F4_2009 Clutch Hatched and F14_2009 Clutch just laid...

I started by finding another clutch tonight. I was expecting this female to lay soon, and I figured it would be a big clutch. However, I was surprised to see a clutch of 12 eggs! They all appear good to me, even though I did not candle them tonight (didn't have time). I will try to check them out at some point later, but I think they should be fine. This particular banded-type normal had produced for us a few years back. For the fun of it, I line bred her this year, but the male was not doing much. In the end, I paired her up with the Mojave male. I can't be 100% sure what will happen with this clutch as the line breeding may of worked - or may not of worked... Whoever is the father doesn't matter a whole lot, it looks like a healthy clutch and that's what matters most. We'll see who the father was when it hatches on September 19th :) I'm fairly confident it will be the Mojave though...


Also, clutch F4_2009 started pipping today. I cut all the eggs to avoid having any babies drown. Years ago, I had bred a few corn snakes and I remember loosing a perfectly healthy red albino corn snake (amelanistic) due to drowning. The poor thing was half tied up in a knot and could not get out of the egg. I open all the eggs up now, but I make sure to open them up only when they are ready! And that's what is most important... if you cut them too early, you can kill them if you don't know what you're doing you...

Since this is a Yellow Belly to Normal breeding, I can't be sure what the ratio is until they actually leave the eggs. This is our first time hatching Yellow Bellies. We are very confident of identifying them once they are out of the eggs as the markers are very clear. However, while still sitting in the eggs, we can't see the bellies, sides and most cases, not even the top of their heads. So we'll have a better idea what's going on in a few days once they leave the eggs...

Just for the record, the next clutch is the Espresso line breeding... 5 days from now... I fear the results won't be good... candling is showing what appears to be rather normal looking babies... we'll see soon enough...