Howl and Dominika

[CloudtheBoa]

So I've got two new snakes. Howl (from Howl's Moving Castle) is a 2010 male ghost, about 4'-4.5' long, I'll need to get a measurement on him once he settles in. His previous owner was feeding him a small rat every 2-3 weeks. I'm still debating on if/how I'll change his feeding schedule. He's got great body tone, just a teeny male. I may try him on a medium just to see how he does on them, otherwise I'll stick to smalls. I may just put him on rats the size of Layne Labs' small/medium rats and feed him on a 4 week schedule. I'll play it by ear. He arrived here yesterday.

When he arrived, he had a bit of nose rub, and looked a bit dry around the face, but overall appears to be in good health. His face already improved a bit during the ~7 hours he'd been here, so I think it was just from the ride here. The nose rub maybe not, in my experience with River it can be hard to tell how old a rub is. I'll see how he does over the next few weeks, and offer him a small rat in about a week.


He is quite pale and clean, though, which I love. His eyes are also different than I was expecting. Tirel's are silver and very bright-colored, his are more of a dark steel gray.


These photos were from when I unboxed him, he came out docile but extremely curious about everything. He took several long gulps from his water dish and explored before I left for work. When I came home, he was under one of his paper towels.








I checked on him long enough to make sure he was still breathing and take a few clearer photos. His nose looked almost normal when I checked on him this morning. Couldn't see the side of his face or under his eyes very well but I'm hoping all the sunkenness was just dehydration from being shipped.







Dominika is a 2008 proven jungle female from Gray Rushin, he she's somewhere around 7' and 11 lbs last time he weighed her. She had her first litter earlier this year. He's been feeding her to get her back up to weight to be bred this year, but between quarantining her and Howl, and her just having a litter I'll be giving her this season off. She won't be here until December probably, he'll be dropping her off on his way to hike the mountains. I saw someone with one of his boas in July or August, checked out his website, and saw her daughter. I fell in love, but decided to go with her mom since they were similarly priced and she was ready to breed. She's not too bad-looking herself, either. I really like the clean contrasted look her and her litter have. I'm hoping Howl's cleanness and whiteness accentuates that.

She normally gets large rats according to the history he posted on her profile, but has been getting jumbos to aid in weight gain. Since she's up to weight again I'll probably put her back on larges.



Although they won't be my permanent pair (I've still got 2 other females and another male for breeding), I'm getting them around the same time and they're adults so I won't be updating them as often since it's harder to photograph them and not much will be changing. I might photograph Howl more, though, since he's a nice size for arm-photographing. Not the best, but he sorta fits. haha

[Fraido]

They look awesome!

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[Gio]

Nice score.

Both cool and I really like the last picture. Nice contrast on that critter.

[Reinz]

Congrats on two awesome Boas!

[dkatz4]

Wow, great additions! Dominika is a real stunner - Howl's cool too, I just personally favor high color, but he's a super sweet ghost. Certainly looks like he could put away mediums in the picture of you holding him, but I know you'll do what's best for him. Dominika's single spot saddles are so cool, this might be a stretch, but I honestly immediately thought of Billy Crystal's character in Monsters Inc. (although "Mike Wazowski" probably isn't a great name for her) Congrats, and keep the pictures coming!

[BeksNY]

Both are stunning!!!!!

[CloudtheBoa]

Thanks everyone! I jumped on him when I saw his ad, he's so clean and pale for a 2010.

Wow, great additions! Dominika is a real stunner - Howl's cool too, I just personally favor high color, but he's a super sweet ghost. Certainly looks like he could put away mediums in the picture of you holding him, but I know you'll do what's best for him. Dominika's single spot saddles are so cool, this might be a stretch, but I honestly immediately thought of Billy Crystal's character in Monsters Inc. (although "Mike Wazowski" probably isn't a great name for her) Congrats, and keep the pictures coming!

I'm not much of a a fan of ghosts, either, but I want to make jungles 100% het anery, and hypo does well with jungles so gotta have that, too.

He could but I'll have to see how big they are compared to him to see if he'll get them regularly. He'll get a small first since that's what his owner has been feeding him. At the very least he'll get a medium every other feeding or every couple feedings depending on how they compare to him.

Lol yeah don't want to name her that. I'll probably keep her name since she's an 8 year old breeder. She's only had one litter so far, but keeping her name will make it easier to connect with people who have her offspring or other relatives.


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[CloudtheBoa]

Well Howl took his small rat almost a week ago now, and it left a respectable lump. I'm thinking he should be fine on smalls, but I may order a small pack of mediums just to try him on some. I have a few but they're really old so I'd rather just get fresh ones.



His face has also cleared up and looks 100% normal.

I'm also starting to think he may be a jungle ghost...the person I got him from said he was bred by someone called Chris Cotter, but he doesn't seem to be active anymore so I can't ask about his pairing. He's clean, bright, and even has a bit of that two-tone thing going on. His saddles are also different from what I usually see in regular ghosts, he's got those big white circles whereas ghost saddles are normally pretty solid and have the circles on the sides like normal, but his circles are big and in the middle of the saddle. His saddles also still retain a bit of that purply hue, which was much more pronounced as a baby.



I took these photos while trying to keep tabs on his face without disturbing him too much. Once I was sure his face was fine, I left him alone. Now that he's eaten, I should be able to take him out for some regular handling.

His face after a few days:



The most recent photo of his face:



The photo I used to identify his baby photo (I literally just happened to come across it browsing photos on Google). Even though I'd hardly looked at him, I recognized his coloration and vaguely his saddles.



And a full shot of that face photo above. I plan on getting him some better RBI/LLLReptile hides when I get paid and they're in stock. For now, this seems to be working for him.

[AbsoluteApril]

they are both stunning! It's hard to go wrong with boas from Gray, he produces some very nice stuff. I like the ghost guy, he looks great and very light. I keep my adult males small (3-4' on a diet of small/medium rats) and they do great. I don't see jungle in him however (in my opinion). The circles in the saddles are one of the highly variable things about boas and are not uncommon to be seen in hypos even though pinched saddles are more common. I have a nice female with the circles in the saddles and almost all her babies get that same trait.
Looking forward to seeing photos of the jungle once she gets there.

[CloudtheBoa]

Yeah I'm only vaguely suspecting because unanimously every jungle ghost has those purply saddles and circles, and I have yet to this day to see a ghost like him in those regards. Doesn't necessarily mean he is, because I haven't seen every ghost in existence, but that's why I've been thinking it lately. He'll be bred to a jungle so I should find out either way. If he's just a really nice ghost, he should very well compliment Dominika.

Yup no worries about him getting too big, he's already 6 years old and only 4'-4.5', my 5 year old is already 6.5' so at a year older I don't think Howl will get much bigger. His previous owner was feeding him a small rat every 2-3 weeks and I'll probably keep him on pretty much that schedule.