Chris' garters

[chris-uk]

When it comes to the duration of a shed, not only does it vary between individuals but the same snake can vary from shed to shed. Typically... I see blue phases lasting 2 days, then expect a shed some time between 3 and 10 days after the eyes clear. I've had a snake go blue sometime between late evening and the next morning, it's eyes clear by the evening of the day I noticed they were blue, then shed the following day - so blue to clean shed all in two days. Not sure what her hurry was, but she normally takes longer and hasn't done a rapid shed since.

[chris-uk]

So, not much to report since my last update. They're all doing nicely, and as expected for the time of year I've got a bunch of garters choosing not to eat (about 50/50 on the last feed). Both the cyrtopsis have stopped eating, but have put on weight during their eating phase this year.

The only real thing to say is that I'm thinking about breeding the Cuitzeos in the Spring. Lacrimosa will be 5 years old next year, and as I like having the Cuitzeos I want another generation so I'd hate to leave it another year and have something happen to one of my pair (they are one generation from Steven Bol's wild-caught Cuitzeos, so nice pure and traceable lines). We'll see what Spring brings, but 2015 is probably Cuitzeos, 2016 will almost certainly be an infernalis year, and 2017 may be a radix year (although I still need to find a nice female after the 2013 scrub I got turned out to be male).

[guidofatherof5]

Thanks for the update Chris. Glad to hear things are going well. How's the human scrub Joesph?

[chris-uk]

The human scrub is doing really well too. He was two in September and all he wants to do is read... And he might have started talking fairly late, but I've already reached the point a few times where I wished he'd just stop. The little man is showing all the signs of being a genius when he gets older.
Oh, and the human scrub enjoys touching the (calmer, more reliable) scrubs. I tend to use the radix. Joe thinks it's hilarious when a snake flicks it's tongue on him. I'll have him helping with the snakes in a few years.

Over the weekend I've moved all the snakes up into the small bedroom that I used as my office (my desk and things are now in the dining room). So all the slithery things are in one room now, I'll be hooking up some webcams again I think, so maybe I'll capture some interesting footage when I've got that sorted.

[guidofatherof5]

Thanks for the additional update. Tell Char and Joseph I said hello.