El Rosario Gopher Snakes are Here

Last week these finally started to hatch. Out of the ten eggs that hatched from this clutch, four were albinos. One of the hets was very light colored, I'm hoping this one will turn out to be one of those "super reds" that this line can produce.
They all appear healthy ready to take on the world. An early check of the sexes appears that I him heavy on females...but I'm not complaining too much about that.


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Mexican Baird's Hatching

This year looks to be a successful one for my long antcipated Fort Worth Zoo line of Mexican Baird's. All the eggs in this clutch have hatched and the offspring look fat and healthy...more updates on them later.

First Hatchlings for 09

These Cave Rats just hatched out a few days ago. They are always my first hatchlings since they breed so early. I have a bumper crop of these guys and it looks like I have more females than males which is switch from recent years.
Also to pop out this past week, are these nice and fat looking Ladder Ratsnakes. These are from my French locale group. I think they are some of the most attractive of all the baby ratsnakes.

'09 Breeding Season Update

The breeding season is going well so far, most of my breeders have already laid their clutches, however I have a few more still to lay. So far most all of the eggs look fertile and seem to be developing nicely...but you never know how things will exactly turn out until it is hatching time. A couple of highlights include the Mexican Baird's which came through with a nice healthy looking clutch towards the end of May which is much ealier than my Texas Bairds usually lay. Also, check out this clutch of 17 from my largest Mexican Lined Gopher female which was produced the first week of June. This girl really came through and another female should be laying soon.

The European Ratsnakes are usually the ones that lay first for me, however this Leopard Ratsnake did not lay this clutch until several weeks after all the others had laid their's.

I got a chance to do a little field herping this spring, below is a photo of a Copperhead I found under some tin in one of my old favorite spots in Guiliford Co. that unfortunately is being encroached upon by development. Sad to see a great NC piedmont herping spot in the process of vanishing. I'll update things later once all my females have laid.

A Blast From the Past

Anyone remember the Vivarium magazine? I had an ad in the second issue which came out in the late '80s. I was supposed to have an ad in the second issue but they accidently left it out so they let me have ads in the next two issues. It's fun to look back and see how things have changed in herpetoculture.

Pituophis news.....

The long wait for my P. l. lineaticollis eggs to hatch finally ended this past week. Like with many pit lovers, it has been a dream to finally produce these guys. Check out the elongated striping of this male.
Also hatching out this past week was this nice clutch of big fat Stillwater hypo Crumbly Red Bull crosses. The color of these should be outstanding as they mature.
I was checking out a few of my yearlings such as this '07 La Pine and this '07 Presidio Co. affinis sayi intergrade (a naturally ocurring intergrade)and the size difference is as interesting as the color variety we see within the Pituophis genus.

Intermontana habitat and hatching

This summer I had a chance to be in E. g. intermontana country. The above pic is a view of some typical habitat in the canyon lands of Eagle Co. Colorado.
I also had a chance to visit Rocky Mountain National Forest. No herps were seen but we did see this moose feeding in a pond near the headwaters of the Colorado River.
And here is a little Colorado Spotted Ratsnake that has just hatched. Check my Available section soon as lots of things are hatching now and I'll be listing them soon.