Brumation, Copulation!

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Well, I had to pull the garters up a few days ago. They got a full 2 months, I was going for three but our basement has begun to flood because the hot water heater is going kaput, so it leaks and so there is always water coating a lot of the floor down there. Since it got worse though, it was getting to the point where soon, I was not going to be able to get to them without putting on a bathing suit.... So they are now awake!!! Good news is over the past few days I have seen a little bit of courtships going on... everyone's doing a lot of twitching and the males RUN towards every little movement they see... hopefully, this leads to some snake nookie!

Good news is... I recently acquired that super red female banded water snake from Scott Felzer.... have wanted her since daytona but never could afford her... But since Scott is awesome he gave her to me for a deal I could not pass up and he sent me another male on top of that!!. Seriously, he is the man! he called after Christmas to tell me that he accidentally overcharged my boyfriend for the snakes and he mailed a check to him with the shipment... such a great guy! Not many people would do that! I hoghly recommend you buy snakes from him. He will not ever for no reason screw you over. Anyway, I had been meaning to get that female to pair with the male I got from Scott while at daytona, Scott had mentioned there he could never get them to pair up. Well, since they are both Scott's stock and have not been around other snakes... I put them together and they locked up within minutes, for 3 hours!!!! I moved some stuff around since bringing up the garters and so they share a cage in my wood systems. The other male is being kept separate for a while because I don't want him breeding her. She had previously been brumating and so had my male so.... let us hope for the best!!! Enough blabbing... here's the good stuff.

First here are my wonderful Xmas presents from Eddie, these are from the Cherry red Carteret County female bred to the Schuett albino male. They are still small but are starting to show some color, most of which has washed out with the flash. The tips of their tails are red though... looks to be a good sign!!!






Next are some fresh-out-of-brumation pictures, along with a few other pics I took while working in the snakeroom of the flames and blacknecks.

Mustard, the male Marcianus


Observing a lot of courtship between the Hypo and her stud muffin!!

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

My blacknecks are regularly demolishing pinkies


My WC flame... she's shy!


Taught my male flame a new trick.... he can make pinkies dissapear backwards!


I love how the female almost looks jealous!


This picture makes him look like he's going to explode, but he really had no trouble!


Hot stuff!

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

And here are the water snakes.... first one is the normal male he sent (gorgeous thing aint he?), and the other pics are the red hypo and then the male hypo locked with her. All three animals are Scott's stock. He said he was amazed and that he had a lot of trouble getting them to breed.

[guidofatherof5]

Great photos.

[EdgyExoticReptiles]

nice, I was going to get that water snake pair but i decided to get a pair of double het for snow red sideds, very pretty, the males a different species though right?

[drache]

fantastic, Shannon
you've got the magic touch
and those snakes are stunning
and ditto about Scott - a great guy

[anji1971]

Very nice, Shannon. They certainly aren't having any trouble breeding for you!
I love that red watersnake. How beautiful!

[olive oil]

The red-hypo is beautiful. Great pics.

[gregmonsta]

Excellent stuff ... can't wait for those cherry reds to colour up

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

the males a different species though right?

hahaha, noooo, all three of my water snakes are from scott who took great care in making sure that he got all the same species and subspecies of banded water snake by consulting one of the water snake experts. I actually need to shoot him an email because I forget which subspecies he told me they are. All three are from him, I just got the hypo male earlier in the year. These are nerodia fasciata ________ (i have to find out from scott which) Much like eastern and wandering garters, there is incredible variation in colors and patterns.

they are either nerodia fasciata fasciata, or nerodia fasciata pictivetris. Both are incredibly closely related to the point that since their ranges overlap and they often intergrade, it is very, very hard to see a physical difference. Both subspecies are banded water snakes, the pictiventris subspecies is labeled florida banded but not all bandeds from florida are necessarily this subspecies, and not all from other states are necessarily not floridas. There is even an isolated population of the florida bandeds in texas!!!!