questions about my Peruvian Rainbow

[DJJester]

Hey guys and gals,

I'm new to this forum. I've done all my research on the best snakes. I even work at a pet store and have gotten many many different recomendations for fellow emplyee. However, I wanted to stray from the crowd, and get a beautiful snake. So, yesterday, following my instinct and my girlfriend's stamp of approval, at the Louisiana Reptile and Exotic animal show I bought my first snake.....I gorgeous 32" Female Peruvian Rainbow ( yes, she has the lower scale count and is a true Peruvian and also don't worry, I've done the research and will be meticulous about her humidity and temperature ) She is absolutely amazing and has the most docile temperament that I've ever seen in a snake other than a red tail. She's sweet as can be, very inquisitive, and will just wrap around your arm and fall asleep. Anyhow, while I've found tons of imformation on their care and maintainence, I've not found tons of actual information about the snakes. So, here are my questions. I've gotten vague answers to most of them, but I would like a little more specifics and I assume that you are the people to ask.........OK, she's just a bit over 32".....can someone give me an approximate age? She is a very hearty eater and gobbled down 3 mice yesterday. How often is ideal to feed rainbows for good growth without overdoing it? How often can I expect her to shed? I'm keeping the humidity in her cage at approximately 85%. Is this high enough? I have plenty for her to climb on and Reptibark as substrate. A water bowl big enough to soak in. How old or how big should she be when I start to notice her colors getting darker. How much or how quickly can I expect her to grow. Is 9" an average size for a Peruvian, this is what I've hear, as they are larger than Brazilians. Thanks for any help that you can give. I really appreicate it. I'm enjoying her immensely already. Thanks again.

Wilks


PS--I will try to attach some pictures later

[DJJester]

Wow,
Did I say something wrong. Twenty two people have read my post, but not a single one of them has any desire to simply answer a few questions for me? I apologize sincerely if I said anything or did anything wrong. Will someone please tell me if I did or said something to offend anyone? What do I need to do to get someone to help me out?

[Jeff_Favelle]

Maybe the 22 people that read your post didn't know the answer. Would you prefer that they gave you the wrong answer? Or maybe some outdated rhetoric and bad info?

What do I need to do to get someone to help me out?


Chill out for one. It hasn't even been a DAY yet. Patience is a virtue.

They are the SAME snake as a BRB so everything that applies to Brazilians, applies to "Peruvians".

32"?? Could be 3 years old. Or, if its one of my babies, could be 6 months old. Who knows. I didn't feed or keep care of that snake, and seeing as food intake is directly correlated to the size of the snake how the he!! is anyone supposed to guess its age?

But I will. My guess is 18 months old.

Feed Rainbows RATS once a week until they reach 3 years of age and then cut it down to every 10-14 days. Unless its a cycling female that will be bred, in which case it will require a LOT of food.

Yeah 85% is all right. I hate Repti-bark, but use what you want. If it works, stay with it, if not, change it.

Is 9" an average size for a Peruvian, this is what I've hear, as they are larger than Brazilians.

9 inches is pretty small for a Peruvian or ANY Epicrates for that matter. Most are born over 12-14 inches. Adults can get to 7 or 8 feet but I'd say yours has a 95% chance of maxing out at 6 feet.

When do the colours get darker? Sometimes they don't. Maybe in a week, maybe never, maybe in 2 years. That's the FUN of having YOUR snake. YOU get to watch for that kind of stuff. Why ruin the end of a good book?

[psilocybe]

He probably meant 9', not 9"...easy mistake to make while typing (or not knowing the difference between " and '). 9' would be a very large rainbow for sure.

I hate to critisize, but I think you were just a little too harsh on a new keeper who just wants to be sure he is taking the best possible care of his new charge...maybe YOU should chill out.

This is probably one of the reasons new herpers are turned off by forum boards, because the "experienced" herpers attack them every chance they get...which in the end leads to them being apprehensive about asking any more questions, which in turn can lead to the snake recieving sub-standard care...just an opinion, make of it what you will.

Abhishek Prasad

[Jeff_Favelle]

I hate to critisize, but I think you were just a little too harsh on a new keeper who just wants to be sure he is taking the best possible care of his new charge...maybe YOU should chill out.

Wow,
Did I say something wrong. Twenty two people have read my post, but not a single one of them has any desire to simply answer a few questions for me? I apologize sincerely if I said anything or did anything wrong. Will someone please tell me if I did or said something to offend anyone? What do I need to do to get someone to help me out?


LOL! I didn't see YOU jumping to help him. Bwaa ha haa....:D

[Jeff_Favelle]

The worst part is that you actually TOOK THE TIME to chastize someone for their responce, when you didn't even take the time to give one yourself! LOL! THAT'S what turns new herpers away. We're not babies. Why get all worked up over nothing?

[psilocybe]

Well, information wise you had it all covered, no complaints there...why re-hash everything you just said? I have no doubts on your level of expertise with Epicrates, and the information you gave was just fine. I'm just commenting on the delivery...who's the one getting all worked up now?

[Jeff_Favelle]

Its just my opinion, you don't have to agree, that as a newbie, I would get turned off 1000x more if people were angry that I looked at their post and I didn't give advice, or if the advice given was chastized. I don't think I jumped on him at all. He was mad because 22 people (could have been the same person 22 times, no way of telling) viewed his post and didn't reply. WTF? It was up for like a coulpe hours! LOL! If it wasn't War and Peace and 10,000 words long, I'm sure it would have gotten answered at LEAST 10 minutes sooner.

LOL! And I'm laughing out loud! How can I be worked up?

LOL!

[psilocybe]

Well, it was also JUST MY OPINION when I first posted...which i stated in that post. And you don't have to agree with it either...I was simply saying that as a person who probably has not visited too many forums or engaged in too many reptile related discussions, he might be a little excited about his new purchase. Don't you remember the excitement of your first herp? I know that I couldn't wait to get every single answer to every single question I had...taking into account a little "newbie enthusiasm" would go a long way...and I'm not just really talking about you when I say that newbies get turned off by experienced herpers attacking them, but I know you and I have both seen this happen, here as well as on KS, Fauna, you name it...I really did not mean to bring the thread in this direction when I posted, and there is really nothing worthy of arguing at this point...I simply commented on your post, you rebuttled, and I'm offering my resolution...:)

AP

[DJJester]

OK,
You guys can stop now. Psilocybe, you are right. Jeff has left a nasty taste in my mouth with his sarcasm and arrogantly rude demeanor. I will never post on this site again. Also, Jeff, as far as me only waiting a day and wondering why no one had replied to my post, maybe I didn't wait long enough as far as your standards go, but I'm used to being on forums focused on other topics and you can almost count on getting a reply for almost every viewing of your question. I guess people who are interested in certian things have a tendency to be more friendly and helpful than those that are interested in others. If anyone else can give me a legitimate opinion regarding a Peruvian Rainbow, since Jeff was incorrect in his statement about how BRB and Peruvians are the same......Peruvians grow almost 1-2 ft longer, have somewhat thicker bodies, wider heads as they become older, and a smaller midbody scale count, then please e-mail me at Jestersinthemoon@hotmail.com. Oh, and Jeff, before you try to argue with the info that I just presented I'll let you know that I got it from the resident herpetologist at LSU's Vetinary Medicine center who breeds and has done much work with Rainbow Boas. Unfortunately, I cannot get in touch with him right now, as he is out of the country. So, as I said, anyone else who can e-mail me with more information about the care and traits regarding growth, feeding, etc, I would be very grateful. Thanks.

[Piers]

Jeff think viniger gets the flys not honey.lol
But as to Jeff saying that they are the same snake, I think he was talking about the care,not size or scale count or bone size/thickness.
Max size is always a lot bigger than average,I'd say your snake will get about 6-7 feet,but who knows? you might get a big one.
Piers
P.S. I'm not part of the JF defence/fan club LOL
see I got my lol's in there,lol

[jjnnbns]

I don't know about peruvians but I did view so here is a post in response. I didnt even know that they existed.

Here is your answer/post that you were looking for...

And here is the one that you should get:

As you said, you wanted to "stray from the crowd" by getting a peruvian, and when you got something that the ordinary herper may not have, you get angry that they cannot answer questions on it. How should so many people know if its such a "stray from the crowd" snake? Wouldn't a rare answer be subject to a longer gap in time before the right person found it?!?!

[DJJester]

Certainly jjnnbns,
I wholeheartedly agree that maybe because of the fact that Peruvians are harder to come by than Brazilians that there may be fewer people with information about them. However, as you may have noted if you actually read my original posts. I NEVER got angry at anyone. I thought maybe people on the board were angry with me or confused by something I had said. Jeff is the only one who made me out to look like an a$$hole who was complaining about people on this board not answering. I wasn't complaining at all, nor would I. I was asking for others help and would only be grateful for it. So, yes, you are right. Fewer people may have had info about it, but the only reason I thought someone would have replied already was that this section of the site is dedicated specifically to Epicrates, which doesn't exactly constitute an enormous number of species. I'm not exactly sure how you are so offended by this conversation, but thanks for your input........although you said " here is the post that you're looking for " and I see nothing to indicate that this is so? Where is the post I am looking for?

[jjnnbns]

I don't know about peruvians but I did view so here is a post in response. I didnt even know that they existed.

apparently that is what you were looking for, a response

also, this forum (epicrates) is not as busy as some of the more common snake forums, and sometimes goes days without any posts, and I would say that 75%+ are about brazilians.

I also am not trying to start anything, but when I read your second post in this forum I thought that you were being sarcastic and rude. That is the problem with online forums, it is hard to understand the context of many things.

Often times people say things that cannot be taken literally, and we assume that they are laying on the sarcasm, such as comments like:

I will never post on this site again.

[psilocybe]

Originally posted by DJJester
If anyone else can give me a legitimate opinion regarding a Peruvian Rainbow, since Jeff was incorrect in his statement about how BRB and Peruvians are the same......

I think he meant that in terms of husbandry, they are the same. The requirements of both snakes are pretty much the same. Physiologically, there are obviously differences, or they wouldn't be seperate subspecies.

http://www.corallus.com/cenchria/

This is Jeff Clark's page (a renowned breeder of Epicrates), and has some good information regarding the various subspecies of Epicrates cenchria (though he focuses mostly on E.c.cenchria [BRB]). Hope that helps...

Abhishek Prasad

[foman]

I don't see why Jeff's post left a sour taste in yall's mouth, he gave you the info you wanted/needed.....nobody else did for a couple of days LOL. Big deal no candy coating, besides should you have not done this research before you bought the animal.

[DJJester]

Jeff's post left aforementioned taste because not only was he arrogant and rude, but his information was not really the information I needed since he only knows about Brazilians and only ventured disparaging guesses ( another display of his conceit ) about a subspecies that he doesn't know anything about.....which makes his high and mighty herp expert attitude even more laughable. Anyway, as far as doing the research beforehand.......well, I did. I knew exactly how to care for the animal months in advance and she is doing very well right now. Like I said in my very first post. I had approximate answers to most of the questions already, just wanted more specifics if anyone was able to offer them, as well as personal preferences about things such as feeding frequency. Anyhow, I hope this thread closes soon. I only wanted some information or help and this has turned in to a mess which I never intended. I really hope that if anyone else posts on this thread or e-mails me that it can relate to the original question and not continue this charade. No one else need be offended by these posts, and while I know that some of my comments may have contributed to that, I apologize and wish the best of luck to all of you. Many thanks to those who were kind and helpful.

[psilocybe]

Jester,

Jeff did give you correct information. BRB's and PRB's are almost exactly the same care wise. His information was accurate, which is why I personally did not add any further info. Although his delivery may have been harsh, his information was accurate.

[BoidKeeper]

since he only knows about Brazilians
Now that is one of the funniest things I've heard in a while. Do you even know what Jeff has accomplished in his 10+ years?
Trevor

[hip]

Hmmmm If you have done all the research as you have stated, why have you asked a few basic questions that you should know before hand? Doing research (especially before getting a “first snake”) should be of paramount importance) I would not think buying something different and new until I had all the info I could get even if I had to wait a month or two. Gives you lots of time to work the kinks out of a setup and makes the ownership transition very smooth.


Just to let you know Jeff is very cuddly and cool once you get to know him (and he has tons of experience with a lot of different reptiles) Enjoy the roovie.





Hip