Housewarming Gift for Friends

Hi Everyone~

There is a wonderful couple that I have known for many years~

They just purchased a new home~

So, I happily made this piece as a housewarming gift!

(If you'd like to see a close-up, just click on the image.)

Sending best wishes to all of you~

Cindy

Linking this to The Sunburnt Cow Link Party!!

Linking this to: Brag Monday!!!

Linking this to: Creative Bloggers Party Hop!

Lo and Behold

Last night (day 53 for my eggs) I was checking in on them every hour and nothing new. Just before bed I thought I would take one more look. I look in...totally expecting to see nothing different...lo and behold look what I found!
Two little heads poking out!!!! Whooo hooo!



My first ever clutch! I even got to see one slit the egg right before my eyes! That was so cool.



This morning 5 pipped! At 3:45 pm the 6th on decided to join the party.


They will stay in the egg for 1-3 days as they metabolize their yolks. The left one on the bottom had her head stuck. She couldn't pull it back in the egg. So I cut the hole bigger for her. That was nerve racking! Trying to cut the egg without hitting her or veins on the inside of the egg. Can't wait to see if they look like mom or dad.
They do have moms cute star head pattern.

Eggs - day 53!

I'm getting excited! Today is day 53 for my 6 ball python eggs in the incubator. They should start to hatch sometime today...or sometime this week. It's not an exact science. Unlike bird eggs that you can pretty much depend on to hatch on a specific day. Reptile eggs may take a little shorter or longer depending on the conditions and temps in the environment.

I was able to separate them last night. That's good news. They were stuck together in a big pile the whole time they were incubating--that's normal. The mother would have wrapped herself around them and incubated them herself.
Here's mom on the eggs
.
This was right before I put them into the incubator. They are stuck together in a clump.



A sign that they are close to hatching is that I was able to carefully separate them. Another sign is that they are starting to dent in a bit. (The shells are leathery and not hard like a chicken egg.)
At least some of them are denting.



This pic was taken through the incubator window so it's a bit murky. There is one huge egg. You can see it in the right hand side. It was the bottom egg in the pile and is a lot bigger than the others. Can't wait!!! :) Maybe it's twins??!!

8 more days...

8 days until (hopefully) my snake eggs start to hatch!!!!!! I'm getting really excited.
AND I've finally got my video camera back from the shop. It was out of commission for almost a whole year! That's a whole other story I'm not going to bore you with. The short of it is...it's back! I'm going to try and catch them in the act and then post some video of the hatching for you all to see.

Stay tuned!! :)



Here's my incubator.

3 month fast

Yea! Last night, Tigerlily (my snake mom) ate her first meal in three months. That means she is no longer in the maternal mode and is back to normal. I find it fascinating that they don't eat for that long and can be pregnant=making babies! Amazing! I gave her a smaller than normal meal (frozen, thawed mouse) just to ease her digestive tract back in the swing of eating.

You may have noticed that countdown I put up in the left corner of my blog. When that is down to zero the babies should be cutting the eggs and looking out into the world. Can't wait! :)

This is her when I first got her.

Egg Candling

So just what the heck is egg candling? Here's a picture to give you a better idea.


I'm holding a flashlight up to the egg. If there are red veins present, which there are, that means it is fertile. The black "x" that I've marked on the eggs signifies "this side up". Reptile eggs are not like bird eggs...where the parents turn the eggs to keep the embryo from sticking. You don't want to rotate snake eggs, it could kill the developing baby inside.

SHE did it...my first EGGS.

Went down to my snake room this morning and this is what I saw!


I spy something in there! I am so happy it happened today. She was a bit overdue...so this helps my mood a lot.



Here's her giving me "the look" You know the one I mean..."Don't mess with me."


6 gorgeous eggs! Very exciting! She would have cared for the eggs for the next 2 months but I've got an incubator. So, I took the eggs out.


The clutch weighed in at 624 grams. 5 candled good. The 6th is underneath and I couldn't get to it.


One problem. When trying to snap the top on the egg container the bunch of eggs was too tall so it doesn't sit tight. I'll have to figure something out today.


This is the mom after her tub is all cleaned. She was very thirsty. Drank for awhile. Now I want her to start eatting again. She's been fasting for 3 months.

My very first ball python eggs.