they're hatching :)

[JCam99]

Hey everybody!

After 52 days of incubation my clutch of eggs is hatching! These are the product of my big amel female (possibly a sunglow) X my albino okeetee male. These guys are just perfect! The pic doesn't really accurately show it, but these guys are very pink, not what I'd expect in seeing albino babies. Now this is my first time producing albino babies so I don't know exactly what I should be seeing. Some of the hatchlings have very bright orange heads and dark pink saddles on a lighter pink background. Others have less orange.

Here's a pic for your enjoyment. More pics to come. I gotta start harvesting the babies out of the sweater box so more can hatch out.

Jcam99 :cheers:

 

[elaphe4herps]

your right, they do look very "bubblegum" pinkish... their colors will change with the first few shed though. they look awesome. congrats! :cheers:

Wes Spinks

 

[tinytim12333]

Congrats.

 

[Jayde]

Nice!

Hey! Their Cute! They look JUST like my ones that have hatched last week! Congratulations!
How many do you have?

Luv
Jayde
-x-

 

[JCam99]

too many to count haha

Well I have no real clue how many I have. I had 27 or 28 eggs, it looks like 1 egg has went bad (now that the main clump has hatched I could actually see down in there), and so far I have 11 out of the egg and another 6 that have slit with their heads sticking out. They all look pretty identical, although some have more orange whereas most of the others have that strange pink tint. I wish it would stay there lol, but the parents are beautiful in their own right.

Handling those tiny babies, and then getting out my bloodred that I perceived as small, well yeah it makes the actual size of the snake in perspective really well. My bloodred has to be triple the length and girth of these hatchlings, and to think she was that small a mere 5 months ago! Wow! haha and I thought she wasn't growing very well.

Well I've got this clutch just about out of the way now, and as I write this the female that laid these eggs is in the process of laying another clutch! And I'm also happy to say the clutch I've been really waiting on, the clutch from my amel het opal I got from Rich were laid last night right in the middle of a crazy college party! haha! She gave me 23 and I was quite happy.

Post some pics of your babies if you can, I'd like to see them.

Peace
Jcam99

 

[JCam99]

second clutch total count

Once again this snake amazes me. She just finished laying her second clutch...29 fertile eggs! And I thought the second clutches were supposed to be smaller? Bottom line is I'm gonna be so overrun with these hatchlings, but I guess that isn't a big problem. I hope this female doesn't triple clutch, because she still has good body weight.

Just thought I'd share that info.
Later
Jcam99

:cheers:

 

[swingswing2007]

wow...... one amazing snake! Congrats

 

[Simon]

Congrats~!!

now to start them eating~~!

 

[Susan]

Beautiful babies! Congrats!! You'll be amazed how their color will change as they get older, getting darker and much more red and orange.

 

[JCam99]

Thanks for all the kind replys. Honestly I didn't expect all of her eggs to hatch, mainly because the past 2 years I had had horrible luck hatching eggs, getting only 2 or 3 hatch out and having the rest deformed or dead in egg. This year though, so far I am having no problems. These guys that just hatched are destined to local pet stores in the area (hope they got room for 25 of them ) . Even though they are just plain old amels (well sunglow X amel okeetee) I think they are gorgeous snakes. I'll post some new pics after they shed.

Later
Jcam99

 

[DavidM]

what did you do differently to improve your hatch rate so much?

 

[JCam99]

Hey

One thing I did this year was to actually use an incubator. I kept the temperature in the 84-86 degree range, and had no incident of spinal kinks or other deformities. In contrast, last year and the year before I put the eggs on top of a shelf in here and just let them sit. Now my house is air conditioned but this door is usually kept closed, so the temperature in here is in the low 80's.

This was the first year breeding this snake for me. I purchased her last year at a pet store for $75.00, so I have no clue about her previous years. The eggs I incubated the last 2 years came from my normal female who was bred at a young age and stunted in growth. She still lays eggs, but I suspect a lot of the deformity issues with her came from her small size perhaps? I'm not sure, but I did feed her a lot more this spring in anticipation of her ovulating (I wish she wouldn't). Her eggs this year look a whole lot better (no windows) and are progressing nicely. So I won't know for sure how they do until the end of the month when they are due to hatch.

Something else I just thought of...a snake I purchased from Rich last fall during hte adult sale laid I believe 1 egg and 17 slugs last year. This year she laid 23 perfect eggs that are developing nicely, and is expected to double clutch. I just mention this because I think sometimes we assume too much with deformities/infertility being female problems, when it well could be the male that is used also. Just something to think about.

Later
Jcam99

 

[JCam99]

quick clarification...

The female amel from Rich I was discussing in the past post laid over 30 eggs, not 23. I got a good chance to count them yesterday and was mistaken. All look fertile. She laid them in a giant mound so it was difficult to accurately count them. Most of my other females like to lay them all spread out, maybe 2 deep at the most, but this one had them like 6 eggs deep in places.

Just thought I'd clarify
Jcam99