Welcome to our first issue of "The Niblet", two quirky exotic animal breeders sharing a taste of the farm life. In this issue we're covering our breeding efforts with our Green Tree Pythons & Carpondros, a few herp husbandry tips and a our regimen for helping horses gain weight in the winter (harder than you might think). We hope you enjoy this issue, and welcome your thoughts and suggestions.

All the best,

Ross Lasley	Amy Lasley

Love is in the Air in our Snake Room!

This is the time of year when our snake breeding is in full swing, the season starts in January and ends in March. For 2007 half of our ten pairings are focused on Carpondros - a hybrid between a Carpet Python and a Green Tree Python (see photos below of male Carpet Python "Gandolph" and female Green Tree Python "Pong"). We've seen good action with most pairs, but what we haven't seen yet is what we are most hopeful for this season - Carpondro to Carpondro breeding.

Our adult male Carpondro, Butch, has had an opportunity with both Juanita and Rosa but has yet to display any interest, we think perhaps he needs another year to grow up a bit. Speedy Gonzales, a friend and breeder from Maryland, is also working on a Carpondro X Carpondro breeding this year, and he has seen good action. We hope he'll prove out that these hybrids are in fact fully fertile animals in their own right. If this is the case (as we believe) it will prove that Carpets and GTPs are not in fact separate species but varieties, our Carpondro page has the Charles Darwin quote and a good explanation.

Our Green Tree Python breeding has been humming along nicely as well and we've had confirmed breedings of our Sorong type female Luna, our Aru Type female Phoenix (shown below with Aru male "George"), and our Lereh type female Bingo. To put GTPs in the mood we use a specific "cycling regimen". We change the temperature, humidity and light - pretty much we fool them into thinking it is the correct time of year to breed.

What we are watching for now is follicle development and ovulation - body swelling as eggs are formed. Rob Worrell was the first person to document ovulation and as he says "you can't miss it". About a month after ovulation females have the "pre-lay shed", this is almost always exactly 14 days before they lay eggs.

Once the females have shed we provide them with a nest box in which to lay their eggs, we use the units produced by Avey, which are about 8" x 8" and filled with dry sphagnum moss. Once the females lay the eggs it is time for a significant choice - maternal or artificial incubation.

In the wild Green Tree Pythons are maternal incubators - the females literally sit on the eggs and twitch their bodies to keep them warm. The trouble with this in captivity is that while they are incubating eggs they don't eat - in fact they usually stop eating before breeding even beings. This means that a female who has maternally incubated her eggs has often gone 5-6 months without eating. The problem with artificial incubation is that it is very difficult, lost eggs are a normal part of the artificial incubation process. There are many methods of incubation and none work reliably or for everyone. Here at Spruce Nubble Farm we'll be doing both artificial and maternal incubation this season.

We'll keep you posted as our breeding efforts progress this year - we may have babies hatching as soon as June, but more likely it will be July and August. It is interesting to note that breeders have hatched baby chondros in every month of the year except January.

How to gain weight in the winter
(if you're a horse that is)

We don't have any problem gaining weight in the winter. It seems that when the days grow shorter and the nights start to get chilly, we find it hard to keep the weight off, if anything.

This year we acquired a new broodmare, Reggie, in December. She's an absolutely gorgeous, 17.3hh, Shire mare. As is often the case with these big girls, Reggie needed to gain a couple hundred pounds in order to be in prime condition for breeding this Spring.

We gave Reggie the ol' 1-2-3 punch, and have been really happy with the results. Here's what we did:

1. Digestive System Tune-Up
Usually a horse that needs to gain weight has some other health issues going on too. If the previous owner didn't bother to feed the horse enough, they probably didn't perform regular wormings or maintain the teeth properly. The digestive system needs to be able to use what you're giving it, or the horse won't gain weight, so address the digestive system first.

We gave Reggie a paste wormer (Zimectrin Gold), before we put her on the trailer to come home. We then started her on a daily dewormer (Strongid C2X). The next step was to have her teeth floated, and boy did they need it! Digestion begins in the mouth, so make sure to have those teeth looked at. We also gave her a dose of Pro-Bios to introduce "good" bacteria into the digestive system and thus aid in getting every last bit of nutrition out of the feed.

2. Free choice hay
There is no substitute for good quality hay when it comes to horses. We feed a fantastic mixed grass hay (mostly Timothy) grown by our neighbors Dave & Sue Kidd. Hay is your horse's heater in the winter. The heat created by digesting it actually keeps your horse warm, and a warm horse can gain weight much better than a cold one.

3. Low Protein, High Fat Grain
We feed Reggie 8 quarts of Blue Seal's Vintage Victory (PDF Information) every day, 4 in the morning and 4 at night. This grain is low in protein and carbohydrates, and high in fat, so it helps horses gain weight without making them hot.

Fresh Greens are still in-season in our Unheated Greenhouse!

Well here we are in February, and we are still eating greens from our unheated greenhouse. How's that possible? Amy's research led us to Eliot Coleman's book Four Season Harvest. A must have for anyone who wants to grow a lot of their own food. The basic system employs floating row covers used inside the greenhouse as a double layer of protection from the cold. The plants don't actually grow at this time of year, but the double layer lets us achieve "hibernation" temperatures for cold season crops like Spinach and Mache (even in Maine, even in the winter). The results are simply delicious. You can visit the Four Season Farm website by clicking here, or buy the book - its a must have for stretching the season, even if you don't own a greenhouse.