Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[Al Stotton]

[Al Stotton]

[lovesnakes]

sorry to hear your news

glad to hear you have a healthy, positive out look
_________________
best of luck in the new season

[Maureen C.]

Hi again Al.

I have separated my black pines as I did not wish to be stuck with 8 babies, as much as I love them. I am getting too old for it all, and have two many snakes here to see to now. Adam the male is going frantic at present because I have denied him access to Eve. The eggs have always been 100% fertile in the past, as though I don't cool them, the male Adam has always taken to the coldest end of the viv himself, just as the baja's have. They were always 100% fertile too.

I saw you admiring Julie P's baja Scott. Julie has a pair that I gave her a good while back. In fact there should be a lot of baja's out there still as Trevor Smith and I bred them on a regular basis. I have to say that mine were nicer than Trevors in both colour and temperament, and Trevor would agree there. I know Trevor sold his adults a long while back, but they could still be alive, which reminds me i need to clean and feed my female baja tonight bless her, as I missed her her the other night when feeding the others, and then there's also darling Bullistics, who keeps me on my toes more than any other snake in this house, with the tiger rat snakes and indigo's a joint second.

Keep up the good work Al.

I wish there were more out there like you, as I could off load some rescues that need new homes with experienced only keepers. They are all brilliant if you know the species and know how to work with them, but if you don't then they are the very devil to manage, which is why they ended up as rescues in the first instance. Their health is first rate.

Right must away again as lots to do, and many hungry mouths to feed.

Mo.

[Maureen C.]

Female Baja.



Eve.



Male baja.

[Al Stotton]

[Al Stotton]

Hi again Mo

COOL PICS.

I'd love to take some black babies if you do produce any at some point (1.2 at least).

I had some baja's around the same time as Trevor.
In fact he wrote a nice article on them for The Herptile some years back and i had some input and was credited in the piece.

As you mentioned the ones Trevor had weren't all that great and mine were probably no better to be honest.
Something i learned in subsequent years is there was a lot of covert bimaris crosses overhere.
The ones ive seen in the U.S. are mind blowing hypo/striped beauties and are super red.
I find that of all the pits i keep/have kept that deppei jani are the closest ones to vertebralis temperment/requirements wise.

"I wish there were more out there like you"

Thanks Mo,

Sometimes it can be hard to specialise in a species with the ever expanding hobby (temptation)

I love pituophis and have some exciting projects in the pipeline for the next few years

RGDS...........AL
_________________
if you like something buy it,if you don't then don't

[Maureen C.]

Hi again Al.

If I do decide to breed the blacks again, and they do produce, then you will have first choice of how many you want for FREE.

I remember the article, and taking up some points with Trevor, due to the fact that the Baja's regurge their food a lot if you don't have things just right for them. It also took Trevor years to get his to breed. Baja's are the hardest gophers, I have ever had to figure. They stress all too easily in the wrong hands, that results in deaths etc, but in the right hands, they are a beautiful easy to manage dream snake to own. It's all down to getting the husbandry correct in the first instance, as there's not much room for error, unlike the poor corns for example that take more than their fair share of incorrect husbandry from some owners, and some how they continue to thrive.

Trever and I were going to revise the written article and add my findings to it, good and bad, and ways around them, but that was about the time when things starting to go pear shaped in the hobby, as you no doubt recall, so it never got done.

I remember now, Gavin Murray having the Baja's too, as did Jerry Cole, but they did not keep them for long, and I brought Jerry's from him, and that's when the female came out in me, I have to confess. I decided to work hard with the group o Baja's I had to find the missing link with them. It took some doing, but being the stubborn female that I am, I kept going and managed to work things out, and once the baja's were all eating well, and keeping their food down, and I had their environment to their liking, I could not stop them, and the females were insistent on double clutching each year, with or without having seen a male, so to ensure safe delivery of the eggs, I played safe and let the females ave access to the males whenever they seemed to be ready, which as it happens was the same two months of the year, every year. I reared many of the hatchlings up until they were over a year old in order to give them the best chance out there due to them being more fragile than other gophers. I never ever cooled any of them either. The females continued to feed throughout the year, and the males stopped for a couple of months, and took themselves to the cold end of their enclosures, and stayed there,just accepting the odd slip here and there of water that I would place under their nose from time to time. Their main water bowl was always available. This species drove me banana's over the course of a year trying to find out just what type of viv suited them best. In the end it was obvious that a viv was a very bad idea. In fact they seemed to feel very insecure in them, but very large deep boxes that were not see through was the answer here.

A very interesting species that I will miss so much when they are all gone. Can I assume that you are thinking of keeping and breeding the bajas again Al? I do hope so, and if ever you are stuck, you never know, it might be something that I also had a problem with, and managed to resolve, so feel free to ask anytime.

Mo.

[Al Stotton]

Hi again Mo

Thanks very much i love to keep blacks again and thats very kind of you.

Yes guessed correctly i'm thinkin of keepin some bajas again and the ones i saw on the add really freaked me out and set the mind racin (ala 1995/6)
Have you ever worked with any of the mexican pits,im sure you would absolutely love deppei deppei.I think you'd also enjoy the deppei jani simply because of the vertebralis and their similar traits and behaviours.
I'd certainly offer you some as a trade off for the blacks if its something that interests you my friend.

Here's a pic of a yearling jani and a hatchling jani.

What a colour change!

There are some wonderful pits currently bein produced in the U.S. with some outstanding great basin and bull locality specific colour forms.
Hopefully the book K.J's workin on at present will bring more peoples attention to pituophis,especially when they see the mind blowing morphs and colour varieties available these days.

Must dig out that old herptile and have are read at some point

RGDS.............AL
_________________
if you like something buy it,if you don't then don't