Ziggy Ure - 50% Hypo Bredli - Progression Thread

[OatBoii]

Thank you for all the advice! I'll go with something weaned-ish/hopper-ish, just to be safe for his first feeding. Then, I'd like to move him to rats. Good to know I'm not the only one who forgets the little things xD

I went to check in on Ziggy since it's been about 6 hours since he went in, and he moved! Which makes sense, he was on the hot side, so I guess he warmed up enough that he was ready to cool down. I couldn't find him for a couple of minutes (cue the racing heart), but when I did find him, this is what I saw:



He's hanging! To get there, he must have moved all the way across the enclosure from where he was, and up to the top of his cork hide. He pulled his head up pretty soon after (probably because of the light), but he's been chilling there since. I'm amazed at how invisible he is, even among bright green plastic leaves. It took me way longer than I thought it would to find him, tbh, and I think he maybe poked his head out because I was looking around for him? He did it earlier too, when I first was watching him settle in and explore. Perhaps he likes to watch back?

[Gio]

I guarantee you Nick just fed it a weaned+ size mouse about the thickness of the snake +/-. That guy has never weighed a rodent in his life. About the thickness of the snake and you'll be just fine. In fact some carpets prefer disproportionately large prey over smaller feeders.

Great looking critter, congrats!

Indeed!

You won't have many, if any issues feeding a Bredli. In my experience they take about anything you offer. I started my fella (he was older) on rats, quail and he's had rabbit since then.

Your snake will likely take a meal larger than its widest body part.

Nick feeds very conservatively for a couple of reasons. The first being, breeders don't like to have large males in their care. They eat more, take up more space and sometimes don't breed as well.

The second reason is that long term health can suffer from overfeeding. Normally that is frequency based and not as much because of prey size.

You can certainly give your new animal a good start in the first 2 years. I tend to give them a decent amount of food early in life, then switch to a seasonal program. The adult snakes here take October to March off and resume feeding in the spring.

Your animal looks great and I think you'll really enjoy the species.

Congrats!

[Fraido]

Lovely!

[OatBoii]

Glad to hear that the Bredli is such a good eater. That takes some of the worry off- I'd heard they could imprint on certain foods, like BPs and Hogs do, and then become really picky.

Ziggy has moved back to the hot side. I caught him very briefly on his primary basking branch, and once as he was leaving the log area after the lights went out. He seems to be moving from side to side fairly regularly. It's very methodical- He explores a little, gets to the other side, and curls up somewhere dark for another chunk of time before he feels ready to move again. I sort of expected him to sit in one spot most of the day, so it's cool to see him looking around a little.



Perhaps about to get a drink? Caught this while just walking by, and I moved on right after so that he didn't feel uncomfortable. I can tell he's smart because he watches me.

[plateOfFlan]

He pulled his head up pretty soon after (probably because of the light), but he's been chilling there since. I'm amazed at how invisible he is, even among bright green plastic leaves. It took me way longer than I thought it would to find him, tbh, and I think he maybe poked his head out because I was looking around for him? He did it earlier too, when I first was watching him settle in and explore. Perhaps he likes to watch back?

Maybe this is a carpet thing, I've noticed even in the pet store the carpets will be keenly watching everyone in the store as they go by, not in an aggressive way or anything, but they seem very aware.

[OatBoii]

I'd believe it, he definitely watches me. If I stand too long or look too close, he is aware enough of me that it makes him want to hide. I'm trying to either observe from afar, or look, take a pic, and move on. I did get to watch him last night as he explored for quite a well, once the main light on the tank went out. He is SUPER long, way longer than I thought. I think he is much closer to 28"+ than not. This morning he was in his hot side hide by the time I got up, but I am admittedly a late waker, so it was plenty bright by that time. For being so long, he certainly curls up into a very small size. I ordered all my hides in "small", but they are still clearly big compared to him.

Oh, and he pooped! A tiny thing, but it means he probably ate about a week ago, so he should be plenty hungry when I go to feed him later this coming week.

A pic of him stretching out along the substrate guard, ft. my cat Timotheos.


And a few more pics (zoomed in because I was sitting pretty far) of him on the front decor.



And finally, this pic from closer up that I snagged around 7 AM, when I got up to feed Tim before laying back down again.


It took until after a lot of pictures, but I noticed finally that he has a nice long stripe along his sides down the majority of his frontal body. Perhaps because I've only ever really seen pictures of Bredli from an above position, I never noticed it. Is that a normal Bredli thing? I can't seem to find pictures of other Bredli from a similar angle so that I can look and see.

[Homebody]

I really like the second pic. Reminds me of a certain Bible story.

[OatBoii]

I got a weight on him today! Ziggy was hanging out in a nice ball on the hot side, so it was super easy to quickly scoop him up. He did NOT want to sit still for the weigh, nor get in the cup, but he is roughly 130 grams (give or take about 10g for squirmy snake error). I popped him right back in after, checked his probe placements, and checked his temps with the IR temp reader. Everything is still looking good, and he seems to be thermoregulating as needed. For having been disturbed though, he was pretty chill. No hissing, no posturing, no striking, even when I was trying to lightly manuever him into the cup with its lid. Super squirmy however- not very interested in sitting still, sort of like a colubrid.

Caught him right as he was getting ready to go into his warm hide.


Night two he spent cruising around most of the night again. He is definitely much more adventurous at night, but that's to be expected. Most of the day he stays in a hide, either the warm or cool one, and then once evening hits he'll poke his head out juuuust enough to watch the world around him.

Here he is, super zoomed in, poking out from one of his thus far favourite spots. He sat like this while my partner and I were in the room for a while, until my partner went too close and he retreated again. Oh well... small steps.

[OatBoii]

Well, he seems to be settling in quite nicely! I'm thinking about feeding him tomorrow, or maybe Tuesday. Time to brush up on my mouse thawing skills...

Ziggy is getting more comfortable with being out. We've developed a sort of a schedule- I turn the lights on when I get up, but the sunlight has already sent him to bed. Around 7-8pm, he starts to wake up, so I turn off the tank light and turn on overhead light. Once he comes out from his sleeping spot and shows that he's awake, I turn the lights back on until bed. So far, this is working great! I hope he'll feel comfortable enough to come out with the tank light on soon. I'd like to put it on a timer, for his sake and mine.

His activity with the lights is still nothing compared to his night activity. It's a lot of fun to watch him explore at night, when he thinks all the lights are off. He can reach nearly across the entire cage, length and height! I can tell he has a lot of strength, even though he's still so small.

The best part about having him get more comfortable with being out with the lights on is that I get to admire him. He would flinch away from the light and us for the first few days, so it feels like a real turn around that I can now observe him just chilling on a branch for several hours, even up close. To be fair, he is probably asleep, but it still feels like progress.

I may be sending too many pictures, but I really am just in awe all the time that such a beautiful creature is in my home. My partner doesn't share my enthusiasm for snakes (nor does anyone else I know), so I don't have anyone to talk to about how cool he is.

Anyways, why would I talk about it, when I could show it? Picture time!

Ziggy in his admittedly huge hide. It is the smallest size though, so maybe I could pad it with some dry sphagnum moss to make it... cozier? I'm open to ideas. This is where he spends most of the day time, if not all of it.


The first night I saw him curled up! He stayed like this for a couple of hours.



These are from today! He really stretched out some more today, and he spent nearly 6 hours out with the light on, and some moderate activity, without hiding again. Hooray for progress! I'm glad he's settling in and feeling safe.


Looong


A close up. I'm always drawn to those big nostril scales and the under jaw heat pits- they're very interesting and pronounced on the Bredli.


He moved from the above position after a few hours to this more condensed position. I had hoped he would use this branch when I put it in there like that, but it's a nice surprise that he actually is. I figured he would like the back branches more.


A slightly more aerial POV. I'm still trying to see if I can find that long stripe on the side of other Bredlis. What a funky position though- He trapped his neck in his own coils.


That's all for now. I'll update next after I feed him for the first time.

[Homebody]

I may be sending too many pictures...

Love 'em! Keep 'em coming.