New here, and need your help. Several quest's w/ pics. Also, its LONG.. haha

[bikerboy]

OK, here's the deal. I am normally a monitor man. I don't mess with snakes too much. Have alot as a kid in high school, but almost 10yrs later find myself going back to the varanids.

Anyhow, a person was going to move, she was going to give it to a local shop ( which to me has horrid conidions with starving animals. ) She bought it from him, etc but I have seen his stock. The monitors are bony thin.

Anyhow, I decided and got her to let me take it on and set a price. I got the enclosure, a 40gal, and the supplies ( a lamp and a heat rock and a water bowl. with bark on the bottom full of feces)

She seemed like she cared about the snake and clamims she had extensive knowledge but I assured her she was wrong in many areas and explained why.

For instance, she said the reason its so small is b/c they grow to the size of their enclosure. That has NEVER happened with ANY of my snakes nor monitors, or whatever I had. if that was the case people wouldn;'t be giving up and setting loose large iguanas.


Let me tell you the specs and you give me YOUR opinion. I know not of the boas family to the level of you guys and your experience would be appreciated.

She had it in a 40gal short with a mesh top. I hate drafts on my herps. Its 100 out here outside but indoors its 70-74. Too cold. Not stable enough. She said she had the snake for 5 YEARS. Its 5 FEET LONG!!!

I showed her pictures and she said the growing to the enclosure thing.


She said she fed it lately 2 med rats/mo so to me it is underfed or not properly warmed as the heat POS rock was appx 8inX4in for a 5ft snake not to mention those things burn some herps. MOnitors have tougher bodies and won't be affected as much ( but I still hate them, I go lamps, lamps lamps.... More predictable and easier for me to use my digi thermometer. )

I removed it form the nasty fecal ridden 40 and put it in my monitor enclosure I built after sterilizing. I could have put it in the smaller one, my 4Lx2Wx2H. But I haven't ordered my caiman or my monitor so no biggie. I probably won't order them. Snakes are way easier than a 8ft monitor that needs a bedroom and eats like a horse. So now its in my 8ftLx4ftWx30inH. SO waaaay huge for such a small snake.

Now for the question Trivia:


So now with the quest's for you guys..

So is 5ft too small for a 5y/o boa?


My temps are 80.4 ambient. Hot spot is fairly warm but will change wattage or height. What temp basking spot is best? MOnitors like 140F. What about these guys?

In the pics what is she? Just a regualr old common boa? Not a surinam (obviously), etc?

I know my punnett squres from my animal genetics classes in college but can't seem to figure your system of breeding. If she is a regular, and I breed it to a het for albino, are my chances 1/16th getting one in a clutch? Is she too small to breed?

I decided to throw a rat in there. I WAS going to keep them for my retired rack system and put it back in business but that didn't work out. So I grabbed the smallest as it would take the longest to breed. Took awhile but she took it. Doesn't seem like she is very interested in much movement, but once I got her on a roll she was cooking. I fed her 3 med sized rats. Her body seem normal, not overly stuffed, etc.

So I will leave her be for the next wk. So if I feed her once a week 3small rats, shouldn't she catch up to normal size? Or since its this far in the game, her metabolism has slowed and she'll not grow much more, just weight wise. Is this true?


Thanks for all your guys help and here are the pics.....


haha, sorry for being so long too...


http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/bikerboy619/snake4.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/bikerboy619/snake3.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/bikerboy619/snake2.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/bikerboy619/snake1.jpg

[Chalkie]

Seems like you have done a good job so far.
I have 5 BCI's Varying in size from 3,5 foot to 10 foot and would say that 5 foot and 5 years is small.
We have just got one that is 2 years old and 5 foot and i would say that she is a little skinny so keep on going with the fattening up.
I think its better to give 1 bigger rat a week to the snake(about the size of the thickness of yyour snakes body), If she doesn't seem interested try warming it slightly with a hair dryer then dangling it with a set of long tongs, this should trigger a good strike and get her eating.
Her temps should be 85 ambient and 90-95 at the hot spot, lamps are great but a heat mat under a third of the tank would also be good as they benefit of belly heat.
Hope this helps and thanks for the pics

[bikerboy]

Seems like you have done a good job so far.
I have 5 BCI's Varying in size from 3,5 foot to 10 foot and would say that 5 foot and 5 years is small.
We have just got one that is 2 years old and 5 foot and i would say that she is a little skinny so keep on going with the fattening up.
I think its better to give 1 bigger rat a week to the snake(about the size of the thickness of yyour snakes body), If she doesn't seem interested try warming it slightly with a hair dryer then dangling it with a set of long tongs, this should trigger a good strike and get her eating.
Her temps should be 85 ambient and 90-95 at the hot spot, lamps are great but a heat mat under a third of the tank would also be good as they benefit of belly heat.
Hope this helps and thanks for the pics

Help out great man. The only thing is don't have heat mat that would work. I have a fiberglass and wood bottom.

And really? Only 90-95 on the hot spot?

what about breeding questions above?

thx

[Reticsrule]

well i would say that a 5 foot 5 year old boa is pretty small. i have a male (the larger of the 2 sexes) that is 5.5 feet and around 2.5 years old. 90-95 is not a bad temp for a hot spot at all. as for breeding, that is the last thing you want to be doing with her right now. you need to get her feeding properly and well established before you even think about breeding. however, once she is back on track, you can probably breed her. just be sure to use a small male that wont overpower her. good luck!

[Todd Peddle]

First off great job on the rescue.
The first thing i well sugest is to get rid of the heat lamp.The boa can reach up to the lamp and burn itsself.I use human heat pads.Just lay them inside the tank under the substrate.I have all mine on a helix control.
Id say that boa is a little small.I would feed that one a large or jumbo rat every week until it gets its weight back and then if its a male feed every 2nd week and female still every week.
Other than being a little small its not to bad off.Looks great.

[max's_mom]

Hi there. You've done a nice job with that rescue. I hope she keeps eating well and growing. I saw that you're more of a monitor person than a snake person...

I'm writing because I have a few questions about monitors. I just got a Peach Throat about 3 weeks ago (Mother's day present!) He is about 6 months old/captive born (from what they told me at the shop). He is 9 inches from snout to base of tail. His name is Max. I have a short list of questions for you, if you could help it would be great :) This may be a little long, sorry...

1. I love that cage you built for your monitor! I currently have mine in a 3'L x 1 1/2W x 1 1/2 tall glass tank. (I think it was a brand called critter keeper). It has a screen lid (but I've read that plexi is better?) I know that this cannot be his permanent home, but I was told he'd be good in there for atleast 1 year. Would you agree? Also, do you have any specs on how you built yours?

2. I live in South FL. Right now his set up is outside. I have a heat lamp on one end and no other heat source. Our temps here get up to the 80-90's during the day and drop to about 75-80 at night. (At least until August when it's 90-100 day and 90 nights). And it's very humid! I plan on bringing him in by end of July. The guy at the store where I got him told me to just get a digi thermometer and make sure his basking area stayed above 100 during the day. What are the right temps for him? When I bring him in, our indoor temp is always about 74-75... but very dry inside, no humidity. Do I have to get a mister? Or spray him down everyday? And how do I keep the cage warm at night, when the basking lamp isn't on? or does it matter?

3. I think that my Max has a bum eye. about a week and a half ago he would not eat the crickets that I was putting into his cage. I alternate between crickets, mealworms and pinkies during the week. The crickets were actually biting him and he would crawl into his water bowl to escape them. Then this past weekend he stopped going after the meal worms. I became concerned. He eats the pinkies without any problems and he will eat them alive or dead, no matter how I offer them. He will also eat cat food (though I don't like to feed him this too often.)
I noticed in the last couple of days that his right eye is closed a lot. So today I decided to test to see if he was seeing out of that eye. I took him out of his cage and handled him for a little while, until he settled down. Then I would gently blow on his closed eye and he would open it. I moved my finger towards his right eye and he did not flinch as he usually does, and as he does when I do the same movement to his left eye. He simply closed it and flinched only when my finger got close enough to touch his eyelid. I brought him close to a bright light I have in my family room and looked at both his eyes very carefully. His left eye is dark brown/black and focuses on moving objects. But his right eye has a bit of a cloudy appearance and he does not focus on anything with that eye. As a matter of fact, he closes it and turns his head so he can use his left eye to see what I'm doing. I've grown very attached to my Max, and don't want to give him up, but I don't want to spend a fortune on a sickly monitor. Have you ever had a situation like this? Is their eyesight a major health concern? I'm taking him to the shop and to a vet tomorrow, but if I could get some experienced feedback from an owner it would be great.

4. Do you have any pictures of your cage when it was set up for the monitors? I have a few branches in my cage and am going to get some vines and silk plants. But I'd like to get some ideas as to how to put together a good set up for Max, not just a pretty one for me.

5. Finally, I've been handling him for about 1/2 hr to 1 hour every day for the past 3 weeks. I've been putting my hands in his cage a lot so that he gets used to me being in there and doesn't stress out too much. He still freaks out whenever I hold him, although the time it takes him to calm down in my hads has gotten much better. I've been bitten twice already (actually it was two bites back to back as I was putting him back into his cage), but learned quickly to use my gloves to move him in and out of the cage for now. About how long does it take to get them to where they are less fiesty and more managable? Also, I've seen harnesses for iguanas, have you ever tried one on a monitor?

I know this is a lot to ask... I really am sorry. It's just that Monitors are not too common a pet around here and most of the people I've met that have them, are newbies at dealing with them as well.