Egg Season
When you are a reptile breeder for a living, the egg season is what you dream for. Those long months of caring for your collection of animals while they are gearing up for the breeding season are always filled with expectations of egg production. That time of the year is finally here and each year it seems to come with on with a fury. When you get your first eggs of the year, it feels like it’s the very first clutch you’ve ever produced, but within a couple of weeks they are being laid at a rate that is almost insane. Each day this time of the year we average between 500-1200 eggs. Last year our biggest day was 1898 eggs, not sure we’ll have a bigger day this year or not, but there is still a long way to go.
We incubate our colubrid eggs on top of our adult racks, it stays about 82 degrees there and there is no need for an incubator. As each day goes by the row of egg boxes slowly takes over the tops of the racks. We’re probably only 20% into egg production and already the egg boxes that are stacked four high are almost half way across our colubrid room. I’m not going to tell you that it’s all fun, because the truth is there’s a ton of work. With that being said, it’s still my favorite time of the year. With every clutch we put on the shelf there is the hope that the coolest baby snakes are soon to be hatched. This is what a snake breeder lives for, egg production!
