the stripe specialist

Hatchlings Coming Out Of My Ears!!

August 13, 2010

I have 25 baby snakes in the house!! 15 from the Pepper x Buzztail clutch, 5 from the El Wray x Cherry clutch, my three Lavender hatchlings from Colorado Corns, and a gorgeous Bloodred Male and Pewter Female from Colorado Corns who are raffle donations for the Cornsnake Supper Club Raffle to Benefit USARK in Daytona Beach, FL, next weekend. The Pepper x Buzztail babies are growing and thriving. All have had two meals, and tonight they start on their third feedings! These hatchlings are big ones, ranging from 8.5 grams to 10+ grams!

The babies are nearly ready to go and four, in fact, have been sold. I will be bringing the babies to Daytona next week for the National Reptile Breeders Expo. All will have had two meals, some three, and they will be pre-registered with The American Cornsnake Registry. I couldn’t be more pleased with the quality of this clutch. After their sheds, they are even more beautiful!! And they are ravenous feeders, every last one! It’s hard to decide which are prettier- the lovely grey-toned Granites or the bright Bloodreds. All have excellent diffusion! A Bloodred + Bloodred Pair, or a Bloodred + Granite Pair will produce a rainbow of hatchlings: Bloodreds, Fires, Granites and Avalanches in Saddles and Stripes. These babies result from a total outcross and are _very_ vigorous!

Meet The Miamis!

August 13, 2010

The Miami Babies are all shed and fed. In fact, the first hatchling, El Tigre, (left) had his second meal last night. The Miamis are small, ranging in size from 4.5 grams to 6 grams. I’m quite nervous about housing such tiny snakelets in the hatchling rack, and have slid cardboard under the shoeboxes to tighten things up, and so far, so good!! It’s amazing that their daddy, El Wray, was hatched out only two years ago at 4 grams and is now a big, beautiful 350 gram adult! They are incredibly fast growing.

The second Miami hatchling (below left) is a nice Milksnake Miami. I _really_ like this one! Third out was Minina, (below right)so-called because he or she is a sweet little thing compared to El Tigre! The babies will be meeting “Grandma Carol” of Low Belly Reptiles in Daytona next week, so they can be sexed.

Fourth out is Gatito, (below left) a pretty Miami with rich chestnut saddles. And last but certainly not least is Candy Cane! Candy Cane (below right) was a huge surprise, since neither I nor Carol knew that El Wray or Cherry were het for Amel. And Candy Cane took her sweet time in coming out after poking her cute pink nose out of the egg! Candy Cane weighed in at a petite 4.5 grams, but had no trouble eating a whole small pink. I’m not sure what the future holds for these babies! There are certainly a couple that I may not be able to part with. It’s possible one or more may journey back to Low Belly Reptiles in California where their parents came from. It’s likely that one or two may be offered for sale. I’ll let you know!