I trusted the fellow I bought her from and the person who originally produced her both by reputation so I really didn’t think either would have intentionally sold a misrepresented snake. I know though that mistakes do happen and sometimes in a rack of 50 babies a mix up can occur so the possibility loomed over me for a year.

This season I bred her to a visual albino male and got a clutch of seven eggs. After the long wait of incubation they finally hatched this week. The count is four albinos and three 100% hets.
Whew! That was a big worry off me. I really didn’t want to go back to the fellow I bought her from and try to convince him he’d made a mistake.

I haven’t sexed the clutch yet so I don’t know what the ratios will be but I’m fairly sure that there will be both sexes of albinos.

That was the last clutch of the season but the next breeding season is fast approaching.

Overall my initial impression with the cages is I really like them. I’m going to use them a bit before I write a review page of them, but unless some aspect of the design I can’t see just yet makes itself known I fully intend to get some more of these cages in the future.

The proceeds of the show are going to buy some new caging from Reptile Basics. I know, I’ve always taken pride in the fact I’ve never bought any cages, I’m the do it yourself guy, but I finally had to admit that i just don’t have the time to build everything I need. So I looked at all the major cage manufacturers and I decided that I was most impressed with the cages from RBI Plastics. I’ve got six 3×2 cages being built now which will go a long way toward getting me out of my caging deficit.
Once I’ve used them for a little while, I’ll write a review of them and add to that section of the site.

I also got some new animals while I was at the Raleigh show. After five years of swearing off insectivores, except for my dwarf monitors, I bought four crested geckos. I’ve always liked them but until now I’ve managed to hold to my no lizards rule and resist getting any. I’m really glad I did though, they are neat little geckos and I’ve been needing something new like that to stoke the fire so to speak.

The other new addition I picked up was a pair of Lady Gouldian finches. I’ve always enjoyed keeping birds I’ve wanted some Gouldians since the first time I saw some years ago. They are a truly beautiful finch, and I plan to add another couple of pairs in the future.

All in all I enjoyed vending again after such a long break from it and I will probably do it again once next year.

Only one clutch left in the incubator now, the other albino clutch which won’t be hatching until next month.

This will be the first show I’ve had a table at since I quit doing them in 1999.
I figured I’d give it a  try and see how it goes. Shows are a hassle to do, but with shipping costs rising steadily I think they might start to be worth the time again.

I plan to have quite a few balls there, including spiders, pastels, and albinos, and of course the normal and het siblings. I’ll also have some jungle carpets, some kings and milks, and maybe even some roaches.
If you’re at the show stop and say hi. We won’t have a banner, but my name tag will say Clay, and I’ll probably be the only Clay there. Mention that you saw this post in the blog and I’ll give you 10% off anything you buy.

The albino clutch laid earlier is starting to collapse and I’m expecting them to hatch sometime around August 17th.

Two spider clutches have hatched. I didn’t get the greatest odds, but there were two spiders in each clutch for a total of 2.2 babies.

The father is a NERD Lemon pastel and this is the first clutch he has produced. I’m pleased so far with the look of the hatchling. I’m anxious to see what he looks like after his first shed.

Apparently I got mixed up when putting the eggs in the incubator. The seven egg clutch I originally thought to be a pastel clutch turned out to be fathered by the spider and the three egg clutch that just hatched was from the pastel. I wasn’t as concerned with these two since they were co-dom morphs and there wouldn’t be any wondering about hets or anything.

She was bred to an albino male, so I’m hoping for some really good odds on this one. Hopefully two, or dare I hope three, albinos and the rest 100% hets.

I have another het albino female that may still lay, but I’m not sure if she took this season, have to wait and see on her.

The spider clutch had somewhat poor odds. Two spiders hatched and five normal siblings. Both spiders are males.

I have posted a new article in the Last Word section about the “wobble head” condition of spider balls and my opinions on the topic. You can read it here http://www.arbreptiles.com/lastword/spider_wobble.shtml

The bredli were also seen copulating the last couple of weeks, so it’s quite possible I’ll see a clutch from them as well.

I added another article to the Last Word section of the site, a rant on the current state of shipping charges for reptile breeders.
You can read it here http://www.arbreptiles.com/lastword/shipping_rant.shtml