Yes I don’t hold the one who has refused or the ones who have ever missed a meal, or needed boiling. Holding the ones who are steadily eating each feeding has been such a delight, though. And there’s so many of them this year!
Unfortunately, Toyota—the only one who refuses to eat—escaped yesterday when my son had his cage open. My son tried to grab him but he darted under the racks. We saw him in the back corner, too far to reach, but by the time we got the broom, he was gone. We never were able to see him again. On his empty stomach, I’m not sure how long he’ll last. We’ll keep our eyes out for him, of course, but I’m feeling pretty bummed about his chances.
He’s got a while. Fingers crossed that he shows up! I hope the kid isn’t taking it too hard. Tell him I’ve dropped at least two hatchlings on the floor in the last week or so.
Thanks, Dean. He does feel bad, of course, but I think he understands that it happens to everyone. I’ve certainly dropped them, too. They are all a bit slithery and this guy is super speedy, so it’s not a surprise he bolted faster than we could catch him. We’ll keep our eyes peeled in the meantime.
The escapee is found! My daughter heard a sound in her room at about midnight and flipped on the light to see what was going on. There he was! She said he’s a very feisty one. Haha. Yes, he is.
We’re all VERY grateful her ruthless, show-no-mercy cat was outside hunting wild game instead of pet snakes for the night.
While I am both happy and relieved, I’m also on the hook for force feeding now. This guy is our only holdout and last to join the clean plate club this year. Maybe his adventures will give him an appetite today!? If not…it’s time to pick a battle with this little sassafras.
Yay!! Hooray for your daughter’s sharp ears! Iam always delighted and heartened when escapees are recovered. Hopefully the little booger will decide to eat.
First decent photos taken and edited of these clutches is of Frost. He’s my personal favorite, but probably not a holdback after all, due to a small kink I discovered in his spine.
And HiJack’s offspring this year (same mom, Luna):
Bentley is my favorite. I may hang onto him because he’s the cleanest tessera motley we’ve produced so far. Such a looker! Very skittish, but not defensive at all:
By comparison of hypo lavenders, what does everyone think about Luna and her possibility of some red-enhancing gene? Is it red factor? Is it strawberry? Is it nothing?
This is her second year producing babies for us and both clutches, with offspring from four different dads have been so much more pink than we thought they’d be.
Luna herself has a slight pink cast in her ground color, which is hard to photograph but noticeable when compared to any of our non-RF ghosts like like Starla or Smokey. The interesting thing is that she’s also different from our red factor ghosts, who she has been paired with.
HiJack (dad 1), is rusty red in his saddle color but surely doesn’t have more than one copy of red factor and his background color is very grey.
Speck (dad 2) who is orange in his saddle color from super red factor, but arguably has some pink tones in his background color as well would obviously contribute to red factor babies, but since he was dad of only part of the clutch, we couldn’t figure out why nearly all of them were turning pinker with each shed.
Arctic (dad 3) isn’t known to be any kind of red factor or peach, but it could be hidden by his hom caramel? Most of her clutch this year was by Arctic and they all look quite red, especially the lavenders.
*I hope the links to animals are ok since they’re not for sale and I’m only trying to make it easier to see their photos.
They do look unusual. I don’t know what it is, but they have a different tone. Based on what I’ve seen in my projects, I don’t think it’s Strawberry. My Strawberry Lavenders have been much lighter, with the Strawberry acting as both a colorful addition and a Hypo-complex lightener.
Red Factor is generally more intense on the front third of the snake. Does this seem to be the case for these? It’s hard for me to tell.
Might even be something else. They do have unusual coloring at this point. Does it only show on the Lavenders?
@snakesofshadowlake Natalie I do not know morphs but I do know when I see some stunning animals! You and your son have really produced some phenomenal corns!
I’m kinda like @cmsreptiles Christina in that I have a yen for gorgeous red and pink snakes. Chevy and Dodge fill the bill! Congratulations on a fantabulous season!
I take back what I said about the unusual coloring on your Lavenders not being Strawberry. Looking again and looking at some here, it might be. The Strawberry Lavenders I got from Purple Wonder have all been darker, and she herself was darker as a baby. I don’t know if there’s some other known gene which is causing the difference between her line and that of other mothers here or if it’s just what we call individual variation. She’s RF too, to further confuse things, but it isn’t only RF. I’ve produced RF Strawberry Lavenders from other dams who aren’t anywhere nearly as dark as yours, or Purple Wonder’s.
Yes and no. The ghosts were all quite pink last year and the hypos are vibrant, but I have no experience with hypos alone to know whether they are unusual or regular hypos.
We got 7 hypo lavenders from Luna + Arctic and all of them are pink. Porsche is the darkest one, but still more pink than purple. I’m scratching my head because they don’t really look like any hypo lavenders I see online. Dodge is so incredibly pink between his saddles since his last shed (photos as soon as I can get them), I’m amazed!
I always thought lavenders had purplish saddles—even with red factor creating some extra pinks—but these are just pink everywhere.
Known genes in the mix (spelled out for those unfamiliar):
Luna: (RF?) Motley-Stripe Ghost (anery+hypo/strawberry?) 100% het lavender
Arctic: Diffused Amaretto (caramel+lavender+hypo) 100% Het Amel
Thanks, everyone. I’m pretty smitten with these. They are beautiful little hatchlings. I know lavenders often become more grey as they age, but I just may have to keep some of these back to watch them change. It’ll be so interesting to see what happens.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a pink snake!
