Chaska's thread

[Wingbeats]

Well, now that I've got her all settled in, I figured I would make a photo/sharing thread for her :)

She is about 23cm long now, and on my next paycheck I'll nab a scale to weigh her on. She is in the largest Ziplock tub I could find (about 1.5' x 3' x 1.5' ish) with a temp gradient of 70-80 degrees F, and humidity of 75%-80% on paper towel substrate. I've littered the thing with hides and one large water dish at the warm end. She definitely uses her humid hide the most.

I am unsure how old she is, but she is definitely a baby! She is very calm despite that, and is only snappy if one goes to grab her too quickly.

She has eaten just fine twice since I've gotten her two weeks ago :) I'll post photos and updates about her on this thread from now on.

Chaska is an Incan goddess of Dawn, Dusk, and the planet Venus. I figured it was an appropriate name for a South American snake.

[Wingbeats]

Pictures! This is my first photo of Chaska. I looove the iridescence.
http://i.imgur.com/AMfoi6A.jpg

Bracelet snek!
http://i.imgur.com/TZyx1dN.jpg

Latest picture, taken yesterday, on my hand.
http://i.imgur.com/39NZ8wg.jpg

[Minkness]

Beautiful baby!!! Congrats on getting such a good little snake!

[SnoopySnake]

Love it, CRB/BRB hybrids are really awesome. She's very pretty :)

[DDW]

Beautiful little one^.=.^ I love rainbow boas, especially the Brazilian rainbow boas :)

[Snakesitter]

What a looker -- and I love the name!

[Wingbeats]

Yesterday Chaska's eyes turned milky and bluish, so it seems it is shedding time! She didn't want her food I offered last night, and today she hissed at me a little when I checked on her in her hide. So I shall leave her be! I'm excited to see how brilliant she'll appear when her shed is done.

Should I bother to offer food 5 days from now if she is still in shed mode? Or just wait until she is finished? :)

[Snakesitter]

I always offer. Some animals always take in shed, some always refuse, but I find most will take most of the time.

[Albert Clark]

Lovely! Take care of that reptile.;) isn't she the one that went missing recently?

[Wingbeats]

Yup, Albert. Chaska was a Houdini for a week...and then she showed up a week later trying to get back into her old enclosure. She is now in a much more secure tub, haha. Silly sparklenoodle.

[Wingbeats]

The day before yesterday, Chaska shed! It was her first shed while in my care. It all came off completely and it seems there were no problems.
I took her out yesterday to grab some pics of her while she's fresh! She even felt smoother overall, and definitely seemed more active.
http://i.imgur.com/x8QF78N.jpg?1
http://i.imgur.com/Aey14w9.jpg?1
http://i.imgur.com/WQbzBnk.jpg?1
http://i.imgur.com/HmXvipb.jpg?1

I am excited for when she gets big!

I also ordered a digital scale (and another cave hide), so I can start weighing her and keeping track of that. It should arrive tomorrow.

[SnoopySnake]

Looking good. I'd love to see what she looks like when she's adult size.

[Snakesitter]

Congrats on both a good shed, and on good investments in her care. Well done!

[Wingbeats]

The scale and her new little cave hide came in today. She immediately took to the hide - I lined it with wet moss and she loooves it.

Also, got her first weight! 43.3 grams. So the 5g fuzzies I'm feeding her are pretty much ideal - I'm glad I eyeballed that right.

I also got to actually watch her eat for the first time. Before, I left the thawed fuzzy in her enclosure and just found it gone the next day. Today, she actually took it right out of my tongs. She got dinner, and I got a show!

[Minkness]

Whoop! Congrats!

I always try to watch mine eat. So fascinating!

[Albert Clark]

Really stunning animal! I love those elliptical pupils.

[Snakesitter]

Congrats on the new hide and weight! Taking weights regularly is an underutilized practice. I weigh all my animals monthly, and find it helpful for health management.

[Wingbeats]

Chaska now weighs about 53 grams....wow, that's almost a gram a day! Granted, she did just eat two days ago. She looks less like a worm and appears a bit bulkier now.

I'm going to slow down the feeding a bit, from every five days to seven. After reading in another thread, I figure I shouldn't make her grow TOO fast :) I'll take more pics when I bring her out tomorrow.

[Snakesitter]

Good call on the food, and looking forward to those picts!

[Wingbeats]

After waiting seven days to feed...Chaska was definitely much faster in nabbing her food. She struck immediately! No need to dangle it around her head for a couple minutes like her last few feedings haha.
http://i.imgur.com/3ExnlIw.jpg

I was going to take her out in the sun for some newer nice pics, but she is turning pinkish again. So it's shedding time soon!

[Albert Clark]

Great! Really good to see that feeding response.

[Snakesitter]

Nice -- good job on the quick feeding response, and on the pending shed!

[Wingbeats]

Chaska had a great shed and now weighs 58 grams. She snapped up food like nobody's business today :)
http://i.imgur.com/JiMSvpu.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/o9jBdQs.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/tO03itw.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/WeE5bAo.jpg

[SnoopySnake]

Looking good! I really like Chaska. I've always liked the crosses, but I won't make any.

[Wingbeats]

More Chaska updates. She is now about 65 grams, which means she is almost twice as heavy as she was when I got her. She is still super docile despite her size, though funnily enough she tagged me for the first time today! I'm finding that she does NOT like being out in the light - especially bright sunlight. She's nocturnal, so it makes sense that she's light-shy. She only feeds if the room is dark, and today she nipped me after I placed her on the carpet in the sun for pictures. Hah, I deserved that. I'll stick to keeping her sun photoshoots super short from now on.

Anyways, I got some pics before she nipped me (I put her back right after). She positively GLOWS in the sunlight, but it's so hard to capture on camera. I'm far from being a photographer, though :P
http://i.imgur.com/6liVvem.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/GQ7gM8L.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/cMfkOr2.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/woZrk1A.jpg

[Snakesitter]

Typical baby Brazilian. ;-) FYI, it was (probably) not so much the light, as being "set free" for a bit and then "recaptured." That always seems to annoy them....

Good job in the growth!!!

[Wingbeats]

Just a fun little update. Chaska now weighs over 80 grams, and I've upped her food size (hopper time!). She ate just fine two Mondays ago.

Now she is deep in shed, and she refused food for the first time :P She's taken food before while in shed, but I guess she didn't want it last Monday haha. I'll offer food again when she is done shedding. Her temps and humidity are still perfect so I'm not worried.

Man, shedding always seems like it takes forever! I miss holding her and looking at her while she is in shed time, hahaha.
She cleared up yesterday so hopefully she'll finish sometime today or tomorrow.

It's fun though - my boyfriend's sister is afraid of snakes. But I showed Chaska to her, and she admitted that Chaska was pretty and she didn't feel afraid. She didn't want to tooouch Chaska yet, but it goes to show that a pretty sweetheart of a noodle can change perceptions :)

In other news, I ordered her adult-sized cage from Animal Plastics! I got a black T8 with sliding doors, door locks, flexiwatt heat tape, and a fluorescent light fixture. It should arrive in a month or so - which is great, since Chaska's enclosure is starting look small compared to her. I'm going to buy her more hides and such when it arrives too. Then she should be set up for life!

.....and then maybe I can plop a new baby high-red BRB in the ziplock tub? Heh heh heh heh.....

[bigsnakegirl785]

Some people offer while in shed, some don't, it shouldn't hurt either way if you do. As mentioned, some will refuse, some won't. When my adult BCI was a baby, he'd take food in or out of shed, but started refusing around the time he turned 2.5-3 years old. Nowadays, I refrain from offering in shed not for any real health reasons but I figure they don't really need the food and because some refuse, I don't bother with it.

Chaska's looking really good and growing nicely! You can definitely see the Brazilian and Colombian influence in her pretty well. :) She's very dark, too, so I'm curious if she'll end up losing a lot of her patterning as adult like a CRB but having just a bit of Brazilian-like pattern show through. Guess we'll see as she grows up!

[Snakesitter]

Congrats on the enclosure and growth!!!

There's a one or two day period in deep shed when even normally shed-OK eaters will refuse.

And LOL on the temptation for another. I know how you feel!

[Tiny Boidae]

Oh that is one hot mama. She's lovely, and I especially like that darker color on her in comparison to the Brazilians. You'll have to take some snap shots of her new home when it arrives, I'd be interested in seeing that.

None of my snakes ever skip a beat when it comes to feeding, not even when they're about to shed. I'll find that they're really shy about it (won't eat if the lights are on or a lot of movement. They'll pounce and constrict, but they'll politely wait until I'm out of the room for the interesting stuff). Granted, sand boas aren't the same as rainbow boas, but it has a lot more to do with learning the personality of your individual snakes rather than the species as a whole. After she gets nice and grown usually their personalities become a lot more... Stable. I've only raised one of my sand boas from hatchling to adult and that was because the pesky thing was so unpredictable for a while. As she grows, you'll learn what she's comfortable with and what she's not.

On a side note- most people tend to have that reaction when they meet a snake up close for the first time. You have no idea how many times I invite over someone who's deathly afraid of snakes but kinda got curious about my snakes after a while. I'll take out my especially charismatic boogers like Harvey or Taffy, and they fall head-over-heels in love with them. That's kinda a good thing probably, that they're just so freaking lovable when you get to know them.

[Wingbeats]

So Chaska is about 100 grams now (5 months old ish) and is doing just fine. Still friendly, and she seems calmer and less prone to stressing out. Still taking hoppers like a champ!

Anyways, my Animal Plastics order came in! I'm super pleased. The plastic feels really nice, and my boyfriend and I put it together. Each piece fit together like a glove.

I have it mostly assembled, and I just need to take it outside tomorrow to do the sealing (because vapors). I'm excited to get it all prettied up and decorated and stuff! Setting up this enclosure is like an art project, haha.

River the teenage kitten was being helpful.

http://i.imgur.com/qc4LOHE.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/1vdK5Xu.jpg

I got a fluorescent light (to set on a timer for a day/night cycle), sliding glass doors with locks, and flexiwatt heat tape as extras. I ordered a spiffy new digital hygrometer and a couple hides for it too. Spoiling snakes is fun :)

[Snakesitter]

Looking forward to seeing picts of the final setup! Note: best to error on the side of extra time to allow any vapors to dissipate. You probably already plan to, so I guess this is more as a note for anyone else taking ideas from this thread.... ;-)

[Wingbeats]

Yup. I was originally planning to leave it out on my back porch for a week, but it got really rainy. So it's sitting out in the garage instead - I plan to just leave it there for a week.

I have to shop for hides and decorations anyways, so I'm not in a hurry :)

[Snakesitter]

:::thumbs up!:::

[Wingbeats]

Some of my internet friends wanted a feeding video so I filmed Chaska eating yesterday. Added some silly hippy music for fun. She is in shed but still iridescent and still hungry!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-rMDH5Dgbo

[Wingbeats]

So, Chaska FINALLY shed hahaha. Which means I could move her to her new enclosure and also take new pictures!

She is now 6 months old and weighs 112g.
http://i.imgur.com/K8qeOgB.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/MQc1Asg.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/fFnGTbI.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/g77lPDU.jpg

And her new enclosure :) Looks like a proper jungle!
http://i.imgur.com/VofjZRs.jpg

[SnoopySnake]

Great job catching the rainbow in that first pic, looks like she's keeping her colors pretty well :) & I'm sure she'll be pleased with the new viv :)

[bigsnakegirl785]

Wow it's kinda cool to see the differences between snakes' weight to length ratios. Your Chaska is way bigger than my Sanji is in both length and girth at ~14 months old, but they're roughly the same weight.

[SnoopySnake]

Wow it's kinda cool to see the differences between snakes' weight to length ratios. Your Chaska is way bigger than my Sanji is in both length and girth at ~14 months old, but they're roughly the same weight.

I've found that columbians are more heavy bodied than brazilians and seem to grow a bit faster so its likely the columbian influence causing such drastic difference :)

[Wingbeats]

Chaska is only 6 months old but she seems to be growing rapidly, and I only feed her once a week. She seems to be keeping her Brazilian-like marks too; no signs of fading yet.

Though, to be fair, my hands and arms are VERY TINY so that may also be making her look bigger than she is, heh. I'll see if I can get a length on her tomorrow.

[Snakesitter]

Chaska is looking very nice -- great job on her photos, too!

[bigsnakegirl785]

I've found that columbians are more heavy bodied than brazilians and seem to grow a bit faster so its likely the columbian influence causing such drastic difference :)

That would account for the length, but my pure Brazilian is a bit more heavy-bodied. He's smaller but the same weight as the larger snake.

Chaska is only 6 months old but she seems to be growing rapidly, and I only feed her once a week. She seems to be keeping her Brazilian-like marks too; no signs of fading yet.

Though, to be fair, my hands and arms are VERY TINY so that may also be making her look bigger than she is, heh. I'll see if I can get a length on her tomorrow.

Trust me, my hands are tiny. If your hands were smaller than mine they'd be non-existent. haha I only have a 5" spread from thumb to pinky with my fingers spread out as far as possible.

[Wingbeats]

So Chaska escaped for another week, but she came back on her own! It did mean that she missed two feedings, but she snapped up her latest mouse like nothing happened. Brat.
Anyways, the light fixture at the top of her cage is now much more secure, haha.

She has gotten SO BIG though, which I didn't much notice until I also handled Avatre the babysnek.

Ever wanted a side-by-side comparison of an integrade with a high-red Brazilian? Well here you go! Boyfriend assisted me in handling both sneks.
*boop*
http://i.imgur.com/XyismXt.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/1RO9Ken.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Ok0GIyT.jpg

I was going to get a weight/length on Chaska, but she really did not want to sit still :P Next time.

[bigsnakegirl785]

I'd be careful letting them come so close together, you want a 3-6 month quarantine period before you allow them near each other. That also includes not sharing equipment between them and not keeping them in the same room (if possible).

Either way, gorgeous snakes!

[Snakesitter]

Agreed on the quarantine caution...one can never be too safe these days. They look good though!

[Wingbeats]

Thanks for the advice, peeps! <3

Chaska is still doing great. She's really thickening and muscling up! She actually feels substantial when being held, but she only seems to get mellower over time. So, I've officially spaced her feeding to once every 9 days, instead of once every 7 days. She is about 140 grams now.

She also really enjoys sitting inside my sleeves in this cooler weather.
http://i.imgur.com/HQyUuok.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/p2U4w6L.jpg

[SnoopySnake]

She's getting big and holding her colors amazingly :) Roughly how old is she now?

[Wingbeats]

I was never sure of her age (her previous keeper forgot when she was born) but my guess is in the 10 month range. My original thought was that she was born in April, but looking at my new BRB, I'm starting to think her birth date was closer to February or something like that.

She certainly just seemed to thicken up into a muscle noodle in these last couple months! But she is only getting mellower. She doesn't even huff at me anymore when I first touch her.

[Wingbeats]

Chaska looks all glowy and gorgeous. The sun came out briefly five days ago, so I attempted to get a video of her....but, she refused to sit still. So this video was the best i could do, lol! (http://sortahawkward.tumblr.com/post/134964790651/chaska-the-10-month-ish-braziliancolombian)

In other news, I ordered rat fuzzies from Big Cheese since no one sells rats around here. I'm pleased Chaska took to a rat fuzzy no problem :) That makes things nice and easy.