Jamaican Boas Breeding

I saw! Looks like a positive trend overall, despite the two escapees and stubborn eaters.

Update for feeding number 7.

All of the holdbacks were offered a chick thigh. Escapees 1 and 4 are back on feed, but a couple random holdbacks did not eat. However, since they just ate a few days ago, I am not overly concerned.

All of the other good eaters ate their chick thighs, and several more ate their additional pinkies as well. This brings the total of snakes who have eaten a pinky to 8. There does not appear, however, to be any continuity in pinky eating, as only one of them has eaten pinkies twice, and they were not consecutive. This could be because there is already food in the belly, and eating an additional item is more about whether or not the animal is sill hungry than whether or not the animal has a taste for it. I will attempt to feed these eight scented pinkies only next week, to see if this improves the replication.

The former non-feeder at the green anole last night with no issues. Today I am going to Hamburg in the hopes of finding some half grown anoles for the other two.

Fingers crossed for small anoles!

I was at the Hamburg show, did find 2 smaller brown anoles, figure I can use them for scenting. Nobody there selling feeder anoles though Passed along the peep leg tip to a vendor who had some 2 day old Solomon Island boa babies, I saw hatchling corns that were much larger than those wee critters. He said something about someone who had tried force feeding Solomon Island babies f/t rat tails, didn't seem like a good idea to me.

My Fiji boas have eaten geckos tails though....

Yeah, no luck for me at hamburg either. I'm going to have to order a bunch from somewhere online. In not super confident that small Anoles will get the last two feeding, but it's pretty much the last thing to try. Hopefully I will have them in sometime this week.

I've lost track of the group stats now. How many total babies, how many have eaten willingly, how many difficult/picky eaters, and just 2 that won't eat at all?

Originally Posted by toddnbecka

I've lost track of the group stats now. How many total babies, how many have eaten willingly, how many difficult/picky eaters, and just 2 that won't eat at all?

Haha. I think a recap is a good idea. Thanks.

There were 28 total live births.
25 out of 28 began eating chick thighs with no prompting between the ages of 3 and 5 weeks. Occasionally, some of these skip a meal, but so far they always go back on feed at the next opportunity.
8 of these 25 have eaten a pinky mouse in conjunction with a chick thigh
1 has only eaten live anoles thus far
2 have not yet eaten

Hope that clarifies.

I'd say that 25 out of 28 good feeders and 1 picky little shit are good odds. There's always a runt in every litter, you may have 2 in this one, but "survival of the fittest" certainly is a factor to consider when looking at the larger picture. I can imagine how I'd feel (likely will) when my DRMB's start dropping babies, and want to see every one thrive, but life doesn't work that way.
Is there any risk of transmitting parasites to snakes through live feeder anoles? Of the 2 browns I picked up Saturday 1 was dead the next morning, so I just put the deli cup into the freezer. Both my newer pair of DRMB yearlings took live rat pinkies w/out scenting, a day apart, the female had taken a f/t quail chick a week before, but the male of that pair refused.
I expect that when they do mature and breed I'll need to start some of the babies on anoles, and have been wondering if the feeders should be treated for parasites or if f/t anoles would be an option. Seems likely to me that freezing would kill parasites?

Quick update. I have ordered some frozen anoles that should be arriving this week. Hopefully, the 50 that I purchased will get my three troublemakers through to eating something else.

I have also moved my feeding day to Tuesdays, largely for personal schedule reasons, and will be doing cleanings on Saturdays. I have skipped the usual Thursday meal in preparation for this adjustment, and will be feeding either Monday or Tuesday of this week. Hopefully, the added break will help encourage some of these guys to eat their pinkies.

And finally, the photos. I did some update shots on three random babies. They are getting big, beautiful, and ill-tempered. haha. I take this as a sign of strength. Even the ones that were previously more docile have started open mouth lunging at me. I could only get one of them to calm down enough to hold for the pictures. They are definitely growing well, though, as can be seen from the hatchling pictures compared to these shots. I would put them at around 20 inches long at this point, and furthermore, you can really see the development in muscle tone and head structure.