Female sunglow poss het anery

Well I got the medium hides and they are twice as big as they need to be, but that's ok, she'll grow into them. I ordered 3 so 2 went to Nymeria and the last one plus a piece of Mopani wood I bought went to Tirel.


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This may seem appear controversial and I've mentioned this previously but I've been told by a few very experienced people not to give Boas hides but provide safe places / areas by strategically placed branches . I've had great success following this advice . My hatchling Dwarf SunGlow boa is a lovely little thing now who started off rather nervous and my 7' Snow Boa is the softest , most placid snake I have . There is a belief that hides whilst being great for many species , Royals being a good example are not always the best idea for Retics , Burms and Boas ...

None of my Boas , the Retic or the Burm have hides per-see . ... they just have branches to hide in or behind if they so wish ...

They are all lovely and placid , thankfully :)

My boas spend a lot of time in their hides, I couldn't imagine not offering any...even River my retic makes good use of her hides.

I have yet to give any to Dominika as I need to find some large enough for her and I don't trust cardboard. But with her being older she may or may not like the hides if she wasn't given any in the past. If she does, I'm sure it will speed up the process of getting her to tolerate me.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by CloudtheBoa

My boas spend a lot of time in their hides, I couldn't imagine not offering any...even River my retic makes good use of her hides.

I have yet to give any to Dominika as I need to find some large enough for her and I don't trust cardboard. But with her being older she may or may not like the hides if she wasn't given any in the past. If she does, I'm sure it will speed up the process of getting her to tolerate me.


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Incidentally , how are the ones with hides ?
Any sign of viv defensiveness ... would you put your hands near the entrance whilst they're in it to change the water or spot clean ?
Just wondering ?

A Retic breeder said to me years ago ' you don't want a 13' Retic shooting out of hide at you !'
Maybe both methods work !?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

Incidentally , how are the ones with hides ?
Any sign of viv defensiveness ... would you put your hands near the entrance whilst they're in it to change the water or spot clean ?
Just wondering ?

A Retic breeder said to me years ago ' you don't want a 13' Retic shooting out of hide at you !'

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A few of them are always ready for food when I walk by but once I actually get in there and grab them they're fine. Cloud lately has been striking at me when I walk by but I'm not sure what's going on with him...I've increased his feeding frequency and even his prey size slightly and he just doesn't seem 100% lately. I didn't even really fast him this winter because of it. So most likely not hide-related. He's always been the most docile least willing to bite snake in the past, and has always been offered multiple hides.

Nymeria is much like Cloud has been, she doesn't show any interest when I enter the room. Only Howl and now Cloud comes out to greet me in hopes of food. Both snap out of it once I get the hook and reach in for them. Crona used to look for food at the slightest movement, but he's doing that less and less, and Tirel only reacts if she's already awake. If she's sleeping she's dead to the world.

Crona first arrived being snappy but not hissy. He started out with 4-5 hides and a big vine that takes up nearly 50% of the floor space. I added 1-2 extra hides and he quickly calmed down. He still has his moments, but he's really only bit me once in months and that was because he was in shed. Tirel doesn't get snappy at all but she's quick to hiss at you especially when in shed. But she's only bit me while I was giving her her shots.

River is the typical retic, always jumping at the opportunity for food and always greets me when I come in. If she doesn't come see me I know she's shedding. She's only shown defensive behaviors twice and that was over a year ago for the last time and both happened while I had her already outside her enclosure. She asks questions before attacking her food, and I have yet to have her come at me in anything more than interest while in her enclosure.

As far as putting my hands near their hides, unless they have their heads poking out yes I have no qualms putting them near their hides, but I'd be going out of my way to stick my hands in front of their hides to do a water change. Lol

Also, the only two boas I am currently using a hook with are Cloud and Howl, because of their feeding response. I use it with River just to be sure she's not questioning whether I have food or not. I have not had to use a hook with Cloud before the past few months... I can pick up most of them as I wish whenever and not fear a bite. At most Tirel or Crona might give me a short lived huff (outside of shed). I also do not make a spectacle of getting them out and just reach in and pick them up, taking the time to rub them with a hook or whatever generally just pisses them off.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by CloudtheBoa

A few of them are always ready for food when I walk by but once I actually get in there and grab them they're fine. Cloud lately has been striking at me when I walk by but I'm not sure what's going on with him...I've increased his feeding frequency and even his prey size slightly and he just doesn't seem 100% lately. I didn't even really fast him this winter because of it. So most likely not hide-related. He's always been the most docile least willing to bite snake in the past, and has always been offered multiple hides.

Nymeria is much like Cloud has been, she doesn't show any interest when I enter the room. Only Howl and now Cloud comes out to greet me in hopes of food. Both snap out of it once I get the hook and reach in for them. Crona used to look for food at the slightest movement, but he's doing that less and less, and Tirel only reacts if she's already awake. If she's sleeping she's dead to the world.

Crona first arrived being snappy but not hissy. He started out with 4-5 hides and a big vine that takes up nearly 50% of the floor space. I added 1-2 extra hides and he quickly calmed down. He still has his moments, but he's really only bit me once in months and that was because he was in shed. Tirel doesn't get snappy at all but she's quick to hiss at you especially when in shed. But she's only bit me while I was giving her her shots.

River is the typical retic, always jumping at the opportunity for food and always greets me when I come in. If she doesn't come see me I know she's shedding. She's only shown defensive behaviors twice and that was over a year ago for the last time and both happened while I had her already outside her enclosure. She asks questions before attacking her food, and I have yet to have her come at me in anything more than interest while in her enclosure.

As far as putting my hands near their hides, unless they have their heads poking out yes I have no qualms putting them near their hides, but I'd be going out of my way to stick my hands in front of their hides to do a water change. Lol

Also, the only two boas I am currently using a hook with are Cloud and Howl, because of their feeding response. I use it with River just to be sure she's not questioning whether I have food or not. I have not had to use a hook with Cloud before the past few months... I can pick up most of them as I wish whenever and not fear a bite. At most Tirel or Crona might give me a short lived huff (outside of shed). I also do not make a spectacle of getting them out and just reach in and pick them up, taking the time to rub them with a hook or whatever generally just pisses them off.


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Thank you for taking the time and sharing !


Very interesting indeed

So Nymeria shed awhile ago, and I finally got new photos of her either earlier this week or late last week. She has visibly grown since the last time I took photos of her in my hand, which was in November. The last time I weighed her she was 442 grams I think. I'm going to weigh her again when she poops.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2935/3...9219645f_h.jpg


https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/714/32...e53d769c_h.jpg


https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3770/3...30178c92_h.jpg

She's gorgeous CtB. How long does it take them to reach maturity and full growth? Boas seem to grow quite a bit slower than many colubrids or pythons.

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Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

She's gorgeous CtB. How long does it take them to reach maturity and full growth? Boas seem to grow quite a bit slower than many colubrids or pythons.

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It totally depends on how you feed them. If you power feed them you can get boas to breeding size before or by 2 years of age. They still won't be full sized for another several years though (if they live that long). Boas can reproduce before they reach their full adult size.

With the way I'm feeding mine, I expect my females to reach breeding size around 5-6 years old if not older. My males probably around 3 years, maybe 2.5 at the earliest. Just depends. Right now I only have one baby male but I do plan on adding more at some point.

At 5-6 I'm expecting maybe 6' of length, and it could take another 5-6 years for them to reach those big 7'-8' sizes (if they're meant to get that big). They might hit 7' before then but 8' would be a stretch if they ever reached it.

The same could be said for other species too though. I see a lot of retics 11'+ at 2 years but mine will be 3 in October and she's maybe 8' or a little over. I know another retic keeper who doesn't see full retic sizes until 5-6+ years. One of her retics was nearly 15' when she died (cancer), and she was conservatively fed very similarly to mine, and maintenance fed by her previous owners twice as long as mine was. River was maintenance fed for the first 6 months of her life (I'm talking a fuzzy mouse every 2 weeks when she should have been eating weaned rats), their's was maintenance fed for a year. Both were roughly 3' when we received them iirc. So yeah feeding has a lot to do with how fast a snake reaches adult sizes, within the confines of that species/localities' size potential.


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She's getting big. Gorgeous boa!

More update photos!

I took some photos of her in the sunlight filtered through the plastic over the windows (and with the sun at an angle so it wasn't shining full blast in the snake room), and these photos show her off a bit better. I'll be so glad when I can take her outside into the shade again, it should make her colors pop even more. :)


She's starting to make weaned rats look small, but she's got a long way to go yet before I'll feel comfortable putting her on smalls. I think she'll actually make it onto smalls by the time she turns 2, though. I didn't think she would at first, but she's truly growing on her weaned rats vs the jumbo mice. Yesterday's feeding was the first one on weaned rats that was spaced out by 3 weeks, the rest were 4 weeks. It would have been 2 weeks, but I was basically constantly asleep the entire week I was supposed to feed her. I think I've figured out a rhythm now, though.


https://68.media.tumblr.com/eae10b17...tato5_1280.jpg


https://68.media.tumblr.com/09a8b213...tato6_1280.jpg


https://68.media.tumblr.com/bf5269ff...tato2_1280.jpg


https://68.media.tumblr.com/3943c961...tato7_1280.jpg


https://68.media.tumblr.com/be542520...tato4_1280.jpg


https://68.media.tumblr.com/ff44bef9...tato3_1280.jpg

Nymeria has grown quite a bit since I last updated. Her last weight was 827 grams last month, and she hit 4' exactly about a month before that. She's been eating a small rat every 2-3 weeks for quite awhile now, but she may be ready for some small medium soon. The regular smalls still leave a bit of a bump, though.

Here's a few more recent photos.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/SrwNwsU.jpg

Although it's much more subtle, even albinos have iridescence!

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/GIOYKwh.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/tb8L6SU.jpg

These are the most recent photos:

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/GcT9AEn.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/SbFVWrk.jpg

Really like these Sunglow, really pretty snake. It’s definitely going to be next in my collection. Started reading this thread and jumped ahead just to see latest pics. Lot of great information, feeding is something I’m paying attention to and have read some great stuff. Nymeria looks great and ultimately I want my Hypo to look that healthy as well as any future Boas. I have watched a few you tube videos and I can see how Boas become overweight. Look forward to seeing how Nymeria grows.

She looks AMAZING! Awesome colors and great body structure. That's the strong healthy look I'm shooting for with my boas as well.

Good looking girl you got there.

Thanks Jakethesnake and El-Ziggy! She definitely is coming around nicely, started out as early as possible on a good schedule, and that's helped her to maintain a much boxier shape. With the way she's putting on weight lately, I hope to see a spurt in length, too.

Looking really good and healthy cloud
Nice to see she's kept plenty of colour for you

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Nice indeed. Congrats. Keep us updated for sure.


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I believe the last time I weighed her, she actually broke the 1,000 gram mark! :O She’s also reached/passed the 4’ mark, and will be moving up to small medium rats here soon, but the regular smalls still leave a small bump as of now. I’m giving her the smallest of the mediums every few feedings to help her along.

Here she is in shed just over 2 weeks ago.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...6419722f95.jpg

This was taken today.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d4e3a3d55d.jpg

She had a piece of aspen stuck in her mouth, and was not happy about having her mouth opened to remove it. I’ll check her mouth again in a day or two, and here and there over the next week or two, and make sure there’s no lasting damage. I’ll want to get her to the vet at any sign of infection.

I’ll be very glad to switch her back to EcoEarth now that I can use a space heater and dry everything out. The humidity here has been so ridiculously high all year that even bone dry EcoEarth caused intense condensation. Sometimes even the aspen wasn’t enough to dry things out.


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Looking great cloud

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Just looking back on your post, my Boas have grown the last 2 years . Beautiful Cloud

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