Collection Update

[CloudtheBoa]

So bad news is that Draco and Bud both perished in a flood while being cared for by a fellow herper. Losing Bud was absolutely crushing, I had him nearly half my life now. I'm just glad he had a place that was warm and secure during that time.

I also lost Demigod last year when I went to go see my family in WV. I was not given contact info for the person babysitting the snakes, despite constantly bugging my SO for said info every single day, he now doesn't doubt me (hopefully) when I worry about the snakes going out of town. Due to lack of communication, I came home to a snake room well above 100F. The babysitter assumed since they needed to be kept warm, they didn't want to mess something up and turn down the heat. They also fed Demigod...twice...despite my explicit directions not to do so. I came home to see some neurological issues in Demigod, Howl, River, Dominika, Nymeria, and Cloud about a week or two after (leaving only Crona and Tirel unaffected), but most of their issues all cleared up on their own without need for a vet. Demigod and Howl however....had some major issues, especially Demigod. I took him to the vet, they gave me the clear to try to feed him a very small mouse pink (he usually gets 3) a few weeks after the visit, but he regurged again and passed away a few days later. Howl had such bad muscle tension that his entire back half was squeezed into a tight knot that the vet could not untangle. He was given some anti-inflammatory and I was told to wait several weeks to feed him again, keep him hydrated and cool, and keep meals small for as long as I felt the need to do so. Howl made a perfect recovery after a few months, and then a few months ago I was comfortable enough to put him back on regular prey. Everyone has continued to do fine since.

It seems every single time I let someone watch my animals, SOMETHING happens. But there have been no issues since that happened, and everyone is doing great.

I started up a breeding colony of rats back in August, and I'm now full to the brim with holdbacks and litters. XD I really need to thin through the herd, or move ASAP. I'm producing at a good rate, I'm just really bad at letting cool rats go. lmao I plan on adding a 1:3 or 1:4 colony of mice soon, or ASF if I can find any. Or both, idk.

Nymeria was last measured at 4'8", and is 1,700 grams as of December. She's eaten a couple of times since then, so I'll need to weigh her again once she defecates.



Howl is looking a bit lean, but still healthy. Very glad he's no longer knotted up and is doing well.



Crona was weighed in at 825 grams last month, and is right around the 4' mark. He still sometimes bites me when I first take him out (I think it's a balance thing as he still flails a lot until he settles down), but he's overall calmed down a lot. He doesn't bite me randomly at least. lol





Tirel really needs to be weighed and measured again. She was 1,600 grams back in November. So she may have broken the 2,000 gram mark now. Still visibly larger than Nymeria.



River being River. Really crossing my fingers we find a house soon, I want all the snakes to be able to stretch out and see the sun again. And be able to get some pictures of me holding River a little easier.



Not much has changed with Cloud and Dominika.

[dakski]

Cloud. Sounds rough. Thinking of you and the lost ones as well as the current collection.

Hang in there.

[richardhind1972]

Sorry sorry to hear that cloud. Fingers crossed everything improves for you this year
Snakes looking great saying what they all been thru

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[CloudtheBoa]

So I got Howl when he was 6 years old and 4'3", assuming he wasn't going to grow any more, or at least no more than a few inches. When I got him, I could tell immediately he'd been underfed to stay small. He gained a few hundred grams pretty quickly under my care, eating just a small rat every 3 weeks. He's been on that schedule pretty much the past 4 years, with the occasional medium rats to help him gain weight after the 2019 overheating scare. I measured him the other day...and he's grown at least 5" since I got him. He's 4'8" now, but I'll need an updated weight on him. Wonder how much this "stunted" snake will grow in the future.



I also measured Cloud again yesterday, and he's grown another inch since last year. 6'8"!



Nymeria and Tirel are due for another weighing, but considering Nymeria's last weight was just over 2,200 grams, I'm assuming Tirel is at least 2,500-3,000 grams by now. I don't know if Nymeria has reached 5' yet, but Tirel has definitely broken it. Last time I measured her she was 5'2". I try to limit the length measurements to every few months, mainly because Tirel (and Crona) can still be a bit touchy. Nymeria, however, is due for another length measurement soon.





Tirel gets the occasional tiny large rat (no more than 150-170 grams), since she's historically always been a thin-bodied fast-growing girl. Most of her meals are medium rats and breeder-sized ASF, though. She's been getting girthier since she broke the 2,000 mark, but she's definitely built different than Nymeria and Dominika, who are both thicker girls.



Crona is now at the same length Howl was when I got him, 4'3", but he's overdue for a weighing. He still has his days where he bites, but generally I can avoid it by giving him more support picking him up than I would the other snakes. It's when he starts whipping his head and tail around like he's falling when he bites me, and even then half the time he doesn't break the skin. I don't really see any sort of defensiveness from fear anymore, not since the first year or two. With any luck, next fall him and Nymeria will be paired up. She's nice and chunky, but I want to see if she can get more size on her. He's been getting a lot of ASF lately, and he just packed on the girth in a short amount of time. I expected him to have grown lengthwise, too, but he only grew 1" in that time. -.- Maybe he's just building up for a growth spurt. lol



River is hovering right around the 40 lb mark now, and is almost too big to fit in her usual holding tub. I really want to get her out, probably at someone else's house, to get some updated pics on her before the weather turns cold. She continues to be a sweety, and despite being somewhere in the neighborhood of 12', she's easy to move between holding tub and cage. I'll need to get her out against the wall again soon. I have also gotten cleaning her cage down to a science, and can now have the cage cleaned and bedding changed in 30 mins instead of like 3 hours. lmao

Not much has changed with Dominika, but fingers crossed she's expecting come end of Nov or beginning of Dec! This is the first year I've felt comfortable trying to breed her, and I waited until Howl seemed fully recovered. I had him in there for a good 3 months, and he didn't appear to lose any body tone. I have the racks already set up and ready to go, and even if she didn't take, I can use them in the future. But breeding her seems to have helped her with her food response. She went from striking at the doors every fall/spring, to just stopping dead in her tracks as soon as Howl started courting her. She continues to behave now that she's hopefully gravid. The new thing she's doing is hissing, but it's all a bluff. Last time I reached in to check on her she was quiet though. (Three cheers for dusty aspen bedding...eventual plan is to change to coco chips closer to birthing time.)



She's taking food still, but being very hesitant about it. For now she's getting mediums instead of larges, but further along I'll probably drop down to smalls before cutting her off right before birth, as that seems to be the typical approach.

[richardhind1972]

All looking great cloud , glad they all doing well

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[CloudtheBoa]

All looking great cloud , glad they all doing well

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Thanks! I’m glad things have stabilized for the time being. With any luck, I’ll be getting some cage upgrades here soon, too. Move a few snakes out of the tubs.


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[CloudtheBoa]

Finally figured out a way to video tape River while inside, though it was a chore to wear her out for the video and keep her on my body. lmao She has short bursts of energy, which is nice, and she's always been that way. She gets really really hyper, wears herself out, then as soon as she gets any kind of breath she gets all hyped up again and then has to rest quickly since she didn't give herself a chance to recover. Kyle took a turn with her to see how heavy she was, and was quite surprised how easily she drug him back towards me. Trying to get him used to maneuvering her so he can get more comfortable. I just wish we had a private yard or a nice big area indoors to take her out in. I only really trust handling her in the hallway so she can't get into any furniture or knock anything over.

The length of the wall between the bedroom door at the back, and the hinges you can see at the front door is right at 12'. She still does not reach those two points stretched out, but there's less than a foot difference.

[dakski]

Wow. River looks amazing. I'll stick with my boas though! She's a big girl!

[CloudtheBoa]

Wow. River looks amazing. I'll stick with my boas though! She's a big girl!

Thanks! And I don’t blame you, I don’t know if I want a second snake this size. But having her around will be useful when I begin breeding rabbits, as she’ll be able to take larger rabbits the boas can’t. Rabbits are so hard to come by, especially for a good price, I’d like to get a pair or trio just to support my snakes and maybe the household.


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[CloudtheBoa]

I have unfortunately moved more animals out. River and Tirel have been moved out. I have sold most of the baby garters, and am trying to move out the adult garter snakes. I had a couple breeding colonies of ASF, and I culled all of them and am feeding them off. I'm trying very, very hard not to get rid of any more animals, but I may possibly have to move more out. Who will go next will be an extremely hard decision, but so far things are holding out steady. We still have not really been able to find another (affordable) housing situation, so I've been working on moving out the hardest to home snakes. The average pay rate has been jumping up and up and up the past few months, so maybe with some job hunting if I can land something paying more than I've been making thus far, we'll FINALLY have some options. So for now I'm sitting tight and trying to ride it out.

Dominika didn't end up becoming gravid, which may be for the best considering all our best efforts to buy a home fell flat. I was told to stop feeding her, and she ended up going 130+ days without food by the time I called it and said there's no way she's gravid and finally began feeding her. She never slugged out, despite the fact she started building, which is really interesting. She is only half a pound lighter than she was before I began even pairing her, though, so she's doing well and gaining weight fast eating 10-12 oz rabbits or a large rat every 3 weeks. And I will begin pacing her feedings back out to normal soon.

Top pic is after 3 meals weighing in at 14 lbs, bottom pic is her from a few years ago when she was weighed in at 14.5 lbs. Definitely a noticeable difference in weight, although the actual weight difference is small. I'm not sure I want her as chunky as the bottom pic but rest assured I am working to get a liiittle more weight onto her, and trying to take it slow so she builds muscle at the same time. She is currently in shed.



And some other photos during a more recent handling session.












These photos aren't very recent, but Nymeria is still very much in the same condition and may have gained maybe another 1"-3" max at just a couple inches over 5'. Excuse the bent scales, unfortunately I've had to switch most of my snakes to aspen as the upkeep is much easier with a full time job. They all still shed full sheds, but I no longer have to do weekly bedding maintenance or keep a close eye out for mold etc., and it's also less damaging to the PVC cages as far as scratches. My dream is to move everyone to plywood cages with nice deep dams and then switch back to EcoEarth. Nymeria is right on the cusp of taking large rats now, she's getting rats that overlap both at 150-180 grams, and still at the usual 3 week frequency.





At some point I want to get more recent photos, though I'm not sure how long it will take to get around to it. I only work 40 hours a week, but between that and making sure all my animals are taken care of, it's just hard to find time. I do take lots of photos of the rats, as they fit in my little photo booth, whereas my snakes need a lot of space to set aside for them and indoor photos just don't do them justice.

I wanted to make a quick check in and let everyone know I haven't died and my animals are still doing well. I cannot wait to have a nice at least semi-private yard to get prettier photos again.