Requiem ... or just "Q" for now (2019 IMG Motley het CA T+)

So -- thanks to a supreme moment of weakness while I was at the Reptile Super Show in Pomona 2 weeks ago -- I brought home my second boa considerably sooner than I ever anticipated. With the total at 2 BPs and 2 boa imperators now, I'm pretty happy with the balance and fully intend for this boy to be my last snake (but I know we've all heard THAT one before, ha).

At just shy of 2 months old (born on June 29, 2019), he's hardly ready for a big name like "Requiem" yet ... so everyone, meet "Q."

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...6438b4dd_o.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...41981f8d_o.jpg

Likely due to his young age, Q is noticeably sassier than my yearling, Genesis. While it's cute and amusing to witness all the vocal blustering at his current size, I've been gentle but firm with his handling sessions, and he's already becoming significantly more tolerant over the past couple of weeks.

Pretty cute, your little "Q"...and don't worry, we NEVER had you figured for any sort of self-control...:rofl: Some call it RAS, by the way...that stands for "reptile
acquisition syndrome" & it can take years, even decades to recover from, and some of us never do. ;)

Looks sick!

Awesome looking Boa!

He could be sassy because of his age, but I've also heard some morphs are a little more defensive than others. Richardhind1972 on here has an IMG that took a while to calm down. I believe she was older when he got her though.

Let him settle in and then work with him and he should mellow out. Katie is not a fan of defensive animals (not that I am either - all my animals are kid friendly and can handled by anyone with supervision, except for Toref who is a flight risk, not a biter). Both boas I have I had the breeders assure me that they were docile animals but great feeders.

When I got Behira, I wanted a sunglow, but was working with a local breeder who had kept her as a holdback and said she was the calmest female he had and she was a little older and established. She's gorgeous, but far from a sunglow. She has been an awesome snake, but I have hook trained her, Feliz, and Yafe - my carpet python. All are aggressive eaters and I took one food strike from Behira early on and that was enough. She's been hook trained since and we have had zero incidents. She was only 500G when she nailed me, and I was no worse for the wear, but she drew blood and it scared the crap out of Katie.

If you have questions on hook training, I have a thread on here I can send the link to. It will pay dividends as they grow.

I had to put a drape up for Behira because she often struck the acrylic doors when I walked by at night. Not good for her. Many of my animals are nocturnal and I feed at night. The drape keeps her calm. Feliz has been striking the acrylic too, so I might need one for him as well. I like having them as display snakes, as they are often out and about, but don't want any jaw or teeth issues. Behira bent a tooth early on, and it luckily fell out on its own next feeding, but her health comes before showing her off in her tank.

People who haven't met Behira or Feliz get nervous when I tell them I've hook trained them and need to let them know food isn't coming. However, once out and about, they are the calmest and most inquisitive snakes I have. Many people do not understand the difference between a food strike and a defensive strike. When Behira nailed my arm hoping for a rat, she let go right away and was like, "sorry Dad. I was hoping for food." I picked her right up and she was chill as can be.

Anyway, coming from BP's, boas are crazy feeders who strike hard and are garbage disposals. Not picky at all. However, even though that's awesome, that they rarely skip a meal, it means hook training makes sense. Better to do it when they are young and before they can do damage.

Very nice indeed, nice and dark already
My img was extremely sassy, she hissed and spit the whole two hr drive, sounded like a gas leak, she was 1 when I got her and had been in a breeder rack so probably only been handled around cleaning.
Any way took a fair while to win her round and tap train her, still get the odd huff off her if she's in she'd and I haven't realised and go to get her but not been nipped by her in yrs, she's a pleasure to have out now, even tho she's hold on for dear life.
So time and patience with him and showing him your not going to hurt him and the difference between food and playtime with some hook/tap training is a definite must as dakski already discussed in the above thread
Have fun and post plenty of pics

Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Pretty cute, your little "Q"...and don't worry, we NEVER had you figured for any sort of self-control...:rofl: Some call it RAS, by the way...that stands for "reptile
acquisition syndrome" & it can take years, even decades to recover from, and some of us never do. ;)

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You wound me, Bogertophis!! :tears: Alright, alright, how about putting it this way - I will at least be putting any snake acquisition on hold for the next 6 months, because with two new boas, I've officially run out of any further quarantine space to keep everybody safely separated. :P

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RedRabbit

You wound me, Bogertophis!! :tears: Alright, alright, how about putting it this way - I will at least be putting any snake acquisition on hold for the next 6 months, because with two new boas, I've officially run out of any further quarantine space to keep everybody safely separated. :P

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Aw, don't take it so hard...it's just that we've all seen (or been IN) this movie before. :rofl:And we KNOW how they just follow us home too... :snake::snake::snake:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dakski

He could be sassy because of his age, but I've also heard some morphs are a little more defensive than others. Richardhind1972 on here has an IMG that took a while to calm down. I believe she was older when he got her though.

Let him settle in and then work with him and he should mellow out. Katie is not a fan of defensive animals (not that I am either - all my animals are kid friendly and can handled by anyone with supervision, except for Toref who is a flight risk, not a biter). Both boas I have I had the breeders assure me that they were docile animals but great feeders.

When I got Behira, I wanted a sunglow, but was working with a local breeder who had kept her as a holdback and said she was the calmest female he had and she was a little older and established. She's gorgeous, but far from a sunglow. She has been an awesome snake, but I have hook trained her, Feliz, and Yafe - my carpet python. All are aggressive eaters and I took one food strike from Behira early on and that was enough. She's been hook trained since and we have had zero incidents. She was only 500G when she nailed me, and I was no worse for the wear, but she drew blood and it scared the crap out of Katie.

If you have questions on hook training, I have a thread on here I can send the link to. It will pay dividends as they grow.

I had to put a drape up for Behira because she often struck the acrylic doors when I walked by at night. Not good for her. Many of my animals are nocturnal and I feed at night. The drape keeps her calm. Feliz has been striking the acrylic too, so I might need one for him as well. I like having them as display snakes, as they are often out and about, but don't want any jaw or teeth issues. Behira bent a tooth early on, and it luckily fell out on its own next feeding, but her health comes before showing her off in her tank.

People who haven't met Behira or Feliz get nervous when I tell them I've hook trained them and need to let them know food isn't coming. However, once out and about, they are the calmest and most inquisitive snakes I have. Many people do not understand the difference between a food strike and a defensive strike. When Behira nailed my arm hoping for a rat, she let go right away and was like, "sorry Dad. I was hoping for food." I picked her right up and she was chill as can be.

Anyway, coming from BP's, boas are crazy feeders who strike hard and are garbage disposals. Not picky at all. However, even though that's awesome, that they rarely skip a meal, it means hook training makes sense. Better to do it when they are young and before they can do damage.

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You make some excellent points. I would actually love to have the link to your thread on hook training. I bought a snake hook back when I got Iggy, my first BP, but with just one and later two very mellow BPs for a long while, the hook never saw any use and has just been collecting dust. Now may finally be the time for it to come in handy. Both my boas are male with Central American contributors to their genetics, so they may not be getting as big as some other boas at adult size, but I can already tell that they have a lot more strength and power, in proportion to their size, compared to the BPs, so it'll be important to have them well-trained early on.

That mental image of apologetic Behira though - awww!

I've definitely already seen the evidence of that enthusiastic feeding. (And it's a joy, compared to the perpetually iffy BPs, haha.) During feeding night this week, Q was dangling from a high branch in his enclosure, and didn't seem to want to come down anytime soon even after I waited another hour. So I offered his f/t mouse, and he just grabbed and devoured it in midair while still hanging from the branch like a piece of laundry. Zero qualms, zero hesitation.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by richardhind1972

Very nice indeed, nice and dark already
My img was extremely sassy, she hissed and spit the whole two hr drive, sounded like a gas leak, she was 1 when I got her and had been in a breeder rack so probably only been handled around cleaning.
Any way took a fair while to win her round and tap train her, still get the odd huff off her if she's in she'd and I haven't realised and go to get her but not been nipped by her in yrs, she's a pleasure to have out now, even tho she's hold on for dear life.
So time and patience with him and showing him your not going to hurt him and the difference between food and playtime with some hook/tap training is a definite must as dakski already discussed in the above thread
Have fun and post plenty of pics

Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk

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He's still got a little bit of dark gray pattern on him, but he's so dark-colored overall and his scales are so shiny/reflective that it's hard to capture the pattern on camera. The breeder at the show had an "older brother" of Q on display - exact same morph combo, produced by the same breeding pair during the 2018 season - and he was already solid jet black with some really spectacular iridescence (and a really spectacular price tag to go with him, oof), so that seems like a good indication of what Q will look like as he gets older as well.

My goodness, your IMG (Medusa, right? she's gorgeous!) sounds like she used to be a spitfire, haha. You've done some great work with her. Q actually hasn't been all that bad, all things considered. He had the toughest time on day 1. My mother, with loving intentions, waved goodbye to him while he was still in his plastic deli cup before I took him back to my apartment, but the motion from above frightened him, so he started hissing and huffing up a storm for several minutes until he was settled in the darkness of the car and I started driving. It's remarkable how loud the sound can be coming out of such a small body, haha. I've gotten the huffing and puffing a couple more times since then, usually when I have to pull him out of his tub to clean up a mess he made, but only for a few seconds. I typically just keep a cautious eye on his positioning but otherwise give no reaction to the display, and he'll settle down very quickly and start peering around while still sitting on my hand.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RedRabbit

...
I've definitely already seen the evidence of that enthusiastic feeding. (And it's a joy, compared to the perpetually iffy BPs, haha.) During feeding night this week, Q was dangling from a high branch in his enclosure, and didn't seem to want to come down anytime soon even after I waited another hour. So I offered his f/t mouse, and he just grabbed and devoured it in midair while still hanging from the branch like a piece of laundry. Zero qualms, zero hesitation.

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That's how my rat snakes feed also...mid-air, no problem. :D A bit more lively than "laundry" though, I must say...:snake2: I love enthusiastic snakes.

I had a large BCI for many years, I never used a hook to tap train, but was able to make clear my intentions ("to feed or not to feed, that is the question") with never a
single bite...and she was WILD about eating too, it was hard to open her cage because she knew when I had food & she was ready to launch. I'd gotten her as a very
bitey yearling that many others gave up on...don't underestimate what patience & making a snake feel "safe" will do, or how good it will make YOU feel for turning them
around.

The differences among snakes is part of the reason they're so addicting...they're not all the same.

Here’s the link to the hook training thread.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...highlight=Hook

That is one beautiful critter!!

Thanks, I'm glad medusa is a bit calmer now with her being so solid, she has a crazy grip, her feed response is just crazy like most boas [emoji16], she's jumped out the viv for food so many times, when she was in her small viv she had branches and shelf that she always used and normally ate from there, I'm putting my motley to her this winter and should hopefully get some nice dark motleys, Img motleys are really black, with her being hypo she was really red as a baby, can only see her red tail a bit in natural sunlight.
I think she will be fine once settled, only early days
Look forward to her progression thread

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

That's how my rat snakes feed also...mid-air, no problem. :D A bit more lively than "laundry" though, I must say...:snake2: I love enthusiastic snakes.

I had a large BCI for many years, I never used a hook to tap train, but was able to make clear my intentions ("to feed or not to feed, that is the question") with never a
single bite...and she was WILD about eating too, it was hard to open her cage because she knew when I had food & she was ready to launch. I'd gotten her as a very
bitey yearling that many others gave up on...don't underestimate what patience & making a snake feel "safe" will do, or how good it will make YOU feel for turning them
around.

The differences among snakes is part of the reason they're so addicting...they're not all the same.

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Very well, maybe hanging laundry wasn't the best comparison, LOL! Unless the laundry was a long scarf in a lively breeze, perhaps. :D

Since I have a snake hook on hand anyway, I'll give the tap training a try, but I do recall you mentioning in another thread about using a gentle spritz of water as another way to snap them out of food mode, and that sounds like a very reasonable alternative if the tap training isn't working out for whatever reason. In fact, my only real objection would just be because the tubs I'm using right now hold in humidity a bit TOO well; that extra spray of water might shoot the humidity up by an additional 10%, ha!

Thanks for the link, dakski! I've given your steps a thorough read, and may start putting them into practice in the coming weeks.

And thank you, El-Ziggy! I'm enamored with his looks, too. I'm pretty sure I was making the silliest googly-eyes at him when his breeder brought him out for me to examine; the breeder probably knew immediately that this snake was SOLD, haha!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by richardhind1972

Thanks, I'm glad medusa is a bit calmer now with her being so solid, she has a crazy grip, her feed response is just crazy like most boas [emoji16], she's jumped out the viv for food so many times, when she was in her small viv she had branches and shelf that she always used and normally ate from there, I'm putting my motley to her this winter and should hopefully get some nice dark motleys, Img motleys are really black, with her being hypo she was really red as a baby, can only see her red tail a bit in natural sunlight.
I think she will be fine once settled, only early days
Look forward to her progression thread

Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk

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"Crazy grip" is right! I'm still bemused by how much stronger the boas feel compared to the BPs, despite currently being only a quarter their size and thickness. My boas' current tubs have some vertical height, so I've actually been thinking about adding some magnetic ledges as "shelves" for them to climb and rest on, too.

Excited to see the potential pairing with Medusa! Have I seen pictures of your motley male before?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RedRabbit

"Crazy grip" is right! I'm still bemused by how much stronger the boas feel compared to the BPs, despite currently being only a quarter their size and thickness. My boas' current tubs have some vertical height, so I've actually been thinking about adding some magnetic ledges as "shelves" for them to climb and rest on, too.

Excited to see the potential pairing with Medusa! Have I seen pictures of your motley male before?

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Yes boas are pretty strong that's for sure,
My boas have always used there branches and shelves so I feel it's a good thing to have in there

I've got a thread on red tail boa forum on my albino motley and my normal.my normal Motley was dad to my last two litters

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Q's first shed with me was on 9/9/19, and he decided to do so around midnight when I had work the next morning, so ... thanks for that, Q. Despite the late hour, I was excited enough to take some quick pics right after the fact, and if it was to be under the unflattering yellow glare of my kitchen lights, then so be it, haha.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...f6b73f09_o.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...2ca50682_o.jpg

Just look at that cute little face, though.

Q's iridescence is pretty spectacular when he's out in true sunlight, as in these pictures from last week. I didn't bring him out for long, since I'm in southern California and it's still a bit too hot to be safe, even in mid-October, but I couldn't help but coo and go "wow" every time I brought my hand into a patch of sunlight and Q started sparkling like a chandelier, haha.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...5d2065fe_o.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...7f5573df_o.jpg

That's something I loved about the BCI I had too...that iridescence. :love: BTW, is "Q" short for "cute"? He sure is!

Very nice indeed, the img iridescence is insane
Congratulations on your new addition

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Is he an Img motley?
Doh just saw it in the title of the thread when I clicked off it, that's why he's so dark already

, he really is so black for young img, looking amazing already
Such a cool morph

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Q looks AMAZING! That iridescence is incredible!

Really nice boa!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

That's something I loved about the BCI I had too...that iridescence. :love: BTW, is "Q" short for "cute"? He sure is!

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Right? The iridescence is a bit more subtle on my Hypo Blood and is harder to capture on camera, but the sunlight flatters Genesis pretty nicely too. I'm going to have to be careful not to let rainbow sparkles become a "gotta have it" selling point for me, lest I start being sorely tempted by Brazilian rainbow boas, white-lipped pythons, and sunbeam snakes too.

Haha! "Q" was originally supposed to be the nickname just for being the most distinctive letter in "Requiem," and because other shortenings of the name didn't really seem to fit him (Rec? Rex? Quinn??). Now it does feel convenient that "Q" is close to "cutie" and "cutie-pie," because I sure do call him those a lot!

Thank you, El-Ziggy and cletus!

And haha, no worries Richard. (I've had plenty of those "d'oh" moments myself.) But yes, when I was perusing IMG combos to decide what I was looking for, the IMG Motleys always caught my eye the most, so they were my focus when I went to the big reptile show in my area. Spoke with almost every boa breeder there who was working with IMG projects, and had several snakes on my "maybe" list. Then got to the table that had by far the darkest IMG boas I'd seen, and that ended up belonging to the breeder who produced Q. Q himself was already the darkest out of his other IMG Motley litter-mates, so I'm eager to see how he progresses.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RedRabbit

Thank you, El-Ziggy and cletus!

And haha, no worries Richard. (I've had plenty of those "d'oh" moments myself.) But yes, when I was perusing IMG combos to decide what I was looking for, the IMG Motleys always caught my eye the most, so they were my focus when I went to the big reptile show in my area. Spoke with almost every boa breeder there who was working with IMG projects, and had several snakes on my "maybe" list. Then got to the table that had by far the darkest IMG boas I'd seen, and that ended up belonging to the breeder who produced Q. Q himself was already the darkest out of his other IMG Motley litter-mates, so I'm eager to see how he progresses.

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Ha ha, my albino motley is going in with my hypo img this week, so hopefully I'll have some by spring, the dark boas really are amazing, that iridescence is just so cool

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Q is a truly magnificent boa! :o He's an absolute stunner, and that rainbow sheen on his scales is really pretty! Looking forward to seeing more of him and Genesis and maybe some boa photoshoots in the future :)

I sure hope that pairing is successful, Richard; the results could be stunning!

And thank you, Luvyna! Oh man, I've got plenty of photoshoot ideas planned for the boas, but it's just a matter of impatiently waiting for their quarantine period to pass -- and then seeing how cooperative they are compared to the ball pythons, ha. They certainly don't like to sit still quite as easily, so this could be a real adventure ...

I ...don't actually have anything new to report, ha. I just can't seem to stop taking pictures of the 1,001 different ways that Q reflects the same old sunlight from our same old balcony. A lot of blues and greens, this time around!


https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...48cce84b_o.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...e1f40ed1_o.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RedRabbit

I ...don't actually have anything new to report, ha. I just can't seem to stop taking pictures of the 1,001 different ways that Q reflects the same old sunlight from our same old balcony. A lot of blues and greens, this time around!


https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...48cce84b_o.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...e1f40ed1_o.jpg

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Are you SURE that's a snake and not an electric eel? :D What a stunner!

Beautiful boa!!!

Wow, that really is a beautiful rainbow sheen. It's incredible how he can be so jet black and colourful at the same time! Can't wait to see more :)

Fantastic photos, the img iridescence is just crazy, as already how can a black snake be so colourful, really hard to capture sometimes tho isn't it

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Thanks, everyone! The little "electric eel" makes me smile every time I peek in on him. You're right though, Richard, it's pretty challenging to photograph, especially under any indoor lighting. Even the natural sunlight photos can't really compare to how Q looks in person and in motion.

My goodness, it's been a while since the last update! Things have been busy (and will probably only get busier), but after his most recent shed on 3/15, Q dazzled hard enough to forcibly remind me to stop and admire him for a bit.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...WrUrmcGg=w2400

I also took a brief video of him in motion, though we had to make do with overcast weather: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1N8...vXvPh8-QJ45tf-

Absolutely stunning

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Dang! That's one MAGNIFICENT serpent! You have a real gift of photography too. :gj:

Unreal looking. Just stunning.

Thank you guys! I wish I could take credit, but Q goes easy on me and doesn't require any photography chops at all; he does all the hard work himself. ;)

Beautiful.

Sometimes all you can say is WOW! This is one of those times. ;)

Technically a duo photo with Genesis, but still the most recent (sort of) photo I've taken with Q!

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...Qi4fUDiQ=w2400

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...aIuTPhqA=w2400

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RedRabbit

Technically a duo photo with Genesis, but still the most recent (sort of) photo I've taken with Q!

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...Qi4fUDiQ=w2400

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...aIuTPhqA=w2400

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Wow, just amazing! These are two of the best looking Boas I've seen on this board (and that's not even considering your new one). You know how to pick them. Congrats

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ckuhn003

Wow, just amazing! These are two of the best looking Boas I've seen on this board (and that's not even considering your new one). You know how to pick them. Congrats

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Thank you so much! I'm grateful to their breeders that both of them are such healthy and beautiful snakes. As for the new boa on the block, he's been settling in very well so far, and once his quarantine is over, I'm looking forward to taking more indulgent pictures of him as well, both solo and alongside these two.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RedRabbit

I'm looking forward to taking more indulgent pictures of him as well, both solo and alongside these two.

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I’m looking forward as well. Red, white, and black boas all side by side is going to be awesome!


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Wow there stunning
Amazing pics too, had to look really close to see the black one

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by richardhind1972

Wow there stunning
Amazing pics too, had to look really close to see the black one

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Haha, that's an apt description of my usual experience with Q - he's so solid black at this point that it's hard to see him in the darkness of his caves, or when he's hidden among the shadows of his leafy decor. I usually have to spot a pair of gleaming eyes looking back at me, before I can figure out where the rest of him is.

Just some quick photos after an enclosure cleaning! It's hard to capture his natural iridescence on camera under the ugly fluorescent lighting of the snake room, but he's still as handsome and shiny as ever.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...Accj9IpQ=w2400

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...QqC3s3qg=w2400

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RedRabbit

Just some quick photos after an enclosure cleaning! It's hard to capture his natural iridescence on camera under the ugly fluorescent lighting of the snake room, but he's still as handsome and shiny as ever.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...Accj9IpQ=w2400

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...QqC3s3qg=w2400

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Absolutely stunning, I just love the glow on img boas [emoji7][emoji7]

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