Sahira Progression Thread

[Bogertophis]

Muy bien! I can see that you know your crypts!

[wnateg]

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

[MamaRhea]

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

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

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[MamaRhea]

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

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[MamaRhea]

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

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[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... LOL

[MamaRhea]

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... LOL

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

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[MamaRhea]

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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[MR Snakes]

[MamaRhea]

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 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 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.

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