Jamaican Boas Breeding

[Snakesitter]

I agree, water outside would be a positive. Hopefully none of them went into the walls.

 

[cguarino30]

You don't think they'll get thirsty before they get hungry? A water bowl inside a bottle or something might make a good trap...

The only problem with that is that the room is full of water sources. There are lots of fish tanks and misting systems in operation 24 hours a day. There's no reason why they would be attracted to this particular water bottle. That's why I'm hoping for hunger to do the job for me.

 

[cguarino30]

I agree, water outside would be a positive. Hopefully none of them went into the walls.

Luckily, there are no walls in the basement. It is possible that they managed to get into some of the walls in the other rooms, but I'm hoping that's not the case.

 

[Snakesitter]

Makes sense.

 

[cguarino30]

Well, I found number 14 this morning, but it's not good news. I pulled out the sprayer from the kitchen sink and it wouldn't go back in, so I pulled it out farther and found a little red tail wrapped around it. I carefully worked the snake out through the hole, but it appears to be injured about 23rds of the way down its body. The tail end is fairly unresponsive, and the snake itself is somewhat lethargic. I seriously considered euthanizing it, but I remembered that last year I had a couple of the escapees act very lethargic and limp as well and that it turned out to be mostly exhaustion, as they all came out of it quickly. I'm going to give this one a day to recover and reevaluate at that time.

The good news is that I also found number 15 up in the ceiling when I went searching this morning, and that one appears to be just fine.

 

[cguarino30]

And number 16 as well, hiding on top of the router in the ceiling. Something the last couple of days must have encouraged them all to move, because I found the last two in places I have checked repeatedly. I guess the lesson there is that if I keep checking the places they like the best, I'll eventually hit on almost all of them. The only problem is that the longer it takes to find one, the more likely it is for that one to find its way to somewhere dangerous, like #14 did.

 

[cguarino30]

I just realized that in all the confusion of the escapes, I never posted the pictures from the day they were born. Here are some of the better ones.

 

[cguarino30]

And here's some from a shoot today. This is Y14H3, who was in shed, but still looking pretty good, along with Y15H1, who was the one baby whose color stood out so much that I retained her (fingers crossed) in a separate tub when everyone else made their jailbreak. I feel these pictures really show the development over a year. You can see considerable size difference, as well as muscular development and the progression of ontogenetic color change. You can also see why H1 got held back, and why I'm expecting some great things from this year's clutch.

 

[Snakesitter]

Love the worm pile shots. I see several of them were ready to take shots of their own at the camera. ;-)

 

[Snakesitter]

Fingers crossed for #14, and bravo on #15!

 

[Snakesitter]

Check +1 for my former psychic reading…. ;-) Congrats!

 

[Snakesitter]

Wow, what a difference a year makes in color and size! It would be interesting to see a monthly photo/age progression of a baby as it grew….

 

[Helenthereef]

I love the juxtaposition of the babies from the two different years, what a great contrast.

Good luck on the others, hope #14 picks up, but even if not you have had a good percentage recovery so far.

 

[GillianC]

Just checked back in on all of this - congrats on the babies! I'm sorry to hear about their escape :/ I actually just lost my silver male G. oxycephalum through pretty similar circumstances. That species is a curse for me. Anyway, I hope you continue to recover more, and that those you have found prove to be good feeders. Harper is still doing really well - I'll have to post updated photos soon.

 

[cguarino30]

Thanks all.

Feeding update.

Holdbacks and the N group were all fed quail chicks, with H2 being fed a chick/knee combo. Everyone but H2 and N2 ate. N2 clearly made an attempt, though. This marks N3's first successful quail chick, though.

E2 and N4 were fed fuzzies and ate. T3 was fed two pinkies and declined.

 

[cguarino30]

Feeding update:

Quail chicks for all but H2, and H2 got two thighs and a chick/knee combo. H2 ate the two thighs and not the combo. Might go back to thighs for a little while on this one.

E2 and N4 both ate two pinkies. T3 declined again. I'm wondering if T3 is in some sort of seasonal slowdown.

N1, N2, and N3 were offered quail chicks again. N1 and N3 ate with no issues, but N2 made an attempt and gave up. I'll make an effort to give N2 the smallest chick I can find next week.

Now for the really exciting news. I fed a random half of the new babies a single chick thigh yesterday, and every single one of them ate it overnight with one exception. Here's hoping this clutch will have a little more fortitude than the last one. This might be a somewhat less labor-intensive year than last year was. Fingers crossed.

The exception is the injured baby from the kitchen sink, and who could blame him? I still can't quite decide whether I should euthanize him or not, but he doesn't appear to be in any major distress, so I will keep giving him time. Hopefully, he'll come around eventually.

I plan to feed the other half of the babies ASAP, since I had such a good feeding rate from these guys. I'll update as soon as I can with those results.

 

[cguarino30]

Wow. So, I fed the other half of the new babies last night, and it looks like we're dealing with a 100% feeding rate right off the bat. I think this is going to be a hell of a litter. The only exception was the injured one. Here's hoping they keep it up for a few months. haha.

 

[scaledverts]

Wow, NICE! Did you do anything different this year compared to last year that might explain the increased success?

 

[GillianC]

Really happy to hear this year's group is being more cooperative, particularly after their rather eventful start. I hope to read continued success! I might want a mate for Harper

 

[cguarino30]

Wow, NICE! Did you do anything different this year compared to last year that might explain the increased success?

Nothing I can think of. These guys do seem to be a bit hardier in a few ways compared to last year. My two current theories are that the breeding might have been a little more genetically diverse, or that the youth of the female is contributing to baby strength. Alexandria, the dam of last year's babies, is a proven female of indeterminate age, so her babies might not be as hardy as Lucia, who was bred for the first time this year. I also note that Lucia had a 100% viability rate with the litter (no stillborns or slugs) which could also be due to genetics or age or possibly both. No idea. The one thing I can say is that these babies are noticeably stronger tha last year's, and that'sby far the most important thing (for the species and for my sanity, haha).