For egg eating snakes, periods of not eating really is the #1, and practically only, anxiety producing thing about them. So lets go over it. 

First thing first, I'm sure you already went over the usual husbandry stuff of temperature/humidity /security (hide)? No? Start there first. Yeah? Ok moving on. 

So it's important to know that egg eaters in the wild are boom/bust feeders. This means that they will eat as much as they can for about 3 months (while the birds are laying) and then not eat for the rest of the year. So your egg eater may just not be hungry. Its very normal for them, it doesn't mean there is anything wrong. 

But ok, lets assume they are or may be... 

If you've been consistently syringe feeding them, the odds are high that they just aren't hungry enough to make the effort to take down the egg. Why put in the work when you can get your human to do it for you right? 😂 

So as odd as it sounds if you want that baby to eat eggs, sometimes you gotta stop feeding them to get them feeding. Now you can only do that safely if you know how much they weigh, so you'll need a microgram scale, weigh them, stop feeding them by syringe for 2 weeks, weigh again. If they've lost more than 10% of their body weight, syringe feed until they're back at weight. If not, offer the egg that week see what happens.

If the concern with the syringe feed is that they aren't growing enough to gain size, then the best thing to do would be to use the smallest egg possible and add some of the powdered quail egg to bring up the nutrient density. that will help them grow. There's more details on why that is here.

Having that said, they really don't grow as noticeably as carnivorous snakes do. If you were to "power feed" them (which again is normal for them), they may gain 2-4x their bodies weight in a year- which is still massive growth!  So if they started at say 3g, they might weigh 6-12g within the first year. For a carnivorous snake that starts at 150g getting to 450 is a huge visible difference, but when your egg eating snake starts so tiny, and the change occurs so slowly- it's totally understandable to be anxious about if they are gaining weight. So what to do is to get a gram scale (that can measure in 10ths of a gram for hatchlings), and weigh them whenever you need that reassurance. That way you can see the progress easier.

It can be a little anxiety producing, especially if you come from a carnivorous snake background. Hey Im used to it, and I still do it regularly so it's totally normal to have a little anxiety about it. So get you a gram scale. It helps. 

Ok so now that we've gone over those things, let's talk about what to try to get them onto the eggs.

First up we need to know if the eggs are good. They won't eat them no matter what we do if the eggs are bad or have started to develop a chick inside (no longer entirely liquid).

To test if eggs are good, use the float test. Submerge the egg in water; if it sinks and lies horizontally, it's fresh. If it floats or tilts upward, it's old or bad. Additionally, crack one of the eggs open and inspect the white. It should be thick, slightly cloudy, and not watery. If the white is watery, it's likely an older egg.

Sometimes suppliers collect eggs over several days to acquire enough to send in one shipment, and some bird species have only an 18 day incubation from laid to hatch, so if the egg is starting to develop an embryo (there's parts that are no longer liquid) the snake won't eat them. 

Another thing to consider is how you may be storing them. If you're keeping them in the fridge with your other food items, sometimes the smells from the other food can make egg shells smell odd.

This is especially true of commercially bought eggs because, along with other criteria, for an egg to be USDA-grade, it's required by law that eggshells be sanitized before being packaged and sold. As a result, this process strips the eggshells of their natural protective oils — which makes the shells smell less bird like and the thousands of tiny pores in the shell more easily permeated by strong odors that could be lurking in your fridge. Onions are a notable offender. 

The solution here is to store them in an air tight plastic carton, you can get a basic pack of two off of Amazon for $10 here. Theres fancier models that you can record the dates with and stuff like that too. 

Is my house snake the right size for its age? 

It's a fairly common question- and it comes from the right place. Everybody wants to know if their animal is on the right track. That is perfectly normal. 

No worries though! Odds are very good that it is. I'll explain. 

One source of confusion about this is that people sometimes make this assessment by making comparisons to others that may have limited or flat out false information about the snake they are comparing to.

For example- unfortunately sometimes people who are selling wildcaught animals dont know the age of an animal, dont know how long it takes for a hatchling to get to that size, so they just guess. They'll say like oh its a year old, (basing that guess off of other snakes growth) when in reality is a full grown breedable male that could be seven years old already- but that person doesn't know better, buys the animal, and then shows it to their friends. Of course their friend wants one after seeing how cool they are and decides to get a hatchling. A year later its no where near the size of their friend's snake and they start to wonder, "why isn't mine growing? is something wrong with my snake? Nope. Not at all. 

We also can (understandably) end up with misunderstandings when we carry assumptions and concerns from the keeping of one species to another t00. 

For example- house snakes are not like ball pythons on this subject. Ball pythons have very consistent hatchling and growth weights across their growing years, so you can really use that predictable and linear growth to assess how things are going over time. Unfortunately, this predictable linear growth does not exist in house snakes. So there is not, and can not be, a set schedule of by x age they "should" be Y grams for house snakes. It just doesn't work that way. 

There's a few reasons for this, one of them is that house snakes regularly don't have a consistent starting point. They can hatch out at 2g or three times that. It's really all over the board. That's normal for housies. In ball pythons, an exceptionally small hatchling is rare, and often leads to poor outcomes. Which explains some of the X weight by Y age concern. This is not so in house snakes.

There's some theories as to why this happens (studies done in other snake species) that suggest an evolutionary advantage to having variability in clutch/hatchling size in the wild, but I digress...

So why does this matter? Well because vastly different starting points can influence our perception of the animals growth over time. 

For example, let's set up a comparison.

Say two different eggs of the same species/morph hatch on the same day.  Hatchling A, a female, is born at a tiny 2 grams, and hatchling B, a male, is born at 6 grams. 

Both hatchlings are fairly consistent feeders, A is voracious, and B is a little more shy. He prefers his food easier to eat. He's growing, he isn't losing weight. He has great body condition. He's just not in a hurry to eat everything in sight like A is,  

Fast forward several months. Hatchling A is now 7 grams, more than tripling in size! Hatchling B is 10 grams. A steady weight gain, but not even double yet, definitely not as impressive as A's. 

Now if we set a *standard* that says all house snake hatchlings *should* be 10 grams by X months old... than hatchling B is "on track", but hatchling A is "too small for her age", and false assumptions are made about her health etc.

In reality, hatchling A isn't "behind", she's actually growing faster than B, by quite a bit.

Another thing to keep in mind is that growth is not perfectly linear in house snakes. As anyone who has known the agony of raising an aurora to breeding size can tell you! This means that they go through periods of rapid growth, and also periods of stagnation where time passes but growth is limited or stagnant. So again, we end up comparing apples to oranges. 

Another thing to note is weight alone is not a reliable marker for health. Its just a number when taken out of context of the full picture.

Some animals start from behind in life like A, some snakes like B are fit but not in a rush to get big- that doesn't automatically mean that they're in poor health or weren't taken care of. So cut yourself some slack if your housie isn't as big as you thought it would be by X age. These are really small snakes so weight can vary by a lot and still not be determinate of any meaningful conclusion. 

So if there isn't any hard X by Y numbers, then how do we assess?

Take a look at the body condition:

Are there loose folds of skin? Sunken eyes? Visible spine? Head seem a bit large, disproportionate to the body? That would be a indication that your snake is underweight. So feed them more heavily (if they will eat it) or more often.

Does your snake seem otherwise healthy, but you doubt it would be able to race off quickly if it needed to? Do you have difficulty feeling its ribs and spine under its chonk? Does the head seem a bit small, disproportionate to body? Does the body seem considerably wider at the bottom than the top? That's obesity. Which is just as dangerous if not more so to a snake as being too thin. In this case you would feed less of course.

An ideal body condition for a snake would be muscular, you should be able to feel the ribs without much pressure. Think "fit". 

If they are 'fit' there's really no need to sweat it if they aren't the same size as their peers, even compared to their siblings. One good growth spurt and they can shoot right up there. Even if they don't that doesn't mean that it will effect their quality of life.

They are all individuals, like us. Think about it in human terms. A professional horse jockey will be roughly between 4'10" and 5'2" and weigh between 105-115lbs. A professional basketball player is 6'7" tall and weights 215lbs on average. Both must be incredibly physically fit and in peak health to perform. 

There are evolutionary advantages and disadvantages for each side of the spectrum, both sizes and everything in between.  Forgive me for using an analogy, but you cant expect all housies to be a "basketball players", and you cant expect them to be "horse jockeys" either.

No amount of withdraw or neglect will turn a basketball player into a healthy horse jockey. Regardless of size, if they aren't getting what they need, they wont look healthy.  Their body condition will whither, vital functions will shut down, and they will eventually die. You cant "stunt" a house snake, only thin or fill it out.

Also no amount of "powerfeeding" will turn a horse jockey into a healthy basketball player. You just end up with an obese horse jockey. As obesity is the #1 risk factor for liver failure in house snakes, this is dangerous long term.
 
A note for breeders: While its true you may be able to get a basketball player to their adult size faster with a strong feeder, you should know he's still not going to play until his time ;) And yes a healthy horse jockey will absolutely still perform in his time too. So there's no reason to risk it. 

All that attempting to change your snake into something it's not will do is harm the snake. Again, it is body condition, not size or age, that should really matter.

There are of course the minimum and maximum sizes, but those are averages for when they are adults. Point is, it is more important that the animal is healthy. Does it have good body condition? Does it eat regularly? Is it active? Does it poop and shed and do those things snakes are supposed to? Yes? Then having X vs Y rules to measure against isn't going to tell you anything you don't already know. :) 

I hope that helps some.

Ok so heres what you need to know.

What the T stands for in "T" albino is Tyrosinase.

The difference between T- and T+ albino is whether or not the animal has (partially) functioning tyrosinase genes (+) or not (-). Tyrosinase is a copper-containing enzyme crucial for melanin biosynthesis, catalyzing the oxidation of tyrosine to L-DOPA and subsequent reactions that lead to melanin (color) production. 

If you just said, Huh?- no worries, Heres the differences for what it means for us as snake keepers/breeders:

T- have red irises as adults, and T+ have black irises. 

But its really hard to tell them apart visually as newborn hatchlings until you have a trained eye for it. So its always best to keep track of lineage, but even more so if you're going to work with both.

I've never noticed any difference in temperament or care between the two. So if pet ownership is what you're after, just pick whichever one pulls your heart strings you know?

There are things that are good to know for breeders planning future pairings though:

They are not compatible genes, so if you cross a visual T- albino with a visual T+ albino you will get double hets instead of visuals.

T+'s are more of a caramel color than t-'s, (tyrosinase contains copper). They tend to turn more brown or warmer toned as they age, but not by much.

I find T-s to be more saturated in color and a bit cooler toned. Excellent for retaining locality colors when outcrossing.

T+'s are the go to choice for retaining warm tones and when you dont want that extra saturation though. For example the T- hypo butter would be kinda white or practically grey, whereas the t+ hypo butter is a gorgeous shade of soft pale yellow. T+ are considerably easier to work with when doing hypo morphs too. Its pretty easy to tell a T+ hypo apart from a t+, but its impossible to tell a T- hypo apart from a light colored T-, so that's something to be aware of.

So which one is right for you as a breeder is going to strongly depend on your end goal. 

​I hope that helps :)

Yep happy to share, we do appreciate photo credit of course. 

We get a kick out of knowing our animals have been published in various places so let us know what you're using it for if you'd like, it brings us joy. :) 

​We are currently working out some custom coding issues with the webhost for this page and hope to have it back up soon.

We are currently working out some custom coding issues with the webhost for this page and hope to have it back up soon.

​

We are currently working out some custom coding issues with the webhost for this page and hope to have it back up soon.

Been seeing some unfortunate advice given to our babyherpers lately that could get them into some trouble. So here i'm going to go over why you really should have both gauges, and a temperature gun too!

Myth:  as long as a snake has good sheds, you don't need a humidity gauge. 

Reality: Humidity affects more than sheds. It's not going to matter if they shed perfect if they've got a respiratory infection from being kept out of range for too long. So It does matter. You do need to keep humidity in range regardless of sheds, and you need a way to tell. My approach is to use a gauge to keep the ambient humidity at the lower end of their range, and then offer a humid hide on the warm side to give them the option to choose their humidity preference- just like you'd do with temperature.

Speaking of which. It really does help to have both gauges and a temperature gun for monitoring your temperature. Here's why. 

You cant keep a temp gun reading at all times. I've yet to find a "smart" temp gun that can record temps and report changes or send alarms to your phone if anything goes out of place, and that really can be a life saver for your animals. You absolutely *need* gauges for monitoring temperature over time, and controlling heat elements etc.

Having that said. Surface temps are different than ambient temps so having a temp gun is really useful too.

Think about it, a rock under a basking light's surface temp is going to read differently than one thats kept 6 inches away from the lamp- But the ambient probe on the wall nearby will still read the same regardless. So your ambient gauge isn't going to tell you if said rock's surface temp is getting hot enough to burn your snake (unless you're placing it directly ontop of it- which wouldn't make sense to do).

Guns are also much faster to get a quick idea of the range across the entire gradient, as it would take time for gauges to acclimate to get an accurate read if placed across the enclosure to understand the gradient (assuming you were using just one of course). A temp gun can do that within seconds.

Guns can give you instant readings for places that your gauge may not fit, like inside of a hatchlings super tight hide.

So they both have their purposes, and they're both good tools to have ya know?

You've likely seen it before. That guy or gal that is into snakes and seemingly unknowingly posts something on the subject on social media that is.. well, not correct. Dangerous even. 

So you innocently offer them (unsolicited) advice, and oh boy! find out they are an "expert". They insist they know better than you, have been keeping longer than you, may even tout some credentials, and yeah.. you meant well, but it turns into a good ole social media keyboard war. Oh my!

Why does this happen?

It's called the dunning kruger effect, and It is most definitely not limited to just the reptile community- in fact it occurs in every field of expertise. Its so common to human behavior that there's been numerous scientific studies on the matter. Turns out human beings follow a fairly consistent pattern in regards to how their confidence changes as their knowledge in a field progresses. 

A popular shorthand to explain the first stage of the dunning kruger effect is, "sometimes people don't know enough to be aware that they don't know enough to speak on the matter."

this is where we lose our babyherpers folks. It is very important that we are gentle with them at this stage. It is not cool to shame a babyherper that is reaching out to the community during their despair stage- and interestingly enough, those that do so are typically in their own "peak of mt stupid" stage. 

The valley of despair is bad but its actually a good thing if they make it through it. It is very motivating. They're going to want to avoid that pain, and that's what puts them on the upward slope. They start to gain confidence again, but now its as they learn. 

Those that truly arrive at expert level, understand that learning is not a destination you arrive at, but a process that never ends. You start to look back and realize Its messy, its complicated, and there's a lot more paths to get there than the one you took.

Eventually, when you've consumed all of the commonly available knowledge, you realize that the only way to go any further is through collaboration with others, so you share and receive in return. You start to see yourself in those who are just beginning their journey, and can you sympathize instead of being offended. 

A common expression for this stage is, "Competition happens at the bottom, collaboration happens at the top".

So your social media warrior just hasn't reached that point where collaboration becomes necessary in order to grow any further, so they don't value it- yet. Check back in a while and they'll likely be far less combative.

-and you likely will stop being offended by it as you grow too.

After all it's really not their fault. In our culture, we say things like "do your research" (but rarely provide it). That is important so that people can properly understand the responsibilities required to enter the hobby, but people take that to mean that the expectation is anyone who enters into the hobby is to already be an expert by the time they take their first snake home. They feel like they must portray themselves as experts in order to be part of the community, right from the very beginning. None of us were. None. 

If we are going to grow as a hobby, we need to start being honest with ourselves about that. We need to see more mentors acknowledge that they weren't always experts. That they still don't always know. That its ok to not know, and to give others a safe space to ask. Sometimes people who have been keeping less time than us really do have perspectives and methods we may not have thought of.  Babyherpers are people whom have value that even experts can benefit from. They might even surpass our accomplishments some day. We just need to take the pressure off so they have the space to learn. 

It benefits us all. 

So next time you get into it with an insta-expert online, understand that they are not doing this to you, you're just in a different stage. Show them some compassion and you might not only be the push that takes them off Mt. Stupid, but you might just create a better future for you both in the process.

Something to think about :)