"Rescue" Tiamat

[Crying_Bird]

Now that I think I have enough posts added up to post photos I want to introduce Tiamat. First things first, She is a rescue so to speak, The person I acquired her from had zero snake/reptile knowledge and had been taking care of her for over a year Apparently she was dumped at his house and never came back for. As far as he knows she is around 6 years old, Female, and had lived in a 40 gallon tank her entire life. Fed one live rat every two weeks and not handled very often. Her cage had nothing to climb on and NO hides :(

I have had her for 4 days and she seems very healthy, alert and active, I moved her into a 60 gallon tank for now as I'm in the process of building her a snake mansion. She has climbing branches, hides, a HUGE water bowl and plants to hide in. She can fully stretch out in the 60 but from what I have seen she is very small for her age.

Yesterday I went to take her out for the first time and noticed her eyes had clouded and is about to shed, I decided to hold of on play time and feed her as well. She took a thawed rat with gusto, I was a little worried since she had always been fed live. Then she soaked in her water bowl for a while ( No mites I have checked and checked again.

I am new to Boas, I have a rat snake and have had ball pythons in the past so this is a learning experience for me so if I'm doing something wrong hopefully I wont be beaten up to bad for it.
I only have a few photos from the night she came home as I wanted to let her relax as much as possible.

What I was told is she is a "Columbia Red Tail Boa", What I do know from spying here is there are a lot of sub species, Hopefully you guys will shed some more light on what she is. Better photos soon as these are just cell phone pics.

If I fits I sits, is apparently not only for cats...
http://i1283.photobucket.com/albums/a543/carteranne/10488193_529545187190946_4281330036955591886_n_zps e5046817.jpg (http://s1283.photobucket.com/user/carteranne/media/10488193_529545187190946_4281330036955591886_n_zps e5046817.jpg.html)
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Sweet face
http://i1283.photobucket.com/albums/a543/carteranne/unnamed5_zpse84148b0.jpg (http://s1283.photobucket.com/user/carteranne/media/unnamed5_zpse84148b0.jpg.html)
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Exploring time!
http://i1283.photobucket.com/albums/a543/carteranne/unnamed_zps563925da.jpg (http://s1283.photobucket.com/user/carteranne/media/unnamed_zps563925da.jpg.html)
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[Mikoh4792]

Nice rescue! She does just seem like a common bci/colombian boa constrictor but without lineage information one can never know. Definitely has colombian influence.

[Crying_Bird]

Thank you :D I am madly in love with her, Hopefully when she is done shedding we can interact and she will be friendly LOL, He ex-human said she had never bitten.
I don't mind if shes not fancy, I love her just the same. I just want to make sure I am identifying her correctly :)

[jpsteele80]

^ that's what I thought as well, just a normal columbian, I do have one question since I can't see it but do you have an open screen top on that?

[Mikoh4792]

Thank you :D I am madly in love with her, Hopefully when she is done shedding we can interact and she will be friendly LOL, He ex-human said she had never bitten.
I don't mind if shes not fancy, I love her just the same. I just want to make sure I am identifying her correctly :)

I think all boas are fancy. I've never seen one I didn't like :).

[Crying_Bird]

She dose have a mustache.. thats pretty fancy...LOL

[Mikoh4792]

haha yes I see it!

[Crying_Bird]

^ that's what I thought as well, just a normal columbian, I do have one question since I can't see it but do you have an open screen top on that?

It is a screen top but i have lined it with some fabric for now so she doesn't rub her face all over it. There is a small open area for her lights and ventilation but she doesn't go near it. I know it is not ideal but it will do for now.

[sharthun]

Nice looking boa!

[bigsnakegirl785]

Congrats on the new "baby", and glad to hear she ate and took f/t with no hesitation. :) I like to feed the day newcomers arrive, and if they refuse give them 1-2 weeks with no handling or further offerings. Then, after that I'll offer food again and then begin handling. My boa constrictor ate the day I brought him home, but it took 1-2 weeks iirc before my garter would eat.

How big is she, that you're saying she's small? Also, what size of food are you offering? It shouldn't be any bigger around than she is, and it shouldn't leave a noticeable bulge afterwards. 2 weeks sounds like a perfect schedule on rats, so if you weren't already planning to continue that, you should. If she's big enough for rabbits or you can find ones small enough and you plan on going that route it's best to feed every 3-4 weeks (I've found 4 weeks to be better than 3 concerning body condition, and even 5 weeks should work fine).

Do you have any way to monitor and control temps and humidity in the tank? I'm also sure many of us would enjoy seeing the project you have planned to make for her, and give you tips (if you haven't already posted a thread).

[Crying_Bird]

Congrats on the new "baby", and glad to hear she ate and took f/t with no hesitation. :) I like to feed the day newcomers arrive, and if they refuse give them 1-2 weeks with no handling or further offerings. Then, after that I'll offer food again and then begin handling. My boa constrictor ate the day I brought him home, but it took 1-2 weeks iirc before my garter would eat.

How big is she, that you're saying she's small? Also, what size of food are you offering? It shouldn't be any bigger around than she is, and it shouldn't leave a noticeable bulge afterwards. 2 weeks sounds like a perfect schedule on rats, so if you weren't already planning to continue that, you should. If she's big enough for rabbits or you can find ones small enough and you plan on going that route it's best to feed every 3-4 weeks (I've found 4 weeks to be better than 3 concerning body condition, and even 5 weeks should work fine).

Do you have any way to monitor and control temps and humidity in the tank? I'm also sure many of us would enjoy seeing the project you have planned to make for her, and give you tips (if you haven't already posted a thread).


She is very close to 5 feet long, but I feel for being closer to 7 years old she should be a little bigger in length and maybe a bit in girth. She is no where near being large enough to take rabbits, even small ones yet. I am well aware what size to feed ect, I am new to this particular snake but not snakes and reptiles in general as I have others besides her. She ate a medium size rat on Friday the 20th ( and poo'ed ) before I received her but she was acting hungry when I brought her home so she was fed another Thursday the 26th.

Her tank has all the appropriate heating and humidity sources, gauges controls ect, and since I work from home she has constant supervision of this.



P.S Is that yourself and Mr.13 in your photo?

[Kera]

Beautiful girl, I agree that 5 ft. is a bit small for 7 years old, but who knows. Maybe she's just a shorty lol. Good on you for rescuing her, she's gorgeous. :)

[bigsnakegirl785]

She is very close to 5 feet long, but I feel for being closer to 7 years old she should be a little bigger in length and maybe a bit in girth. She is no where near being large enough to take rabbits, even small ones yet. I am well aware what size to feed ect, I am new to this particular snake but not snakes and reptiles in general as I have others besides her. She ate a medium size rat on Friday the 20th ( and poo'ed ) before I received her but she was acting hungry when I brought her home so she was fed another Thursday the 26th.

Her tank has all the appropriate heating and humidity sources, gauges controls ect, and since I work from home she has constant supervision of this.



P.S Is that yourself and Mr.13 in your photo?

Good to hear that she's already set up. :) Sometimes there's a period before people get everything together and I was just curious as to whether or not you'd already gotten everything.

I'm sure you'd be hard-pressed to find rabbits small enough for a 5ft boa, yes. lol My 6ft boa is eating 1/2lb or less rabbits right now, which I can obtain easily (and free) since my father breeds them. Not sure how long this will last, but it's a good arrangement while it does.

5ft for 7 years does seem awfully small, even if she was slow-grown I'd expect her to be bigger at that age. :/ As long as she's healthy, I wouldn't worry too much though. There's no need to try to catch her up, just keep her healthy at the size she is at now and I'm sure you guys will have many years ahead of you yet. Her girth looks perfect, but a full body picture of her stretched out would show her body condition much better.

And yes, that's Wednesday 13. :D I met him in 2012 at the Mad Monster Party in Charlotte. It was great; wish I could have gone the following years. :/ Ah well, there's always next year I guess.

[Mikoh4792]

Keep in mind that she could be a mix of colombian and some sort of central american. We also need to take into account the possibility of different percentages(ie. 25% colombian, 75% nicaraguan...etc). So she may be at a proper size if she has central american/dwarf influence in her genes.

But at this point as long as she's at a muscular, lean, and eating consistently I wouldn't worry about it.

[IW17]

Exactly. My female Bci is almost exactly 6' at 7 years as well. Not sure what locality so size is extremely variable.