Candoia paulsoni something or other

These are my Candoias. They were sold to the person I got them from as CB paulsoni paulsonis but he thought they may be paulsoni halmaheras.

Aside from not knowing exactly what I have they are the awesomeness!
They are both healthy sized, little ropes of muscle that eat mice with no problems. The female came in eating f/t and the male switched over on my first try

This is kinda long because I haven't been able to find much of anything positive online so maybe something in the rambling will help someone else out.

The male has stayed the same color but the female changes so much that I no longer want a chameleon. She ranges from a dark brownish red to a bright creamy yellow with her dorsal pattern changing to light dove gray. Her eyes change color to match her base body color as well. I knew they phased but it just didn't sink in for me until I experienced it in person. I actually did a pattern comparison when I got her the change was so drastic.

They both have two more months and a fecal to pass before they're allowed in general population or get pretty display tanks. I'm leaning towards display vivs since they're so pretty and active. The male doesn't care to be held but traffic around his tub doesn't seem to affect him. The female doesn't mind handling and is also unaffected by traffic around her. The male spends about 90% of his time in the water bowl while I've only seen the female soak when I first got her in and when she shed. The soaking isn't due to mites (provent a mited both tubs as SOP) from what I've read candoias just like soaking.The only time I've seen either on the basking spot was right after they ate. Neither one utilizes hides for hiding. Since they're quarantine tubs their hides are just empty toilet paper rolls.

The female did refuse one feeding but then she shed two days later so that was understandable. If I knew she was in shed I wouldn't even have offered prey. All the information I've found (other than horror stories) is pretty superficial but seems to agree on them having a slow metabolism so I'm doing the same thing for them that I do for my BCIs and letting the feeding be skipped until the next scheduled one. For snakes with slow metabolisms they sure do defecate a lot though, maybe all the soaking/swimming?

All handling is very light weight at this point, just cage maintenance and these photos. I did a lot of reading before I got these guys and am pretty much terrified that if I breathe in their general direction to hard that they're going to either drop dead or stop eating forever and then drop dead

If anybody has any information/experience with these please speak up. I'd really like to know where to get a hold of a scale count list for Candoias in general and the latest decisions on the sub species (I've found very varied lists). I'm a bibliophile so book suggestions would also be very appreciated as well.

Okay, now you can have the pictures. Female is the first two male is the second two and I'm going to upload some more into my gallery.

This is the species list I have for them. Species are in bold followed by their sub species with asterisks

Candoia aspera aspera
* Candoia aspera schmidti
Candoia bibroni bibroni
* Candoia bibroni australis
Candoia carinata
* Candoia carinata carinata
* Candoia carinata tepedeleni
Candoia paulsoni
* Candoia paulsoni paulsoni
* Candoia paulsoni mcdowelli
* Candoia paulsoni rosadoi
* Candoia paulsoni sadlieri
* Candoia paulsoni tasmai (halmahera)^
* Candoia paulsoni vindumi
Candoia superciliosa
* Candoia superciliosa superciliosa
* Candioia superciliosa crombei

^ I've also seen them listed as a sub sp of carinatas but that was back in 1996

Anybody have something different?

Welcome to the wonderful world of Candoia! I don't have C. paulsoni, I have C. bibroni bibronoi, the Fiji boas and I love them to bits.

There's a good (if very slow) Candoia forum on Kingsnake where I've found some real enthusiasts and lots of good advice and ID help:
http://forums.kingsnake.com/forum.php?catid=194

Jerry Conway wrote the book (literally) on Candoia species, and his great reference, the Candoia Page can be found at
http://www.kingsnake.com/candoia/

My c. bibroni look and sound a lot like your paulsoni, but mine are largely nocturnal, becoming active in the early evenings. With bibroni there is a large size disparity, the males reaching 1 - 1.3 metres and 200-250 grams, and the females getting to 2m and 1.5 kilos. My males seem to prefer hides on the ground, while the larger females sit in branches like tree boas. Some soak, especially after a meal, some don't.

Mine do change colour a lot, going from pale pink/beige to an almost black / dark brown, depending on their mood from what I can see. Check my blog for photos.

http://pacificboasnakes.blogspot.com

I find them even tempered, easy to keep and handle and with distinct personalities. They are pretty slow growing, and small, but slender and elegant. Mine eat geckos and chicken portions, and feed about every 2 weeks, shedding about every 3 months. I really enjoy them.

I could go on, but won't. There aren't that many people keeping them, so do keep posting, it's nice to be able to talk about them!

PS,
If you are interested I have a scientific paper about Candoia subspecies with VERY detailed scale counts etc. I can email it to you if you want. PM me.

Please do go on

Seriously, there aren't enough people aware of these great boas. If they were easier to get started as babies and there were more success stories out there they would be so popular.

Most of them stay a size that is more handle-able for most people and have an awesome prehistoric/venomous look to them.

Both of mine are '07 s and the female is both longer and wider then the male. Both of them are pretty length/weight proportionate, though the female is a bit hefty seeming for a paulsoni paulsoni. That could just be because I've seen so many problem feeders though.

I forgot to mention that the mice mine take aren't scented. You're so lucky to live in the native habitat of yours. Definitely gives you a leg up on ease of natural prey and climate control. I'll remember the chicken feeding if I run into problems.

The male has a very good feed response but isn't aggressive in the least. You can just tell he isn't comfortable being held tense & does this weird bracing rectangle shape I've seen in a lot of pics, zips back into his tub - whereas my female is fine with it, calm, moving around, exploring.

I've seen his page..

I will look at the other link but people like me aren't particularly welcome there.

I found your blog awhile ago and your success is part of the reason I decided to go ahead and get these guys. *disclaimer* I'm not stalking her, just her snakes.

And you're getting a pm

Originally Posted by Helenthereef

PS,
If you are interested I have a scientific paper about Candoia subspecies with VERY detailed scale counts etc. I can email it to you if you want. PM me.

That was it EXACTLY!!! I knew it existed somewhere outside my very hazy memory & a few vague notes I scribbled

Thank You

Glad to be of service!