Jamaican Boas Breeding

[cguarino30]

Here's number 8. Check out this little trickster.

 

[MK Morphs]

Very sneaky baby!

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[Helenthereef]

Oh God, I sympathise. My Candoia babies (born at 30cm/10 gms) did the same thing. Amazing the tiny gaps they can squeeze through. ALL mine climbed... found them on curtain rails and high window bars.

You may be right about the heat from the cabling, but I also wonder if it's just the perfect size for them to hold onto securely. Maybe you could form a "Trap" by hanging some cable shaded by cloth or something in a place you can access more easily?

Another idea I have heard from other keepers is to put down a water bowl and sprinkle flour on the surface around it so that they would make trails as they crossed.

Good luck - we found ours over a week of searching - and only lost one permanently. My fingers are crossed for you.

 

[cguarino30]

Oh God, I sympathise. My Candoia babies (born at 30cm/10 gms) did the same thing. Amazing the tiny gaps they can squeeze through. ALL mine climbed... found them on curtain rails and high window bars.

You may be right about the heat from the cabling, but I also wonder if it's just the perfect size for them to hold onto securely. Maybe you could form a "Trap" by hanging some cable shaded by cloth or something in a place you can access more easily?

Another idea I have heard from other keepers is to put down a water bowl and sprinkle flour on the surface around it so that they would make trails as they crossed.

Good luck - we found ours over a week of searching - and only lost one permanently. My fingers are crossed for you.

Thanks. I'm sure I'll manage to run most, if not all, of them down. I'm just really kicking myself about what a stupid mistake it was that set them all loose. haha.

Side note, at 10:30 pm, I managed to find #9 out for a stroll, so there's clearly some logic to my plan. Here's hoping to more.

 

[cguarino30]

3:30 am. As luck would have it, a water alarm woke up my daughter, who woke me up. After I fixed it, I figured I might as well go have a look downstairs. Found three crawling around fairly easily. 10, 11, and 12 are secured. Now that I've passed the half way mark, I'm starting to feel a little better about it all. I'll be back down here in a couple hours to see if I can catch any more.

 

[cguarino30]

Managed to snag one more at 5:30. This one was already coiled up for the day, though, so it looks like they stop being active before this point. I'd say a safe bet for their most active window would be 10-4. Maybe I'll stay up late tonight and try to get a few more.

 

[Helenthereef]

Night hunting!!

I know it must be frustrating for you, but it's leading to some very amusing photos. Hope to hear you have cornered more tonight.

 

[cguarino30]

I've been scouring the room pretty thoroughly all day, including a couple of tries tonight at 10 and 11:30. Nothing. I don't know if I'll have the energy to get up in the middle of the night tonight, but hopefully a few will be visible in the morning.

 

[Snakesitter]

For the record, I was total kidding when I joked about dozens of escapees a few months back. Wow. Good luck nabbing them all!

 

[cguarino30]

For the record, I was total kidding when I joked about dozens of escapees a few months back. Wow. Good luck nabbing them all!

Haha. I forgot about that. Maybe you should consider a new career as a psychic. Do you know where any of them are hiding?

Didn't manage to get up in the middle of last night, but I am headed down there now. Hopefully, a few of them have chosen some lousy hiding places.

 

[cguarino30]

Nobody to find this morning either. I really hope they're still in the room somewhere. I've been searching the rest of the basement as well, and haven't found any out there yet, so I'm hoping the last 7 (or more) are just really good hiders. It could be that they've been staying where they were the last two days, since they wouldn't have much need to move. I'll probably make an effort to come down in the middle of the night tonight, now that I've actually had a night to sleep. If I don't catch a few tonight, I'll probably take a more passive approach to this process. It bothers me that I managed to catch 13 babies within 24 hours and not a single one since, but the last escapee from last year was found a full 2 weeks after parturition, so I'm sure I'll still nab a few more from sheer luck over the next few days (or weeks). I also believe they'll start getting easier to find around the 2 week mark when they start getting hungry. I've expanded all my gecko caging since last year, so there's plenty of tasty geckos all long the one side of my reptile room that will no doubt attract hungry, little snakes. I just hope they haven't gotten loose throughout the house or worse yet, outside. No way one of these guys would survive the night out there at these temps.

 

[Helenthereef]

I suppose that you have found the all less competent hiders, and the ones remaining will be those in the most difficult places. At least you have last year's experience to lean on - and, as you have already said, they can still go a LONG time without eating, so I'd think you have several weeks to go where you may well continue to come across them.

There was an interesting idea in another thread about setting up a video camera to see if they are coming and going from particular locations - a Go Pro set on automatic timer might work if you get to that point.

 

[cguarino30]

I suppose that you have found the all less competent hiders, and the ones remaining will be those in the most difficult places. At least you have last year's experience to lean on - and, as you have already said, they can still go a LONG time without eating, so I'd think you have several weeks to go where you may well continue to come across them.

There was an interesting idea in another thread about setting up a video camera to see if they are coming and going from particular locations - a Go Pro set on automatic timer might work if you get to that point.

Haha. Funny you should mention that. I actually have a ptz security camera set up in the reptile room so I can check on things when I'm away. I've caught a few on it, but not since I've found the last one.

I plan to set an alarm for the middle of the night to go look for more. If I don't catch any tonight, I'll probably just sit back and wait for them to find me, like last year. Fingers crossed.

 

[Snakesitter]

Do you know where any of them are hiding?

I'm sensing darkness….heights…cords…and that pumpkin spice lattes may return to Starbucks. Please insert $1.99 per minute to continue.

 

[Snakesitter]

Fingers crossed!

 

[cguarino30]

I'm sensing darkness….heights…cords…and that pumpkin spice lattes may return to Starbucks. Please insert $1.99 per minute to continue.

You're a riot, cliff.

Well, I forgot to set the alarm, so I screwed up that plan. Hopefully, I'll find a few perched today, and I'll try to get up tonight and look.

 

[Snakesitter]

;-) Good luck Chris!

 

[cguarino30]

Well, spent an hour scouring the basement at 2:30 tonight and found nothing. This will probably be the last time I do this. It's strange that I found 13 in the first 24 hours and nothing since then. At this point, I'm putting all my hope in them getting hungry in a week or two and finding them as they try to infiltrate the gecko cages. I fed the yearlings yesterday. I will update in the morning with results.

 

[cguarino30]

Feeding update:

E2, T3, and N4 were each fed two pinkies. E2 ate one, T3 declined, N4 ate both.

All others were fed quail chicks, with the exception of H2, who was fed a chick/knee combo. H2, H3, N1, and N3 all declined, though N3 again made an attempt.

I also gave a chick thigh to a random new baby. It did not eat.

 

[Helenthereef]

At this point, I'm putting all my hope in them getting hungry in a week or two and finding them as they try to infiltrate the gecko cages.

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...