For Jo(Frankykeno): Updated Pictures of Sonja

Here's Sonja in her 3 year old, 8 foot, 25lb glory:

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...y/a017c97d.jpg

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...y/e873ddc4.jpg

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...y/62ea0730.jpg

Her hockey number:
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...y/32fc4811.jpg

Awww there's the big girl and her jersey number LOL. Give her a big old rat from us hon and tell her we still miss her around here. I'm glad she's doing so well for you. Thanks for the pics! :)

Awww...she's looking great! =)

What a gorgeous, big girl. You should be proud!

no more camp :(

She is beautiful i cant wait for mine to get that big they're pushing over 2ft almost 1 year old. cant wait.

She looks great. Might I ask where you found that tub? I can't find a tub big enough for my RTB so I was going to go with a boaphile but that looks about the right size.

That tub size is hard to find but I'm pretty sure most WalMarts carry them seasonally sold as Iris brand Christmas Tree Boxes. Generally for around $20 to $25. They are really huge, about 5 feet in length if I remember correctly. If you don't see any in stock at your local WalMart just ask a manager to check the back area in case there are any leftover from the recent Christmas season.

Can't wait for my baby to get that big! How big was she at 1 year? How about at 2 years?

Sonja (aka Rauri) was a rescue that Mike and I took in when she was I think about 2 years old, maybe less. It's hard to tell because she had two owners before we rescued her so her exact birthdate will never be totally clear. We had her about 10 months before she went to her forever home with Becky. When we got her she was 5.5 feet long and she was a bit over 6 feet when she went to Becky.

W0w very pretty snake! I'm curious, does she ever become difficult to handle? I ask because I may possibly aquire one in the next year or so. They start off so small, alot of people don't realize how big they become.

Sonja is big and very muscular, so when she wants to go somewhere, she goes. Definitely not like a floppy Burmese who doesn't hang on. She grabs on with alot of power and it's hard to unwind her sometimes. She doesn't get aggressive much at all, and only one time was she really serious. She was climbing on a horse stanchion out at where I went to school(and where I quarantine snakes), lost her balance and went toppling off. She smacked the floor and looked at me with this very serious look on her face like "I" did that to her, haha. She was pretty upset, silly girl, so I had to get a pillowcase to cover her head with so I could put her up.

She's a good girl and likes to come hang out. She's not one to get stressed easily :)

When we had Sonja with us she did strike and connect once. Sonja, as Becky would tell you, is a very grumpy shedder - she basically stays in one position and does the best snake pout in the world. We used to have to nudge her to get her moving enough to actually slide out of her own shed. One time she had done a massive poop (and boy can that girl poop) while she was in shed and in a mood. In order to clean up the stinky mess my husband, Mike, removed Sonja while I cleaned up her enclosure.

Probably because she was in blue and not happy about it she gave Mike a "love tap".

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...Rauribite1.jpg

Can you even see it? Obviously a strong 6 foot boa can do a LOT more damage than this. Sonja for whatever reason simply held back and did not clamp on Mike. She basically smacked him leaving these tiny marks and made her point that she wanted to be left alone. I've seen worse bite marks from my own kids or a pet cat LOL.

The only other time Sonja struck was again while out in Mike's arms and I was cleaning her enclosure. I was moving very quickly and my long ponytail swung over her nose as I moved past her and Mike. On my second pass I heard....SNAP!...then my husband holler "HEY!!". It was quite funny afterwards that the big silly snake made a grab for my long ponytail but at the time the hair went up all over my body at that sound.

The message of this is she's a big snake, a very powerful snake but generally a very even natured one despite the poor care she was once given. Is it smart to forget for a second the power she has in her muscular body? Nope. I watched that snake, smaller than she is now, easily haul pieces of heavy furniture with nothing more than her tail. We were never afraid of Sonja, but we always respected her power and that she is a snake and will always react as one. :)

Wow cool stories, sounds like a great great snake to have!

Good to see her doing so well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by McAdry

Good to see her doing so well.

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Hope you didn't mind me showing off your bite dear LOL (for those that don't know McAdry is my husband's online nick :) The crazy part of that story is everyone at his work was all "omg you got bit by a big snake" and couldn't believe that it was just those tiny punctures. Yet he helped a friend move two days later and their furry pet cat objected and poor Mike got slashed right through his clothes. What a mess those cat scratches can be and can get infected so easily, yet folks are always thinking big snakes are more "scary". :P