A few months back I stumbled on a forum that discussed all things herpetological and this re-kindled my interest in snakes and prompted me to consider a breeding program with my long term captive male Royal python. I Received some cash from Dawns's grandmother, and sold the Eco 8 as spares on e-bay (all apart from the electrics). This gave me enough cash to look for a suitable female, and it wasn't long before I found one that was ideal for next years program.
However this was the start of things, I then designed a new set of enclosures, and spent a weekend getting the wood cut from B&Q and putting the thing together. Everything went well and over the course of the following week obtained the glass, heaters and lighting... the bottom line was around £400 for a fully fitted and decorated set of vivariums, each one 1200mm x 325mm by 500mm.
I spent a couple of days setting the heating right so it gives a hot spot of 32 C at one end and 26 C at the cool end, before introducing the snakes to their new home. A day later both snake fed and then Fred went into a shedding cycle. Jasmine is still a little too small to breed from at just under three feet and 700g. Ideally she needs to double her weight and gain another foot, which as she is only two years old should manage that in time for the breeding season next November (2010).
The image on the right shows Jasmine exploring her new home, and I'm sure you'll agree she has some stunning light markings
The image on the right shows me with our boa (bcc) who was named by Dawn as "Mildred" (yes we did have a pair and the male was called George, but he was so agressive we sold him on ). She was about two or thee years old when we took that picture and around six feet. The bank of vivariums I built can be seen to the left of the picture,, with the remaining hatchling corn snakes in the tubs on the top.
Mildred was given (along with a 72" x 21" x 21" viv) to my friend Andy as we needed to downgrade the collection due to our second child coming along and we needed a three piece suite, so it was get rid of the viv's or sit on the floor !
Back in 2001 Andy and his wife Barbara moved home so Mildred came and stayed with us for an evening or two, by which time she was just over 8 feet in length. Regretfully the move took longer than anticipated, and she developed an RI not long after, from which she didn't recover. Both Andy and Myself were gutted as she was such a nice calm, plascid snake.
This is Fred, who will be 19 in July 2010. Fred was purchased the day Fredie Mercury (lead singer of Queen) died and as he was a "royal" python, and the band was Queen, Dawn thought it would be an excellent connection.
It is hoped that Jasmin will be up to breeding weight by November 2010 and we hope to see if these two will produce our first ever clutch of baby royals. We'll keep you posted
