Winter activity.

It has been cold here the last week or so. Sniper ate his last meal of the year November 2nd.


I typically drop the ambient room temp and the cage temps by a few degrees this time of year. More so for the boa constrictor, as I follow the keeping advice of Gus Rentfro and Vin Russo.

I don't usually see a lot of activity from this guy once we settle into our winter routine, but yesterday was different. For starters I found sperm plugs in his water bowl, I also noticed he spilled his water, eliminated his waste, and messed up his cage.

I opened his cage to start the maintenance procedures and suddenly "Mr. Social" appeared.

https://i.imgur.com/lxrmwC3.jpg

Even without a single female boa in the house it is apparent that the boy still has a drive to mate.

He's over 6 years old now, in absolutely fantastic shape, and still putting on some length albeit very slowly. He is a Barranquilla, Colombian boa.
He is a pure locality animal produced by Gus Rentfro. This locale shares traits of BCI and BCC. He's perfect IMO.
https://i.imgur.com/rXK2yz5.jpg

He actually made a break for the floor which is rare for him. Usually he sticks in his cage, and the carpet is the one who likes to escape.
https://i.imgur.com/RNeJ1MW.jpg

Unfortunately the lighting doesn't show his true coloring. The flash didn't help out either.
https://i.imgur.com/LvxGKkd.jpg

His cage is clean, his temps are dropped and he's all set for winter. I'll likely gut the cage in the next week or two and renew the substrate and make a few adjustments. The nice thing about the "seasonal" approach is once you've cleaned, it stays that way a lot longer.

He'll see you next spring.

https://i.imgur.com/px5X6gU.jpg

He really is stunning gio, really love his markings.

my 4yr old motley is at the glass at the mo sniffing for the girlies of which there are six eligible in the room even my hypo Harley is acting strange up at the glass every night as if he's hungry but at 2.5 he probably gets the taste for girls still

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Originally Posted by richardhind1972

He really is stunning gio, really love his markings.

my 4yr old motley is at the glass at the mo sniffing for the girlies of which there are six eligible in the room even my hypo Harley is acting strange up at the glass every night as if he's hungry but at 2.5 he probably gets the taste for girls still

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Is your fall/winter the same time as ours here in the states?

I shorten the light cycle here as well.

If you have windows, it's not necessary as nature takes care of that. However in the snake room, I have to control all of it.

Thanks for the kind words, you know how much I love your collection!!

Yes winters the same time in the UK, there's a bigish window in there so it's dark just after 4pm now and light at 7ish am . In summer it don't get dark till 10pm so a big difference.
all my Viv's have led strip lights in but rarely use them except if I'm cleaning) feeding etc,i think the natural light in there is much better for them

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by richardhind1972

Yes winters the same time in the UK, there's a bigish window in there so it's dark just after 4pm now and light at 7ish am . In summer it don't get dark till 10pm so a big difference.
all my Viv's have led strip lights in but rarely use them except if I'm cleaning) feeding etc,i think the natural light in there is much better for them

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Sounds like you have it nailed down.

I wish I had some natural light in the mix here, but it isn't possible.

He is a beautiful beast, Gio!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gio

I don't usually see a lot of activity from this guy once we settle into our winter routine, but yesterday was different. For starters I found sperm plugs in his water bowl, I also noticed he spilled his water, eliminated his waste, and messed up his cage.

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Funny, I've bred boas plenty and this was the very first year I found sperm plugs in one of my boy's cage (he apparently was having 'fun' all over the place lol). Silly boys!

Sniper continues to look great, what a stud. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gio

It has been cold here the last week or so. Sniper ate his last meal of the year November 2nd.


I typically drop the ambient room temp and the cage temps by a few degrees this time of year. More so for the boa constrictor, as I follow the keeping advice of Gus Rentfro and Vin Russo.

I don't usually see a lot of activity from this guy once we settle into our winter routine, but yesterday was different. For starters I found sperm plugs in his water bowl, I also noticed he spilled his water, eliminated his waste, and messed up his cage.

I opened his cage to start the maintenance procedures and suddenly "Mr. Social" appeared.

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Sniper is absolutely stunning Gio! I think you're the second person I've seen mention dropping the ambients during the winter time. I'm a new Boa owner myself so I'll have to revisit Mr. Russo's book to get some background on this.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ckuhn003

Sniper is absolutely stunning Gio! I think you're the second person I've seen mention dropping the ambients during the winter time. I'm a new Boa owner myself so I'll have to revisit Mr. Russo's book to get some background on this.

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I do, but you live in GA. You may not need to do as much as I do. If you have a setup similar to Richard you won't have to change the light cycle because of natural lighting and windows in the room, your temps may adjust on their own as well.

I have the house regulated in both summer and winter. Sometimes AC for the heat and obviously heat for the cold. The house stays at a somewhat constant climate year round.

I know MR. Rentfro lives in south TX and he has different circumstances than I do here and you may as well.

So long Sniper, have a good winter buddy! :gj: