[General Care] Meet my family

[emeraldtree]

here are some of my little guys and girls that I have; the first one is my jcp, she is a little over 3ft long and my little baby , the second is my rescue snake. His name is gimp on account of his neck having a kink in it. Lovable guy though, The third is my other baby, his name is jacob because of his ladder on his tail. Ya know jacob's ladder., and the fourth is chicka, got her name from my mexican buddy that sold her to me. My breeding pair is the last two they are both het snow but all I really want are some albinos. They will be my first albinos. Thanks for viewing let me know what you think. oh by the way I another female I was going to put up but she hasn't been feeling well, so I left her out this time but will have pics later when she is ready.

[HYPOHADES]

Re: Meet my family

thats one awesome family you have there,sweet looking snakes.....Mike

[MSwift]

Re: Meet my family

wow those are some nice snakes i like the jcp and that ladder tail is sweet to man thanks for sharing

[jvarner]

Re: Meet my family

I love your animals, but.... you are feeding them prey that is too large, you need to scale it back a bit. That is not healthy for them. There should only be a slight bulge, not a huge one.

Now that that is out of the way.. I really think they are all adorable. Albinos are one of my favorite morphs too. Good luck on your future breedings!

[emeraldtree]

Re: Meet my family

I just realized this but I just got done feeding them and every time I feed them I let the mouse/rat walk around on the top of the cage so I can see how long it takes the snake to notice. I don't know why but I think when they start reacting to the smell from the top of the cage I feel like they are ready. haha. but in the second pic I thought I changed the water before I took the pic. Nasty crap water. Extra water conditioner for you buddy lol.

[chaosboa]

Re: Meet my family

Very nice looking snakes. That kink in the neck is wild.

[jvarner]

Re: Meet my family

I just realized this but I just got done feeding them and every time I feed them I let the mouse/rat walk around on the top of the cage so I can see how long it takes the snake to notice. I don't know why but I think when they start reacting to the smell from the top of the cage I feel like they are ready. haha. but in the second pic I thought I changed the water before I took the pic. Nasty crap water. Extra water conditioner for you buddy lol.

Have you every considered feeding them frozen/thawed mice or rats? I would highly suggest it, and so would most herp keepers. It is much safer for your snakes. Here is a company I buy my rats from.Feeder Rodents - Reptile Food, Birds of Prey, Aquatic, Feed Carnivores
Check them out. They are also cheaper than buying live from the pet store.

I would also advise that you check out the Ultimate Care Guides. RedTailBoas Presents the Ultimate Boa Care Guide!

Tons of great info there. I still refer back to it all the time.

[emeraldtree]

Re: Meet my family

haha Yeah ladder tail and the kink necked one just got fed. I thought about not giving the ladder the second one but he through a shed and didn't get to feed when the others did. So I gave him a little extra. I felt bad I usually don't give him two but this pic really does put on 10lbs. He isn't as fat as he looks in the pic.

[emeraldtree]

Re: Meet my family

You guys have no idea how crazy watching the kink neck guy eat. It is like watching a posses contortionist eat. I don't do the frozen/thawed anymore I know it is safer and all the facts but I don't like it for some reason. I feel like I give them some excitement and that little extra. I watch every feed carefully and would step in if there was a problem. I might someday do frozen/thawed again, but for now I will stick to live, I just seems more natural to me.

[bebowebb]

Re: Meet my family

You have a very nice collection and I wish you the best of luck in your endeavor to produce or obtain the albinos that you want.

As for the f/t vs. live prey issue. They are your animals and you have the right to feed as you see fit. This topic can become a little heated at times because so many people have dealt with negative results up to and including the loss of a loved animal.

I believe that the common opinion is that a captive boa usually does not require the excitiment or stimulation of a live prey item. The same effect can be reproduced by taunting the animal with a f/t prey item at the end of a pair of forceps.

It is great that you are there to assist your animals if they were to experience a problem when feeding on a live prey item. When I fed live prey, I was always there and felt that I could stop the problem if it occurred. But, in reality, the effects of a single bite can be lethal to your animal. It will be virtually impossible to seperate a strongly coiled large snake from a live prey item that has it's teeth embedded deeply into your snake. By the time you are able to seperate them, God forbid that it may be too late.

Please don't take this as critisizm, it is definately not intended to be that way. But I know how much help I received from the opinions and advice of other members of this forum and only hope that I can provide that to someone in return.

Again... good luck and beautiful collection!

[b3napoleon]

Re: Meet my family

Nice collection. Do you go to the All Ohio Reptile Show? I go every month, and I know at least one other RTB member goes on a regular basis. You should check it out if you haven't already. On another note, please switch back to feeding f/t. Your snakes aren't getting any benefit from eating live prey, and one bite to the spine could be the death of your snake. You won't get any snows or albinos if one of those snakes takes a bite to the spine. We aren't trying to jump on you, we just hate seeing posts that start with "I fed my snake live prey and _______ happened and now my snake is dead."

[Pandorasdad]

Re: Meet my family

You have a nice collection. I have always likes the carpet pythons. Goos luck with your albino project! Can't wait to see the results!

I am not gonna harp on the ft/ vs live thing. It is a very heated topic around here. All I will say is take a look at this link. This, and a personal experience with my nephew's adult fem. BP are why I am an f/t guy.

Either way, thanks for sharing the pics!

[emeraldtree]

Re: Meet my family

Alright you all have me beat. I will switch back to f/t feeds. I remember those pics to of that snake that looked like a alligator got a hold of it. Good god was that snake still alive? By the way how do you get the most current posts to come up first rather than first to most current.