Taiwan Beauty Progress at 14 Months

Ok Tai seems to be popular around here and I have been asked a few times for an updated picture. He just shed yesterday so I got some new pics for you guys. Let's look at his growth.

First this is him at like 30-40 days of age not the best pic but the only "baby" pic I have,

http://www.jackspirko.com/images/taiwanbeautybaby.JPG



Now this picture is at about 90-120 days of age I don't remember which,

http://www.jackspirko.com/images/sna..._beauty_04.JPG



Not bad huh? Got to remind you guys I am just under 6 feet and weigh about 240 pounds and wear a size 13.5 ring.

Now this is from today with a fresh shed, again keep in mind how big a guy I am. This is the best I can do, I can't get him to streatch out he just dosen't want to and is now big enough to not do things he does not want to do.

http://www.jackspirko.com/images/sna...jackandtai.JPG


Next to get a better look at his color and markings (which he is quite proud of, :D ) we did a close up of him. Ain't he pretty!

http://www.jackspirko.com/images/sna...dtai-hands.JPG


Now to get a better feel for his length I posted this pic of me holding his shed. Came off 100% perfect with just a bit of extra humidity,

http://www.jackspirko.com/images/sna...ndtai-shed.JPG



The shed taped at 6"5" so Tai is probally just under 6 feet and has a lot of growing to do! Not bad for 14 months huh? By this time next year I am betting on over 9 feet and both his parents were over 10 so he has awesome potential and the great part is he has never, bit, hissed, struck or been agressive with anything other then a mouse or rat!

there names fit them. how long till they can breed. or is that your plan

I have no immediate plans to breed my Tais but if I do I will wait till their rapid growth has stopped. I actually have a breeder who has made me a good offer on my 05 1.1 pair and I may take it and just keep Tai.

Lately I have backed off breeding on any scale with all but my House Snakes and focused more on making my collection as diverse as possible. I have a semi retirement planned in the next 18-24 moths and want to do a lot more shows, etc. once that happens.

I just love working with kids and breaking down barriers and fears. I thought I wanted to breed a lot at one time but I am learning the education and opening up hearts and minds to possibilities is my true calling. I have found children especially learn a lot about life in general from snakes and reptiles.

Also if anyone is interested I have a 1.2 trio of Stiped house snakes I am THINKING about selling at well under market value. The smaller ones are picky eaters so my biggest concern will be a experience herper who can work with them, they do eat, just not very often. The biggest one is typical Lamprophis, don't get your fingers near a mouse when feeding her!

Hes getting huge. What does he eat these days. I've got my 4.5 month old blue on rat pups.

John

He is eating small adult rats or very large adult mice (about the same size) and he is pounding up to 4 a week at this point, 2 on Sat and 2 on Wed. He would eat more if I let him I assure you.

He also takes care of any rejects from my other snakes, despite his size he still will take fuzzies and weaners. Both of which take around 3 seconds to disappear.

I will cut him back in about 6-7 more months but as long as he is growing he gets his fill, :)

beautiful! guess they're called beauties for a reason! lol

What an absolutely stunning animal!! It's amazing how fast he's growing!! :sunny:

He is awesome.

What size tank you have him in?

He is in a 40 breeder until I have my new display vivs complete. He will be fine in there for far longer then it will take me to finish the job,

Pretty snake, I personally am not into rat snakes as much, I like my snake's with a bit more girth, but he's quite an eye catch, and awesome color on him.

Beautiful beauty! :love: Man, I can't wait to raise one up from babydom down the road. :)

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Originally Posted by Holbeird

Pretty snake, I personally am not into rat snakes as much, I like my snake's with a bit more girth, but he's quite an eye catch, and awesome color on him.

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While he will never have the girth of say a boa give him another year, he will get just a bit bigger around then a coke can. At 9-11 feet that is plenty of girth. :) Right now if I let him crawl on the floor he can raise up about 2.5 feet! By the time he hits 9 he will be able to reach up to my chin from the ground. With that ability I would prefer he not get any bigger LOL, :rolleye2:

This snake is about 22 months of age in this photo and is now a bit fatter then when this was taken,

http://www.jackspirko.com/images/sna...iwanbeauty.jpg

GORGEOUS! I saw one that needed rescue and you have convinced me this might be an interesting lead!

I had absolutely no idea that they got this big, so this is a Taiwan Beauty Rat Snake? It is stunning. i would say that the snake in the very last picture has quite a bit of girth. Are they hard to come by, I have never seen one around here?

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Originally Posted by jjspirko

I just love working with kids and breaking down barriers and fears. I thought I wanted to breed a lot at one time but I am learning the education and opening up hearts and minds to possibilities is my true calling. I have found children especially learn a lot about life in general from snakes and reptiles.

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That is awesome. What sorts of things are you doing with kids? Tell me more. I would love to hear about it.

So far, our BP has visited a local library for an after school program and my son's nursery school. We would like to continue doing this, hopefully, expanding our reperatoire (with our KSB and others to come). We did general snake education (facts, pictures, answered questions), extreme snake facts (longest, heaviest, fastest, most venemous, smallest, etc.), then let each child pet our BP while I held him.

Our goal is two-fold, 1) help children to grow up appreciating snakes and not fearing them, and 2) to provide greater sanctuary for the snakes of the world by educating the adults of the future (fewer folks with the 'ole "the only good snake is a dead snake" addage).

Melissa,

So, so sorry to take so long to respond.

Here is my usual show for kids.

I introduce myself and mention the snakes I will bring out. Then I ask who wants to come touch them about 40% are coming out of their chairs to come touch them, 10% are unsure and 50% want absolutely 0 to do with them.

I then ask the kids to tell me what is bad about snakes and out it comes.......

• They are all poisonous (I don't bother with the venomous vs poison thing because I know what they mean)

• They all bite

• They all get huge

• They are all slimy

• They are all mean

And it goes on and on

Then I bring out some snakes and start to teach, I bring up the kids that are not afraid to hold and touch the snakes. We go over not slimy, don't bite, some don't get big and on and on and on.

Then the magic happens about 40%-60% of those that wanted nothing to do with a snake come up and touch them, hold them etc.

Then I close with hey look kids if we can absolutely believe all this stuff about snakes and be wrong who and what else can we be totally wrong about. Don't you see how we can be just as wrong about people. Color does not matter, religion does not matter, etc.

It is of course not just people kids it is everything in life, don't let prejudice and fear stop you in any part of life. Understand that which you are afraid of just might be special, it might be beautiful, embrace life and embrace each other.

It is amazing what a snake can teach a child,

Jack,
You rock. Thanks for getting back to me. Who cares about timing. Can I steal your show from you and use it, too?

We took the Ball Python into my son's nursery in November and are scheduled to take the Kenyan Sand Boa in March. I plan to read a kids picture book called "I Need a Snake."

Sure you can steal it if you want to call it stealing :).

I just want to impact kids lives, it is an amazing thing. I am who I am because of my herp mentor from my childhood (His name was David). He had me handling rattlers at 11 and understanding the balance of danger and common sense needed to do it. At 13 we moved and at 15 we got a call that he died in a car wreck. I cried inside because I did not know how to on the outside.

The impact that man made on my life (now 35) is why I am building my 3rd company now and could have retired twice if I wanted to. Such a gift is meant to be passed on, so if you passed it on too, well that would just be special, not stealing. In short I would be honored to know someone was saying the same things,

OH and yea one important thing is write down on the board all the bad things when the kids give them to you. As you kill the things in your talk draw a line through them as you go. Small detail but I think it has a huge impact.

Jack, you truly are an awesome and stand up guy. That's so cool that you do shows like that.

I love your photos. I have two young Taiwan Beauty's and their growth is not as rapid but I have been surprised at how fast and LONG they are. They are also so FAST. I am used to corns and balls so these guys are like lighting. They are starting to get their gold color and man they are beautiful. Thanks for sharing your photos. I didn't know they could get as big as round as a coke can!

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Originally Posted by akaangela

I love your photos. I have two young Taiwan Beauty's and their growth is not as rapid but I have been surprised at how fast and LONG they are. They are also so FAST. I am used to corns and balls so these guys are like lighting. They are starting to get their gold color and man they are beautiful. Thanks for sharing your photos. I didn't know they could get as big as round as a coke can!

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Yep that is the way they are. This is why I consider Taiwans, Blues,Yunnans etc all intermediate animals. There is nothing hard about keeping them, no special requirements other then space but when it comes to handling them it can be a chore. They really are not that into being held, most are pretty friendly but they are constantly going and just prefer that you admire them not handle them.

Not that you can't handle them, I handle Tai about 2 times a week just to keep him on his toes (um tail tip :) ) and he has never struck or bit. He is now over 7 feet and big around enough that I can just barely close my hands where he is fattest around him. Two nights ago I took him out and got him to wrap my neck twice which chills him down a lot. When I took him off my neck he let out a very quiet hiss about 2 centimeters from my right ear. I don't even think it was meant as a hiss but I can imagine the person who has never dealt with a 7 foot snake with a big Taiwan hissing just tongue distance from their ear :rolleye2:.

There is no reason anyone should be afraid to keep these guys so long as you have the room and are not expecting a Ball Python or Boa analog that is going to be content chilling on your neck while you pour coffee. Asian rats are big and mostly gentle creatures but to those who are not real familiar with snake movements and knowing how to read their body language they can be a bit intimidating. That is why I recommend a keeper deal with some other snakes for a bit of time anyway.

Note all that is not a direct message to you akaangela, seems you have you guys figured out. I just see a lot of confusion on both sides of the Beauty Snake thing. Such as they are advanced snakes because they are highly aggressive or they are a beginner snake because they are so easy to keep. Like most hype by the unknowing the truth lies somewhere in between.

Totally unfair to bring this thread back up to the top without giving us new pics of Tai! :taz:

And akaangela, we want pics of your beauties too!

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Originally Posted by kc261

Totally unfair to bring this thread back up to the top without giving us new pics of Tai! :taz:

And akaangela, we want pics of your beauties too!

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I'll second that! :D

He is a lil pimp.

My guys are a lot smaller than yours here is one
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2399/...e0d6f6d63a.jpg

Looks like yunnanensis to me. If so, you shouldn't expect the to grow near the same pace as Tai because friesi get larger, quicker. Do you mind me asking where you acquired those beauts?

John

I got them from Chris Gibson. He got them at a show. I had been looking for a while for them and couldn't find any. So he offered to help.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2348/...e9505fae10.jpg

They belong to my room mate and he belives in cooling and not over feeding them. So they could be larger but they are on a slow grow pattern. He said it works for him and he also has a 22y.o rat snake, so who am I to argue?

Is albuterol recommended for snakes? ;)

Thanks for posting the pic! Very pretty snake!