Jamaican Boas Breeding

[cguarino30]

I'm sorry you've had another loss, although as you said it does sound like it was probably a congenital defect. Not sure if it'll cheer you up any, but Harper ate again tonight - seems to be settling in quite well.

That does cheer me up quite a bit. Thanks for the update. I'm very glad to hear he is doing well, as it shows that the stress of the move and new ownership is about the same as a cage cleaning or photoshoot, which is to say, manageable. Please keep up the good work (and the updates, haha).

 

[cguarino30]

T3 ate another anole last night.

Night 1- Anole # 1 eaten
Night 2- Anole # 2 eaten, with 2 additional kills
Nights 3-5- Nothing
Night 6- Anole # 3 eaten
Night 7- Nothing
Night 8- Anole #4 eaten

T3 seems to be much better at moderating consumption than T1 (who ate 5 anoles in as many days), though is clearly also eating considerably more and faster than I would normally choose to feed.

 

[Snakesitter]

Sorry to hear about your loss. :-( But 25 of 28 alive is still way better than they would be doing in the wild!

I would note that having to hunt your meal probably justifies a somewhat faster meal pace, due to the extra calories involved in obtaining each meal. But yeah…one every other day, wow!

 

[cguarino30]

That's a good point, cliff. I wonder if the pace would be the same if I simply offered f/t every day. I don't intense to test that theory, though. I think there is also a seasonal element to their appetites. The dual nature of their ability to go so long without eating and their ability to pack away so much food in so little time suggests a seasonal growth strategy to me.

 

[cguarino30]

Night 9- Anole # 5 eaten

 

[cguarino30]

Since I won't be around much next week, and will not be feeding any of these guys, I figured it would make sense to also clean out everybody's tubs thoroughly and take some pictures. I figure they can't hunger strike if I'm not feeding them anyway, right?

Here are some pictures of E1 aka Escapee #1

 

[cguarino30]

E2 aka Escapee #2: E2 seems to have a good bit more black than many of the others, and also has a particularly bad attitude, as can be evidenced by the pictures.

 

[cguarino30]

E3 aka Escapee # 3: I have to admit that E3 is probably one of my favorites. Color is great, eats like a champ, and is even one of the more even-tempered babies to boot. It appears that E3 is a little blue and probably getting ready for a shed soon, but was still perfectly willing to calmly climb along the tongs onto my hand for a couple quick photos.

 

[cguarino30]

E4 also has great color and, like all of the rest of the E group, has a great appetite. However, E4 will not be taking any hand-photos any time soon. This one nearly got me a few times, and is not the least bit shy about letting you know when you're getting too close with the camera.

 

[cguarino30]

And here are the other holdbacks. These guys have all been selected by me for health, appetite, color, and disposition. I have noticed that with many other species of snakes, there appears to be a correlation between attitude and appetite, however, with these snakes, I have noticed the opposite. I think that because they tend to be a bit nervous to begin with, the exceptionally nervous, and thus, most aggressive animals, tend to be the most likely to get stressed and go off feed. None of the babies seem to get stressed to the point of refusing to eat entirely, only in terms of skipping a meal or two before going back. However, I have chosen to select mostly the more even-tempered babies as holdbacks (with a couple exceptions) as they are often the easiest to work with and least likely to have stress-related secondary issues.

Anyway, here is Holdback #1 (H1) who didn't even musk me:

 

[cguarino30]

Holdback #2 (H2) who was more than calm enough to handle, but did musk a little:

 

[cguarino30]

Holdback #3 (H3), who has one of the best appetites in the group:

 

[cguarino30]

Holdback #4 (H4) was a bit irritable, despite usually being one of the more docile babies. I assume this is largely because of the little bit of stuck shed, which you can see on the head region.

 

[cguarino30]

Holdback #5 (H5) was looking a little duller than normal, so I think a shed is imminent:

 

[cguarino30]

and finally, Holdback #6 (H6) who was recently added to the group from the non-holdback group. Pictures should explain why.

 

[GillianC]

Loving the photos - they all look great!

Based on T3's eating schedule (and also to make up for all time spent not eating), I decided to see if Harper would eat again tonight. Another success. Seems like giving them a good amount of time to themselves will get them back on food pretty quickly. I'm going to try handling him in a few days, since I've largely been leaving him alone, to see if it will dramatically affect his appetite.

 

[cguarino30]

Loving the photos - they all look great!

Based on T3's eating schedule (and also to make up for all time spent not eating), I decided to see if Harper would eat again tonight. Another success. Seems like giving them a good amount of time to themselves will get them back on food pretty quickly. I'm going to try handling him in a few days, since I've largely been leaving him alone, to see if it will dramatically affect his appetite.

Thanks. Let us know how the handling goes. As far as the sped up feeding, you could probably shorten it to every 5 days at a minimum, but I wouldn't feed any more frequently than that for an extended period. I've heard from more than a few people that it can cause serious health issues.

With regard to handling- a quick tip, I've found it is easiest to pick them up with some sort of metal (hook or tongs) and then VERY carefully and slowly, slide them onto your hand. They tend to be a lot less snippy at things that approach slowly and from beneath. In fact, I've had a few take shots at my right and while curled rather insistently around my left. Good luck.

 

[GillianC]

Thanks. Let us know how the handling goes. As far as the sped up feeding, you could probably shorten it to every 5 days at a minimum, but I wouldn't feed any more frequently than that for an extended period. I've heard from more than a few people that it can cause serious health issues.

With regard to handling- a quick tip, I've found it is easiest to pick them up with some sort of metal (hook or tongs) and then VERY carefully and slowly, slide them onto your hand. They tend to be a lot less snippy at things that approach slowly and from beneath. In fact, I've had a few take shots at my right and while curled rather insistently around my left. Good luck.

I definitely have no intention of keeping him on an every other day feeding schedule. I've never really been a huge supporter of "power feeding" - I don't think it's particularly healthy for any snake, and I remember your warnings about the potential side-effects when these guys overeat. That being said, I've been giving him small pinkies to ease him back into things, so I think for now he's safe. Handling may very well put him off feeding for a day or two, so he'll be bumped down to every 4 days for this next week anyhow. After that, back to 5 days.

As of yet, Harper has a mild demeanour - he has yet to strike at me, and surprisingly doesn't even flee back to his hide when I find him out at night. I'm hoping I got lucky and got one of your good-tempered babies!

 

[cguarino30]

I definitely have no intention of keeping him on an every other day feeding schedule. I've never really been a huge supporter of "power feeding" - I don't think it's particularly healthy for any snake, and I remember your warnings about the potential side-effects when these guys overeat. That being said, I've been giving him small pinkies to ease him back into things, so I think for now he's safe. Handling may very well put him off feeding for a day or two, so he'll be bumped down to every 4 days for this next week anyhow. After that, back to 5 days.

As of yet, Harper has a mild demeanour - he has yet to strike at me, and surprisingly doesn't even flee back to his hide when I find him out at night. I'm hoping I got lucky and got one of your good-tempered babies!

That could very well be. Because they were all so late to start feeding, I tried to refrain from handling the entire "troublemaker" group unless absolutely necessary, so I really don't know what his demeanor would be. It also my help that you are handling him later in the day. I don't generally mess with mine later in the day, and it would stand to reason that they'd be crankier after being woken up during daylight hours.

 

[cguarino30]

T3 did not eat last night either. So far, the pattern has been pretty much every other day. Tomorrow will be the last morning that I can check on the experiment before leaving town, so I will update that information. After that, it will get difficult to update the experiment, other than to see how many disappear over an extended period.