Irish lizards threatened by agriculture

ScienceDaily (2010-09-25) -- A new ecological network is urgently needed in Northern Ireland to ensure the continued survival of its precious lizard population, according to researchers. Lizards are found in coastal areas, heath and boglands around Northern Ireland, but a new study has found their natural habitats may have been replaced through agricultural intensification.

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Goini Cross

Check out these new pics of the goini cross project. The hypo female is coloring up nicely and growing fast. She eats two fuzzies about every other day. And the blaze male is finally home! I picked him up from Tom Stevens the other day and set him up here. Look at the rich color on that little guy!

I'm so excited about this project. The male is a very unique snake; I don't know if anyone has ever produced a patternless blaze goini cross before. I can't wait to see how these two look as they grow and what their babies will look like. 

50-million-year-old snake gets a CT scan

ScienceDaily (2010-09-20) -- Even some of the most advanced technology in medicine couldn't get Clarisse to give up all of her secrets. After all, she's protected them for more than 50 million years. Clarisse is a snake, found in the Fossil Butte region of Wyoming, perfectly fossilized in limestone and the only one of her kind known to be in existence.

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More Eggs and Setting the Sights on Next Year

Well, we've had a very busy week here. I'm happy to say that the baby snakes are eating well, we're taking reservations for shows for this year and we have five more Honduran milk snake eggs from the same parents that produced the albinos and hypo. 

Now it's time to focus on getting our snakes ready for next year. All of the snakes we plan to breed next year will be fed as much as possible for the next several weeks. Then they will get a three week fast to clear their digestive systems before being put into brumation, in which they will be kept cool in a dark closet for about two months. This helps trigger the biological changes that prepare the snakes to breed the next season. During this time, the snakes will not eat, but will be very inactive. They will continue to drink and may even shed their skins while in brumation.

After brumation, the snakes will be gradually warmed up and will resume feeding to kick off another season.

Next year's breeding goals are:

Honduran milk snakes

California king snakes

Brooks king snakes

Honduran Milk Snakes: The Final Count

The results are in. All the good eggs from this summer have hatched. On the downside, we lost an entire clutch of anery's and a few eggs from the other two clutches. We also had two babies that hatched with fatal defects and one beautiful albino that didn't make it out of the egg. Despite these disappointments, I'm still very happy about what we did produce: 

Four healthy normals

Two albinos

The mystery hypo

Some of the babies have already shed and are starting to eat. I'll post more pictures soon.

Want one of these little gems for a pet? Here are the prices: 

Clutch 1:

3 Normals, 66% het for albino, 50% het for hypo...$50 each

Clutch 2:

1 Normal (Sibling to the mystery hypo), 66% het for albino and hypo...$70

1 Albino  (Sibling to the mystery hypo) 66% het for hypo...$200

1 High white albino  (Sibling to the mystery hypo) 66% het for hypo...NFS

1 Mystery hypo 66% het for albino...NFS

I'm also excited because two of my snakes may double clutch for me this year. Wish me luck.

Stephen's Reptile Room

My little brother, Stephen, and my mom recently remodeled his bedroom in this super-cool reptile theme. They repainted the walls and added reptile pinups and pics of Steve Irwin. Homemade snakeskin-patterned blanket, pillowcases and curtains adorn the bed and windows. A big, stuffed alligator on the bed and leopard geckos on the ceiling fan blades (hand painted by Mom) finish off the project. Besides Stephen, the room is home to three leopard geckos and a San Diego gopher snake. It's a great habitat for a herp-loving teen.

High-white albino and mystery hypo

These two will probably be my holdbacks for this year. The mystery hypo and this beautiful high-white albino. Check out how the white overtakes the wide orange bands half way down the body. I'd like to explore the genetics of this mystery hypo and see what happens. As for the albino, I want to line breed and see just how much white I can get into one of these snakes.

Everything else will be up for sale as soon as they are shed and fed.