Behira - 2016 Female Ivory Ghost - First BCI

She is looking amazing.


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Behira went to the bathroom, so I cleaned, and had her out for some fun time with dad. She's looking awesome and was in her light phase today.

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Your golden girl is looking lovely, & the very picture of health. :gj:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Your golden girl is looking lovely, & the very picture of health. :gj:

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Thank you Bogertophis. I tend to worry, and it's good to hear reassurance that she looks good.

Again, clobbering rats, sheds are getting further and further apart, looks beautiful and healthy, and acts totally normal.

Still good to hear. Thank you again.

I can understand some level of paranoia after what you went thru with Yafe, but in this case, I think you can relax. Even the "experts" you consulted saw no issues. ;)

She's looks fantastic. Also great to hear that the sheds are a little more spaced out.

I had Behira out today and stretched out on the couch. I did my best with the measuring tape and I think she is "only" about 5 - 5.25'. Not easy to measure, but that's what I got.

She eats tonight and everything else seems status quo. Love this girl.

Her "color" washed out a little on the sofa with the lighting and the sofa brown as a background. She did let me get a good selfie of us together though!

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Lady B is lookin good bro!!

I'd like to see her colors outdoors!

Looking good indoors for sure.

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Originally Posted by dakski

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This picture would be a perfect YouTube video Thumbnail. :D

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Originally Posted by Gio

I'd like to see her colors outdoors!

Looking good indoors for sure.

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https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...rst-BCI/page64

Gio, took outdoor pictures a couple of weeks ago. I think you missed it. See above link.

Behira was looking good today.

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Behira looking great dave

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She looks great dave!

I find it kind of funny that so many of your reptiles are insanely colorful... and then there's Behira. I have to admit she balances the others in your collection quite nicely. Gives your eyes a bit of a rest from all the intense colors and you can really admire her less intense colors. She's definable one beautiful snake.

16 days since shed and she seems to be getting a little darker and her belly getting a little red. She hasn't gone into blue yet, but I am not sure if this will be a longer shed cycle than last time. We will see. Either way, definitely out of the "danger zone."

Got some good shots of her with me today. Man, she's getting really heavy and the one arm photos are going to be a thing of the past soon. I am going to need Katie's help pretty soon to take pictures of us.

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Behira went into Blue again the other day. She came out of it today, which is day 22 since shed. We are out of the danger zone, but I am wondering if I should feed her every 10 days again. That seemed to help.

Here she is blue (I had to change her water). She wasn't really interested in socializing, but was pretty chill about it. Not too much of a fuss and no hissing this time.

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She looks great even in shed! :gj:

Behira shed today - 25 days since last shed. I am going to start feeding her more often again, or move her up a prey size. Not sure which yet. Any suggestions?

She's been eating 100-120G medium rats and she weighs about 1,900G. I was thinking of moving her up to large rats - about 170-180G but not feed more than every two weeks. Does that make sense, or better to feed mediums every 10 days?

Thank you in advance.

She's pretty much an adult at this point so I'd be more inclined to increase her prey size rather than her feeding frequency.

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Originally Posted by dakski

Behira shed today - 25 days since last shed. I am going to start feeding her more often again, or move her up a prey size. Not sure which yet. Any suggestions?

She's been eating 100-120G medium rats and she weighs about 1,900G. I was thinking of moving her up to large rats - about 170-180G but not feed more than every two weeks. Does that make sense, or better to feed mediums every 10 days?

Thank you in advance.

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Personally I'd feed mediums about every 10-14 days. That's what I did with the BCI I used to have. Large rats are more fatty, not as good for your snake.

Spoke to Jeff Ronne today. He said mediums more frequently. So, she pounded one tonight and I’ll be offering every 10 days for her for a bit.

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Originally Posted by dakski

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...rst-BCI/page64

Gio, took outdoor pictures a couple of weeks ago. I think you missed it. See above link.

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Just saw them!
Looking good.

It's hard to keep up sometimes.

Thanks for posting those.

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Originally Posted by Gio

Just saw them!
Looking good.

It's hard to keep up sometimes.

Thanks for posting those.

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No problem Gio!

Thanks for looking!

Behira looks super after (another) shed. She ate two days ago, but regardless, is really starting to put on some girth.

Katie got a couple pics of me holding her as well.

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She looks fantastic! Also that shirt is hilarious. :rofl:

Got a few more pics of Behira today. She's looking great and is as calm as ever. She even fell asleep on my lap, again!

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Behira left me a big present today. She's now 1,930G dry. That's up 260G since the beginning of the year and when she was stagnant due to an every 3 week feeding schedule and frequent shedding. This is encouraging me to stick to a more frequent feeding schedule for her (every ten days) until she breaks the frequent, although not as frequent, shed cycle.

I can see the growth as she's really thickening up, but it's nice to confirm it with her weight.

She was in her light phase today and looking beautiful so I snapped a couple of pics.

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Back on her ten day feeding schedule. Behira devoured another medium F/T rat tonight. She still cannot wait to eat and often (like tonight) strikes the door (acrylic) before I can even get the rat in front of her. That doesn't stop her from nailing the rat immediately when offered.

So far, except for once when young, she hasn't done any damage to herself, but I wish she would calm down! When young, she bent a tooth, but it came out on its own next feeding. Good thing, I am not a reptile dentist.

I do, as many of you know, keep a drape up over all my boas (3) tanks so they don't strike at movement at night, which they will do. So at least there are no unsolicited strikes at the doors these days. :):(:)

Also, I've decided to keep Behira on medium rats for a while, but feed every ten days vs. 14-21 on larger prey.

I spoke with Jeff Ronne and some peeps on here and that was the sentiment.

Spent some time with Behira today. She's such a good girl.

She's looking good and no signs of shed at the moment, which is also good.

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Behira shed a couple of days ago - 26 days. She's doing great and getting bigger and STRONGER! She's currently back to eating every ten days - but a medium rat - which isn't too big for her. They weigh about 100G and she's pushing 2KG.

We spent some quality time today and I got a few pics.

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Behira left me a pretty large present today. Dry, she weighed in at 2,060G. That might be a little high since she ate on Monday, but I think she's definitely crossed the 2KG mark.

She seems great, but I only spent a little time with her as she wasn't the only one who left me something to clean :).

Behira left me another present yesterday. Unusual that close together, but she is eating every ten days now.

She weighed 2,010G after that drop. So, still over 2KG now.

She is starting to thicken up and get that more adult boa body style.

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Behira looking great Mr dave[emoji106][emoji106]

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She's looking good! She shares body type with my own ghost girl, who had kind of a skinny lanky girl look to her until she reached the 2,000 gram mark. I did also deal with a striking problem with my jungle girl, but her's seems to have been a hormonal thing. She stopped striking the glass as soon as I introduced a male to her, and she only really did it during season changes. She continues to be nice now that she's hopefully gravid: upping her feeding didn't help but breeding did lol. Just waiting on that POS that should happen this month. ^.^ Hopefully Behira starts behaving for you, too, I've had a few food-driven snakes, and at least ime more food hasn't fixed the issue just made them fat. All of those were adults, though, so no growth spurts to cause a response like that. Gonna have to wait and see how maturity fits her.

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Originally Posted by CloudtheBoa

She's looking good! She shares body type with my own ghost girl, who had kind of a skinny lanky girl look to her until she reached the 2,000 gram mark. I did also deal with a striking problem with my jungle girl, but her's seems to have been a hormonal thing. She stopped striking the glass as soon as I introduced a male to her, and she only really did it during season changes. She continues to be nice now that she's hopefully gravid: upping her feeding didn't help but breeding did lol. Just waiting on that POS that should happen this month. ^.^ Hopefully Behira starts behaving for you, too, I've had a few food-driven snakes, and at least ime more food hasn't fixed the issue just made them fat. All of those were adults, though, so no growth spurts to cause a response like that. Gonna have to wait and see how maturity fits her.

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Thank you.

The more frequent feeding is an attempt to address the frequent shedding issue. She does not seem to be getting too fat, but I am keeping an eye on her. Any signs of excess fat vs. growth and she goes back to a longer duration between feedings regardless of shed cycle.

Not sure what to do about the striking except keep the drape up so it only happens with feeding and she doesn’t get hurt when I walk by the tank.

She is still a total sweetheart once I touch her with the hook and take her out.

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Originally Posted by dakski

Thank you.

The more frequent feeding is an attempt to address the frequent shedding issue. She does not seem to be getting too fat, but I am keeping an eye on her. Any signs of excess fat vs. growth and she goes back to a longer duration between feedings regardless of shed cycle.

Not sure what to do about the striking except keep the drape up so it only happens with feeding and she doesn’t get hurt when I walk by the tank.

She is still a total sweetheart once I touch her with the hook and take her out.

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Ah yes, I guess I didn’t go back far enough to see the shedding issue, though I did see about it awhile ago. How has the shedding issue panned out? I’d usually assume some sort of injury or illness if a snake was shedding more often than once a month. I went back quite far and couldn’t find the beginning of the issues, but you mentioned a vet? Did they not perform any kind of x-ray or blood work to rule out an illness or physical issue? Especially with it still seeming to be happening. Even though she’s shedding less often now, going back through the thread as far as I went, the frequency seems to have jumped back and forth without stabilizing.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by CloudtheBoa

Ah yes, I guess I didn’t go back far enough to see the shedding issue, though I did see about it awhile ago. How has the shedding issue panned out? I’d usually assume some sort of injury or illness if a snake was shedding more often than once a month. I went back quite far and couldn’t find the beginning of the issues, but you mentioned a vet? Did they not perform any kind of x-ray or blood work to rule out an illness or physical issue? Especially with it still seeming to be happening. Even though she’s shedding less often now, going back through the thread as far as I went, the frequency seems to have jumped back and forth without stabilizing.


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Vet did ultrasound and I think bloodwork. Don’t remember now.

Shedding has stabilized at about every 25-27 days.

Would like to see that at 2 months plus instead.

She seems healthy otherwise. Gaining weight, eats like a pig, goes to the bathroom normally, etc.

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Originally Posted by dakski

Vet did ultrasound and I think bloodwork. Don’t remember now.

Shedding has stabilized at about every 25-27 days.

Would like to see that at 2 months plus instead.

She seems healthy otherwise. Gaining weight, eats like a pig, goes to the bathroom normally, etc.

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Hopefully it stays that way. I did notice in the past it would jump between the more frequent and the 20+ day frequencies, so fingers crossed it sticks this time. It’s so strange I’ve never heard of anything like this before, not for this long at least.


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Had Behira out today for a bit. She's looking great and so calm and docile.

There's a video below of her just chilling on me, mostly of her head (light phase too). I want to show people that even though Boas can get big, they are incredibly manageable and calm creatures. Great to handle. Yes, they have an epic food response, but hook training pretty much ensures that you do not get mistaken for prey. If you can get over, or like, their size, and can handle the food response, they are awesome pets.

https://vimeo.com/445986031

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Behira is darkening up, but her eyes aren't blue yet.

She shed 22 days ago, so we are on the right track.

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Glad she's getting past the point where she's stressing you about shedding too often.

Behira shed last night or this morning. That makes 30 or 31 days. Either is the longest she's gone between sheds in a year and that number is improving.

She will eat tomorrow night.

She's doing great and looking great.

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Originally Posted by dakski

Behira shed last night or this morning. That makes 30 or 31 days. Either is the longest she's gone between sheds in a year and that number is improving.

She will eat tomorrow night.

She's doing great and looking great.

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That's good news dave, fingers crossed she's going back to a normal shed cycle, she is looking great mate

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Behira is hovering around 2KG (weighed her dry today at 1,980G) and still annihilating F/T medium rats.

I plan to feed her mediums for a while and not move up to large rats - which as high as I plan to go with her (I will adjust frequency to maintain body condition versus feeding larger meals that are more fatty). I am still feeding every 10-14 days because of her shedding issues, which are improving, and he body condition is excellent and there is no need to rush her.

I tried something new when feeding her tonight. I peeked in the tank right before I turned the lights off (they are on a timer but I manually shut them off a minute or two before they would normally go off in the hopes of catching Behira off guard and keeping her from nailing the doors). Behira was on the left side of the tank. I hit the lights, went to the right side of the tank, dropped the drape, and used the center divider in the tank to hide from her view a little. Then I opened up the right side quick, stuck the tongs in with the medium rat, and BAM! She hit the rat instead of the doors.

Not sure this will work every time, but the more I can keep her from nailing the doors, the happier I am :).

Fingers crossed she keeps up the normal shedding frequency for you! That was really bizarre.


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Behira is looking great and I changed her water today. When I put her back, she started drinking, so I caught some of that on video. Always cute. As a bonus, she was in her "light" phase.

Sorry for the poor quality through the acrylic door (I didn't want to bother her by opening the door again).

https://vimeo.com/454125993



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She looks so small drinking the water and then you see her in the holding pin like...what just happened!!!

As always she is beautiful.


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Originally Posted by Kam

She looks so small drinking the water and then you see her in the holding pin like...what just happened!!!

As always she is beautiful.


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Thank you Kam! It is a 6X2' tank and that's a big water bowl - she can fit in it at 5 1/2 feet. Perception is everything, LOL.

I just noticed that Behira's thread (this thread) has over 100K views! WOW.

Thank you guys!

I feel I post too much of her, but if you guys are reading/viewing, that's awesome.

I partly post to share her and hopefully help others with their boas (same with Jeff and Feliz) but also because it's a life journal for Behira (and me).

It's amazing how far she's come since I got her (she's grown a lot) and how much more she has to go!

Also, we (Me and Behira) have a special bond and she's my therapy snake (not literally, but she always cheers me up).

Thank you all again and I'll keep posting here (and on my other threads) as long as you keep looking!

Great thread!