Sahira Progression Thread

Hello all! Here is where I will keep track of Sahira's growth and progress. I will make more detailed posts on Saturdays and Mondays going forward, but I wanted to do a little post today since I was able to weigh and measure her for the first time today since I got her.

She is roughly 16-17 inches long, and only 84 grams. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this tells me that she can't be more than maybe 2 months old. I could very well be totally wrong, but it seems like she couldn't have been much more than a month old when I got her. So my guess is that she's only ever had 3 or maybe 4 meals in her life, including the 2 I've given her.

I'd been told prior that I should switch her to rat fuzzies because mouse hoppers are too small for her, but given this new and more exact information on her size, is that still the case? Would a rat fuzzy be too big for her? I don't want to risk regurgitation by sizing her up too quickly. But at the same time, I am mildly worried about her weight. Her spine sticks up more than I'd like.

All that aside, she's enjoying some mom cuddles currently <3 She is incredibly docile and dare I say, lovey? Haha. Lots of butterfly kisses over here. She loves to climb up my glasses and hang out on my face, or wrap up in my ponytail and rest on my head. She definitely seems like she's going to be a lap snake. She's not even a little head shy or jumpy and has never even approached having a testy attitude. She's a joy to be around, for sure. We do want her to be very used to and comfortable with being handled, but we are careful not to overdo it with the handling. We try to keep it down to maybe 3 sessions a week. If at any point she starts showing any signs of distress or goes off her food, the first thing I'll do is reduce handling.

We just love this little snake so dang much <3https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...0a9b1a6211.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2544dc21f3.jpg

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Also wanted to add that she is 3 inches around at her girthiest point. Couldn't figure out how to edit my post haha

Are we going into shed!? Her eyes look a little blue to me and her colors don't seem as vibrant, plus she's got that neck crinkle. Tomorrow I'll get her a humid hide so she can use it if she wants or needs. Tomorrow is feeding day, and I intended to try to switch her to a rat fuzzie tomorrow. Should I still do that? Or should I just offer mice one more time to not rock the boat while she's shedding.

Sorry for all the questions! All this is new to me [emoji3590]

MamaRheahttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...95979d12e0.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...63de3dad99.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...70a27adb80.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...30318a326e.jpg

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Looks very likely getting ready to shed. I’d wait to feed until after shed


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by MamaRhea

...Couldn't figure out how to edit my post haha

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You've only got about 10 minutes after you post to hit that little button [edit post] at the lower right to edit. If you wait too long, you're stuck with it, lol.

And yes, I agree- she's definitely in blue (shed), so don't bother offering food, wait until after she finishes shedding...likely at least a week away or more.
Meanwhile, do give her a humid hide soon, you'll likely find her enjoying it while in blue.

Thank you both!

I'll hold off on feeding until her shed is complete. That's probably for the best anyways, that way she's nice and hungry when I present her with a rat for the first time. And my local reptile shop is having a massive customer appreciation event tomorrow that I was going to anyways, so I should be able to get a humid hide and some sphagnum moss on the cheap. I did put a ramiken (shallow heavy porcelain bowl thing) with some water in there on the warm side to give her a humidity bump in the meantime.

Her behavior was amazingly unchanged this evening, despite being in the blue phase. She was just as comfortable and trusting with me as she always is, but I did cut her handling session short anyways and will keep it to a bare minimum until she's done with her shed. I'll basically only take her out in order to clean her habitat.

I got the accurite monitors today, along with the black ceramic bulbs, so those will be going in tomorrow. The sensors are way larger than anticipated so I have my work cut out for me to camouflage them [emoji23]

Thank you again!

MamaRhea

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Quick update:

At first I was only able to get one of the accurite sensors working, but I put it in the warm side to see what's up. The temperature was a lovely 90 degrees on that side, but the humidity was only 39% [emoji33] This in spite of my misting and the extra water container.

So, to remedy the situation (and to fix some newbie mistakes I made) I made several adjustments.

Firstly I did replace that log hide with a much more suitable cave style hide. She'll feel much more secure there. I also added a spherical mossy hide that I filled with damp sphagnum moss. It's technically meant to be used for birds but it looked perfect to suit my purposes. I misted her substrate down extra well, and covered the top of her habitat with a towel to help keep the humidity in. (there's still space around the heat lamp for air flow. I also replaced that bright bulb with a black ceramic one that doesn't give off light.

I bought it, but have not yet swapped the substrate to the coco; she's still on aspen. I almost changed it today, but I had already changed a lot and I didn't want to over do the changes and stress her out.

Given that she is not yet in full blue, I made a judgement call and decided to offer her a feed, knowing full well she may refuse. But I figured that if there was a chance she'd want to eat, I should give her the opportunity. I'm really glad I did. She didn't even hesitate to wrap the rat pup. It took her a little longer than usual to get it down, but in the end she succeeded. Just look at that plump little belly [emoji3590]

I did manage to get the other two sensors working. So now I have one on the cool side, one on the warm side, and one in the humid hide. I should have accurate readings on those in the next hour or two.

I'm other news, I have achieved a rite of passage! The other night I got pooped on for the first time [emoji23] Man alive it smelled worse than I would have thought haha.

It has also been brought to light that she may very well be a normal pied, and not a pastel at all. Once she sheds I'll take some quality photos of her in natural light to put out to bed once and for all. If that winds up being the case, obviously it makes no difference to our love for her, but I'll definitely be contacting the breeder. Regardless of how much I love her, the price I paid was for a pastel and I would have never have considered paying it for a normal. In light of this I'll also be having her sexed to make sure she is in fact a female and they didn't just tell me that to charge me more. I hope I'm wrong. Otherwise I can kiss my pipedream of one day breeding some cute little pastels goodbye. We shall see. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...8719a7ce23.jpg

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Changing out the aspen to coco substrate will do a lot for the humidity, & :gj: for your adjustments so far, though I'd personally have skipped feeding her in shed.

I'll leave the guesses about her genetics to others who breed BPs, but I do think she's a very nice looking pied...her markings* are quite distinctive. (*a face and a

"pause" button...:D ) But if your source charged you for something you didn't get, that's a whole other deal...not fun to deal with but for sure something I'd be
addressing with them.

As far as being poo'd upon, you'll soon learn to look for a tell-tale bulge just above the cloaca on your snake, & hopefully the future will find you making better decisions
about when to handle, lol...but if not, your sweet little snake will surely remind you. ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Changing out the aspen to coco substrate will do a lot for the humidity, & :gj: for your adjustments so far, though I'd personally have skipped feeding her in shed.

I'll leave the guesses about her genetics to others who breed BPs, but I do think she's a very nice looking pied...her markings* are quite distinctive. (*a face and a

"pause" button...:D ) But if your source charged you for something you didn't get, that's a whole other deal...not fun to deal with but for sure something I'd be
addressing with them.

As far as being poo'd upon, you'll soon learn to look for a tell-tale bulge just above the cloaca on your snake, & hopefully the future will find you making better decisions
about when to handle, lol...but if not, your sweet little snake will surely remind you. ;)

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Hmm alright, well I will swap out her substrate on Tuesday night, give her time to finish digesting.

Oh I agree she's gorgeous and I'm thrilled with her regardless! But if they charged me for a pastel when I got a normal, you can bet they'll be adjusting my final sale price accordingly [emoji23] If they are reputable as I hope, this should be easily resolved. Either way I'm not devoting too much head space to it.

And lol! Yeah no one ever told me what to look for with regards to poo, but I certainly know more now! [emoji23][emoji23][emoji90] It happened on my shoulder so it went down my back and down my chest. *shudder*. NOT to be repeated [emoji23]

Here's a preliminary reading. I don't expect the numbers to be fully accurate for about another half hour, but I think it looks OK. What do you all think? She's currently curled up in her humid hide. The towel does seem to be helping with keeping in the moisture. The humidity is a little low on the warm side of the enclosure, but I'm inclined to think that's normal given the higher heat over there? I'd love input there. Also bear in mind that the "humid hide" sensor is sitting directly on the damp moss. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...9d158c75a0.jpg

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Here's the readings from last night and this morning...

Things seem to be leveling off, which is good. I did spritz the warm side (spa on the monitor) a little bit, but she's been hanging out in her humid hide (aquarium on the monitor) ever since I put it in there. Bear in mind that the humid hide sensor is sitting directly on damp moss, so that number is a little inflated. And obviously the temps went down a bit because the ambient temp of the house went down overnight.

Adding the towel on top of the enclosure really seems to have helped keep the humidity in.

I won't be handling her at all until Tuesday at the earliest, so no pictures until then unless she decides to leave the humid hide. She seems to be really enjoying that [emoji4]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...8270b39979.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...7c38fc4d76.jpg

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She ventured out of her humid hide to say hello! And also to abuse her plant apparently lol. Look at those BLUE eyes and dusty colors! I'm betting she'll have shed by this time next week. I can't wait for her to shed so I can weigh her! I was looking at pictures of her from when we first got her, and she's grown so much! It's hard to tell when I look at her every day. I wish I had weighed her that first day so I could know exactly how much she's grown. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...dd5ea9453f.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...dfb7294425.jpg

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Doesn't look like the plant is suffering too much, I think it'll recover, lol. You can be sure a snake feels secure in their furnishings when they aren't afraid to venture out while in shed. :gj:

We are on day 4 of her blue phase, so I imagine that it should start to clear up tomorrow, and then she'll probably shed either Wednesday or Thursday.

Here she is curled up all cute behind her plant [emoji3059][emoji3059] She seems to prefer being behind her new hide rather than in it [emoji23]

Her humidity is still a little low so I'll spray everything down again before bed. The minute she sheds I'm taking her out and changing her to coco. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...027bad7810.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6154f64e35.jpg

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It won't add to your decor but if you want to help the humidity right now (& you should), you can soak a new (un-used) sponge or two in water & install them in the
enclosure (not dripping, unless you lay them in a plastic bowl/container). Misting seems like it would do a lot, but it evaporates quickly. She's a cutie, btw. :snake:

Great looking critter. Sounds like things are off to a good start. If your snake has a humid hide and access to fresh water so it's properly hydrated then I wouldn't worry much about the humidity. I agree with ditching the aspen for coco husk. I use Reptile Prime. Looking forward to the post shed pics.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

It won't add to your decor but if you want to help the humidity right now (& you should), you can soak a new (un-used) sponge or two in water & install them in the
enclosure (not dripping, unless you lay them in a plastic bowl/container). Misting seems like it would do a lot, but it evaporates quickly. She's a cutie, btw. :snake:

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Thank you! The sponge idea is great! I'll do that now. And yes, I agree that she's pretty dang adorable!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

Great looking critter. Sounds like things are off to a good start. If your snake has a humid hide and access to fresh water so it's properly hydrated then I wouldn't worry much about the humidity. I agree with ditching the aspen for coco husk. I use Reptile Prime. Looking forward to the post shed pics.

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Hi! Thank you! Yes she does have a humid hide, and the humidity in the hide is 79% as of now, and she does have fresh water to drink.

I'm definitely anxious for her to hurry up and get on with it already 😂 I'm dying to know how it's going to go. Will she do it in one piece? Will some get stuck? I've researched how to do a humidity box just in case she does have an issue, but I'm really hoping that won't be needed.

As expected, her blue phase has cleared up! Hopefully she'll shed in the next 24 hours!

The sponges seem to be working great, but they were dry when I got home (hence why the warm side humidity is on the low side. I added some more water to them and misted everything again and the warm side humidity has already gone up to 46, so that'll be looking good here soon. Plus she still has access to the humid hide if she wants it. She's still hanging out in that same corner though, it doesn't look like she's moved at all. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...8a2562f7a0.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6aae7dd36a.jpg

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It could take a few days longer for her to shed, so don't worry if it does. It varies by snake and conditions.

Good job keeping tabs on her and raising humidity.

Keep us posted.

Agree ^ ^ ^ Just because a snake goes back to clear, sometimes they still just "take their time" to get undressed. :snake:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dakski

It could take a few days longer for her to shed, so don't worry if it does. It varies by snake and conditions.

Good job keeping tabs on her and raising humidity.

Keep us posted.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Agree ^ ^ ^ Just because a snake goes back to clear, sometimes they still just "take their time" to get undressed. :snake:

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Strip baby, strip! [emoji23][emoji23]

Doesn't she know her mommy is impatient [emoji23][emoji23]

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by MamaRhea

Strip baby, strip! [emoji23][emoji23]

Doesn't she know her mommy is impatient [emoji23][emoji23]

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Snakes don't care...snakes are on "snake time". :rofl::snake::snake::snake:

Beautiful scaly baby you have there. I can't wait to see the new clothes she is taking forever to put on...

She shed! She shed!

I'm so thrilled, it was PERFECT! It was all in one piece until I accidentally ripped it trying to remove it from the humid hide. [emoji2356] Part of it was under some moss so I had to do a little digging, and it was still moist from the moss, making it super easy to tear. It was much more fragile and delicate than I expected! The only bit of "stuck shed" was a tiny piece less than a mm long on the very tip of her tail which was easily removed.

AND! She's gained a whopping 14 grams in the last 6 days! Though I will say that she isn't empty. But she wasn't empty the last time I weighed her either so either way I feel like this is a win.

I need to get on cooking dinner for my little girl and laundry is calling too, but I'll try to get some good pictures later. It's already dark here so no natural light pictures today, but hopefully soon! In the meantime, join me in a HAPPY DANCE!

I just love this girl so much! https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...8564349520.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...5a5e4583ca.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...cedc05606b.jpg

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Am scronchie. Heckin effective. Holdin da mum hairs. Aww yisss.

[emoji3059][emoji3059][emoji3059]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...fbd45645c0.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...acb10248fc.jpg

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You're so lucky- that's a mighty fine scrunchy! MY snakes like to practice their knot-tying...:D

A few more pictures of my beautiful girl [emoji3590]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...c9b2bd4a6a.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2b75591772.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...b6b97c7946.jpg

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Beautiful snake, that smiley-face marking is so precious! Nice to see her eating for you and I'm excited to watch her grow :)

Sahira got a room upgrade!

Finally got her switched to coco fiber. I ideally wanted her on a fiber/husk mix but this will do for now. I mixed quite a bit of water in. Too much at first haha. When I squeezed it a few drops of water would drip out, which I figured meant it was too damp. So I dumped about half the wet stuff into the bottom, and then added some dry on top of that and mixed it up really well and that seems to have done the job. The substrate is moistish without being damp.

I added a bit more clutter in the form of some natural Brazilian quartz points and a moss agate dragon skull (to inspire her of course). She's got a climbing branch on the cool side along with some live plants. Her cool side hide has some damp sphagnum in it in case she feels the need for it. She also has a nice basking rock (natural slate, not electric) and some fake plants on the warm side and throughout.

I also ditched the UTH entirely, and instead swapped the 50w Che I was using for a 100w. I think that this will be better, but only time will tell. I'll be keeping a close eye on it. She is in a 20g, so without the UTH I don't think 100w will be overkill. She's currently investigating my glasses while we wait for the temps and humidity to settle in there.

I'll take pictures of the whole thing this weekend when it is lighter. That room stays pretty dim even when the sun's fully out. At night you might at well be trying to take pictures in a crypt [emoji23]

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by MamaRhea

... At night you might at well be trying to take pictures in a crypt [emoji23]...

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And you know this how??? :O LOL

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

And you know this how??? :O LOL

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Because I've done it [emoji23][emoji23]

These are some pics of the catacombs beneath Paris for your enjoyment [emoji16]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...67cc916959.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...a4602b47a2.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ba288f9999.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6618081b6a.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...1bf4b5bab3.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...a8aaa8bece.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...7481938b85.jpg

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Muy bien! :gj: I can see that you know your crypts! :rofl:

Been to Paris, didn't go into the catacombs. Big regrets.

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Originally Posted by wnateg

Been to Paris, didn't go into the catacombs. Big regrets.

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If you ever go back to Paris, DO THE CATACOMBS! It was such an incredible experience. Highly recommended.

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Photo dump!

We did a sunshine post-shed photoshoot! I was mostly focusing on capturing her colors to prove out whether she's a pastel or not. Almost everyone has been saying she's a normal, but look how yellow she is! I think they're probably wrong. In a few of the pictures you can see the INSANE iridescence on her head that I had never noticed before. It's crazy looking. You can also see her cute clean little belly [emoji3059][emoji3059][emoji3059]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...35a268b861.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...03d6150cb2.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...0d1da45b9b.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...4b714b3982.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ee379565f5.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...00198f24f8.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...64e98e41e1.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...f253964a82.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...8f244a0f40.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...52b6b2fab2.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...5f3f1d6c29.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...39ebb0d4e2.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...23e9937a97.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...afed068f3b.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d7015b1e70.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...4da168acb4.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...facd1a0c23.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...0a8644f357.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...3f2db7551b.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...5c26b4cdc7.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...74b25a4a41.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2e82fabc78.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...984aedfd3c.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...f7b4fa3114.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...86f6674ce6.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...da5ed48b75.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2eb355be18.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...1221fc69bd.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2c177bad9b.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...b58625fad2.jpg

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Here's a few pics of her set up! I really need to get another lamp for that gosh dang room. Even during the day it's so dark, and using flash really doesn't do it justice either. Ah well, you guys get the idea.

The 100w Che, which I was mildly concerned about it being too hot, is not actually keeping her warm enough. It seems to top out at 85. So not dangerously low, just a little lower than I really want. Things need a little tweaking but we'll get there. The coco is definitely much better for holding the humidity too. I made the choice to leave the humid hide in there so she can use it if there is ever a dip in humidity.

She just ate a little rat pup, and is pleasantly plump. Thicc with two c's, as they say.

Last pics were from last night. Snek was doin a HECKIN snoogle [emoji3059][emoji3059]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6b2c8b325c.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...b8ca389953.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d985fe5567.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...30acf7002c.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ef85d8b696.jpg

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I like how iridescent the top of her head is (in the previous group of pics). Her colors are really rich too, & her white is really clean. If you're getting sick of her, I can
tell you where to send her...:love: LOL

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

I like how iridescent the top of her head is (in the previous group of pics). Her colors are really rich too, & her white is really clean. If you're getting sick of her, I can
tell you where to send her...:love: LOL

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I was so surprised when I saw it! I had never noticed it on her before, but it's really lovely.

And yes, we really lucked out with her! I'm really interested to see if she develops freckles as she gets older, but for now her white is just as pure as freshly driven snow.

LOL! I'll tell ya what, if we ever breed her you can have one of the babies [emoji23][emoji23]

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Temp update!

I discovered that the warm side sensor had been pushed up against the side of her enclosure, causing the lower temp reads. I moved it back closer to the center of the warm side and it's holding around 88, so I'm happy with it.

The Temps do fluctuate throughout the day, being the warmest around 5pm and the coldest first thing in the morning. I presume that's pretty normal?

The cool side of her enclosure I believe is a little *too* cool. It seems to be hanging out about 70-73 degrees. How would one go about bumping the temps on the cool side without increasing the temps on the warm side? And feedback there would be appreciated.

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:O
:snake:
:snake:
:snake:
:snake:
:snake:
:snake:
:snake:
:snake:
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:O

Warning! Feeding pictures below, please skip if this makes you feel uncomfortable <3

Time for an update on the pied princess! But more of a personal update first. I am loving in Northern California, in one of the Corona virus hotspots. As a result, all the schools in this area have been closed until 4/14 at the earliest. They are discussing possibly not resuming for another month after that. I'm a single mother with no support system (my nearest family is over 2 hours away) and only one income. With my daughter not in school, I'm left with very few choices. I can't send her to live with my parents because my father has no spleen, which means an extremely compromised immune system. I can't risk him getting infected because he's one of the people that most likely would not survive. My work is "considering" letting me try to work from home next Tuesday, but it's not a guarantee. Basically if they don't let me work from home until school is back in session, I'll have no choice but to just not work. Thankfully there is a bill in the works that will allow parents effected to file for paid family benefits for 66% of your average earnings, so that will help. It won't be enough to make ends meet, but it's better than nothing. Compounded with the fact that all the stores in my area have been stripped bare. I have enough food and toilet paper to last my daughter and I for maybe 2-3 weeks if we are careful. After that... I just don't know [emoji26][emoji24] Everyone has panicked and bought way more than they need, and it's left families like my daughter and I without many basic necessities. I know we'll get through this, but I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't very nervous about how all this is going to play out. I'm sure many of you are in a similar situation.

She ate a nice plump little rat pup last night, and was 93 grams completely empty prior to her feeding (her prior weight of 98 grams was before her massive poo haha). So she's growing at a steady clip that I'm happy with.

She cracked me up during feeding last night. She usually just wraps once or twice, but this time she opted for a full body wrap strategy which actually proved to be a much more efficient method. The whole thing was over in about half the normal time, but she insisted on squeezing for an extra 5 minutes anyways [emoji23] She then insisted on riding the struggle bus to Chow Town, trying to eat the rat backwards and then sideways before finally figuring it out haha.

I've been really struggling with my stupid thermostat. Twice I've went to check and her warm side sensor was at 95, and the heat gun was reading 100 on some surfaces, even though I have the thermostat set to max out at 90. The instructions are written so poorly and with so much jargon that it's basically in another language. Very very difficult to figure out. I *think* I finally got it figured out though. I'll be monitoring closely.

Sidenote: As I'm sure you can tell, I do feed in a special feeding tub. I know that this is a practice that some people frown upon quite strongly for a variety of reasons. I don't do this for the "cage aggression" thing because I know that has been disproven. I do this because I have a friend who's snake got an infection and died from having a piece of substrate get stuck in its throat while eating. I feed in the tub to avoid this. It also allows me to more closely monitor things and step in if necessary without the clutter and plants in the way since I'm feeding live. I will say that she has never shown any distress at all and strikes within moments of the rat being put in there. I give her several minutes after swallowing, and then once she's completely done and moving around, I move her back to her enclosure with extreme care to support her.

I am sure some, if not all of you, disapprove. I promise that if she ever shows a single sign of distress, goes off her food, or regurges, I will immediately reconsider. But so far, this is working for us really well. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...4972ec8916.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...09dfea5282.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...78121013c5.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...fba360d4a6.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...0c31f02953.jpg

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I have conquered the freaking thermostat I think!!! Well, kind of.

It has stayed steadily between 88-90 (on the warm side) for 24 hours now instead of constantly dipping and spiking. Plus I figured out how to set an audible alarm if it ever gets too far out of range. If anyone is wondering, InkBird thermostats have the most confusing and difficult to read/understand directions EVER. It was kind of mid range in price between the Jumpstart thermostats and like a full blown Herpestat so I thought it was a good compromise between the two. At this point I think I made a mistake in that decision.

It came with two places to put a plug. Supposedly the second plug can be used for either a heating, cooling, or humidity element depending on the type of sensor you buy. The options are "temperature sensor" or "humidity sensor". However, after reading the d@mn directions for the umpteenth time, it looks like the second plug has to be for a "cooling" element or a humidity element. So far I can't seem to find a way to do this where it monitors two heating elements. If I let it think the second thing is a cooling element, it will turn the secondary heating element ON when it gets too hot, which is obviously the opposite of what I want. I was hoping to plug the heat mat into that, that way she can have both ambient heat and belly heat, and the thermostat would turn one or the other off as needed to keep the temps in the right range. (The mat has obviously not been plugged in while the thermostat was acting the fool). Now I am wondering if it's even configured to work that way. It's going to take another instructions study session to figure out if it can even be done. I think I would have been better off just buying two Jumpstart thermostats, one for each element, and skipping the InkBird altogether. *sigh*

On another note, a mystery was solved yesterday. The Mystery of the Hiding Dookey. I knew that she had pooped because she no longer had her bulge going on, and there was a random short lived humidity spike, So I KNEW she had pooped. But when I looked in her enclosure, I couldn't find it. I looked in all her foliage, in her humid hide, behind the rocks, under the vines, etc. No poo. She's on coco fibers so I figured maybe it just got absorbed or something? But then this weekend when I was lifting her warm side hide a bit to anchor the heat sensor under it, low and behold, she did a huge poo in her hide! I thought I had read somewhere that they usually don't go in their hides, but obviously that was either incorrect information or else Sahira is just an exceptionally sloppy lady LMAO. I didn't want to bug her too much since she just ate on Saturday, but I removed the big lumps real quick and will do a partial substrate change probably this evening or first thing tomorrow morning.

Ha! Mine poops in his hide every stinkin time!!!

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Don't believe everything they say...:rofl: Plenty of snakes defecate in their hides. I've had LOTS of snakes, & NONE of them do invisible poo. ;) Some like to leave it
in their shed skin, some in the water bowl (like a bidet?), others just play hide & seek. :snake:

Been a while since I checked in so I thought I'd give an update!

Sahira is doing wonderfully. She weighed in at 117 grams empty last night and enthusiastically took a feed today. It was kind of a weird feed though. She struck in such a way that she must have cut an artery in the pup. There's never been blood before but there was tons of blood this time and the rat was white so it was super obvious. It got all over Sahira's pretty white scales. And then she tried to eat it at a weird angle so the arm was stuck going the wrong direction. She got it halfway down but then spit it out and started over. She did eventually get it down, and I gently cleaned her up a little to get most of the blood off her. I did make triple sure that none of the blood was Sahira's.

I finally figured out what was up with the thermostat! This is going to sound insane, but a piece of quartz was near the sensor. Not touching, just close to it. As soon as I moved it, the sensor started functioning properly. I think the energy from the quartz was interfering with the sensor. But all is well now. That's why it was working great before I did the substrate change and then it wouldn't work after. I added the quartz to her enclosure during the substrate change.

The other night my daughter was holding her and Sahira started crawling up her sleeve to her arm pit and she was CRACKING UP. It was hilarious. [emoji3590][emoji3590]

I think she may be just *slightly* overweight. I'm not sure how that happened because I'm only feeding once a week and her prey items are technically a little too small by the "same size as the widest part of the body" thing. I'm not too terribly worried because she still has a lot of growing to do. I'll just keep her on this size of prey until she is looking a little less svelt haha. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...a1d842660f.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2a05b6de2d.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...7b1270e68f.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...5b175c840f.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...3c98ec895f.jpg

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She looks fine to me, & very cute daughter too, btw. I'll admit to being terribly ticklish when snakes do that to me too...Oooo! :rofl:

Very nice Pied, always move to see the kiddos getting into the hobby as well.


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I can't believe it!

Sahira weighed in at 154 grams today! That's 37 grams in just 2 weeks! That is so crazy to me. My baby is getting so big [emoji24][emoji24][emoji3059]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...a2677a206b.jpg

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They do grow up pretty fast, don't they? At least they don't go off to college...:rofl:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

They do grow up pretty fast, don't they? At least they don't go off to college...:rofl:

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Thank goodness! They learn python at home [emoji23][emoji23] (nerd joke)

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She’s a beautiful little girl! I tend to add crystals into some of my snake enclosures as well. Is she your first? Be warned they’re like chips, it’s almost impossible to stop at one! [emoji23] Can I ask why you feed live?


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