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Jamaican Boas Breeding

GillianC said:
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 :)
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Definitely. We will need to ascertain Harper's sex first (I would guess female based on eating history, but wouldn't bet the farm on it), and wait for the new babies to be old enough to probe, but drop me a line around the 3 month mark.
 
This bunch of babies figures you're already broken in on the feeding, they'll have to find something else to aggravate you with... lol.
Have any more of the escapees turned up?
 
Helenthereef said:
Really good news on the easier feeding - I certainly felt for your pains over the previous litter!
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Haha. Thanks. I was quite relieved to see they all started eating so quickly. I'm tempted to offer pinkies early to see if any of them take. Either way, I'm hoping this will make for a somewhat less labor intensive year than last.
 
toddnbecka said:
This bunch of babies figures you're already broken in on the feeding, they'll have to find something else to aggravate you with... lol.
Have any more of the escapees turned up?
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Well, I hope the great escape was all they came up with. I'd hate to see them try to beat that. Haha. No, no others have turned up yet. There should still be about 4 unaccounted for, but I'm hoping that now that they've started eating, the last remaining ferals will start to get more restless and make themselves known.
 
I wonder if it also has to do with moving around and/or space to range? I seem to recall you commenting last year that the escapees had better appetites than the captives….
 
Snakesitter said:
I wonder if it also has to do with moving around and/or space to range? I seem to recall you commenting last year that the escapees had better appetites than the captives….
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This thought did occur to me, but the vast majority of these guys were captured by the first day. In addition, the one that did not get loose ate with all the rest.

Another thing is that I'm fairly certain I had assumed reverse causality last year. While the four escapees were among the best eaters, giving the problem eaters space to range for a while did almost nothing to help their appetites. Instead of escaping helping appetite, I think it was the babies who were already the strongest who were the ones who were active enough to escape from the cage. That theory would also hold up with this year, as every single one of the babies took the opportunity to work themselves out of that tiny crack, whereas, if any of them were a little weaker, they likely would have still bin inside the tub the next morning.

Also, good news this morning. I found another baby. This one was also coiled up on the network router. That has been a popular area so far. Presumably, I have three left to catch.
 
Feeding update:

E3, H3, H5, H6, N1, N2, and N3 were each fed a quail chick. H3 and H6 declined.

E2, and N4 were each given a fuzzie mouse and ate. T3 was offered two pinkies and declined. I am going to try to give T3 a chick thigh, soon, as I'm concerned about the length of this fast.

H4 was fed two chick thighs and ate both. I think I will probably just stick with this as it is clearly her preference, especially since the new babies are proving to be exceptionally easy.

Speaking of the new babies, all but 2 were fed a chick thigh each and ate it. As an experiment, I gave two of them a pinkie mouse and they declined. No huge surprise, there. I might try a scented pinkie on another random two next week just to see what happens. I did not try to feed the injured one, but may try in a few days.
 
I took the opportunity last night to feed the two babies I experimented on and the injured baby a chick thigh each. The injured one did not eat. The other two did.
 
Snakesitter said:
Good news on the two. Fingers crossed on the third.
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Thanks. We'll have to see how that goes. I want to say he seems stronger than he was when I first found him, but it's hard to say. The tail region is still unresponsive, which indicates to me that there might be some serious spinal damage. Might not be fatal, but only time will tell.
 
Here's a fun development: Around midnight last night, my wife was smoking in the garage and happened upon one of the remaining fugitives crawling into a case of drinks. I managed to catch the little bugger, meaning there are only two left unaccounted for. The new guy was looking pretty lethargic, which could be from dehydration or the cold or both. He seems better this morning, and I'll try to feed him tonight.

Feeding update for this week:

All new hatchlings were fed chick thighs and ate.

E3, H3, H5, H6, N1, N2 and N3 were all fed quail chicks. H5 and N2 declined. H5's chick was exceptionally large, and I think that was the problem. N2 just needs to stick to thighs for a little while longer.

E2 and N4 were each fed a fuzzie and ate it.

T3 was given a pinkie and a chick thigh and ate neither. I will try an anole next week and see if that gets her back on feed.
 
Forgot to add that I offered a f/t small anole to the injured one last night, and he did not eat it.

I also gave a chick thigh to the newly found baby today and he ate right away, so that's a good sign.
 
Feeding update:

H2 was fed three chick thighs and ate them all.

E3, H3, H5, H6, N1 and N3 were fed quail chicks. (N2 has gone to a new home with one of the new babies). H6 and E3 declined, but they were given the largest chicks, and I think that was the problem. Some of the chicks in my last order were mis-sized, so I'm going to make an effort not to use those until these guys get bigger.

E2 and N4 were given fuzzies and ate.

T3 was given an anole-scented pinkie and finally ate. Apparently, this is the time of year when T3 gives me a hard time. I'm going to try unscented again next week. Hopefully, now that I've gotten her eating again, she'll be less picky.

All of the new babies were offered a chick thigh, and all ate with one random exception. I think the problem was that I put the thigh directly on the carboard tube, and it got stuck to it. The baby had clearly made an attempt, but it took some effort for me to remove it in the morning, so there's no way the little guy could have done it. I may feed this one again tonight to see if that helps.

The injured baby was given another anole and refused again. Not looking great for this guy.

Many of the new babies have shed out again, and I'm starting to see some real lookers. I'll start picking out my keepers soon, and will post pics when I do.
 
Another Feeding update:

All holdbacks were fed a quail chicks except for H2, who was given three chick thighs.

N1 and N3 were given quail chicks.

E2, T3, and N4 were fed pinkies.

All new babies were given a chick thigh.

T3, and H5 declined.

In addition, the injured baby, who was moved to a tub from a screen cage last week, was given a chick thigh and ate it. Hopefully, this is a good sign. I don't know if it was moving to a more secure place or just healing over time, but I'm glad that one's on feed again. The injuries are still fairly apparent, and I believe there is some nerve damage to the tail region, so we will have to see if he's able to pass feces, but if so, I think he could still make a good ambassador animal for an educational display, or just a pet for someone. Fingers crossed.
 
Hey, guys. I know I've been slacking off on the updates. Sorry about that. Real Life has been somewhat out of hand. haha.

The other thing is that there's not much to update. A lot more of the same. This new clutch is doing exceedingly well, and is much stronger than last year's in a lot of ways. I think a grand total of 2 meals have been missed by the entire litter put together. Even the hurt one is now eating regularly, and seems to be healing somewhat, so I'm getting pretty optimistic that he'll make a decent pet for someone eventually.

As for the yearlings, some of them have been skipping a meal here or there, but that's to be expected with the time of year, and nobody's missing more than a couple in a row.

I'll try to get some better photo updates sometime soon, but in the meantime, I snapped a few random shots of the babies. They seem to have exceptionally good color development (and some interesting patterns as well) compared to last year. You can see that the blacks and yellow are starting to come in, but the dark reds are retaining significantly as well. Here's hoping a lot of them end up with mom's tricolor smattering.
 

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toddnbecka said:
Good to hear they're doing well, been wondering, figured life was busy though, lol.
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Yep, all is well. Life has been crazy busy, plus these new ones are so reliable that it almost makes no sense to do weekly updates. This has been a very strong litter. Almost no missed meals whatsoever. It's definitely a welcome change from last year. Here's hoping they switch over to pinkies easy, too. That would just make my year. I'll probably start trying within a month or so.
 
I finally took some update photos of Harper. The black is really coming in on the tail. (S)He is probably one of the prettiest snakes I have.

 
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