Avatre's thread

[Wingbeats]

I was originally just going to post my pictures of Avatre, my new BRB, in Chaska's thread and rename the thread.....but I couldn't figure out how to rename the thread to "Chaska and Avatre's thread." So I'll just have two threads then, instead of one consolidated thread. As if you guys mind snake picture spam :P

Anyways. I have had Avatre for a week now. Avatre is named for a crimson-and-gold dragon from one of my favorite-ever books. I got her from Ike's exotics - a high red pair, and she is nervous but not nippy. I hope she turns bright red like her parents, but she is beautiful already so whatever. I am sure she will calm down ever more as she grows and gets used to me!

Anyways, new pictures taken before I fed her for the second time! She is now 37 grams, and is two months old. She was born August 3rd.

My face for scale, haha.
http://i.imgur.com/4azwtkR.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Etfa0J4.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/aALJIvD.jpg

She is so bright and shiny in real life, it's amazing. I love rainbow boas SO MUCH. Once you go sparklenoodle, you never go back? hehe.

[Sylphie]

Love that last pic! I'm not a big fan of rainbow boas, but that one is really nice!

[Wingbeats]

Avatre is so bright, I can't even handle it. She is also getting less and less nervous about her short handling sessions. She ate her second fuzzy just fine as well! :)

http://i.imgur.com/xNbuTvW.jpg

[bigsnakegirl785]

Gorgeous girl! Their iridescence is really something to behold! I'm sure even if she isn't as bright as her parents, she'll still be a very bright individual. :)

[Wingbeats]

I've had Avatre over a month now, and she is doing great! It's fun to see how her personality is a bit different than Chaska's. I've started to wonder if she was due for a shed (like, isn't she a bit late for one?) but it looks like she is finally starting to look a little ghosty today.

No signs of any issues, though. She eats just fine and all that. My favorite marking on her is that "Eye of Sauron" on the back of her head! :D

She is 40 grams atm.
http://i.imgur.com/UXdlWZP.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Tfp3nON.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/uIosoLe.jpg

[Snakesitter]

Rainbows are an easy addiction to "fall" to! Every litter we have I want to hold some back, lol.

Nice-looking little one!

[Wingbeats]

Man, Avatre is taking forever to shed. She refused food last week as well, which I figured was due to being in shed.

However, I noticed that today is day three of her just sitting in her cool-side hide, and I checked the temps. I discovered that the thermostat probe had been bumped, and was sitting in-between the two heat mats instead of directly on top of one. So, it was keeping her hot spot at 90 or so degrees instead of 84 :(

I fixed it, but I hope the few days of being too hot didn't hurt her :( She seems to be okay, but I guess I'll find out when she finally decides to shed and eat.

[Snakesitter]

It sounds like she figured this out and took shelter on the other side of the enclosure...so likely no harm done. It's only when they are trapped in heat with no escape that things usually go wrong.

[Wingbeats]

Welp, she shed just fine in one giant piece this morning. Hooray, her first shed with me!

Here is a video of her, all shiny. (http://sortahawkward.tumblr.com/post/134964328144/avatre-the-brazilian-rainbow-boa-finally-shed-this)

I'll offer her food again on Saturday. But, she seems just fine :)

[Snakesitter]

Congrats!!! :-)

[Wingbeats]

So Avatre refused food again after her shed, so I started to wonder. It's been 25 days since her last meal :( I checked all the humidity and temps again, and those seemed fine. But then I began to wonder...perhaps it was this box of fuzzy mice? I've bought boxes of fuzzies where they were a bit bloody no problem, but this particular box had like...extra bloody fuzzies.

So I popped to the store to grab a box of clean-looking fuzzies, and sure enough...she snapped one up immediately!

The other box went into the garbage. I guess she doesn't like pre-bloodied fuzzies, haha. I'm glad she ate though, so all is well!

[EL Ziggy]

Looking good Beats. I'm glad she's eating again too ;).

[Snakesitter]

Good call. Sometimes certain snakes just won't eat older frozen rodents, even if they are still safe. Smell maybe?

[Wingbeats]

So I'm internet aquaintences with two folks who bought siblings from Avatre's litter. We've been having fun comparing growth rates and photos and whatnot. Due to this, I've noticed something...

Avatre is growing really slowly. She is still tiny compared to her siblings. I'm not really worried about it or anything, as she is eating just fine, but her growth rate is quite slow. (I feed her one mouse fuzzy every 7 days).

Out of curiosity, I plotted her growth next to my other rainbow boa's growth in weight.
http://i.imgur.com/PF9C7At.png

She's only shed once, as well. Now, she is going into her second shed with me. Like I said, I'm not worried, since she's not showing any signs of anything wrong, but it does make me wonder if I should procure rat pinkies or something, haha.

[Snakesitter]

Wingbeats, they all grow at different rates, even in the same litter. In 2013 I had two litters in which one of my holdbacks had the slowest growth in the litter!

[Klaire]

Beautiful snake you have there, My girl was the same, she grew slower than the rest of her litter mates :)

[Lefitte]

Watch, now that you've said something, she'll end up being the biggest adult by far! Just to spite you.

[Wingbeats]

Hahaha, good to know it's all normal :D I suppose this does mean I can keep being lazy about ordering her adult-sized PVC enclosure....she doesn't need it yet, for sure. I still am going to have fun tracking the numbers of her and her siblings, because I'm a nerd.

LOL! I honestly wouldn't mind if she got huge to spite me. ;)