Lilly's Gravid Again!!!

[axis1]

Whoa! Finally figured out why Lilly refused mice 3 x since 6/8!! After a recent shed, I tried to feed her and I noticed after her third refusal that she kept surfing the perimeter of her cage, burrowing and digging like mad. While she appeared too skinny to be gravid (poor baby looks like she could tap dance on razor blades and that maybe I could even rent a shadow for her!!!), I weighed her at 381 grams, WAY too thin in my book! But as she slithered through my hands to go back into her cage, lo and behold, I felt the string of pearls as she slipped through my fingers!!

I immediately provided a makeshift laybox with moist sphagnum moss, but am really worried as she just laid 19 eggs on May 21st! (Yikes!) :eek1: Isn't that too recently? She only ate 3 mice since then and she's only 3 feet long to begin with anyway!! That's what I get for cohabbing, I guess (only recently separated her from 2 other males at the end of April after posting on this forum that it seemed like my 2 adult males were mating!).

I snapped a pic of her going into her laybox as soon as I put it in there. Does anyone have experience with females who double-clutch? Should I just do everything the same as when she laid her first clutch?? (Provide water afterwards and offer smaller than normal mice for the first couple of feedings)?

Thanx in advance for any responses!!

 

[axis1]

Peekaboo!

Hello!! Is there anybody out there? (Nod to Pink Floyd's, "The Wall")

 

[WillowBug]

She is a very pretty snake but I am not very experienced so I don't know what to do

 

[WillowBug]

Hello!! Is there anybody out there? (Nod to Pink Floyd's, "The Wall")

I am sorry but I don't know what to do

 

[DLena]

She's actually saying' "Thank you for the lay box." She's really cuter than cute with both ends sticking out. I don't have advice, I'm just starting to think about a possible pairing 2 years from now...if ever. I'm learning from you folks! Tell Lilly "Best Wishes" and hopefully Nanci or Tavia will show up soon.

 

[axis1]

She is a very pretty snake but I am not very experienced so I don't know what to do

Thanx Willowbug!!! Yep, she IS a looker!! But difficult to get pix of as she's very skittish compared to her male counterparts Bozo & Chili-Pepper!! (I have some pix of all in the album section).

But with all of the hoops she made me jump through, like quickly preparing a laybox as she appeared to keep circling her cage like a tiger in a zoo, she just abandoned the box and keeps circling the enclosure continuously. Well, it IS kinda huge for just her (I initially bought it with all 3 hatchings 8 years ago and they shared it until I separated all of them in April). It's a screen (nylon?) mesh enclosure with dimensions of 30" x 30" x 18" or 65-gallons, heated by a ceramic bulb overhead on one side above a heated rock (usually considered a no-no but it doesn't get too hot and I don't know what else to do because a UTH is not a viable option in this case, as it is probably too hot for the material this cage is composed of). In retrospect, it was a great choice as my 3 adults have thrived in this enclosure. I initially got it when I read that corns only have one functional lung and figured the extra ventilation would positively benefit my little sneaky ones!! Despite all of the warnings I received and/or read about, I have never had a problem with this enclosure and I happily lived by, or as, the saying which goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

 

[DollysMom]

The good news is that all that exercise keeps her in condition for laying! She's so cute. Congrats I think, lol. You are going to be up to your eyeballs in hatchlings!

I just noticed. Is that tape on the lay box? That's a disaster waiting to happen. If there is tape accessible a snake will sooner or later get stuck to it, sometimes with dire consequences.

 

[axis1]

She's actually saying' "Thank you for the lay box." She's really cuter than cute with both ends sticking out. I don't have advice, I'm just starting to think about a possible pairing 2 years from now...if ever. I'm learning from you folks! Tell Lilly "Best Wishes" and hopefully Nanci or Tavia will show up soon.

Thanx DLena! She IS a cute little bugger!! I'm just kicking myself for allowing her to have lived with her males counterparts for so long before learning that corns are better off living alone! Better late than never, I guess.

 

[axis1]

The good news is that all that exercise keeps her in condition for laying! She's so cute. Congrats I think, lol. You are going to be up to your eyeballs in hatchlings!

I just noticed. Is that tape on the lay box? That's a disaster waiting to happen. If there is tape accessible a snake will sooner or later get stuck to it, sometimes with dire consequences.

Hey Dollysmom: just wondering, did you ever work in forensics? Your observation skills are acute, excellent, and ON THE MONEY!! Nothing gets past you!! Which is also a testament to your love for Cornsnakes!!

Just to clarify, the tape which was holding a hastily cut flap of plastic has been removed!

On behalf of me and my little sneaky ones, I thank you kindly! :bowdown:

 

[DollysMom]

You are welcome.

You wouldn't say that if you knew my total inability to proofread. Tried everything. Still miss some. I also have dysgraphia, but that's another problem, literally.

 

[axis1]

You are welcome.

You wouldn't say that if you knew my total inability to proofread. Tried everything. Still miss some. I also have dysgraphia, but that's another problem, literally.

Wow! Dysgraphia? Difficult to believe and from the content & context of your writing, definitely misdiagnosed! As far as legibility, my handwriting appears as if a chicken ran across an ink pad and traipsed incoherently around the page! So I can ID with you on that (thank heavens for keyboards which I continue to use via the 2-finger method!).

But seriously speaking, you are a gem! Thanx again Dollysmom! And if Lilly could speak, I'm certain she'd thank you also!!

 

[Nanci]

The mom usually lays the second clutch, if she is going to, right when the first clutch hatches.

 

[axis1]

The mom usually lays the second clutch, if she is going to, right when the first clutch hatches.

Thanx for that Nanci!! Though how she would know that is really freaky to imagine, mostly because there is such a potential variation in the times that they could hatch, no? For example, last year, her small clutch pipped through on the 45th day, exactly, which I've heard is quite fast in terms of incubation. So if that were to reoccurr, they'll be hatching around the 1st (Yikes!!).

But again, that does say something also about the timing and she seems to have followed pretty much what you're describing! Caught me off guard only because she appears very thin, for her usual weight anyway.

 

[DollysMom]

Wow! Dysgraphia? Difficult to believe and from the content & context of your writing, definitely misdiagnosed! As far as legibility, my handwriting appears as if a chicken ran across an ink pad and traipsed incoherently around the page! So I can ID with you on that (thank heavens for keyboards which I continue to use via the 2-finger method!).

But seriously speaking, you are a gem! Thanx again Dollysmom! And if Lilly could speak, I'm certain she'd thank you also!!

Thanks for the compliment.

There are different degrees of dysgraphia to be sure, and I have no dyslexia which often accompanies it. I have the unusual way of holding writing instruments; frequent crossouts and mistakes; very slow writing to be neat and accurate; and hand and arm cramps and pain while writing. No diagnosis or treatment as a child either other than "underachiever." Failed dictation tests miserably because I couldn't write fast enough. Good for my ego to know it is rather common among otherwise intelligent people.

Yeah, thank heavens for keyboards and computers. Couldn't type worth a dang on a manual typewriter either, but computers freed me.

Forgive my veer off-topic!

 

[axis1]

Thanks for the compliment.

There are different degrees of dysgraphia to be sure, and I have no dyslexia which often accompanies it. I have the unusual way of holding writing instruments; frequent crossouts and mistakes; very slow writing to be neat and accurate; and hand and arm cramps and pain while writing. No diagnosis or treatment as a child either other than "underachiever." Failed dictation tests miserably because I couldn't write fast enough. Good for my ego to know it is rather common among otherwise intelligent people.

Yeah, thank heavens for keyboards and computers. Couldn't type worth a dang on a manual typewriter either, but computers freed me.

Forgive my veer off-topic!

:-offtopic (I'm sure it's OK from time-to-time!)

But speaking of which, MOST folks who have exceptional intelligence AND creativity are often diagnosed with one or more serious mental disorders! (Give it a name, right?) So YES, I believe that those of us who fall into THAT category ARE special, and NOT the way that "special" is so sensitively used by the "PC" crowd! As a social work student (back when I was an undergraduate, like when Central Park was in a flower pot!!!), I was often in hot water because of my refusal to abide by the culturally-competent crowd who engaged in sensitivity-speak & psychobabble mostly to believe they were on a higher level or wavelength (meanwhile, they were ALL so full of it there eyes were brown!) and I was once reprimanded for writing an article in which I described ugly people as "ugly" rather than "visually unpleasant!" Fuhgeddaboudit! I even had a professor call me at work to bawl me out!! But thanx to Freedom of Speech I usually prevailed and my articles were printed. I was a pariah to many but who cares! F***'em if they can't take a joke, ya know?

But getting back to the Off-Topic topic, as I was saying (I keep misplacing my dang Adderall!!!), MOST of the folks who have the diagnoses (plural, meaning MORE than ONE or multiple) that I do, unfortunately, have to be KEPT somewhere, as I did from time-to-time, but I am happy to report I am recently and currently FREE to walk the streets and WITHOUT supervision!!!

Thanx for giving me the impetus to VENT! (I NEEDED that!)

 

[Nanci]

I am very bad about sensitivity-speak. Can't stand it. Can't make it come out of my mouth.

 

[axis1]

I am very bad about sensitivity-speak. Can't stand it. Can't make it come out of my mouth.

I know how you feel! Seems I FINALLY discovered a place where I have something in common with folks - in addition to a love for little sneaky ones!

So glad I met you guys!! :crazy02:

 

[axis1]

BTW

Back on topic: Lilly is finally staying in her laybox with just her head sticking out for the past 8 hours or so.

Hope she's ready because the anticipation is driving me nuts!!

 

[Dragonling]

I am very bad about sensitivity-speak. Can't stand it. Can't make it come out of my mouth.

The people who are likely to get confrontational about microaggressions tend to be millennial Tumblrinas anyway. Darn kids.

 

[axis1]

The people who are likely to get confrontational about microaggressions tend to be millennial Tumblrinas anyway. Darn kids.

Interesting.

What's a Tumblrina?

But there's a whole other group, commonly known as Liberals, of whom people assume I a member due to my occupation as a social worker. However, I am the exception to the rule and have always been a thick-skinned, individualistic, quasi-libertarian who abhors collectivism and groupthink! When a professor once announced she was grading us a group, I handed in a separate antithesis on how Marxism was pervading and deteriorating the core values of our western educational system where lazy students were allowed and encouraged to participate in various forms of social loafing and malingering! While my professor publicly called me a maniac, I was graded as an individual and received an A+. The average group grade was B-. I rest my case.

Political Correctness sucks!

(BTW, I should also add that while a large number of my classmates were given a partially subsidized or totally free ride mostly without having to even do so much as prove their academic or scholarly prowess and just by having the good fortune of belonging to a "special group," I had to foot the total bill for my education as I was not born into wealth nor was I a member of a family of refugees from Cambodia or hypochondriacal dwarfs! I only received $1000 off per semester after qualifying for a Presidential Scholarship which was based upon a series of written essays which were - ready for a poisonous word to Liberals? - competitive! Meaning, based upon one of the BEST written answers submitted to a quorum of experts!! They also didn't have any scholarships for fat, white or Italian guys over 30 who were entering college 15 years later than normal due to delays caused by years of attempts at Better Living Through Chemistry! So rather than complain or say, "whoa is me," I did my time, paid for my mistakes, and earned an undergraduate and master's degree in a little over 5 years while working full-time, in addition to jumping through all of the hoops necessary to be licensed in my profession, both locally and nationally, and am still paying for the privilege of acquiring an education in this beautiful country! Just sayin'.)