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Births and deaths - the good news - Fiji boas Candoia bibroni

Helenthereef

Helenthereef

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This week I had good news and bad news: 21 neonates and 2 slugs from my large female Fiji boa Candoia bibroni bibroni, but only three survivors.

This is the good news thread, so I'm posting pics of the three that made it so far. Will make a separate bad news thread for those with stronger stomachs...

So enjoy these little squirmers, 30cm (12 inches) long and 11 - 12 gms at birth. :thumbsup:
 

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Thanks Chris, so far they seem healthy and active, my fingers are crossed that they make it. Keeping them VERY humid and waiting about 2 weeks before I try feeding them...
 
I would wait a couple weeks after their 1st shed and keep with day old pink mice. my pure El Salvadorans are no bigger than those and small meals after a couple of weeks was the advice given to me by someone who has been keeping them 20 plus years.
Not that they are the same but it may help with them being a smaller boa species.
 
Hi Scott, thanks for the input. Finding tiny meals is quite a challenge with such small species. I'm planning to use hatching house geckos or tails of larger geckos to start them off, as I live in a country without clean feeder rodents.
I didn't realise boa species other than Candoia had such small babies though, any neonate pics to share?
 
About the only pic I have that really shows size is this one from my thread "fresh shed El Salvadorans" there is another here called "got Bloods" with the fresh born photos on it.
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Here is one of the pure El Salvadoran bloods in my hand just after their 1st shed.

 
Sorry to hear that, Helen. Might be a dumb question, but why is so little known about these guys' breeding habits and growth following parturition?
 
ShadowAceD said:
Sorry to hear that, Helen. Might be a dumb question, but why is so little known about these guys' breeding habits and growth following parturition?
Click to expand...

I think there just aren't many of them outside their native Fijian islands. There are other related species around, but these are endemic to these few islands, and as they eat geckos and frogs for the first few years, people have difficulty feeding them. There's one breeder in the UK who seems to be successful, but the main USA authority, Jerry Conway, has retired, and the captive population seems to be very small.

On a high note, the survivor ate his second hatchling gecko last night.
:thumbsup:
 
So far so good....

I'm not out of the woods yet, but the survivor is still with me, and now eaten 4 times.... so I thought I'd post a few pics, now 12 gms and eating geckos about once a week. :thumbsup:

Oh, and it's definitely a boy, see rather personal picture below :eek:
 

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:(:(:(:(

Well it's been all downhill from my last post.

He went on hunger strike after that first shed and is now only 9 gms (birth weight 11 gms).

Today I decided emergency measures were finally warranted, and this morning I force fed him a dilute suspension of Herpaboost paste, which has protein, amino acids and vitamins from Tasmanian Mutton Bird oil. He objected but seems to have survived it so far. I'm thinking of giving him a couple of days to digest that before trying it again.

I have been keeping him VERY humid - daily misting and always water drops on the tank sides (I have seen him drinking from those drops). It is very cold at night at the moment (18oC - 20oC some nights) but he has a warm spot rock which he uses sometimes, and he is often warm to the touch.

He's just determined to starve himself to death (maybe he has strong political views I don't know about... :confused:) It's now a battle of wills.
 
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