Jamaican Boas Breeding

I knew another one was hiding!!! ;-) Glad to hear they are showing interest in food.

*** Thirty by Halloween or Bust! ***

Originally Posted by Snakesitter

I knew another one was hiding!!! ;-) Glad to hear they are showing interest in food.

*** Thirty by Halloween or Bust! ***

haha. We'll see. Hopefully, we'll be reaching the end soon.

Alright, so after being left overnight with a day old chick thigh, cut above the hip and below the knee, 9 out of 28 babies ate. I take this as good news, as it is only just past the 2 week mark post birth, and that's considered a little early based on what I've read. It is also GREAT news that I can get them to eat something as readily available as day old chick thighs, as I already feed my other animals about 50 chicks per week, and I don't think any of them will miss a leg or two if I cut them off. Once they get a little larger, I'll start trying them on quail chicks and move up from there. I may or may not try to get some of them on pinkies, but since I feed the vast majority of my animals some form of bird or another (I'm allergic to rodents) I may not bother to switch them.

One interesting side note, all 4 of the escapee snakes ate, including the two that are still being held in gecko screen cages with basking lights. It's hard to say for sure, but the added exercise of exploration may be contributing to appetite.

Sorry if I include a lot of esoteric information in this thread, but there is so little information available about breeding these guys that I want to make sure I put as much as possible on the internet for the next guy. The idea of feeding chick thighs is something that I found a single, vague reference to in an otherwise uninformative thread from almost a decade ago on another website after literally years of scouring the internet, and I'm sure glad I found it, so I want to make sure I leave as much information here as possible for the next guy. haha. Anyway, enjoy the pictures of my fat and happy little snakes:

These are just gorgeous , thank for all the pics!

I am VERY interested in the chick thigh idea - I have Pacific Boas (Candioa bibroni) which look very similar to your Jamaican Boas, and the new borns are very similar in size (and are also escape artists - mine all went up when they got out and had to be rescued from the curtain rail).

I have fed them on baby geckos, but it's hard to find enough when there are 20+ babies, and I do raise chicks for the adults, so next time I will try this idea. Any other tips or observations you may make as you go along will be very welcome.

Good luck with all those feeds in your future!

Originally Posted by Helenthereef

These are just gorgeous , thank for all the pics!

I am VERY interested in the chick thigh idea - I have Pacific Boas (Candioa bibroni) which look very similar to your Jamaican Boas, and the new borns are very similar in size (and are also escape artists - mine all went up when they got out and had to be rescued from the curtain rail).

I have fed them on baby geckos, but it's hard to find enough when there are 20+ babies, and I do raise chicks for the adults, so next time I will try this idea. Any other tips or observations you may make as you go along will be very welcome.

Good luck with all those feeds in your future!

Glad to be of service. I was quite glad to find that reference myself. I've used chick heads in the past in place of hopper mice, but never realized the thighs could be used as well. I was definitely afraid I'd have to start feeding them geckos or anoles, but at $2-3 each, that was going to get tricky. Between the thighs and the heads, I'm pretty sure you could pretty much get them all the way to adulthood. I'll be feeding quail chicks for a few weeks in between, but I don't know if you have access to those. I imagine you could just double and triple up on the thighs until they get big enough for heads.

That's a good point about the babies all going up. So far, all the ones I've found have either been on the floor (presumably after falling) or climbing around mid-level. Maybe I should get a ladder and check the ceiling region. There's a whole mess of wires, pipes, ducts, etc. for them to climb on up there. I was so unprepared for the jailbreak. I really underestimated their ability to squeeze through tiny spaces.

^^^ New target 35 by Halloween!!!!

(More seriously, great job and great thread.)

Originally Posted by Snakesitter

^^^ New target 35 by Halloween!!!!

(More seriously, great job and great thread.)

Thanks. I'll be keeping a few holdbacks for myself, so I'll continue updating this thread as they get older.

Was cleaning out cages today, so I took the opportunity to take a few shots of Montego, the sire of these babies. (He's the friendly one, so I don't mind letting him nose around a little while I'm cleaning. Alexandria, the dam, can't be trusted if she has even the remotest shred of a clear line of sight to any part of you, haha)

Good photos, and what a good-looking fellow! Funny how their color changes so much as they age....

Originally Posted by Snakesitter

Good photos, and what a good-looking fellow! Funny how their color changes so much as they age....

Thanks, you can definitely see how the hatchling pattern continues to adulthood, but the colors themselves do change quite a bit.