The Snake Keeper Blog

The weather here is warming up and we are spending more time outdoors. Our Clutch keeper page is ready to go for the year and we should have some up there soon. We have two clutches so far we just got this past weekend. High contrast albinos and albino spiders. So we plan on keeping it updated so if you see something you want plan on letting us know early as the rare ones will go fast. While we are working on the Boa side of the site I am not sure when we will have the boa litters listed. We may just have to post them here so they get noticed. If you have not filled out your USFWS survey you really need to get it done before the 30th. If you need more information about it please give us a call. Also be looking for more information on USARK United States Association of Reptile Keepers. You will want to be apart of this group. More to come on that later. We are doing very well here in Utah. While we had a rocky start things have really turned out for us now. Looking forward to a great season.

Well the first snow arrived in the mountains this week. Today was my first day coming to the office that I was really cold. The bad part about that is it really is not cold yet. But being that the days are getting shorter and cooler that means breeding time is upon. Heck we do not even have all our eggs hatched out yet and we are talking about getting boas together and pair up the balls as well soon. The building is in good shape now from this last year. I will have to get some pictures of the improvements. I actually have a guy coming over today to put up a couple extra lights to help with the lighting. Along with the helix controls to get the light cycle as we want it to be. Never needed it here in this building but now that the skylights are covered up it is the best way to keep the day/night cycle correct.

My time is so tight right now but I want to start a “snake of the day” offer on our available page. It may not be every day I get a new one up but lets see how it goes. It should always but up at the top of the field.

We are going to Chicago so plans are on the way for that one. That is always a fun place to go. We really enjoy the people there. We missed last year but we look forward to seeing everyone this time around. If you are looking for any boas or balls let us know and we will be sure to bring them along.

Well it is over! Yes our ordeal with the neighbors and the city has come to an end. All I will say about it here is the city settled with us so now we can move on. We are happy where we are and our snakes are safe.

As for the last year there is so much going on we could talk about. We are down to about our last 45 clutches or so to hatch out and then we will be winding down the hatching season just in time for the breeding season. Hard to believe but the leaves have been changing on the trees here for weeks now and the days are getting shorter. Shorter days mean the snakes are getting signs of the season.

Well I still have to adjust out lighting. We just the roof of our building coated in urethane to better insulate the building. Now our sky lights are covered so we have no natural light. I have to set up sensors to trigger the lights and heat now. But I brought it all with me from California so just need a few hours to set it all up and we will be set to go.

We have produced some fantastic animals this year. A few you have seen already and some you have not. Now that I can gets this page going again. I will try to show you what has been going on. It will be a little slow though as there is also so much work to be done. Getting ready for a show this weekend in Salt Lake City. If you live around the Utah area stop in and see us.

The hatching season is always so fun. Today I got to check the boas first. Two days ago I did not get to go into the room as I was away and I missed seeing a litter. But today I found two of them. Very cool. We had some corn isles and some hypo sonorans. I will have to get pictures of them later but it was cool finding them. Only a few more litters to go now. We have to update our ball pythons as they are hatching out. Got some pastel piebalds yesterday in a great clutch. I need to get more pictures up for you to share in the excitement.

Well things are really geting up to speed now this season. Eggs are hatching and litters are coming. We will start posting some pics of the new babies soon as they have the first sheds. Already we have super cinnamons, a snow, super pastel Clown and pastel clowns. Hatching today are lavender albinos and ivories. We are working hard to keep things up to date and we should be here updating the news more now. Have a great 4th of July and be safe.

well the hatching has begun here at TSK,Inc. Our first balls are out and we have two super cinnamons and some black pastels. So we were happy to have that be first this season. We are floowing that up with two ivories right now but they have not come out of the egg yet. Had two boa litters today that were good litters. I will have to get pics of them after they shed but we got one litter from the Black Nic Motley and another litter from our Columbian Motley female bred to a Lavander Albino male. So we have Motley het albinos that is way cool. So our webmaster is going to be working on the site to get it ready to post offspring but I hear it is going to be a few weeks before it is done. Until then we will post our news here about the clutches and litters.

Well now we are well into January and we are just catching up and getting things going. It has been a trying last 6 months. But we are doing well now. We really enjoy it here in Utah. We thought the snow would be bad but it’s not. The kids sure enjoy it. Our buildings we were building on the previous entries are still sitting there. We were unable to move into them. It is a long story and still remains unresolved. The good news is we have a new place for our collection. The building is working out well so far. We will have to see how this seasons production turns out.

Ball pythons – Should be quite the year for ball pythons this year. Generally speaking we should see some of the coolest balls produced this season around the world. With what genes breeders have available to them now I am sure we will be awed and inspired once again when pictures are posted from all ball python breeders with what’s new out of the eggs this season. The super calico should make an appearance this season from some one. I can only hope that he appears here in our collection. We are trying to get him booked. How about the super pastel clown what will that look like? Pastel clowns are insane looking now make it a super. That will be one everyone will be wanting. There are many others but I need to leave something else to write about in the coming weeks. The incubator still needs to be completed so we are not in too much of a hurry for eggs right now.

Boas- Yes, some of you have heard that we have some boas. Well it is true over the past five years we have been collecting only the best available boas on the market. Growing them slow and steady. That’s what you have to do with the boas, take your time with them. They do not power down the food like the balls do in the beginning. Lucky for me Colette has the patience. Heck years ago while feeding the baby boas I would be like feed that little thing a meal. Then give it another one and in a few days give it another. Well Colette was there to stop that from happening. She knew what would happen if we treated the boas like some people feed the balls. So following that path we now have some mature boas ready to produce. In fact we have had some nice ovulations already. We did produce a few litters last season as well. In about 4 months we will see if we get good offspring or not.

Well that is what is going on here right now. Colette and I are working hard to get back on track. But we believe we have most everything ironed out now. I tell you moving is bad enough but moving a large collection is even worse. You forget about all the little things you did to your last snake room that needs to be done to the new one. For example water filtration. Once we set up the new shop we had to increase the humidity. So we went out and got a nice ultrasonic humidifier. Plugged it in and it went to town but by the next day there was a fog of hard water minerals in the air and on everything. So we found out the hard way that the TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) was too high. So then we ordered a DI filter set up. We were told that will fix the problem. Mounted it on the wall set it all up and presto clean water fills the air and we are saying this is nice. The DI unit is really cool it even has this resilite on it that stays green when good water is coming out of it. So I am told I should only have to replace these two 20” filters ($125.00 ea.) only once a season. Well about 14 days later I hear this from Colette. What color did you say the resilite should be? That would be green dear, well it is red. RED, how can that be it has only been two weeks. So you can guess I was on the phone in a hurry. Now is when I find out that depending on the level of you TDS you may have a short filter life. So I call and order a RO unit to be installed before the DI unit. Wait a week and it arrives and set it up and with in a few hours I get a green light again. I even got a TDS tester to monitor the water. Interesting enough our water here has a TDS of 256 PPM out of the tap. Out of the RO unit it is now 6 PPM. That will make my DI filter last for a year we hope. I think we have the cleanest water in all of Utah now.

Well that was long but it gives the example of what to expect when you move to a new place. Electrical outlets, sinks, plumbing, fans, internet, trash etc; there is so much to take into consideration. I have a story for all of them during this move. Hey if I could do it all over again I would. I could live with out the almost 20 trips back and forth from California though. That’s all for now.

We have arrived and are setting everything up at our new facilities. Well our second new facilities. But we want to be sure you have our new numbers.

Phone 801-794-0300 Fax 801-794-4998

New mailing address coming soon.

We are in and out a lot now so please leave us a message. Our email has been down waiting for new service but we have it back up and running now. So we will be going through some old email answering questions. Email address is the same. It has been a tough 3 months. The good news is were are settling in and getting ready for the up coming season. Ultrasound machine has already been put to work to see who is going to be ready for this season. We are expecting some good things from our females this season. We really should have an impressive boa year as well. Any ways just wanted to get these new numbers out to you.