pics of collection

I snapped pics of my current collection. Not great pics, but I didn't have much time.


First off is a pair of Colonets, Jerry Hartley stock. Nice lookin boas that will lose their pattern as they age, and end up completely unicolor.
















Next is a group of Lake Isabellas. I have them on a breeding loan, and they should produce 3 litters next season.
























These three are 100% het whitewater albinos, and 50% het borrego anery. They were from my second litter this year.







































Next come a pair of High Desert boas that should be ready to breed next season.































This is a 2008 female WhiteWater albino. She should be ready to breed in another year.
















These next ones are WhiteWater albinos that are 50% het for Borrego Anery. They were produced this year in my first litter.































Now a pair of F-1 Carrizo roads. The female is a 2008 from captivebredtricolors, and the male is 2009 from Jerry Hartley.

















Now this 2008 born female Long Canyon
















This 2008 pair of San Gabes have another year before they'll be ready.































This male Borrego Anery is ready to breed next season, and will be paired with my double het females, and maybe my adult albino female as well.
















These are my double het girls. They are het for both whitewater albino and borrego anery. They bred this year but didn't produce. We'll see how they do next year.
















This big ww albino female produced my first litter this year (albino babies above).
























This girl is supposed to be 100% het for WW albino. She produced the hets from my second litter this year.
















This old girl is a Long Canyon. She is old, but might have another litter or two left in her. We'll see this next season.

















The top boa is a 2007 female Long Canyon that will be ready this next season, and the bottom boa is an adult male Long Canyon.

















This big girl is an adult female Nichols road. She's big and friendly, and should produce this upcoming year as well.

















This is an adult male Limburg Albino
















And a second adult male Limburg Albino.
















And lastly, this is an adult female Nuevo/Lake Perris boa. My brother has a male from the same hillside, and they should both be ready this next season.

Litter #2

My het albino female dropped 5 very healthy babies a few weeks ago. All 5 are 100% het for WhiteWater Albino, and 50% possible het for borrego anery.
They've all shed and most are eating frozen/thawed already.




I've had a lot of changes in the my collection over the last few months. I'll post an update later today about what all I've gotten.

Shedding time

The albino babies are now 2 weeks old, and doing well.
One of them shed today, and the other two look like they'll shed in the next day or two.
The one that shed looks awesome. It has nice clean stripes just like it's mother.

2009 babies

Being born early has been rough on this first litter.
Three of six didn't make it. The remaining three seem strong, but only time will tell.
Although I do have hope for these guys, I honestly am really just hoping that the second 09 litter has more time to develop so they can come out more robust.
These guys are pretty cool though.

6 Newborn additions

I had a litter of rosys born last night.
There were six in all, and they're all WW albino and 50% possible het for borrego anery.

They were born a little early, and two of them are still absorbing yolk from their sacks so I have them in a separate container on a damp towel to keep it from drying up.

The other four seem to be doing well. I shot a few crappy pictures with my cell phone.
One of the four slipped under the blue cover before I could take the pics, so you only get to see three. I will take some better pics with a better camera and post them soon.




Now I patiently wait for the next litter to be born. My het female is HUGE. She's significantly bigger than the albino girl that just gave birth. We'll see how it goes.

ARC 2009

I had a blast at ARC (Annual Rosy Club) 2009, and snake hunting with my old buddy Ethan this past weekend.

The first night in CA Ethan and I went to a few spots around Palm
Springs, and at 1:30 AM while driving up a particularly Long Canyon,
we rolled up on our first snake of the night... a nice looking male
Rosy boa.



The next day we went to the San Gabriels, to a place we could
potentially see both mountain kings, and rosy boas. I was disappointed
to find out that the gate to the road we were hoping to drive up was
closed after a few miles, cutting us off from going above 2000 feet.


After a ~4 mile hike, we decided to head down the mountain, and check
some eastern riverside county localities. However, as we came down the
mountain and around a very cliffy bend we saw a very large snake
stretched out in the left lane. I still couldn't tell what it was when
Ethan yelled "It's a rosy!". It was indeed a very old and war-torn
female San Gabes rosy boa.




We met several of my good friends at the Annual Rosy boa Club and a
few of them gave snakes to both Ethan and I. During the rest of the
trip we hit a whole array of localities (12 I can count off the top of
my head) and we saw a variety of snakes. 1 kingsnake, 3 long nosed, 1
glossy, and 1 Western Diamondback.

Just spending some time with an old friend in some of the most
beautiful areas I've seen made it a very wonderful weekend.



...Of course, it doesn't hurt that we both went home with a few rosy boas.

I added quite a few animals to my collections that weekend, including:
-An adult female Long Canyon rosy boa. She is quite old, but still has lots of life left in her.
-An adilt male Long Canyon rosy. He is one of the better looking Long Canyons I've ever seen. Nice orange.
-A juvinile female hypomelanistic Long Canyon.
-An adult male Yucca valley with really nice orange and tan.
-An adult male Morongo valley that has a really cool brown on tan look. My 4 uear old daughter calls it "bacon".
-An adult male Limburg strain albino. He had a previous injury that left him with only one good eye.
-A huge adult female Nichols road. She is really big and could be gravid.
-An Arizona mountain kingsnake (male 2007 F-2, gardner canyon). I am giving this one to a friend.


I hope to take some new pics of my current collection soon.
Several of my females are now getting REALLY BIG, and could even give birth next month.
There are several other females that I don't think took this year, but should be good and ready by next spring.

Future Projects

My current snake projects are doing really well, and I have a couple up coming projects that I have been thinking/dreaming about.
Some are localities that I plan to add, and some projects that I hope to start in the future.


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Unicolors
I'm planning on adding some unicolors sometime this year. Probably Otay Lakes, Dulzuras or Colonets. I have several friends that breed them and I'll probably trade them for a pair of something I produce this fall. Also, my nephew has a dulzura that I'd like to pair up for him.


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Black Mountain
These are a nice dark CA locality. A local breeder produces them each year and I'll probably trade him a pair of something I produce this fall.


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Carrizo road
I've always dug the bluer Carrizos and my breeder friend who's website I manage breeds them. I'll probably get a pair from him this fall.


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Homewood canyon
These guys have a special place in my heart, as I spent so much time in this general area looking for them as a kid. Man, if I knew then what I know now... : ) I know a few breeders, and a friend offered me a surplus male that I might pick up in May.


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Snow whites
I have a friend who will be producing snow whites this year (one of only 2 people who have them). I talked with him the other day and I'm hoping to get one from him this fall, or maybe an expressed Morongo axanthic that's het for WW albino. Either way, I could then leverage my existing adult female WW's for the project.
The Morongo axanthics have not been produced in large numbers, while the Limburgs axanthic/anerys are becoming WAY more common. The few Morongo axanthics produced last year sold for 3-4 times what this years Limburgs will probably go for.
I suppose I could just get a Limburg axanthic to cross with, but where's the fun in that? The morongos are freakin awesome! :)


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Albino Harquahalas
These are still quite rare. Someone listed a pair of hets the other day for $900 and they got bought up really quick. As far as I know that is the only time they have ever been offered for public sale.
I have a friend who has an albino male and is breeding it to several normal females (2 of which he got from me, lol). I'd really like to get a pair of hets from him, but I'm not sure what his availability will be this year. I'll probably have to wait until 2010.

Some come and some go

Well, sad news. It happens every once in awhile to everyone who keeps critters. My 2008 female bahia de LA died this last weekend.

She was a VERY small neonate (look at her compared to my thumb), and after eating only once last fall she refused food. I tried everything short of force feeding, then I put her down for winter brumation. During brumation I treated her cage with a small amount of Permethrin, which she did not handle well. None of my other snakes showed any affects, but she was my only neo in brumation at that point and they are known to have a harder time processing Permethrin at brumation temps.

After brumation she ate only once more, and again began refusing food. I tried every trick, and when she started losing mass I began force feeding. Even being forcefed she never grew or gained mass, and finally died.



On a happier note, a breeder friend whose website I manage is getting some of snakes together to send me sometime soon. I believe he's got a couple nice rosys for me, and if I'm lucky he might just hook me up with a couple CA mountain kings. He breeds some beauties! :)

4 Long Canyons, 3 San Gabes, and a pair of Riverside Cheaters

So, the last post was more of a description of my March trip rather than actually showing the new additions. When all was said and done, this weekend added 9 rosy boas to my collection.

First up is an adult pair of cheater riverside county boas. They were collected only 30 or 40 yards from each other and should make a great breeding pair. I've already seen some amount of breeding activity from them, and both have already taken frozen/thawed mice from my hand.


Next is a trio of San Gabes. San Gabes have some of the brightest orange of any locality. I believe they are F-2's produced in 2008, but they are already bigger than some of my 2007s. All three have eaten F/T hoppers for me and if I keep them growing at their current rate, they'd be ready to breed next spring.



Next is an adult pair of Long Canyons. They are easily breedable size, although I believe they were produced in 2006 or 2007. They have very bright orange stripes on a light blueish background. They have both eagerly fed on F/T since I got them.

only one pictured


Lastly is another pair of Long Canyons, this time juveniles. They were produced in 2008, but are even bigger than the San Gabes. I believe they were produced from the same parents as the adult pair. They too have eaten F/T since I got them.