Jamaican Boas Breeding

Are you sure those feeders didn't die from starvation? They look absolutely emaciated.

Originally Posted by NocturnalNature

Are you sure those feeders didn't die from starvation? They look absolutely emaciated.

Yes, I'm sure. Ive been feeding the feeders small Dubia nymphs regularly. The reason they are so emaciated is the fact that I did not find them until late the next day. Presumably, they were killed overnight, but I did not check on the cage until 7pm. The emaciation is from dehydration. All of the live feeders are clearly in well fed condition. I feel very strongly about taking care of all animals in my charge, including feeders.

Nobody eaten or killed last night.

Did a little cleaning and re-organization today. For the sake of posterity, here are some minor details:

There is one non-holdback that I have been eyeing for some time now. He/she didn't make the original holdback cut, and I have been debating it since I noticed some serious color development a few weeks later. I have changed my mind, and added that one to the holdbacks, so there are now 10 holdbacks. That animal's current designation is H6 (Holdback #6), as the first four holdbacks are the escapees: E1-E4. H6 was one of the non-holdbacks that had taken a couple of scented pinkies, but recently had stopped. He/she will be offered chick thighs and eventually quail chicks, just like all the other holdbacks, from here on out. I have included a photo of H6 curled up in his/her tub (Photo #1) so you can see why the addition was made. I've been consistently impressed with both the brightness of color and boldness of markings of H6. This brings the total numbers to 10 holdbacks, 3 unscented pinkie eaters, 7 scented pinkie eaters, 2 stubborn non-holdbacks, and 2 anole eaters.

T1 was moved back to his tub. I took the opportunity to snap a few pictures, but T1 is not one of the friendlier babies. haha. These are the three best (Photos 2, 3, and 4). Not sure if you can tell from the photos, but T1 is starting to catch up with some of the smaller littermates. He is now approximately 18 inches long, and the head is starting to develop away from that guppy-faced neonate shape. Not sure if there's a technical term for that, haha. T1 will be back on f/t anoles come next week, and will begin to be offered anole-scented pinkies shortly after that.

Originally Posted by cguarino30

Yes, I'm sure. Ive been feeding the feeders small Dubia nymphs regularly. The reason they are so emaciated is the fact that I did not find them until late the next day. Presumably, they were killed overnight, but I did not check on the cage until 7pm. The emaciation is from dehydration. All of the live feeders are clearly in well fed condition. I feel very strongly about taking care of all animals in my charge, including feeders.

I didn't mean the question to be inflammatory. Reading it in the light of a new day I can see where the wording could be accusatory, and for that I apologize.
From your detailed posts I have no doubts your animal's receive the best care possible.

Originally Posted by NocturnalNature

I didn't mean the question to be inflammatory. Reading it in the light of a new day I can see where the wording could be accusatory, and for that I apologize.
From your detailed posts I have no doubts your animal's receive the best care possible.

No offense taken. It was a legitimate question. I actually considered the possibility myself when first noticing them and that's why I may have come off a little defensive. No hard feelings. Haha.

Also none killed last night. Seems odd that he would kill three in one night, eat only one, and then fast two nights in a row. I'll keep checking and updating.

Hello again and Happy New Year!

Just thought I'd give a quick update on Harper (T2), as there is finally something to report - he finally decided to eat! Or, more likely, I finally figured out what cocktail of scents would entice him to opt for survival. But before I get to that, I thought I might give some details about the past few weeks of him settling in.

As I stated in my first post, he did not eat the first meal offered a few days after his move. This was no real surprise to anyone, but after the initial refusal I decided to weigh and photograph him before leaving him as alone as possible for the next week or so. His new accommodations (a tall plastic tub) were more sparsely decorated than Chris's enclosure, but I did catch him out climbing and exploring after dark. At this point I offered him a live anole-scented pinky, which he again refused to eat - still not a big concern. I decided I would give him more cover by attaching Tillandsia to the sides of his enclosure, particularly at the ends of his climbing branches. A small feeding platform was also attached to a climbing branch, to give him a stable place to eat while elevated. After his cage renovation, I left him again for a few days to de-stress before offering another f/t anole-scented pinky. No dice. At this point I had been scenting with a pair of live anoles that I had successfully used to entice a juvenile G. oxycephalum to eat, but it seemed like Chris's approach using frozen anoles had resulted in a higher success rate. I dug through the freezer and was happy to find a few that I could use. So last night I thawed a pinky and one of the anoles, slit open the belly of the anole and rubbed the pinky in zombie lizard juice, decided to cut a sliver of anole skin to stick to the pinky just for good measure, and left it on the feeding platform overnight. This morning, success!

So quick summary, Harper refused 3 pinkies that had been scented with live anole, but finally decided to eat a zombie scented pinky. I hope to have the same success in a few days when I try again!

I'll describe my husbandry a bit more when I post pictures of his set-up.

Glad to hear harper is eating for you. I have noticed that a 2 week hunger strike is pretty standard for any major changes, so your husbandry must be quite good to have him eating already. If I had moved him over to the next cage it would likely have taken this long to start eating again. Haha. Keep us posted. Thanks for the update.

That's very comforting to know, actually. I've been doing my best to keep him as calm and undisturbed as possible. He's definitely on the timid side - hasn't struck at me at all, but will musk if he gets stressed during handling. That being said, I've only had him out twice.

I put him in a "Hefty 29-Quart Clear Tote with Latching Lid" (available at Lowe's) with holes drilled in the lid.


Here you can see the Tillandsia (T. juncea, T. aeranthos, and T. victoriana) in the corners of the enclosure. I attached them using twine, although I imagine wire could also be used (I just couldn't find any and decided twine would suffice). You could also glue them onto the side of an enclosure, but that would make them more difficult to remove if they die or need watering. This is a bit of an experiment, since I've never actually put Tillandsia in this kind of environment, but I'm hoping they'll take daily spraying in place of soaking every few days.


As I alluded to above, the enclosure is sprayed daily (usually once, in the morning). Temps range from 85-89 on the warm side to about 74 on the cool side.