Re: YOU CAN HELP SAVE INDIGOS IN FLORIDA PLEASE READ!!

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: : Greetings fellow Indigo lovers. I've mentioned before on this forum that NASA has launcehed an effort on Kennedy Space center to aid Indigo populations in Florida. I converse regularly with the NASA Ecologist who leads the project. She has some questions she needs answers to right now, i've shared the info. from my personal experience (i've bred Easterns 3 times), but I need data from anyone who has bred Easterns!! Here are the questions: : : 1- What age, in your expereinces, do they breed for first time? : : 2- Do they breed every year? : : 3- typical clutch size? : : 4- largest clutch you've heard of (from reliable source) : : 5- percent of hatch rate? : : 6 sex ratio per clutch? : : obviosly, the captive data from well-taken care of animals will be somewhat different from wild snakes, but it gives them a start. : : Again, i've shared my data, but would like as much imput from you as possible!! All data will be realyed directly to NASA...and i'm trusted...so please only serious replies!! post replies here or email me at deanandchelle@cinci.rr.com : : Thanks!! : Dean : It's a great thing that NASA is doing and I'm glad you're involved. I will try to answer your questions as well as I can. But as you have already stated, the captive numbers will be different than the wild numbers. The thing is the captive numbers arn't that good, so how bad do we think the wild numbers are. After all I would think that the numbers in captivity should be signifagantly higher. Captives have no enemies to worry about, the food supply is much better and the weather is ideal. : 1. Breeding is indeed a size consideration more than an age consideration. There are some that have bred in two years. I have never even tried! I want the females to have as much body weight as possible prior to breeding. I have had several that didn't have enough girth get egg bound in the past. I don't even try til they are three years old and then only if they have plenty of girth. I would assume that in the wild it would take longer to get to size. Another note: I have found that there is a very high percentage of infertility with the first clutches. : 2. Indigos do breed every year. : 3. I would say that 10 is probably the median clutch size. : 4. The largest clutch size I have had with my colony is 18. These were laid by a female that was about 10 years old and over 8' long. I have had larger clutches from other sub-species of Drymarchon. For example I got 36 eggs from a 9' Yellowtail Cribo (D.c.corais). Not all of these were fertile. : 5. Hatch rate again depends on so many variables. Mine have varied for 0% to 95%, but on average I would have to say 30 - 40% is normal. : 6. Once again, this is quite variable. I have probably produced 60% males over the years. Although I have had clutches with 80% females. The incubation temperature doesn't seem to matter as far as sex ratios. It does matter as far as healthy snakes. I have produced a few with deformaties of the spines and tails at higher temps. I incubate at about 78 F now and get good results. I know that in the wild there is no thermostat control but it is signifagent to note for the following reasons. If the snake eggs get over heated due to an abnormallly warm spring the percentage of deformaties will increase. So in the wild a too warm spring could mean fewer eggs hatch and even those that do won't live long if they have deformaties. : Hope this information helps. It was a result of many years experience and hundreds of baby indigos. : Chuck Elliott : "San Juan Snakeman"

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