Spinosus Hatchlings

[Klemins]

That's a shame about the male. Did you only have the pair or other bloodlines as well?

 

[chamelisa]

That's a shame about the male. Did you only have the pair or other bloodlines as well?

Hey, no focusing on the depressing stuff. That little Mr. Spin did a great job and bred with his female several times over the past nine months. She is gravid now. I do have other bloodlines too. No worries!

 

[Chris Anderson]

Elisa,

That baby looks like its growing very nicely. It really shows in the animals when people care enough about them to care for them correctly. Great job on the babies and I hope they continue to do well.

Chris

 

[luevelvet]

Hey Elisa,

Good work there. I saw the spinosus at the show and had to leave before I bought a pair. I'm very excited to start working with these one day and when the time comes, I hope you don't mind answering a few questions.

Luis

 

[merumontanus]

But if it really was a good photo, it would be clear right up through the rosette, right?

No, not necessarily. With as shallow a depth-of-field as as you were shooting with, you'd have to choose whether to focus on the rosette or the eyes, and to me, the eyes are more important in this shot. Larger apertures (smaller F-stop numbers) produce a shallower depth-of-field, though it's also affected by focal lengths and the distance of the subject. You can close your aperture a bit more (larger F-stop) and/or increase the distance between you and the subject a bit to increase your focal range, but that's purely a creative choice.

Congratulations, one more time. As much as I'd like to keep spinosus again, focusing on a particular taxon most often produces better results, and your success is a great example of that. For me, it's all about jacksonii and its close taxa, but I continue to live vicariously through your experience with this magnificent species.

Cheers,

Fabián

 

[chamelisa]

No, not necessarily. With as shallow a depth-of-field as as you were shooting with, you'd have to choose whether to focus on the rosette or the eyes, and to me, the eyes are more important in this shot. Larger apertures (smaller F-stop numbers) produce a shallower depth-of-field, though it's also affected by focal lengths and the distance of the subject. You can close your aperture a bit more (larger F-stop) and/or increase the distance between you and the subject a bit to increase your focal range, but that's purely a creative choice.

Congratulations, one more time. As much as I'd like to keep spinosus again, focusing on a particular taxon most often produces better results, and your success is a great example of that. For me, it's all about jacksonii and its close taxa, but I continue to live vicariously through your experience with this magnificent species.

Cheers,

Fabián

Thanks Fabián. I appreciate it.

Here is a photo I took today of another female. She had unusual color for this time and I do believe she is gravid. But I looked at my records and noticed I forgot to post her weights for two months. The other females laid eggs and her not laying eggs made no sense.

I removed her from her cage and put her in another while I disassembled hers and dug through the dirt. I found two eggs in the soil well into their incubation and I am just hoping my errors have not killed any possibility of these eggs hatching. It just kills me to see them in the soil like that exposed to whatever is in the cage and soil.

I replace the dirt with organic soil each time I find a clutch. Following weights, watching a pattern and most of all visually examining them daily to see any changes helps determine when the eggs have been laid. Unfortunately I forgot to enter two weights. So that was were I made my error.

So many ups and downs with breeding. Are you breeding merumontanus? I admire anyone who breeds live bearing species. That is one scary ride.