Thursday, July 21, 2011

Small Female, Small Clutch.

Small female equals small clutch (less eggs) I expected this, as this female was just on breeding weight of 1280-grams when I 1st pair her in December'10 with my 1.0 Pastel. She continues to eat during the breeding, (she never refuse a meal, ever since I got her) then refuse & accepted food till the middle of 3th month of breeding. After that, she refuses completely any food offered on the 4th month till today.
Ball Python shows parental instinct, which in the reptile kingdom, they usually dont take care of their youngs. But, to lessen the stress, and safety of my females & the need to bring her weight back up. I have to remove the eggs, and incubate it artificially.
There is no harm in parental incubation, but bear in mind, the female havent been eating for the pass 3 months, and ball python eggs usually hatch in average 55-days, with the mom on the eggs, that's a total of 5-months without food.
So, I'm going to artificially incubate the eggs, then tomorrow, hopefully she'll have her 1st meal. (2 of my females, accepted food straight away 1 day after they lay, hope this one will too)

A slim chance for a super pastel, but who knows, right? On paper, there is a 1 in every 4 eggs for a super pastel. My target is a male super pastel, that my wish, lol.. All 4 eggs, Super pastels, please.. AMIN!!
55-days plus today, expected hatching 16-sept-2011.

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