Jamaican Boas Breeding

I sexed the non-holdbacks yesterday. The individuals will be designated as N1-N5, with N1 being the one that periodically takes pinkies, but not reliably. Of the five, four of them turned out to be male, and only one female. Luckily, this week, I managed to rehome 3.1, so the sex ratio of those that are still available is 6.5 after my remaining holdbacks of 2.4. This is not especially surprising, as these 5 are the pickiest eaters, and that is to be expected from males. I also weighed the group, as well as P1 and P2 (both 30 grams each), and the N group ranged from 18-26 grams, with the female being the largest. This information is also not surprising given their dietary history. Still, they are all eating sufficiently and healthy in every way, so I'm trying not to focus too much on the minor weight variations among them.

Another good report! :-)

Now that things are becoming more established, my reports will probably start dropping off in detail. I'll make it a point to only include details that are out of the ordinary.

As an experiment, I placed bird-scented pinkies and one chick thigh with all of the N group, as well as H5 and H6. Only N1 ate the pinkie. Good news there.

The only other bit of news is the E2 refused to feed for reasons that I can't quite put my finger on. I'm starting to become worried, as E2 has not been eating well for the past few weeks, which is uncharacteristic. Since E2 is one of the smallest babies, this is a bit of a concern. Hopefully, he will turn it around soon.

Otherwise, everything went according to the norm. The P group ate their pinkies, T1 ate the anole, the holdbacks ate their chick thighs, etc. T3 skipped a meal, but one skipped meal is no cause for alarm.

I'm considering upgrading some of these guys from V-18 tubs to V-15 tubs (which would make their tubs 5 inches wide instead of 3.5 inches). They appear ready by my estimations, but I'm concerned that the extra space will make them feel less secure, not to mention the inherent stress of the move. Perhaps I'll make the switch with some of them and see how they do. I will update if that is the case.

I've upgraded my core holdbacks (E3, H2, H3 and H4) to the larger tubs, complete with a larger water bowl. I'm interested to see if they spend more time soaking now that they have more room to do so. I have also moved E2 back to a screen cage enclosure. I'm not quite sure what's up with him, but I'm hoping this might help him feel a little more at home, since he seemed the most eager to eat during his first few feedings, which occurred in a screen enclosure.

H3 also shed sometime in the last couple of days, so I took a few, quick shots. I love the way his eye bands are coming in. He doesn't have a large amount of black, but what black he has is very bold. I think he's going to be a real stunner as an adult. Enjoy.

So handsome, but so small!!! I think your go-slow approach to upgrading space is smart.

Originally Posted by Snakesitter

So handsome, but so small!!! I think your go-slow approach to upgrading space is smart.

Thanks. He's one of my favorites for a reason. I like how that one picture shows the change in pattern from the neck, to the midsection, to the tail. He may be a little larger than he looks, though. I'm a pretty big guy, and my hands match the rest of me. I'd say he's about 2 feet long and 30 grams, making him one of the larger babies. That said, no doubt these guys are all born a little smaller than most boids (average is reported at 12-19g at birth, though I never weighed mine), and I've certainly been taking my time making sure they are all slow-grown. No power feeding here.

Yeah, I'm hoping it goes well, but if not, these are my core holdbacks, so I don't much have to worry if they take a few weeks to adjust. Like I said, there's no need to rush them. They're here to stay.

Feeding again today. Everyone fed as normal with the exception of N1, who was given an unscented pinkie mouse. I'll update in the morning with results. I'm optimistic about the core holdbacks, given that all of the babies that have been rehomed have started eating again fairly readily, most of them not even missing a feeding. I have to think that a quick tub change should be considerably less stress than moving to a new home entirely, and these guys are the calmest of the bunch. Fingers crossed.

All in all, a pretty good night.

E3 only ate one of the two thighs offered.

T4 skipped.

N1 refused the unscented pinkie, but in retrospect, I probably jumped the gun on this. I'm going to start being a little more aggressive trying to get N1 to switch over, by which I mean, I'm going to keep trying pinkies for a while before I give in and go back to thighs. Because of the extremely high male ratio of the N group, I'm thinking that the lower appetite of male babies might be contributing to the lower rate of acceptance for pinkies.

T3 is back on feed, and E2 also ate last night. Not sure if the cage change helped, or if it's just a coincidence, but I'm going to leave him where he is for now.

Also, all of the core holdbacks handled their new enclosures with no major issues. Aside from E3 only eating one of the thighs, everyone ate normally, and the fact that E3 ate at all is a pretty clear marker that she's handling the stress just fine.

I've been following this thread and I do have to say congratulations, this has definitely been a rewarding experience, worked for and earned. If only all breeders had experiences like this early on.

Originally Posted by enoreg

I've been following this thread and I do have to say congratulations, this has definitely been a rewarding experience, worked for and earned. If only all breeders had experiences like this early on.

Thanks. One of the key reasons that I was able to have the level of success that I have had is through the help of other, much more experienced keepers. This thread is, in a large part, my way of trying to give back, so that others can also have success with this species. I'm glad to see that so many people have been interested in reading it, and hopefully it will be helpful to other subflavus keepers for years to come. Thanks for reading.