PIPPIES! Yaaaay! And how I came to own 2 more snakes...

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Floof

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Starting off with the story of how they came to be, and how I wound up with my Kisatchies. You're welcome to skip straight to pictures if you like, because this is going to be long!

SO, back in April, my roommate took in a couple Kisatchie corn snakes (also known as Slowinski's Rat snakes, they're a different species than your typical Corn snake). They had been housed together for the past year or so (when the previous owner had gotten them), and she figured they'd probably already bred once or twice... What's the harm. So, she left them together for a few weeks til I was able to free up a tub and have her separate the female. By that time, we'd witnessed copulation 3 or 4 times. Around this time, she told me I could have the male (because I kept commenting how much I LOVE him and his salmon belly!). Works for me--he's been eating my mice, anyway!

Fast forward to June. The female, dubbed "Clove" by the roommate, laid a clutch of 16 eggs on June 13. At some point during incubation, one egg went bad... Down to 15, all are developing, have healthy veins, and all around look pretty good.

Sometime between then and now, my roommate decided she wants to get out of snakes completely, for personal reasons. A decision I support fully--no offense to her, but... Well, if the last few months are anything to go by, she's just not meant to be a snake owner. Anyway, she waffled on the decision for another month or so before finally surrendering her two corn snakes to a rescue.

That left Clove. She still wasn't sure whether she ACTUALLY wanted to keep Clove or not. Same with her two lizards (who she takes somewhat better care of). A couple days later, she declared I could have Clove (I'd already started considering her mine, anyway) and that I can put up an ad for her Mountain Horned Dragon (we both know she doesn't have the patience to sift through emails and pick a GOOD home).

That all happened earlier this week. I still don't know where that leaves the eggs, but, anyway... TODAY, the babies started PIPPING! Right on time, too--today is Day 60!

We'll start with pictures of Mom and Dad. May I introduce, Vrael and Clove!

First up is Vrael. My big pretty boy with his salmon belleh! He's named after a character in the Inheritance Cycle (the Eragon series), because I'm a dork and loved those books lots.
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He's also featured in my current avatar, playing Curious Scarf.
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And, of course, the little Mama. This is Clove. Who will probably get a new name. Eventually. I swear, every time I go to take pictures of her, she's in shed. So this is about the best I've got that actually shows her colors.
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She's still a little skinny from laying eggs (roommate kept forgetting to feed her more often than usual to help her plump back up), so fingers crossed she doesn't try to double clutch!

AAAAND the pippies! I woke up to 5 noses... Now there's 8!! No one is out just yet, though! Here's a view of the whole egg box...
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All the pippies so far are all in this one big clump of eggs...
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Now the REALLY hard part. Leaving them the heck alone so they feel comfortable enough to come out!!! I promise... There will be pics as they start emerging!
 

Tom

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That is fantastic! Great post.

And I got a new word from it too. "Pippies". Cool.
 

Floof

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Thanks, guys! I'm loving these Kisatchies.

There's now 10 little noses! No one has emerged just yet.. Argh. It's sooo hard leaving them alone! Hopefully by tomorrow morning, I'll have baby pictures to post...
 

Floof

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Aaand #1 has made his appearance!! He hatched out at a whopping 7 grams. So tiny!

You'll have to bear with me here, because my camera SUCKS. I won't be able to get good, honest pictures of anything til daylight because the flash on this thing is waaaaay too strong. So, these two were about the best I could do, for now!
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CourtneyAndCarl

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That's why I liked breeding birds... once the egg cracks open that thing is usually out of there in an hour or two at the most.
 

Jacqui

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Enjoyed the story and the parents are indeed pretty. Will be interesting to see what all the little guys look like.
 

Floof

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Courtney--Lol! That would be very nice if the snakes would do that... But, on the bright side, this way, you're not stuck dealing with 15 or 16 angry baby snakes all at once! :p

Another 3 were out this morning... Oh, and we may have miscounted the eggs. I count 16 good, not 15! I guess we'll see... Nothing wrong with an extra baby, just need to get another tub!

First, a better picture of #1..
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#2...
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#3... He wouldn't hold still, so I ended up snapping a quick pic or two outside instead of in his tub.
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And #4! This is an angry little one. He kept rearing up and striking. I love when the tiny ones think they're soooo tough! <3
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Hope you enjoyed! I can't wait til they're shed and fed and big enough for outdoor photo shoots...I need a better camera, dangit! :p

Will continue to update as the other 11 (or 12) babies emerge...
 

lisa127

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Beautiful snakes and great pictures. I love baby snake faces.
 

Floof

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Thank you!

What's really cute is when one sticks its head all the way out of the egg and tongue-flicks at you... squeeee! I love working with the tiny babies. I'm even contemplating repeating this pairing next year... Maybe if I have a real hatchling rack by then!
 

Floof

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Two more! And now I'm 99% sure there's actually 16, instead of 15. Cool!

Here's #5. Once again, lighting and flash would not cooperate, so s/he got to go outside. (And then wouldn't hold still.)
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After I got #5 settled, I went to check the eggs on more time. With most of the big clump empty, I decided to gently cut away a couple of the top eggs, to get a better count and idea what was going on with the eggs underneath. I counted and came out with 15. Counted again... Still 15. Went to put the lid back on, and realized there were 6 empty eggs. Not 5.

So, there are 4 eggs that haven't pipped yet, 6 with their noses stuck out, and 6 babies emerged & settled!

Introducing, #6! My little burrower. :)
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Floof

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Thank you, Carol! I'm glad you enjoyed the thread!

Came home from selling a couple old rat cages (woohoo! Less clutter... More expo money!) to find another egg empty. #7, like his/her sibling, was hiding way at the bottom of the tub under all the moss.
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7 down, 9 to go...
 

Jacqui

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Is there one of the ones hatched at this point your liking more then the rest?
 

Floof

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As it stands right now, personality and head patterns seem to be the only real way to tell them apart... They all look so much alike, lol! We'll see as they all shed and start developing colors, who ends up sticking out! :)

#'s 8 and 9 have emerged. Pictures pending... I'm procrastinating... :p

As promised, photos of #8 and #9. Oh, and I finally won the Battle of the Flash! A chunk of notebook paper held over the flash to diffuse the light did the trick quite nicely.

#8
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#9
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