Swifts

We have been in our house for nearly 4 years now. There are plenty of trees in and around our garden, which help attract birds and provide nesting opportunities. The top of our house has been converted into two bedrooms and a bathroom, but one side still has a fairly sizeable space under the eaves. This is also the location of a very large tank that provides bathrooms on the first floor with water. 

Reeling from the enormous increase in our water bill - due to being switched onto a water meter - I was in the eaves with a plumber friend of mine checking a float valve that seemed very slow to shut off, when he suddenly remarked that a little dark bird had been disturbed - subsequently jumping off its nest and revealing three pure white eggs. 

I am well aware that nesting birds need to be left to their own devices, as per the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and I am always thrilled if birds decide to nest in my garden, let alone my house! I took a quick snap of the nest and posted it on the UK Springwatch FB group. Well, none other than Jack Baddams - one of that TV programme's presenters - responded to confirm that it was 100% a swift nest, and that they are now officially classified as endangered. He was very jealous that a pair had decided to nest in our loft. 

Some facts about swifts: they are the fastest bird in direct flight, clocking 70mph. This helps them to complete the enormous annual migration from Africa to the UK in about 4 weeks. Swifts only visit the UK to breed, and this is also the only time each year when they spend any time not airborne. That is right - swifts spend most of their lives in the air, where they sleep (it is suspected they can shut down one half of their brain alternately), eat and copulate. Swifts are monogamous, and when the right partner is finally identified they will stick together like glue. They are also nest site faithful, always returning to the exact same nest every year. This last fact is wonderful to note, because it means we could see this pair annually for years to come. It will also generate a bit of angst, however, wondering if they are ok in between trips to the UK. 

I busied myself ordering an additional security camera, so we could check if the birds had returned to the nest, and also to monitor the chicks’ progress once they had hatched. I quietly crept along the boards, stationed the camera and retreated to view the night vision footage. Thankfully, there was a bird sat on the eggs (the male and female take turns incubating for about an hour each time), so that was a big relief. Contrary to what many people may tell you, it takes a fair amount of aggravation to drive a bird away from its nest - especially if eggs or young are present. Site faithful species like swifts are particularly unwilling to abandon a nest, and it seemed they were not worried by our intrusion. Our youngest son is in the bedroom next to their nest, and he is normally engaged in a combination of VR games coupled with loud music. None of this has bothered the swifts. 

                                          

At night the pair are always snuggled up in the nest together (although room is a bit tight and it is the equivalent of two people trying to get comfortable in a single bed). They also don't exit the nest if weather is poor, because insect numbers will drop significantly and it is not worth expending the energy. 

So, fingers crossed for our new feathered family members and a final mention for my lovely wife, Fern, to thank you for being my swift xxx

Miniature Pinschers

It is time to breathe life back into the blog! I had been without a dog for a few years and my other half was starting to talk about adding another pet to the household. It is important to note that she is not a dog lover, and I quickly established that if I was going to secure a canine companion it would have to tick certain boxes - the primary criterion being that it had to be small. My positive experiences with Dobermans and German Pinschers meant I was strongly leaning towards these dogs, but even the German Pinschers were too large for Fern. Thus, I proposed we drop down into a size category hitherto unexplored and look for a Miniature Pinscher. I love the short-haired, sleek appearance of the Pinscher dogs, but Fern prefers fluffy little canines. It was very nice of her to take one for the team and allow us to view a grown on puppy in the lake district. That is a six hour drive from our domicile down south, so we had to leave early and prepare for a mission. 

On arrival we were greeted with a super feisty, very unfriendly, patchy-coated little imp! The bald patches were due to a fungal infection according to their vet, but you can imagine I was less than impressed by the possibility of parting with well over a grand when I could immediately be staring at significant vet bills. I was ready to walk away, but Fern said we had come all this way and it would be a shame to leave empty handed. I checked her over (as well as you can when a dog is attempting to nip you) and conformationally she was excellent. I suspected the thin coat was diet related, and quite admired her bold approach to life, so we took her. She is Kennel Club registered but imported from Europe, hence her tail is docked and the ears had also been trimmed. Excellent bloodlines but probably not looked after quite as well as she could have been. Disagreements had started between her and the two older dogs living in the same household, so the owners decided that this situation, coupled with an extremely energetic nature, meant it was best to move her on to a younger family. 

Above: Raven soon after she arrived - note the bald patch on her leg. 

It was November and we had to endure Christmas decorations being tugged, chewed and destroyed. The final puppy tooth had not yet fallen out, so this period was always going to be interesting. We established that she was not properly house trained, which needed rapid fixing. A training programme ensued and before too long we had her in a much better place. I changed the diet to a dried raw kibble called Wolfworthy. Absolutely brilliant stuff that cuts out all the nasties and focuses on what dogs should be eating. Her treats were always natural - bones, pigs ears, cow tracheas, rabbits feet etc. - and with the help of some added daily fish oils her bald patches started to disappear. Within a few months she had the most beautiful glossy coat and it continued to improve for months afterwards. It is very worrying that in this day and age people, even vets, still don't appreciate the importance of diet well enough when it comes to fixing physical issues. 

Above: Raven as a 10 month old puppy. 

Raven has incredible stamina and athleticism for such a small dog. She is a ferocious rodent hunter and has ended the days of many a critter that foolishly wandered into our garden. Loyal, suspicious and a little bit mad, she has become an essential member of the family. Fern and I walk her every day and she often spends evenings relaxing in the bedroom with us. A truly beautiful example of the breed that would have won a certificate or two if she didn't have a docked tail and would allow a judge to put their hands on her! Still, I tried that game a long time ago and it was not for me, so I couldn't care less. 

To anyone considering a Minature Pinscher as a companion, you get a couple of broad personality types (so I am told) - 1) laid back and reasonably calm 2) energetic and a bit mad. Depending on what you are after, or willing to endure, you may be pleased or disappointed. Here in the UK they are rare, and we have only ever met two others in the 18 months Raven has been part of our lives. One was so nervous that it barked at everything - human or dog - and the other was quite relaxed, wondering how Raven could run so fast. Would it have been easier to get type 1? In many ways, yes, but then we wouldn't have experienced the old school charm and vivacious nature that is supposed to be typical of the breed. Min Pins like Raven would have earned their keep back in the day. 

A truly beautiful example of the breed and as one member of a Facebook Min Pin group put it 'you scored with that one'. 

Above: Raven as a 2.5 year old stunner. 

Treetop walk - Groombridge Place

Last weekend the kids and I headed over to Groombridge Place for the first time in six years (2013 and 2019 photographs below). It is a fantastic estate with amazing woodland walks, but probably better suited to younger children overall.

                      

                     

However, the draw this time round was an amazing treetop walk that was due to be dismantled in September. My mum drew my attention to this attraction and it looked like the sort of thing we all love.

After walking along the canal - past a mini treetop walk and adventure playground - we took a woodland trail that was well signposted.

                               

Eventually our primary target came into view and we were very impressed :). The walkway  was triangular with high-sided green netting and a narrow rope path in the centre. We were next in line behind an Asian family - mum, dad and two seven year olds - but when their time came, mum and the kids bottled it after about twenty mins and came straight back to base! Staring up the route I imagined this must happen a lot, as it is really very high. 

Off the intrepid trio went into the unknown and it was absolutely fantastic. You go right up through the canopy and there are times you have to squeeze through narrow gaps between tree branches, so if you are over a certain size this could present a challenge. You get to see trees as you have never seen them before and I paused regularly to take photos, although it was a bit precarious holding my camera phone with one hand - the device ould easily have ended up falling through a gap in the netting. 

                     

If you can get to this attraction before September 2019 then I thoroughly recommend giving it a go. You are walking/climbing for a good half an hour and get to see woodland from a perspective that is simply impossible without their ingenious green construct. It was a magical experience and pretty hair raising when you looked down. The highest points are genuinely very high. 

We finished up with a go on the giant swings and attempted to recreate a pic from 2013 (see top of this post). 

Finally we caught a raptor (bird of prey) display and the kids busied themselves pursuing grasshoppers and butterflies in the vineyards. It is lovely that no matter how old they grow the beautiful wings of a butterfly and summer sounds of secretive insects never fail to entice :). 

Hognose Snakes

Christmas 2015 I bought the kids a western hognose snake each.  They were hatchling 1.1 (one male and one female) anaconda 100% het for albino. The anaconda part relates to the reduced pattern, which leaves a number of spots not dissimilar to those found on the actual anaconda (Eunectes murinus). The idea behind this purchase was a) to address the fact the kids wanted to keep snakes again b) help illustrate inheritance in action. 

You see each of these snakes carries two different genes that can affect the physical appearance of any offspring. The first gene relates to pattern - one copy equals reduced markings. Our animals have one copy. The presence of two copies equals no pattern at all. This is called incomplete dominance, where the normal and patternless characteristics are both present to some degree when both genes are present.

The other gene is straight forward albino. The two we purchased carry the gene but do not appear albino themselves. Only if they were mated would we see some of the offspring - those inheriting an albino gene from each parent - showing the characteristic lack of pigment and pink eyes. 

Both animals fed well throughout the year, although the female was a slower starter and this prevented her reaching breeding size. You generally want a female western hognose snake to be at least 200g before attempting to breed them. She finished 2016 just under that. 

Anyway I had the kids drawing punnet squares to understand the possible genotype combinations from this pairing. There are many! You could get albino anacondas, supercondas (patternless), albino supercondas, normal, standard albinos and of course carriers for any of these possibilities.

Not being content with just these genes to play with, we decided to purchase a couple of extreme red albinos. So how does one of these differ genetically from a normal albino? Well it is as simple as them being line bred to exaggerate the red pigment. Nothing more to it than that. They are still albinos, the inheritance is the same, but the dilution is limited and as a result we see some very pretty orange or red examples. 

Interestingly you can't guarantee extremely red animals by mating a high red male to a high red female. There will always be a number of offspring less red than the parents. This to the point that some of them can be a pale orange. 

The price of an albino hognose snake is dictated by the strength of their pigment. A typical albino - very pale - is the cheapest of all. A yellow albino is considered more desirable, an orange albino better still, a deep orange albino above the latter and so on. Eventually we arrive at the deepest red examples that command the highest prices. From bottom to top, at current prices, it is generally £80 - £250 for hatchlings. 

We were able to source an extreme red female (actually deep orange but her parents are both of that line) from Rob Pilley and an extreme red male (actually red) from Jelen Snakes in the Czech Republic. Ideally we wanted snakes from different lines to introduce genetic diversity. 

So our deep orange female will - perhaps in 2018 - be mated to the red male and in theory we will get a mixture of colours. It might even turn out that this pairing, for some reason, produces a lot of very red offspring. They both carry genes for deep pigment after all and outcrossing lines can only be a good thing in terms of variability. Time will tell! 

Of course it does seem a bit daft to buy or sell an extreme red that is not, well, red! I wrestled with that one for a while. You will get lots of people selling very standard looking albinos as extreme red and seemingly not getting the point. There are only a few breeders who are working with the genuine pure extreme red lines, but the animals are - as stated - just line bred albino hognose snakes. So it would make just as much sense for breeders to market some of the babies as extreme orange and some as extreme red. In other words what they look like! Especially when their stock don't actually stem from the original lines. 

Extreme red female (extreme orange to be fair but compare her with the normal albino below)

And below is a typical non-extreme red albino. The brightness and clarity of the extreme red female (further up) vs even the snake below is unmistakable. 

The point is that you are paying a premium for more attractive animals. Bright orange or red, the loveliest examples are chock full of pigment in a way most albinos are not. 

Personally I don't like the really red animals, unless they are female. The deep red males look a bit too much like corn snakes to me and lose that albino glow. I am aiming for offspring that are a sunny orange/red colour, but that is just my preference. Look at the picture below, that male has completely lost his albino shine. Has colours like a wild-type corn snake. 

Compare him to the male below. 

Personally I would say the orange/red animal is more attractive and to be honest I think a lot of the internet pics, including the one above, are modified. Most extreme red hoggies are not deep ruby red like that. 

To be honest I find the morph scene a bit ridiculous. Some crazy prices are asked for morphs just because they are new, look a bit different or carry multiple genes. The animal itself could be plain as day and somehow is commanding £2500. A good example is the 'ghost' western hognose (see pic below). It is an unassuming grey colour and in Europe they are asking 3000 euros. Are there actually people out there willing to pay such a high price? Like all other morphs the price will crash - be it steadily or rapidly - and getting that money back might prove difficult. 

Could the animal above ever be considered more attractive than the extreme albinos further up this post? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess. 

Rhacodactylus Leachianus - Breeding Success

Three years ago I wrote about our New Caledonian Giant Gecko (R.leachianus) breeding plans. Well I am pleased to say that last year on January 28th 2016 we were rewarded with two beautiful eggs. Two more followed around 6 weeks later, at which point we removed the male because Flossy was starting to look quite ragged and bony. She must have used a lot of energy producing the eggs and needed time to recover. Forest, our male, is a large dominant boy and it is pretty clear that he calls the shots and takes the lion's share of food when they are together. They get on very well - as evidenced by the breeding success - but female geckos will happily lay themselves to death if protective steps are not taken. 

She gained 20 grams in body weight after the separation and looked so much better for it. Starting July we placed them back together but no further eggs appeared and it was then time to begin cooling for winter. Last week, Feb 15th 2017, we were very happy to see two more eggs laid and this time we have immediately removed the male. A lot of literature advises that Rhacodactylus females can retain sperm for many months. Now we know she has been fertilised it doesn't seem sensible to leave her with him any longer. She has now eaten a full plate of food four days in a row, and much as she seems to get on with the big guy, it is clear that she feeds better in his absence. 

Our pair are quite young and we would like them to remain fit and healthy for years. At the moment half a year away from each other seems better for their long term prospects. The male is around 7 years old and the female 4. With this species - when keeping pairs together - it is very important to check on the animals regularly to ensure things don't turn sour. It is not unusual for breeding pairs to start fighting after years of calm and/or one animal to become excessively dominant over the other. 

The kids are thrilled whenever eggs arrive - though equally disappointed when the hatchlings leave - and we are hoping more of our animals will deliver the goods at some point during 2017. It provides a wonderful opportunity to revisit the topic of reproduction and genetics. We had some cracking babies arrive, three of them with lovely pink patches. A fourth baby was bigger than the others and a lovely silver/grey with light blue eyes. 

Our animals are pure Isle E (female) and pure Pine Island (male), but how could we ever know this is the case without collecting them in the wild ourselves? They certainly look like typical examples from those areas. All New Caledonian Giant Geckos are R.leachianus now (there is no R.l.henkeli) and a lot of the locale claims are nonsense. We breed for size and colour and this pairing has thus far been a resounding success. Two hatchlings went to the Czech Republic and two were sold within the UK. A lot of potential buyers were disappointed. With only two eggs in each clutch, availability of this species remains limited. The photo below is one of the grown on babies from clutch number one. The new owner sent me a pic recently. 

As I drove my youngest son to his football match on Sunday - down an outrageous country lane that was full of water, mud and rocks! - we talked about what this new crop of babies may look like, picturing the far away islands where their relatives still thrive. 

Hemipenal Transillumination - Totally Unreliable!

I haven't written anything for a while due to moving house and  generally being very busy. I have been meaning to pen a quick post re the above reptile sexing technique and so here it is. Let me be blunt - I don't think this technique works. Proposed by Danny Brown, as a modification to other candling techniques, the premise runs like this:  find a dark room, select a cool yet bright light and shine it through the dorsal base of your reptile's tail. If the tail is not too thick, dark or spineous then it should be possible to discern two red dots in juvenile male animals and a reddish glow. Female juveniles will not have any red dots and instead yield an overall yellow glow. 

Sounds great and I tried it myself on two separate species - Varanus.a.acanthurus and N.amyae. I could clearly discern a reddish glow and red balls of tissue on either side of both monitor lizard's tails. Blast - two males! Only when they grew up it became apparent they were in fact 1.1. FAIL. 

Above is a pic of what a male should reveal. Both my male and female showed exactly the same aged 12 weeks. And let me be clear - his method says a female would have NO structures in that area. To see the above, according to his method, means you definitely have males. 

With the N.amyae I was able to discern two extremely clear red dots on one of the animals and the other had red balls of tissue but higher up. Maybe 2.0 I am thinking and of course the red dots lower down ensured I knew one was definitely male. It perfectly matched the image in D.Brown's book on Australian Geckos. Only when they grew up it became apparent that the one with very clear red dots below the vent was in fact female! FAIL. 

The kids and I were thrilled as we huddled together in a darkened room and illuminated our new additions - hopeful that this technique would give us a head start on understanding their gender. 

I tried all kinds of lights and checked my findings multiple times. After discussing the technique with other keepers I am satisfied that it does not work. It is all well and good posting pictures in a book and suggesting: 'I have used the technique on hundreds of animals successfully', but that is hardly scientific. How many of these animals were kept and reared to adulthood - successfully producing offspring and proving their gender without doubt?

I am very surprised that there are not more keepers writing about their experiences with HTI on the web. Well anyway here is mine and safe to say I do not believe this technique is at all accurate as a means of determining reptile gender. People have even started advertising animals on herptile exchange and sale sites like Terraristik.com stating 'sexed using HTI'. I would say there will be a few disgruntled buyers down the line. This is just my opinion based on experience and talking to others - one of whom saw red dots on an entire clutch of yellow ackies (they did not all grow up to be the same gender!). 

True Red Ackies - Varanus acanthurus acanthurus

The term Red Ackie has been inaccurately applied to reddish examples of the common yellow ackie (Varanus acanthurus brachyurus) for a long time. It confuses buyers and is often used as an attempt to boost the price. 

This post is designed to help anyone considering an ackie to distinguish between Varanus acanthurus acanthurus and Varanus acanthurus brachyurus. Perhaps that is the first point for anyone who is unaware - there are three ackie subspecies. One is common, one is rare and one is not available in the UK (or indeed the rest of Europe). V.a.a comes from western Australia and V.a.b is from the north of that country. V.a.insulanicus is a darker subspecies that only inhabits Groote Island and others in the Wessel group. 

Differences between the available subspecies are generally obvious:

• The first thing to look for is price. If someone is advertising red ackies and asking less than £350 each, you know they are not true acanthurus acanthurus. It doesn't matter what they say. Noone in their right mind would sell a true red so cheaply.

• True Red Ackies have a clear contrast between their head/neck markings and body. The facial colouration is darker than V.a.brachyurus and usually the iris is too. This gives the face a sharper, meaner look than V.a.brachyurus. 

Red Ackie male (owned by myself):

Below a yellow Ackie, as found in many pet shops. Note the different facial expressions and contrast.

• The body is, as you might expect, an obvious red colour. And I don't mean a rusty/brown colour or the odd bit of scattered red. There should be an even spread. Now it must be emphasised that adults are redder than juveniles, so this is one monitor which grows more beautiful with age. That is in stark contrast to species like V.dumerili and most others. But even though the red is not necessarily striking on young animals (and especially hatchlings) there is an unmistakeable glow across the whole area from nape of the neck to base of the tail. Also the markings tend to be more ornate. Even where the background colour is not red you will find the ocelli are ringed with red markings and the contrast is higher. 

The pic below is of two 2015 muller line red ackies around three months old. Even at this age, and mid-shed, there is a massive difference vs typical V.a.brachyurus youngsters. 

Below is a picture of a typical Varanus acanthurus brachyurus that will often be misleadingly sold as a red ackie. Does it have a slight rusty brown/red colour? Yes it does, but notice how there is no distinction between head/neck and body colouration. Some sellers will claim they are only branding animals based on general appearance but dealers know that there are two subspecies (or they should!) and although red and yellow are not ideal labels, the industry has come to understand V.a.acanthurus as red and V.a.brachyurus as yellow. So 9/10 times if someone calls the below animal red then they are doing so in an attempt to boost the saleability and price. 

Compare the above animal with the true red further up. There is no comparison, you just could not get them confused. 

• Varanus acanthurus brachyurus (as sold in most UK pet shops for £100 each) tend to have fairly plain, washed out markings and a general brownish colouration to the head, tail and body. There is no clear distinction between head and body colouration. You do get some attractive examples with sharper yellow spots on the back but they lack the other characteristics I have listed.

• True red ackie tails tend to be a bit longer that V.a.brachyurus but this is not always the case. What you will notice, however, is that pure examples have straighter tail spines that are normally yellow tipped - especially on the sides. V.a.brachyurus has spines that curve backwards to a greater degree. 

Compare the tail shot of a typical V.a.brachyurus below:

with the tail of a true V.a.acanthurus:

Here is a picture of a 2015 Muller line red ackie aged around three months of age. I have cut it with a shot of some typical yellow UK 2015 hatchlings, of a similar age, that I found on the web. A picture speaks a thousand words!

So the next time you are looking for an ackie and see someone offering red ackies for £100 - 150, you will know that they are certainly not true V.acanthurus acanthurus.