she has beensitting on her perch looking at the ground. From my experience with GTP that isa good indication they are looking for food. She has only been feed live hoppermice so that is what I offered her and within the hour she was consuming herprey. Hopefully I could get her on F/T prey.  

 We have added a fewnew animals and will be adding pictures of them soon. We have made it a pointnow to update the site at least twice a month now. Hopefully we can stick to it…

The Serpent Shanty

We have decided to sell our Bearded Dragon collection. This decision was not an easy one by far. We have been discussing this for quit afew months now. We started posted ads for them in the middle of August and hereit is September 16 and we only have two males left from our collection. We dohave some babies we hatched out this past season and as soon as they are readywe will post them as well. So keep am eye out. Funny thing is the enclosureswere the first thing to be sold but of course that person had to wait until wesold the dragons to receive them. Even thou having as many dragons as we didtook up a lot of time we are going to miss them all. We know they all went toreally good caring people.

  I (Jason) have always been a snake person. Nowdon?t get me wrong I love all herps. Snakes have always held a special place inmy heart. When I lived in my apartment every space I could fit a tank I did.Then I went threw a phase when I could not feed them rodent live, prekilled orfrozen thawed. I don?t know why all of a sudden it started to bother me somuch. I know it is part of nature but I just could not do it so I slowly gotrid of them.  Then we bought our house sonow have room in the basement to properly house Bearded Dragon I started buyingthem. They where great but every time we went to an expo I would have to lookat all of the different snakes and want them all. Then one day a friend of minehad a few Ball Pythons they could no longer care for any more so I volunteeredto take them. That was back in 5/08 and it was four Ball Pythons. Well thatopened the flood gates, AGAIN. Here we are one year later with over 40 BallPythons and a few Green Tree Pythons. I still am not crazy about feeding someof them live (that is all a few of them will take, just can?t get them on F/T)but they have to eat just like everything else. Feeding them F/T is so mucheasier and I wish I could get all of them to take it. Both Sue and I have optedto focus more on the snakes. She is really into her GTPs and that is great.There is nothing better then having your partner in life enjoy the same things that you enjoy.

The Serpent Shanty

Jason

Well I went down this morning 6/14/2009 to check on our animals. I first check on one ofour gravid Ball Pythons. I pull out the tub and to my surprise she laid hereggs. Now it is not one of the best clutches you could hope for but stillsomething. She laid 4 eggs. Two of the eggs are fertile and the other two areslugs. After taking some photos and putting them in the incubator I check someof my other eggs. I check the other Ball Python eggs they are all OK.

 Then I check all ofmy Bearded Dragon eggs. I first check the clutch that should be pipping just tofind them with water spots on them. Being that they should be hatching I cutone of the eggs open just to find a dead dragon. I cut another and then anotherjust to find the same thing. I cut the entire clutch and no good. At this pointI am totally bummed! The poor mother that went threw all that work. The poorbabies that where so close to making it. I don?t know what could have happened?I have not told Sue yet she is going to be so upset. We really care about ouranimals and when something like this happens?I just don?t have any words to describehow it feels. So after I have finished with them I check on everything else.

 Checking on my otherBearded Dragons and being greeted at the front of their enclosure is cool. WellI don?t think they are really greeting me they know I bring food and I thinkthat is what they are looking for but none the less it is still cool. Then Icheck on the Ball Pythons. Seeing how many of them are in shed and fat is verysatisfying. Then I check on the one I picked up at the reptile show on 6/13/09 and man is she awesome. Herhighlights, the white just goes on for days WOW just WOW! She is awesome.  

The Serpent Shanty

Jason

 I was just thinking theother day, what word best describes how I feel about herps.  It is hard to choose one because I have characteristicsof many of them. Here are a few I am sure others can relate to.

  I am always going through pictures of myanimals. Surfing forums and other websites. I am always thinking about whatmorph to buy next. What to breed together? How can I get more, more, more.  This would be best described as obsessed. (Obsessed: Thinking aboutsomething all the time.) Now this brings me to passionate. (Passionate: Capableof, having, or dominated by powerful emotions.) I want to educate all andtouch every reptile I see. If  someoneask me a question or shows me a picture of a herp and I am not sure of theanswer I will research and surf the net until I find it. I want to knoweverything I can about these wonderful creatures. I also try so hard to makepeople unafraid of them and try to teach them just how valuable they are to theplanet. So this brings use to addiction.(Addiction: The condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied with orinvolved in something.) I would rather stay home and clean snake tubs thengo away on vacation… Is there something wrong with me? It is hard for me not tothink about herps. No matter what the topic of conversation is I usually turnit into something involving or comparing it to a herps.

 I don’t know if anyof these three would be the right choose? I mean yes I am very passionate aboutherps, I am addicted to them and obsessed about them but… I guess you could sayI am just a Reptile Enthusiast. AH! Let’s face it I am one big REPTILE GEEK anddamn proud of it.

The Serpent Shanty

Jason

 Busy, busy, busy!!!Yes we are, but it is good. The basement is coming along nicely. We wish we had a few weeks off from everything so we could just focus on finishing thebasement. But we all know that is not going to happen. The room where our reptileswill be is almost done we can?t wait.

 We had a few moreclutches of Bearded Dragon eggs. One of the clutches should be done hatching bythis Friday 6/12/2009. Weshould have a clutch hatching around the same time every month until Septemberright now, with what we have. We figure we might even have more then thatbecause a few of the dragons have yet to lay.

 Our Ball Pythoncollection is always growing (checkout our photos). Our one female laid fiveeggs totaling 479grams. She has eaten three meals since laying the clutch butthen again she has always been a great feeder. Our other gravid female is doinggreat and getting big.

The Serpent Shanty

 Let us first say Thank You for visiting our blog section of the site. We will try to keep you updated with everything going on here. Our name, we tried to come up with a unique name and both liked this one. Well actually Sue came up with it not me.

 We will try like hell to provide each and eveyone with the best customer service pessible. We are going to lead be example and not follow in others foot steps. We personally hate when it takes for ever to get a simple answer or we need to ask multiple times for a picture of an animal...etc We will also update this site on a weekly bases, as long as we have updates. I there is anything we can help you with just ask, I mean that is what we are here for. Thanks for visiting.

The Serpent Shanty