<![CDATA[Northeastern Exotics

<![CDATA[Northeastern Exotics - Blog]]>Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:51:12 -0500Weebly<![CDATA[Rodents ]]>Thu, 28 Oct 2010 15:35:46 -0500http://www.northeasternexotics.com/3/post/2010/10/rodents.htmlToday was Rodent cleaning day. It is something I don't look forward to, but once I get going I get really into it. Right now most of my production is rats. I also do some mice but not at such a large scale.

Breeding your own rodents is a nice way to save some money. I couldn't imagine having to buy all the rats I go through in a week to feed my snakes.

The best part of breeding your own rodents is you have access to any size you need when you you are feeding. I don't have to wait for my order to come in, or hope my suppler has what I need.

Last year, a big percentage of the ball pythons I bred gave me eggs. That has a lot to do with the fact that the females were well fed. The ability to grab the right rodent when I needed really helped my breeding season. Right now, I am feeding the females heavily to get them nice and big. Hopefully, I will have the same luck getting the females gravid this season.

]]><![CDATA[Gotta love the rain.]]>Thu, 14 Oct 2010 21:28:13 -0500http://www.northeasternexotics.com/3/post/2010/10/gotta-love-the-rain.html It is raining here today, so I threw some balls together. I already have some lock ups. Rain and snow is great for ball breeding, but sucks if you have to go out in it.

On non ball python related news I bought myself a trio of albino California kingsnakes. The majority of my collection is balls but I have a few small groups of other things.

Some time during the week I am going to try my hand at making a video for youtube. I'm not much of a talker so they will be short.

]]><![CDATA[First Post!]]>Sun, 03 Oct 2010 17:51:46 -0500http://www.northeasternexotics.com/3/post/2010/10/first-post.html          This year instead of doing an incubator page I will just do a blog. I will try to post as much as can of whats going on in the reptile room. I will try to write something in every week but if things are slow, it will be once a month.
           I am starting a little earlier this year putting pairs together than I did last year. I don't really cool the ball pythons down like some do. The room gets cooler in the winter from the weather out here in the northeast but I don't change the heat tape at all. The room gets down into the 70's. This had worked great for me so far so I will just stick with it. On the males tub I have a card that lists all the females he's scheduled to breed across the top in order. Under that I put the number of the female hes in with with the date he went in and the date he came out. I label any copulations on a separate card on the females tub. On her card I just list the date and the male that copulated with her. I keep a clamp with a neon tag on it and put it on the tub I will leave a male in. This way I can see easy where the males are at a glance. I keep a male with a female for 3 days if I don't see copulation. If I catch copulation I take him out as soon as I find him off the female.
          I don't stop feeding females until they refuse food a few weeks in a row. I will still offer a few after they refuse for the first time. Some times ball pythons just don't want to eat just not because there breeding or the females are developing. The males I try to feed every week even if they keep refusing. If a male is not feeding but looks good and not losing weight great. Breeding can take a lot out of your males and they can lose a lot of weight if he isn't eating and breeding everything he see's. If he is getting too thin then he gets a longer break till he feeds again. I don't have a set break time in between females I just watch the males and try not to push them too far.
          That is all I have to say about that for now but I will keep you posted of my breeding's and what I'm doing. I do have other stuff I'm breeding but I will mostly talk about ball pythons.

Here is a pic of some Borneo's that recently hatched out.

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