Solomon TB feeding

Hi,

I just got my Solomon Tree boa (Ziggy) today and I was wondering how you feed him?
Do I feed him while he is perched?
I won't be feeding him very soon but this is my first 'tree boa' so I wasn't sure.
Sorry for the silly question.

Here's a bad pic of Ziggy...
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/l...aire/Ziggy.jpg

Is it a true rodent eater? That's the big thing, mine certainly weren't at first, it took months to get them onto mice.

The lady where I bought him from said he ate mice.

what did it eat if not rodents?

Personally I'd ask the person you got it from how they fed it if it ate for them previously. I've also heard these can be tricky to get to eat rodents, especially while they are young. Sorry, I don't have any firsthand experience with them... they're on my list!

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Originally Posted by 420boa

what did it eat if not rodents?

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Probably lizards and birds...

Does not matter if you feed perched or on the ground. If its an established rodent eater, you will be fine. They can be transitioned to F/T pretty easily too...you may want to reconsider that substrate, it will dry the little guy out...look into reptibark, it holds humidity better.

Nice looking australis...they are very hard to come by in the US.

j

Thanks for the reply guys.

johnst_nhb, should I change the substrate even if I'm not having a hard time with humidity?
I have a few blocks of eco-earth here that I could use though.

Can I ask what your temps are?

They had 4 STB when I bought mine, 2 darks and 2 lights. I took the dark one that had he most contrast.

aspen may start to mold, mine are on towels though and the humidity is fine, so i have no opinion on that. Mine are kept at pretty low temps, in the wild they usually look for cooler spots and *may* be prone to heat stress, so my hot spot is about 85.

Sounds good, thanks.

I was following a few care sheets, namely this one for temps.

My 2 heats sources are on rheostats and I'm using digital thermometers with probes to measure the temps.
I have a big UTH on the side of the tank (going upright) that's set to 95F and a CHE that's also set to 95F at it's closest point.
The middle of the viv where all the vines are is 80F.
The temp on the substrate is 74F, which I think is a tad cool. :\

Sorry for double posting but I got a better pic :)

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...air/Ziggy3.jpg

he looks great btw. But no, 74 is not too cool, if you can go cooler while still keeping your gradient. I'd almost be willing to bet he barely goes into the 95 degree area. It's probably good to have, so long as he has a good, usable temp gradient, but at the same time, my candoia avoid too hot of a hot spot.

hows the snakes temperament? I recently got an amazon tree boa that thinks hes a great white.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by qiksilver

he looks great btw. But no, 74 is not too cool, if you can go cooler while still keeping your gradient. I'd almost be willing to bet he barely goes into the 95 degree area. It's probably good to have, so long as he has a good, usable temp gradient, but at the same time, my candoia avoid too hot of a hot spot.

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Ok great, that's good to know.
He's sitting in a low 80's area right now, at the very top of the viv opposite the heat bulb, been there the last 5 hours so I imagine he likes it there. :)
I setup a lot of different vines so he can choose where he can pick the temps he wants.
I was a little worried because the lowest temp I saw in a care sheet was 75F and he was in his hide yesterday, which the temp is ~73F.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 420boa

hows the snakes temperament? I recently got an amazon tree boa that thinks hes a great white.

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I've only had him for 2 days now, but he's the most docile snake I have.
For what it's worth, he's the only snake I wasn't scared of getting bite when reaching into his pouch to get him out. Must be because he didn't seem scared.
He is definitely not a nervous snake. He doesn't even move when I open the doors of his viv to replace his water. :)
It's really neat how he ties himself into a knot when you hold him too.


Anyone know if you can keep more then 1 male per viv?
I'm totally hooked on them now! But don't have room for any other cages. :weirdface

Double posting again...sorry...didn't bump any other posts so I thought I'd add more pics...

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...air/Ziggy5.jpg


http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...air/Ziggy4.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by YvesA

Thanks for the reply guys.

johnst_nhb, should I change the substrate even if I'm not having a hard time with humidity?
I have a few blocks of eco-earth here that I could use though.

Can I ask what your temps are?

They had 4 STB when I bought mine, 2 darks and 2 lights. I took the dark one that had he most contrast.

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Sorry for getting back so late. I agree with Quiksilver on the humidity thing...for me reptibark works best, believe it or not in Seattle I have humidity problems. If you are not having an issue, don't sweat it, but the aspen can be moldy.

As far as temps, Hot spots are ~80-84 and cool spots are 70. Mine spend 90% of the time somewhere in between except when it gets cooler in the winter...They are surprisingly temperate.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by YvesA

Double posting again...sorry...didn't bump any other posts so I thought I'd add more pics...

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...air/Ziggy5.jpg


http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...air/Ziggy4.jpg

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Very nice photos! Anyone know if you can have snakes shipped to the US? I really, really need to get more of these guys for breeding...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by johnst_nhb

As far as temps, Hot spots are ~80-84 and cool spots are 70. Mine spend 90% of the time somewhere in between except when it gets cooler in the winter...They are surprisingly temperate.

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Good info, thanks!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by johnst_nhb

Very nice photos! Anyone know if you can have snakes shipped to the US? I really, really need to get more of these guys for breeding...

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I get all my snakes from here now...http://www.magazoo.com/
If you speak French you could call them. :)
They have another dark one like mine and 2 light colored ones.

I just fed him a hopper, took to it in less then 1 second. I'm very pleased!
It had to be the coolest thing I've ever seen. :D

I took a picture, you see the hoppers tail and bum while Ziggy was coiling it.
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...ggy_Hopper.jpg

Have you tried switching to F/T? You should have no problem.

Oh and thanks for the site of the place where you get them, unfortunately, I don't speak french!!

It was a freshly killed hopper that I gave to him.

That's too bad that you don't speak French.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by YvesA

It was a freshly killed hopper that I gave to him.

That's too bad that you don't speak French.

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Got it, I was going to say once they are eating they are pretty sturdy feeders...