Tweet
Hey everyone!
After spending a couple of months reading up on boas and boa care, and trying to decide on whether I should or shouldn't own one, I finally made the choice and got a beautiful female BCC.
At least, they say she's a BCC and the store registered her with the authorities as a BCC (by the way, I live in Germany)... Colombian BCC even! I intend to double-check that, though... And I'd like to verify some facts, as some of the information and advice the store's giving me comes into conflict with certain widely-accepted guidelines I found on the Internet and in specialty books.
That's one of the reasons I'd really appreciate some advice or thoughts on certain issues - maybe you could help me out?
About her being a BCC or BCI, I guess I'll know that for sure when she first sheds. I'll take good care to help her shed in one piece... I'm not confident in my ability to determine whether she's a BCC or BCI from saddle count, patterns or head shape... I would say she resembles the Boaphile's "Colombian High Pink Pastels" remarcably well, though... I'm posting some pictures to give you an idea, though the color reproduction is crap - she's much more beautiful in reality, with shades of pink and a very dark red, almost black tail (I'm gonna post some more in better quality later). It doesn't actually make any difference, whatever she turns out to be, she's a gorgeous girl and I love her! Called her Eva, by the way...
Now, I'm gonna start out with some general info, first of all about the enclosure and environment:
Vivarium dimensions (l x w x h): 150 cm x 80 cm x 100 cm (4.9 ft x 2.6 ft x 3.3 ft)
Temperatures (day): Basking spot 33 C (91.4 F), "Cool" end: 26 C (78.8 F), Middle of enclosure: 28 C (82.4 F)
Temperatures (night): Ambient temperature of 27 C (80.6 F) (a bit high I think, right?)
Humidity: 55-60%
Substrate: wood shavings (they were recommended by the store where I got her, but I think I'm going to switch to Astroturf, I don't want her to ingest any of it; until then, I'll feed her in another enclosure)
During the day, heat and light is provided by a 75W UV light bulb, on 10 hours a day (during the winter). During the night, a ceramic heat bulb provides heat.
The wooden walls are padded on the inside with some sort of plates made up of this dark-colored, relatively fragile material that looks and feels like cork... I have no idea what it is, but the store said it's supposed to help with the day-long regulation of humidity.
She's also got an empty log (made out of cork or something similar, manufactured to resemble a log) for a hiding place, some branches to climb on and a water bowl... Any thoughts so far? Should I change anything? What should my next improvement priorities be? And should I lower the nighttime temperature? What about the substrate?
About her behaviour...
She's got her own room where I set up the tank and I've left her alone for two days after I got her, to give her a chance to settle in
She mostly stays on the cool side, hiding at the base of the log's dark side (sometimes on the log's cool side, sometimes on it's warmer side). Just after I got her, she tried out the branches for a couple of hours, and went to sleep on one of them. In the morning I got a bit worried - couldn't find her anywhere! I finally found her burrowed at the cool base of the log - she stayed there for a very long time. Even while burrowed, she was alert when I moved around her (checking on her, a bit worried about her not getting out). She was flicking her tongue all the time and pulling a bit back with quick reactions whenever I touched her (not getting out of the substtrate, though).
She probably would have stayed there longer, but I got really worried after about 36 hours of her being there and took her out to check on her. She was a bit frightened in the beginning and tried to pull back away from me, but never made any threatening moves and never tried to strike. She calmed down quickly and started investigating my arms, keeping a steady, ferm grip on my hand and forearm. She didn't try to get away at all anymore, she just flicked her tongue at every inch of my arm. Deciding she looks healthy and ok, I put her back after about 5 minutes (she was definitely pleased to be back in her tank now ). I saw some people posting about their snakes burrowing and from the opinions I couldn't find cause for alarm... Still, why would she burrow, though? Could that have been due to the temperature being too high? Or too low? Or could it have something to do with the humidity? Or, more likely, the stress of being moved to a new home?
At any rate, today I picked her up again and handled her for around 30 minutes, just chilling and letting her carry on with her investigations... She was again reluctant to be picked up at first, but calmed down right away. She shows all the signs of being a healthy snake, no loose folds of skin, no mites, clean, no signs of obesity (as far as I can tell), tongue flicking steadily, mouth closed... She did do something weird however - she rubbed her jaw and head against my arm a couple of times. She shows absolutely no signs of shedding, though, could it be anything else? I've put her back and now she's sleeping on top of the log - hehe, I was happy she didn't feel like hiding anymore, at least for now.
Oh, and I never saw her anywhere near the water...
Which brings me to the feeding part - the thing I'm a bit concerned about at the moment.
She's about 80 cm (2.6 ft) long and 4 cm (1.6 in) in diameter at mid body. The store said she's almost one year old. At any rate, they've always fed her live prey. Thankfully, she has no scars or signs of having been injured. They said she is one of the best feeders they had at the store. Could be they were just working their marketing charms on me, but I actually saw her feed last Thursday at the store (6 days before picking her up), and she snatched the mouse right away, perfect strike. Then, after she swallowed the first one, they gave her a few minutes, then went and got another mouse and put it in - she immediately constricted and ate that one too. They explained they've been feeding her two mice every 9-11 days for a while now. I found that pretty weird, since everywhere I looked people say "feed just one item per meal". They say she's never regurgitated, but to me, asking to strike and constrict a second time on a full stomach is asking for trouble. The mice she feeds on are about 7.5 cm (3 in) in length (w/o the tail ofc) and 2.5-3 cm (1-1.2 in) in diameter (a bit on the lean side for her, right? maybe that's why she gets two).
I definitely want to switch her to frozen/freshly thawed food right away, so I bought some frozen mice which I was thinking of feeding her on Sunday or Monday (that would make 10-11 days since her last "double" meal)... But I'm really hesitant about feeding her two of them at the same meal. I'd rather switch her to rat pups or weaned rats - these would be a little bit bigger, so a single item every 7-8 days should make for a nice meal, right? What do you think? And should I still feed her the 4 mice I already bought, say one every, hmmm, 6 days? Or just throw them away and stick with the rats?
Alright, that's it for now, thanks for taking the time to read all this!
After spending a couple of months reading up on boas and boa care, and trying to decide on whether I should or shouldn't own one, I finally made the choice and got a beautiful female BCC.
At least, they say she's a BCC and the store registered her with the authorities as a BCC (by the way, I live in Germany)... Colombian BCC even! I intend to double-check that, though... And I'd like to verify some facts, as some of the information and advice the store's giving me comes into conflict with certain widely-accepted guidelines I found on the Internet and in specialty books.
That's one of the reasons I'd really appreciate some advice or thoughts on certain issues - maybe you could help me out?
About her being a BCC or BCI, I guess I'll know that for sure when she first sheds. I'll take good care to help her shed in one piece... I'm not confident in my ability to determine whether she's a BCC or BCI from saddle count, patterns or head shape... I would say she resembles the Boaphile's "Colombian High Pink Pastels" remarcably well, though... I'm posting some pictures to give you an idea, though the color reproduction is crap - she's much more beautiful in reality, with shades of pink and a very dark red, almost black tail (I'm gonna post some more in better quality later). It doesn't actually make any difference, whatever she turns out to be, she's a gorgeous girl and I love her! Called her Eva, by the way...
Now, I'm gonna start out with some general info, first of all about the enclosure and environment:
Vivarium dimensions (l x w x h): 150 cm x 80 cm x 100 cm (4.9 ft x 2.6 ft x 3.3 ft)
Temperatures (day): Basking spot 33 C (91.4 F), "Cool" end: 26 C (78.8 F), Middle of enclosure: 28 C (82.4 F)
Temperatures (night): Ambient temperature of 27 C (80.6 F) (a bit high I think, right?)
Humidity: 55-60%
Substrate: wood shavings (they were recommended by the store where I got her, but I think I'm going to switch to Astroturf, I don't want her to ingest any of it; until then, I'll feed her in another enclosure)
During the day, heat and light is provided by a 75W UV light bulb, on 10 hours a day (during the winter). During the night, a ceramic heat bulb provides heat.
The wooden walls are padded on the inside with some sort of plates made up of this dark-colored, relatively fragile material that looks and feels like cork... I have no idea what it is, but the store said it's supposed to help with the day-long regulation of humidity.
She's also got an empty log (made out of cork or something similar, manufactured to resemble a log) for a hiding place, some branches to climb on and a water bowl... Any thoughts so far? Should I change anything? What should my next improvement priorities be? And should I lower the nighttime temperature? What about the substrate?
About her behaviour...
She's got her own room where I set up the tank and I've left her alone for two days after I got her, to give her a chance to settle in
She mostly stays on the cool side, hiding at the base of the log's dark side (sometimes on the log's cool side, sometimes on it's warmer side). Just after I got her, she tried out the branches for a couple of hours, and went to sleep on one of them. In the morning I got a bit worried - couldn't find her anywhere! I finally found her burrowed at the cool base of the log - she stayed there for a very long time. Even while burrowed, she was alert when I moved around her (checking on her, a bit worried about her not getting out). She was flicking her tongue all the time and pulling a bit back with quick reactions whenever I touched her (not getting out of the substtrate, though). She probably would have stayed there longer, but I got really worried after about 36 hours of her being there and took her out to check on her. She was a bit frightened in the beginning and tried to pull back away from me, but never made any threatening moves and never tried to strike. She calmed down quickly and started investigating my arms, keeping a steady, ferm grip on my hand and forearm. She didn't try to get away at all anymore, she just flicked her tongue at every inch of my arm. Deciding she looks healthy and ok, I put her back after about 5 minutes (she was definitely pleased to be back in her tank now
). I saw some people posting about their snakes burrowing and from the opinions I couldn't find cause for alarm... Still, why would she burrow, though? Could that have been due to the temperature being too high? Or too low? Or could it have something to do with the humidity? Or, more likely, the stress of being moved to a new home?At any rate, today I picked her up again and handled her for around 30 minutes, just chilling and letting her carry on with her investigations... She was again reluctant to be picked up at first, but calmed down right away. She shows all the signs of being a healthy snake, no loose folds of skin, no mites, clean, no signs of obesity (as far as I can tell), tongue flicking steadily, mouth closed... She did do something weird however - she rubbed her jaw and head against my arm a couple of times. She shows absolutely no signs of shedding, though, could it be anything else? I've put her back and now she's sleeping on top of the log - hehe, I was happy she didn't feel like hiding anymore, at least for now.
Oh, and I never saw her anywhere near the water...
Which brings me to the feeding part - the thing I'm a bit concerned about at the moment.
She's about 80 cm (2.6 ft) long and 4 cm (1.6 in) in diameter at mid body. The store said she's almost one year old. At any rate, they've always fed her live prey. Thankfully, she has no scars or signs of having been injured. They said she is one of the best feeders they had at the store. Could be they were just working their marketing charms on me, but I actually saw her feed last Thursday at the store (6 days before picking her up), and she snatched the mouse right away, perfect strike. Then, after she swallowed the first one, they gave her a few minutes, then went and got another mouse and put it in - she immediately constricted and ate that one too. They explained they've been feeding her two mice every 9-11 days for a while now. I found that pretty weird, since everywhere I looked people say "feed just one item per meal". They say she's never regurgitated, but to me, asking to strike and constrict a second time on a full stomach is asking for trouble. The mice she feeds on are about 7.5 cm (3 in) in length (w/o the tail ofc) and 2.5-3 cm (1-1.2 in) in diameter (a bit on the lean side for her, right? maybe that's why she gets two).
I definitely want to switch her to frozen/freshly thawed food right away, so I bought some frozen mice which I was thinking of feeding her on Sunday or Monday (that would make 10-11 days since her last "double" meal)... But I'm really hesitant about feeding her two of them at the same meal. I'd rather switch her to rat pups or weaned rats - these would be a little bit bigger, so a single item every 7-8 days should make for a nice meal, right? What do you think? And should I still feed her the 4 mice I already bought, say one every, hmmm, 6 days? Or just throw them away and stick with the rats?
Alright, that's it for now, thanks for taking the time to read all this!
Attached Files
But like I said, it's of little actual importance to me what she is, in the end I just want to have the facts straight about her.
.
Comment