first success at breeding snakes.

[Andy2035]

Congrats Colin, here's hoping the sixth one pops out soon...

May I ask, do they eat they're shell once they're out and how long and what do they eat...

[Guest]

They dont eat their shell, its just leathery with no protein at all really.

They stay in the egg untill they absorb all the yolk basically, they even have a little slit on their under side where the reptile version on the umbilical cord was attached.

When they hatch they're about 12 inches long, they dont eat straight away, they will shed their skin for the first time before they will eat. at this size they can eat something up to the size of a half grown mouse.

so when they shed their skins we have the task of getting them eating, which can be a pain as they sometimes have no interest. some adult royal pythons have a tendency to go on fasts or stop eating for no reason, we had a female that didn't eat for over a year, we provided her with water and heat and thats all she wanted, when she started eating again absolutely snaffled them up.

[Guest]

Long time ago we were in the jungle with some Ghurkas, we had a nice fire going and swapping storys when this huge snake fell in front of this ghurka.

Never seen such small guy move so fast, the smoke must have knocked the snake out cos it wasn't movin much any way fast as lightning this guys screamin like a banshy holding his slr like a bat and kills this snake he also smashed his rifle and bent it they then cooked it and ate it.

There's a story of a marine sleeping in the jungle he was woken cos he couldn't move his arm all he could make out were these glowing eyes, Being quite shocked he started to scream waking his mates who once lit the area.

Found a huge pithon had eaten up his arm and was stuck at the arm pit

Martin

[Guest]

For those that are interested, Elaine has a 100% success on all eggs hatching which is great for saying it was her first time and even some of the more serious breeders have had a fair amount of failiure this year.

Here they are in all their glory

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Now just to wait 21 days for the other four to start hatching if all goes well.

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[Guest]

they're colours are at there best when there just born or just shed there skin.

Congratulations buddy

Martin

[Andy2035]

They look great, may I ask how quick will they grow...

[Guest]

thanks for the comments.

Andy they grow basically relative to the amount of food they intake. as a general rule with these they will grow about 1-2 inches everytime they shed their skin which will hopefully be about every two to three weeks.

they should eat a small mouse every five days at this size bit each snake is different and some don't follow the rules.

[Guest]

WOW!! i too am a snake owner. i have a collumbian red tail boa constrictor called porshsa.. royal pythons are a beautiful snake with such a lovely personality. i had one called kane but sadly hes not with us anymore.

[Guest]

Well we've had the other four eggs hatch.......

They seem to be "three 2-gene" and "one 3-gene" combinations.

The two gene will be fire x pastel ... called "firefly" and the three gene one will be Fire x pastel x yellowbelly called a "firefly yellowbelly" (strangly enough )

For those that are interested in genetics, these snakes will be able to combine with others to produce 3/4/5 gene snakes in the future when mature.

For those interested in the financial side of it these four are worth over £2,500.

here they are, third photo is the 3-gene

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[Ian M]

An odd thing to say about a snake, but they are pretty!

2500, together or each. If thats for them all thats a bargian.

Ian M

[Guest]

Thats for them all .... three at about £500 and one at a grand ish .....

To me the prices of these snakes are silly money .... people are paying 20-30 grand for some of them .... one guy paid £130,000 (yes thats 130 thousand) to get a certain male colour morph into his collection, the babies from this went for about 50 grand each i think.

The normal babies from earlier in this thread will be about 40 quid each .... big difference eh Ian?

[Ian M]

Well I can only say that those prices dont reflect the effort and risk. Also I can not imagine there are so many snake breaders in the UK.

If you look at the price of a puppy of kitten you would expect to be paying more than that for just one kitten. Over here a Main Coon costs over £500. for an ordinary one. some thing a bit special and you can bung another zero on the tag!

I still think they look great. The snakes that is.

Ian M

[Guest]

There colours are beautiful especially when there nice and new or after shedding .

Imagine them in leaf litter or on a tree branch true camouflage.

Martin

[Andy2035]

They are amazing looking, they look like a completely different type of snake, you have done a great job with them Sir, you should be very proud of yourself...