Amel/Ghost breeding pair - £180 - good idea?

[JemmaUK]

Im contemplating buying a breeding pair - amel & ghost - of which the female should by the time I get her be gravid...

Now - at 3ft & 2.5ft respectively they seem small - and the seller has flat out said that she has never used a heat mat or any other heat source but a heat light...

Im just a little worried that I might be buying myself problems because while I know a corn can manage temps of 20c approx - its right on the edge of their happy place - is there gonna be any risk of problems with these two if they have been living right on the edge of comfortable temperatures?

The seller says they've been handled and are ok with kids - and that they have been at it and she'll probably be gravid & lay this year... They've been housed together and the owner says shes getting rid because her kids arent interested in the animals any more - but some things dont add up - like a person who knows about snakes - but throws out healthy eggs - at least once and probably twice *sigh*

Any one have any comments to make - suggestions?

 

[cornmorphs]

hmmm, dont sound too good.. and to be honest, for that price too??. thats pretty steep.
where do you live? i know uk obviously

 

[diamondlil]

I'd be worried about the female already having bred 3 (?) times already, under substandard conditions. Also, if there are no hets, amel to ghost will produce normal offspring, that you'll find hard to sell. If you want to start breeding, someone like Nige wavey: hey Nige) is how to get healthy stock with known genetics.

 

[JemmaUK]

hmmm, dont sound too good.. and to be honest, for that price too??. thats pretty steep.
where do you live? i know uk obviously

I live in Essex - Colchester to be precise *sigh*

Im looking for breeding animals having caught the bug with the two lil babies I have.

Thats with all the viv etc - which to my mind sounds a little small as well :s

Trouble is I dont have transport to go get animals and all the breeders I have managed to find either have hatchlings or nowt - which is fine - but thats not what I am really looking for...

I suspect that either this person doesnt know what they are doing with the snakes and thought the egg-sag was to do with them going off - or shes been fed a line by someone who's taken the (bad) eggs off her hands and gotten 12 babies for free (my brother would be just the type to do that to someone)

Im novice at what prices and such would be - I dont have much money to spend and I really dont want animals that are sick or mistreated - because it wouldnt be fair on them...

If anyone has any animals available with enclosure for a reasonable price and can deliver down to me... I do have a small viv and one baby in it that should to be honest put into a smaller enclosure..

Since I spend most of my time at home you can be assured that they wont want for attention

 

[diamondlil]

I've preordered snakes from Lexcorn and picked them up in Essex at shows, but I have also travelled up to steal Nige's snakes a few times now!
There are shows planned in Maidstone (just a couple of trains away!) for April 18th and August 29th, it looks like this year's shows in Essex aren't going ahead.
If you are going to breed, I'd recommend having separate set-ups for your breeders. Leaving them together means the male can harrass the female when she needs to lay her eggs, and will re-breed her whether she's regained condition or not.

 

[JemmaUK]

I've preordered snakes from Lexcorn and picked them up in Essex at shows, but I have also travelled up to steal Nige's snakes a few times now!
There are shows planned in Maidstone (just a couple of trains away!) for April 18th and August 29th, it looks like this year's shows in Essex aren't going ahead.
If you are going to breed, I'd recommend having separate set-ups for your breeders. Leaving them together means the male can harrass the female when she needs to lay her eggs, and will re-breed her whether she's regained condition or not.

I didnt think of the harassment thing - now you mention it it makes perfect sense and I should have thought of it - specially since I tend to get the same harassment myself from the male of the species *sigh*

If I were to get those two I could house one in the viv I already have and the other in the one that comes with them - would mean moving lil crimson to a small viv-ette like bubbles is in at the moment - which he seems to be thriving in oddly enough.

Colchester used to be the capital of england - you'd never notice - now its filled with squaddies and chavettes *ick on both scores*.

Any available snakes would be of interest - although I would probably have to meet in london somewhere - its a long story :s

 

[diamondlil]

I'm not surprised Bubbles is thriving in the mini-viv, the little'uns do well in them. I would say that the price is steep for that pair, also you'd have to get a laybox and an incubator set up and see what your options for sellling any hatchlings would be. I've sold normals with desirable hets privately for £25 each but wholesaled most of my normals, amels and aneries for £10 to shift them. So don't expect a breeding pair to cover much more than their purchase cost and feeding over a couple of successful years.
At that price I'd hold off, personally, and go for stock from a breeder.

 

[JemmaUK]

I'm not surprised Bubbles is thriving in the mini-viv, the little'uns do well in them. I would say that the price is steep for that pair, also you'd have to get a laybox and an incubator set up and see what your options for sellling any hatchlings would be. I've sold normals with desirable hets privately for £25 each but wholesaled most of my normals, amels and aneries for £10 to shift them. So don't expect a breeding pair to cover much more than their purchase cost and feeding over a couple of successful years.
At that price I'd hold off, personally, and go for stock from a breeder.

Incubator is not a problem - I have a resident expert in my father when it comes to rigging up things like that - failing that I have an area in the house that is a constant 27c which should be more than enough - plus a couple of plastic boxes from poundland - should be ok.

Its a matter of finding a breeder and knowing what I am looking for - Im not really up for 50 years of scientific breeding - I just want to see if I can raise healthy snakes and do it I guess as a hobby. The problem is I dont know what are the ones to go for - and the people who do are charging alot for them... The time of year doesnt help either...

Incidentally - whats with this white head thing - I dont like the look of those at all. Also any ideas why some snakes seem to have multiple personalities when it comes to colour? - tesseca-esque front end - patchwork middle - and a rear 1/3rd that is the colour of something that came out of a dogs backside..? It really looked like someone had cut three snakes up and sewn them together as one :s

Anyways, I need serious amounts of painkillers and sleep - while my joints all like to do things joints shouldnt be able to do (90 degree reverse bend on knuckle joints and hips that go in all directions) my back is as stiff as chobham armour plate - treatment for which is causing mucho pain :.(

NOTE: try and avoid anything with codiene in it - addictive much

 

[cornmorphs]

sounds like janine has covered most stuff.
I'm not sure of any breeders too near you to be honest, well Norwich there are a couple.. not sure on the delivery aspect though.
Its possible for me to deliver, especially if you buy from my scheme this year, delivery anywhere uk mainland is 30 quid.
Others may be possible, but the dates to deliver may not be specific at the moment.
if you could ever get over though you could have a good look at everything here.

 

[JemmaUK]

sounds like janine has covered most stuff.
I'm not sure of any breeders too near you to be honest, well Norwich there are a couple.. not sure on the delivery aspect though.
Its possible for me to deliver, especially if you buy from my scheme this year, delivery anywhere uk mainland is 30 quid.
Others may be possible, but the dates to deliver may not be specific at the moment.
if you could ever get over though you could have a good look at everything here.

Problem is I am looking for something adult age - the two I have are great but I dont dare let them explore or I would never find them again - and the last thing I want to see is them splattered all over the major road just outside my door...

Not to mention the time it takes for them to grow

Oddly Bubbles seems to have developed a case of ball bearings is the best way I can put it - occasionally it feels like I have ball bearings in a sock running over my fingers - but I cant feel it all the time, and when I try and feel for it he usually decides to be a pest and go all slack on me.

 

[diamondlil]

Problem is I am looking for something adult age - the two I have are great but I dont dare let them explore or I would never find them again - and the last thing I want to see is them splattered all over the major road just outside my door...

Not to mention the time it takes for them to grow

Oddly Bubbles seems to have developed a case of ball bearings is the best way I can put it - occasionally it feels like I have ball bearings in a sock running over my fingers - but I cant feel it all the time, and when I try and feel for it he usually decides to be a pest and go all slack on me.

How old/big are the ones you've got already?

 

[JemmaUK]

How old/big are the ones you've got already?

I have had them 1 month or so - Bubbles is around the 55cm mark as he's as long as my forearm plus a little - Claudia is smaller both in length and in girth.

They're both active and although cautious will come out and explore and they can be found sitting out sometimes in the morning in full view.

I dont know how old they were when I got them but bubbles has shed once and claudia twice since I got them - I suspect between two and three months would be about right.

At the moment I am feeding them between every 3 to 5 days and they take two pinkies each - Bubbles is satisfied with that - however Claudia if given the chance would take more - and shes tried to have my little finger for lunch twice now - her teeth are definately growing in... last time she got confuzzled it was actually uncomfortable to have her trying to manuever my finger into the right position... I had to gently tap her nose to get her attention and to disengage.

Slightly worried I have run out of mice temporarily - bank holiday - and hoping the order I have placed will come soon - else I am at a loss what to feed them

 

[diamondlil]

3 days is a little close, if they are taking double pinks I'd say it's time to try peach fuzzies, personally, with a 5-6 day interval. The nutritional profile of fuzzies is better and you'll often get a growth spurt after they change prey size.

 

[cornmorphs]

yeah they sound like they could do with a bigger meal. go for fluff 1st, but the male would likely take a small mouse.
definately keep them apart, at that size some males will want to mate, and they will harrass a female for a long long time. she may give in, and be far too small. I have seen corns barely 150 grams lay, and thats full.. so it can hapen.

 

[JemmaUK]

yeah they sound like they could do with a bigger meal. go for fluff 1st, but the male would likely take a small mouse.
definately keep them apart, at that size some males will want to mate, and they will harrass a female for a long long time. she may give in, and be far too small. I have seen corns barely 150 grams lay, and thats full.. so it can hapen.

When I first felt the ballbearingitis thing I wondered if they'd got them mixed up and the Anery was the girl and vice versa - I just ordered some more pinkies - so I'll get through those before I change to a bigger size..

With two pinkies they have a marked bulge and Claudia seems to have to fight with the bigger ones to get them to go down so I think I'll leave it a little yet... I'd rather be safe than sorry.

I have separated them since I re-read the book that came with them which said 61cm or so is when males start to get going - he's not far off that so I have split them - they seem to be doing ok so far with it...

Now I really am gonna get some meds and rest - 180mg of codeine barely touches the pain - but it does make it so you really dont care

 

[cornmorphs]

wow, they must be mega skinny then..

as for the pain, i eat co codemol for breakfast.
currently on about 600mg of tramadol a day, and now at the stage where that barely works.. GREAT,,

 

[diamondlil]

The ball-bearing feel is a little worrying, I hope s/he hasn't been bred.

 

[JemmaUK]

wow, they must be mega skinny then..

as for the pain, i eat co codemol for breakfast.
currently on about 600mg of tramadol a day, and now at the stage where that barely works.. GREAT,,

Yikes - what on earth have you managed to do to yourself? - you might want to be careful with tramadol - since some of the stuff it has in it gives your liver a royal kicking - probably better if possible to use codiene on its own..

any chance of it getting better?

 

[JemmaUK]

The ball-bearing feel is a little worrying, I hope s/he hasn't been bred.

Thats the thing - sometimes I can feel it - sometimes I cant - It could be I am feeling the muscles along his body contracting in a certain way - I have nothing to compare it with is the problem.

Im trying to decide what to do about these two - the woman wants me to call her tomorrow to arrange for her to come down - and I can refuse them if I dont like the look of them I guess...

I've also seen this adult male ?tree boa? in a local store for £85 - seems healthy but very strange snake - head is big compared to body - and there are two bulges above/behind the eyes - square snout - attractively ugly - very dark colours.

Im horribly tempted *sigh*

 

[bitsy]

Tree Boas have very different husbandry requirements to Corns, so that'll need some heavy-duty research before you know whether you'll be comfortable to take it on. They don't have a reputation for particularly liking the human race - they're the sort of snake you tend to admire from a distance and handle as little as possible, with a hook. I did some preliminary research myself a few years ago and decided against.

Know what you mean about the attractive/ugly thing though! Fascinating looking snakes.