• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

My First Crested Hatchling! :)

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HerpAddict

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Hi Everyone!

I'm sure some of you know of my troublesome history with my crested eggs, well tonight I've had a break through!! Or should I say that a baby of mine had a break through coming out of its egg! The little babe looks to be in healthy shape, looks pretty big. The egg swelled up to a maximum weight of 5.0g yesturday (weight when it was laid was 2.4g), and today I came home after being out for 20 minutes, and found it almost out of the egg, with just it's tail and back legs still in there.

I will post pics in a few minutes! :)
 
One pic for now

Sorry, I only have one pic right now. I've moved it into a critter keeper, on paper towel, with egg carton to climb on, some fruit smoothie in a dish, and water in a dish and gave it a light spray.

I incubated the last half on coco fibre, as everything else seemed to give me problems. I incubated at room temp, which is anywhere from 71-79F, but mostly in the 75F range. It took 63 days. This one's clutch mate went moldy a while back, but I've kept incubating it separately, and we'll see how it goes.

Thanks for looking!! I'll get more pics later, once it's settled. I don't want to stress the little one out too much, so they will be pics from the outside of the critter keeper.

Reducedandenhancedpic1.jpg
 
Congrats!!! Fantastic to catch them in the act. Enjoy your lil one.
 
a nesting change

Amanda,

I am no crested expert but I do have 100% hatch rate with perilite. I use small sandwich containers with no holes and put in enough water until i can clump it but that it still breaks up easily in my hand.

I do not use heat, I just stick the containers on a shelf in a reptile room.

Maybe this will help for better hatch rates?

thanks, andrew
 
that's great to hear Amanda...congrats :D

good luck with the future ones...not sure what to say about coco fiber...I think Anthony Caponetto was saying that it ruined his eggs if he left them in the nest box with coco fiber too long...maybe you'll have better luck with it

not sure what the temps are where you are now but are they high enough now to try room temp?
 
Thanks everyone for the kind words!


About the choice of substrate: I was using perlite, but it was causing more problems, such as when a hatchling tried to get out of the bottom of the egg, the perlite just clogged the hole, so the little one couldn't get out. I talked to 3 prominent breeders of cresteds in my area, and they all said that they have been using coco fibre for incubating for years, so I decided to try it, seeing as my current solution was not working. I have had no problems with the coco fibre ruining any eggs yet, but I've only had 3 since then, and 2 are still incubating, but have no visible signs of problems. Maybe the stuff I can buy in Canada is different than the stuff in the states. It's definitely made by a canadian company, so perhaps the way that they process it makes the difference. Who knows!? It seems to be working for now, and if it ever seems not to be working, then I will change my ways yet again.

About the temps: Yes, the temperature in my house is now suitable to incubate then at room temperature. I was reading a forum on ssnakess.com that showed the difference in crested hatchling size depending on the temperature, it was amazing the difference! The one incubated at ~68F was about 3 weeks bigger than the one incubated at ~78F. I'm going to try to incubate my eggs at a lower temperature, I just have to find somewhere in my house that is that cool!

Thanks again!
 
Update

I thought I should give an update on this crested. It was my first hatchling, and from what I have seen and heard about it in the last 3+ monthes, I might have something interesting. I'll just have to wait and see.

Basically the interesting thing is that this baby (who I've named Monte) has been its growth rate. Monte was born at 2.2g on July 4th. On September 4th Monte weighed in at 9.2grams. On October 6th, Monte weighed in 14.2grams, and on October 13th, Monte weighed in at 16.7grams. These are all on approximately empty stomachs.

From talking to the local breeders in my area, these sizes are quite large, and most say they haven't heard of a crested growing so quickly. I attribute the growth to a healthy appetite for crickets, a newly discovered love of fruit smoothies, and possibly genetics. Mom weighs in at 57g, and is a stub-tailed yellow dalmation. Dad isn't too big, at 37g and is one of those gorgeous rusty red cresteds with bi-color that is a bit green between the crests. Monte has dad's bi-color and mom's dalmation spotting.

The next set of eggs that hatched from these two followed suit, they are just over 2 monthes old now, and weigh in at 9.1g and 10.2g. I'm excited to see how these three turn out. The two month olds are the last set mom laid. She is currently just past her fourth month without laying, I guess she wanted a break. She never lost any weight, but I think she got tired of being gravid!


Here are pics of Monte:

At 2 monthes old and almost completely fired up:
Reduced-Monte2.jpg


At 3 monthes and in day colors:
MonteBigBellyOct22005-2.jpg


Same as above, different angle:
MonteBigBellyOct22005-1.jpg



Has anybody else had babies of this size? I have only heard locally about size, but perhaps more variance exists out there in baby size?

Cheers!
 
looks great and sounds great... :)
mine love crickets but haven't grown that quickly...nice job
 
Update again...

Monte is now 4.25 monthes old, and weighs in at 24g. I'm almost certain that Monte is a female, as there are no signs of bulges, and I would have thought if there was any, they would be starting to show by this weight. I won't believe it 100% until Monte is probably 9mths+ or over 35g. I'm thinking that 35g will probably come first at this rate!

His siblings are also porkers, 3.25 monthes and they are 18g and 15g (one takes more after dad, who isn't as big as mom).

They are such joys to watch grow (and eat!) and change!

The mother to these guys just came back from a 5 month break, and laid two eggs for me a week and a bit ago, so far they look good to me, but it's obviously a little early to tell! They have a different dad, and it was his first time breeding, so hopefully he got the job done well!:hehe:
 
wow, can't believe his size for his age still...should be quite interesting to see him/her when fully grown...um, what are in those smoothies?
 
In my most successful (ie, tasty) batch there included:
prickly pear
mango
black grapes
strawberry yogurt
bananas
strawberries

Monte pigs out on it, eating an average of about 2.5g of smoothie each time I give it to them, which is once or twice a week. It takes Monte a couple days to get his/her belly back into a girlish form afterwards:hehe:

I dust the crickets with miner-all and try to give the crickets lots of food and carrots, which makes them nice and plump for the picking!
 
sounds good...my food plan has been working ok for some and bad for others...and after hard times and losing my favorite girl, I just ordered Clark's diet...I've been hearing good things and hope it will help...sounds like your diet is working very well...I'd be interested how the females are after a while of breeding so I'm sure you'll keep us posted
 
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