Out of 11 eggs I got 10 baby childrens pythons. The 11th died in the egg.

Cool! Have you named them yet?

I spent today transporting two Kiwi eggs to Rotorua to the kiwi hatchery for incubation and
raising for eventual release onto the pest controlled slopes of Mt Egmont. If you are interested one egg was aged at 48 days and the other at 22.
In the wild they have no chance of survival after hatching - the stoats and wild cats get 95% of them before they make it to a month old .

Cool Bakes,make a great belt.LOL

Muzza,it's a shame such a icon like a Kiwi gets such a flogging.What's a Stout,is it a feral?

Stoats are like a weasel or small ferret, might even be in the same family, introduced, in all likelyhood, from the motherland back in the day.
Ferocious little carnivores.
You don't get 'em here in Oz fortunately.

Havn't named them. These will all be sold.

from what I've seen on tele they are a pretty big egg muzza.

Congratulations Bakes on a job well done. How long did it take to get them hatched and what equipment did you use?
Pete

quote:

Originally posted by Foxhunter223:

...what equipment did you use?

Pete

First you get a daddy snake and a mommy snake...

Ignoring Easy for a bit

They take around 60 odd days to hatch. My mate in Katherine incubated them for me in a converted fridge. I'll have my own incubator finished for next seasons clutch, It's a bar fridge that will be hooked up to some heat cord, a thermostat and a computer fan for circulation.

How did you know what temp to set the fridge/hatch snake eggs??

Also,what's a snake worth(as a pet??)



"Some of New Zealand's introduced animals include the Australian opossum, goats, deer, rabbits, rats, hedgehogs, cats, dogs, stoats, ferrets, and the black swan. Many of the introduced animals have become pests, reproducing at fast rates and edging out native species."


I've learnt two things tonight,NZ has Stoats and Hedgehogs(WTF!)

quote:

Originally posted by Bakes:
These will all be sold.

Be careful, I've been "told" Bakes is a snake oil salesman.

Stoats are members of the 'mustelid' family, includes weasles, badgers, mink, pine martin etc.

Here in the UK in the winter they turn part white or all white except for the black tip on their tail, this coat change is called ermine and its what you see on the royals gowns in certain ceremonies, them being caught and skinned first! - the stoats not the royals!

I shot this Stoat earlier on this year with the 12g. It was dragging a full sized Rabbit (About 5 times it's own body weight.) Now sits on top of my booze cabinet.
I run a trapline for these wee buggers, (Along with Ferrets and Hedgehogs) as they play havoc with the Pheasant population. The Stoats are harder to catch than the Ferrets.

Ferrets, stoats and weasels were introduced to New Zealand in an attempt to control the rabbit population which was threatening to get out of control. However, the ferrets, stoats and weasels found New Zealand's native flightless birds easy prey and are at least partly responsible for the sad decline in the numbers of many native bird species.

Mustalids also rob the nests of flighted birds and frequently run amok in a farmyard chicken coop.

The ferret is the largest of the three mustalids in New Zealand, adults measuring around 600mm from nose to tail. The stoat is smaller but large enough to be confused with a ferret but for the browner shade of its coat. The weasel is much smaller, no more than 200mm from nose to tail. All three have very elongated bodies and long tails allowing them to climb well and to hunt down burrows and warrens.
The largest member of the Mustelid family is the Wolverine.

Easy, you keep the eggs between 29.5 and 32 degrees. You half bury them in a 50/50 mix (of weight) of vermiculite and water, ie 500g of vermiculite, 500g warm water. Then you seal them up. Every few days to once a week you open the container to let in some fresh air. If the eggs have sunken you can pour a small amount of water around the edge of the container to increase humidity. That will plump up the eggs. You have to be carefull and not add to much water as you can burst them.

Cost depends on where you get them. A pet shop is more expensive than a breeder. I'll be selling these for $150 ish. Adult childrens pythons will go for much more.

Here's a pic of my Darwin carpet python. A bit more expensive at around $220 a hatchling.If you somehow get an ablino in a clutch thats worth BIG money.

Thanks Tony,pretty pattern...hence the interest I guess.

Tracky,those Stoat look like pure evil.Thanks for the pictures.Poor slow Kiwis wouldn't stand a chance,poor buggers.What do hedgehogs do to the natives?I though they were mostly harmless?

They are sooo cute.
3 of us in this family would like a python. Unfortunetly hubby isnt 1 of them.

Special price for you Sam
I'm actually sending one to Vic to a mate of mine. Its easy to slip another in the box and you can share the freight

Just tell hubby that they are easy to look after. Eat once a week (once every two when they get older) poo 3-4 days after they eat. As long as your temps are right and they have water you can go away for a weekend/week and they'll be fine. Breed your own mice (kids can do that for you)and there you have it.

Yo, Bakes ! I am so glad that you never fed the Canucks to them last July !!!!

After your "hungry" hunt Scruffy, there wasn't enought meat on those bones for them.

Guys -

The kiwi we have in this part of the country are the North Island Brown ( Western Race ) which is the most common of the five or six sub-species.Stoats and wild cats and pigdogs are the biggest threat to their survival in the wild - 95% of wild-born chicks are killed before they reach maturity .

The programme we are part of removes the eggs from the nests in the wild - by radio tracking male birds who incubate the eggs - and artificially incubate them , then raise the chicks through to at least 1000 grams in weight . At that size chicks can fend off all but the biggest ferret and dogs. All our chicks are then released onto the north-western slopes of Mt Egmont into an area that is under predator control for kiwi and blue duck , which is another native species under threat.

Easy - hedgepigs are a major threat to ground-nesting birds - they eat the eggs and the unfledged young , and also eat vast numbers of native insects. The main predator of the extremely rare Black Stilt down in TrackersNZ's part of the world is the humble hedgepig. Lady gardeners like them but in ecologically sensitive areas they are every bit as bad as a stoat.

Stoats are happy to kill a whole pen full of chickens just because they can - and they are found in virtually every corner of the country . They have no fear of water , and have a home range of up to 30 square kilometers. Mrs stoat has up to six babies a year , and the babies are all big enough to get booted out of home right now . Catch numbers on juvenile stots go sky-high from now till about april in trapping areas .Stoats will attack dogs and animals many times their own size - they are truly fearless and bloodthirsty little bastards.

Ferrets on the other hand , do not have the same populations , tend to live in forest margins and preferably around farmed areas. They also are not as adept at tree climbing due to their size ( they are as big as a medium sized cat ) and prefer rabbits as food where possible. They are still pretty fearless and will attack dogs with great delight .....

Sorry to hi-jack your snake thread Bakes.

Oh yeah - if you are interested the kiwi eggs were both about 165mm long , 400 wide and weighed in at 450 - 470 grams each . Its no wonder Missus Kiwi lays the eggs then clears off and leaves the male to incubate and rear the chicks.....

Bakes, dont tempt me.
Its funny to watch dave cringe and shudder as Jasmine says to him:
"We saw snakes at the pet shop today dad. Can we get one, huh, can we".

"you can have a ferret" is his usual reply.

No worries Muzza. Interesting stuff.

Sam If my wife will let me have them then your hubby should as well. Big tough hunter that he is