Breeding at Living Gems Reptiles is going well. Two months ago we visited the Vlad-Topaz pairing, so this month we’ll visit the Hills-Alexandrite one.
When we last left our happy couple in late March, they had just been separated for feeding after a month of steamy cohabitation. Both snakes fed and weighed in fine.
April
After reintroductions, Hills took a few days catch up on the situation, then got right back to business. He joined her in the water bowl on the evening of the 8th…was still there the next morning…and that evening…
…and two days later was in the hide with her…for two days...then back to the water bowl…and the water bowl…and the water bowl again….
I eventually had to separate them just to clean the water they had fouled from passing their last meal.
While that cooled the mood for the moment, that evening saw two sperm plugs in the water bowl. Two days later there was a clear tail wrap in that same bowl (the third or fourth of their courting -- just counting the ones I’ve seen!).
After that, all activity seemed to grind quite suddenly to a halt. The two hung out barely at all for the next ten days, until late on the 29th I separated them for monthly feedings. Both snakes fed and weighed in fine.
May
In order to give Alex and Hills a short break -- he was in shed -- I postponed reintroduction by a few days. During this period, I was thrilled to see Alex hugging the heat right in the open, something she *never* does.
If you look closely, you will also note she looked rather swollen, as shown by the following series of three shots. I was hoping this was related to something else than the single medium rat she just ate, but only time would tell (left, mid, right):
She was there for almost 24 hours, wrapped awkwardly around the large water bowl…and then quite suddenly moved away. She high-tailed it to the cool end of the viv and sequestered herself inside the damp hide, where she remained as she clearly began to enter shed.
I reintroducing Hills on May 7th. The two snakes ignored each other completely, with Hills taking up a spot behind the hide rather than in with her.
Alex finally shed on the 21st, but did not budge from her hide even afterwards. As a safety precaution, just in case she was prioritizing hiding over heat, after a few more days I switched the hide to the warm end of the tank…and then cranked the temperature by a half-degree. It was a good move, because shortly I found her pressed against the rear wall of the hide, almost as if she was trying to press herself up against the hottest spot she could. A picture, as always, will best illustrate. Note I moved the hide away from the wall for just a moment to capture these two images (front, side):
June
Another separation, weighing, and feeding. Hills downed his rat with no problems. Alex, however, refused. As she sometimes does this, I was not overly concerned, and tried again one week later. Again, she refused -- even after re-heating and trying again. Based on her refusal to eat, her hugging the warm spot in her hide…
…and Hills completely ignoring her, I upgraded her status to potentially gravid and decided not to reintroduce the male. A few days later, Alex was again directly on the heat for about 12 straight hours. At mid-month, I managed to coax a bit of food into her using the “live mouse” trick that had been so successful with the clearly gravid Topaz. The rest of the month was uneventful, as Alex stuck to her hide, resolutely hugging its rear back corner.
July
Alex was again coaxed to take a live mouse, but otherwise the month was uneventful: heat, heat, and more heat, looking exactly the same as in the above photos. At this point it seems like a waiting game….
Thank you for reading,
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