Cloud, Colombian BCI

[CloudtheBoa]

I'm a new member here, so I figured I'd introduce my little guys individually. Unfortunately, due to an incredibly crazy situation Cloud is not with me right now. I have very promising word he'll be coming tomorrow, though! I'm so excited, it's been 3 weeks since this all happened and I miss him terribly. All I get to see of him is when I got to mix up his bedding and give him water, and so I have no recent photos of him.

This will probably be a lengthy read, but I'll make it up with lots of photos!

Cloud Strife is my almost 2.5 year old male boa (gender based off of several palpations I did when he was young and age based off of when I got him as I don't have a birth date), and he is now nearly 6ft. I got him from a local pet store on Aug. 2, 2011, before I learned of how bad pet stores can be. He was 2.5ft at the end of the first year I had him, but he grew quickly during his second year. I started him off on 1 rat pinky every 7 days. After awhile he began to look worringly skinny to me, so I shortened it down to every 5 days. At that time he was just getting started on fuzzy rats or two pinkies. Since I bred my own feeders at that time, I just based it off of when they first got a velvet covering of fur. He's always stayed lean, no matter how much he's fed, so I stuck to a weekly feeding. I have been trying bi-weekly feedings again because he appeared to be holding weight better, and I've noticed a significant decrease in muscle tone but not weight. Since my whole breeding stock (2 females and 1 male) died, I've been having to buy from a pet store because S/H for bulk is murder. I'm also not in a good spot for finding local rat breeders, but there are quite a few meat rabbit breeders. I do feed him on a weight basis rather than than sizing the food next to him though, which is usually a weekly schedule from what I can tell. The method has a name, but I can't seem to remember it. :/ My projected feeding schedule for when I get him on rabbits is 2-3 weeks and I may mix in a few rats every other feeding.

This is what he looked like as a baby, showing his weight. I have very few photos from 2011 and this is the best that shows his skinniness:


Here he is from above a few days later, near the end of November 2011:



The first month I kept him in a tank, at which point he was switched to a Sterilite tub. He stayed there until he was about 5ft, and he got moved into a custom-built 6x3x2 (length x height x width) wooden enclosure, where he will remain permanently unless he gets over 8ft which is highly unlikely. During his second year he was growing an average of 2-3in every 2 weeks, and he's now growing 1in every month or so. I did take my snakes to the vet every once in awhile to weigh them while I didn't have my own scale. It was funny when I came in one day and the vet assistant had this serious look on her face and said, "You do realize Cloud has more than doubled his weight since you last brought him?" She seemed relieved when I laughed and said, "Well, he has grown over a foot in the past 6 months." I think she thought I had been horribly starving him before or something. XD He's very cooperative when it comes to measuring him. I just put him up against a wall and he stretches out along it. My other two on the other hand....

Some progression photos:

The day I brought him home. Sorry for the quality; I hadn't learned of the macro setting yet.


A few weeks before his first birthday, at 2.5ft and during one of his dark phases:


A year and 2 months, at around 3ft during a light phase:


A month before his second birthday, at around 5ft:


From October, he's just over 5.5ft:


From the Middle of December:


I do have better photos, but these show how much he's changed.