A Walk Around the Farm

Here is a picture walk around my reptile farm in Homestead, Florida:

Reptile Buildings 1, 2, and 3. We have four reptile buildings at this time.
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Right Side of Building 1.
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Left Side of Building 1.
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Tom Crutchfield in Building 1.
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Right Side of Building 2.
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Left Side of Building 2.
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In Building 2.
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Cyclura and Iguana Breeding Facilities.
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Rhinocerous Iguana, Cyclura cornuta, breeding cage.
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Concrete Breeding Pens.
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Diamond Pythons in a concrete breeding pen.
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Cages for growing hatchling Iguanas in the Springtime.
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Facilities for growing medium size Iguanas.
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Breeder Albino Iguanas with Red Iguana female on floor of cage.
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Breeder Albino Iguanas with Red Iguana female on floor of cage. Can you imagine what morph this would possibly make? Glowing Pink or Red Albino Iguanas?
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Nesting Box on back of Iguana cage. Our outdoor cages have underground water and electricity.
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Inside the Nesting Box. A spot lamp for heat is necessary for certain times of the year even in South Florida.
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Albino Snapping Turtle breeding vat.
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Albino Red Ear Slider breeding vat.
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Nice to see you Tom , yous got balls keeping your diamonds outside , that for temperature reasons? cooling etc ?

Lekker
Andrew

Fantastic!!!

You don´t need one more employee? Smile

Kind regards,
Rene

Andrew Hacket wrote:: Nice to see you Tom , yous got balls keeping your diamonds outside , that for temperature reasons? cooling etc ?

Lekker
Andrew

Hello Andrew. We successfully bred our Diamond Pythons using this method on the first attempt last year. They are indeed pure Diamonds. They are kept outside all year round. I am located almost 40 miles South of Miami, almost to Key Largo. There is a heat lamp that is kept on during the cold times of the year, even in South Florida. If it approaches 40F - 32F, plastic is put up over the front of the concrete cage. Only when the female Diamond is visibly gravid, is she taken to a private cage inside building 1 so she can deposit her eggs where we can quickly and easily find them. After she lays her eggs, she is fed until she is no longer thin and then placed back outside with the other Diamonds.

From my experience, it is indeed the temperature and the Diamond's ability to thermoregulate successfully which is the key to this species. The Diamond Pythons need to be exposed to temperatures that are quite warm in summer and then cool in winter. The key is for the snake to be able to bask/thermoregulate when the cool season is upon it. Therefore the heat lamp is turned on in the onset of cool/cold weather. Always remember that DIAMOND PYTHONS DO NOT HIBERNATE IN THE COOL/COLD WEATHER. They must have a heat lamp to bask under at this time of year and get VERY warm; warm enough to feed and digest, but the light is only meant to heat one spot in the cage. They will bask under the lamp on their own when they need to, unless the Diamond is sick to begin with. Do not use heat mats. Overhead spot light is the key. The Diamond Python will successfully breed given these parameters. Here are some pictures of the process:

Notice most of the Diamonds are in the area of the spot lamp in a breeding ball.
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Copulating Diamond Pythons.
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Female Diamond Python Incubating her eggs. The eggs are removed to an incubator.
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One of our baby Diamond Pythons at 6 months of age.
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Hey Tom , Very very Interesting , I prefer the ''white colored'' diamond python variety , those are nice ones. How's their attitude ? I know bredli are by far the most mellow and relaxed of all my aussie pythons , how do these compare in personality ?

I saw you pricing on kingsnake , have u had much interest ? If they are difficult to breed perhaps their market value will hold nicely as it deserves to.

Apparently many years ago the american market was flooded with diamond pythons but then suddenly they dissapeared I presume they all died ?

Kiff
Andrew

I only have 1.2 left surplus from last year. The reason there was a lot many years ago was when a few people were breeding them like Erci Scov. Diamonds are extremely difficult to breed because if you brumate them like other snakes they usually die. The key is cold at night and allowed to choose their body temps the next day. Most people either can't provide that or don't understand that and usually get infertile eggs if any at all. Diamonds are extremely tame and nice...

hey tom,awesome job!!!!!!!!!

Guest

Mate how do you deal with all? It would make my head explode Smile

Thanks
Yasin

We do probably breed the greatest variety in Herpeoculture today. The good thing is that we are well experienced with all Herps except for Sphenodon so it's not a learn as you go project. It is, however, a big responsibility and investment but I LOVE the critters. Believe it or not this is my retirement...LOL

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