Rudy Cage Cleaning Day & Exploration Time

[MM1]

Rudy, my Hispaniolan Boa, just hit his 33rd anniversary with me this past December. I was changing out his substrate Sunday and snapped a pic of him hanging out with some of his enclosure furnishings while I finished refilling it. Then I let him poke around the room a little. The other is a pic my 8 yr old son snapped of us.

[MM1]

Here's the second pic:

[dross9615]

Wow beautiful snake there. And you're telling me that guy is 33 years old?? Not that I don't believe you its just not too often you see a snake that old even though there should be more

[MM1]

Yeah, I got him as a juvenile from a Petland in New Rochelle, NY when I was 12 (in 1982). I think a lot of the boids have examples of specimens living 25+ years and in some cases 40+. I believe there was an originally wild rubber boa that lived 50+ years in captivity.

[Minkness]

Oh wow, that is awesome! Does he show his age at all?

[travesty]

Congrats! I don't know anybody that's kept a pet that long.

[MM1]

Oh wow, that is awesome! Does he show his age at all?

That's hard to tell since they're sort of slow to medium speed snakes (they don't dart around like many colubrids or retina, etc). He still seems to have very good muscle tone and strength whenever I handle him. He generally subsists well on a medium rat every other week with the occasional large cycled in. I tried to set up his enclosure such that he has to go to the opposite side from the warm hide to go get a drink and there are dowel rods, driftwood, fake plant cover, etc. to encourage exercise. So maybe that helps. I used to handle a lot when I was a kid, but now maybe once a month (low stress?). He does frequently come over and check out my arm when I do water changes and what not; so we do have frequent interaction. Overall I feel very fortunate to have been able to enjoy him for what now amounts to most of my life.

[Snakesitter]

*Huge* kudos to you for a job well done! Here's to eventually beating that 50-year record you mentioned!