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Posted by dg on September 05, 2001 at 12:07:33:

In Reply to: great feedback, thanks Andre, DG, Jonel... posted by Jim Demirjian on September 05, 2001 at 08:47:52:

>>I loved reading the above shared info, thanks again. I actually don't use an incubator either, and defend fully the snake room temps, but I try not to allow such drastic fluctuation in temps.

Hi Jim,
More info on my snake room... in the early spring, I use Flexwatt on my racks to keep the temps in the low - mid 80's for the snakes. I keep american rat snakes of the obsoleta complex almost exclusively, so my temps don't have to be precise for good results. In the late spring/early summer, I completely turn off all Flexwatt and allow my snake room temps to fluctuate naturally. I have a wall mounted digital min/max thermometer to monitor highs and lows. During the summer months, my room reached 91 on a couple of occasions, but most of the time the highs were 88 or so. I had originally planned to install a small air conditioning unit in my snake room to ensure temps did not get too hot this summer, but found that this was not necessary. Perhaps these temps would be considered a bit warm for incubation, but my results tell me otherwise. I don't think the temp fluctuations affected the eggs adversely, or I would have experienced problems with more than just a handful of clutches. :)

>>DG's comments concerning kinking are thoughts I agree fully on. I believe kinking has much to do with breeding stock, although incubation probably does play a role as well.

In the past, I have experienced only isolated examples of kinking. I hatched one orange TX rat with a kinked tail a few years back, but can't recall ever having spinal kinks or deformities.

This year's kinks were found in the offspring of smaller breeders that were not in their prime. The reason for this was a rodent shortage that I had early in the spring (the worst time for that to happen) I had a hard time locating retired breeder sized mice for feeders. Luckily I was raising my own rats, but most of these young breeder snakes could not or would not accept frozen rats. I rationed the mice that I could find, and the snakes suffered for it. Out of all my breeding stock, the "rat eaters" produced nice healthy offspring almost without exception. The "mouse eaters" as a whole were problematic. Some did fine, but all kinks/deformities were found in the smaller, underfed adults.

I am now raising my own mice again, so a rodent shortage next year should not happen (I hope)

Take care,
dg

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: >>I loved reading the above shared info, thanks again. I actually don't use an incubator either, and defend fully the snake room temps, but I try not to allow such drastic fluctuation in temps. : Hi Jim, : More info on my snake room... in the early spring, I use Flexwatt on my racks to keep the temps in the low - mid 80's for the snakes. I keep american rat snakes of the obsoleta complex almost exclusively, so my temps don't have to be precise for good results. In the late spring/early summer, I completely turn off all Flexwatt and allow my snake room temps to fluctuate naturally. I have a wall mounted digital min/max thermometer to monitor highs and lows. During the summer months, my room reached 91 on a couple of occasions, but most of the time the highs were 88 or so. I had originally planned to install a small air conditioning unit in my snake room to ensure temps did not get too hot this summer, but found that this was not necessary. Perhaps these temps would be considered a bit warm for incubation, but my results tell me otherwise. I don't think the temp fluctuations affected the eggs adversely, or I would have experienced problems with more than just a handful of clutches. :) : >>DG's comments concerning kinking are thoughts I agree fully on. I believe kinking has much to do with breeding stock, although incubation probably does play a role as well. : In the past, I have experienced only isolated examples of kinking. I hatched one orange TX rat with a kinked tail a few years back, but can't recall ever having spinal kinks or deformities. : This year's kinks were found in the offspring of smaller breeders that were not in their prime. The reason for this was a rodent shortage that I had early in the spring (the worst time for that to happen) I had a hard time locating retired breeder sized mice for feeders. Luckily I was raising my own rats, but most of these young breeder snakes could not or would not accept frozen rats. I rationed the mice that I could find, and the snakes suffered for it. Out of all my breeding stock, the "rat eaters" produced nice healthy offspring almost without exception. The "mouse eaters" as a whole were problematic. Some did fine, but all kinks/deformities were found in the smaller, underfed adults. : I am now raising my own mice again, so a rodent shortage next year should not happen (I hope) : Take care, : dg : : :

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