New Beauty

[stew721]

http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/9330/innominate200712231907eo4.th.jpg (http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/9330/innominate200712231907eo4.jpg) http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/5244/innominate200712231908wa2.th.jpg (http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/5244/innominate200712231908wa2.jpg)

I picked up my new Taiwan Beauty yesterday. Those pics aren't the best quality and were taken from a crappy cell phone... I need to take some from a real digital camera. The snake's 6' long now and the terrarium's 100 gallons.

I have someone who owns a reptile sanctuary in the region who's going to sex the snake for me. It will be interesting to see just how agressive it is... It's been in a much smaller tank for about a year at a pet shop and not really handled in that time. They were able to clean the tank with the snake in it and not get tagged, but nobody ever took it out and handled it. Apparently it would lunge at them occasionally for show, but never actually struck.

I'm going to leave it alone for a few more days and then feed it. After that, will start working on handling it to see how manageable it is at the moment. Depending on it's temperment, may have to start with as little as once a week or twice a week.

It's one Hell of a beautiful snake, but those crappy pics don't do it justice. I'll be sure to post some better ones as I get them.

[stew721]

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/2061/keeran200712291505jk5.th.jpg (http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/2061/keeran200712291505jk5.jpg) http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/4889/keeran200712291611df8.th.jpg (http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/4889/keeran200712291611df8.jpg) http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/2673/keeran200712301758zu4.th.jpg (http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/2673/keeran200712301758zu4.jpg) http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/1618/keeran200712301811fi6.th.jpg (http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/1618/keeran200712301811fi6.jpg)

Keeran, my new 6 foot Taiwan Beauty, ate for the first time since I got it tonight. It ate two mice and took them both right outta my hand, without even striking at them! I've been in and out of it's terrarium since getting it with it just moving to the other end of the tank... No signs of agression, but this is the ifrst time I've been able to get it to feed.

I'm actually surprised at the temperment it's demonstrated with me so far, given the type of snake it is and that it's never really been handled. I'll give it a few days to digest it's meal and depending how it continues to be with me when I'm in it's terrarium, try to handle it for the first time for a brief period.

The first pic is of one of the earlier feeding attempts. When it woudn't take it from me, I just left it in the terrarium for 15-20 minutes. The second is of it at the top of the terrarium (which as you can see is yet to be finished) and on it's vine. They're a couple of it's one of it's favourite spots. It likes to stretch out along the vine and and wood at the top. The last two are of it feeding the two mice tonight, but are crappy cell phone pics though... I didn't have the digital camera.

[stew721]

I forgot I’d downloaded the Snake Measurer program a little while back. I just used it to approximate Keeran’s length and it’s about 8.5 feet! Slightly longer than I’d originally thought (6 feet) by looking at it. I need to take another picture though with something in the terrarium which I know the absolute measurement of to use as a base for the program.

I used it’s water bowl and a picture I already have of Keeran, but I may not have picked the exact points on the bowl (being round and all) and part of Keeran’s tail was out of the picture… making it that much longer. So I’ll put something in the terrarium and take another pic to be able to more accurately get it’s length. I’ll be sure to post Keeran’s full and more accurate measurement as soon as I’ve had a chance to do this.

I knew Keeran was long, but whoa! Maybe the clue it was longer than I'd thought was the fact that it can go half-way along the front/back, down one side, and back along the back/front half-way in a 100 gallon.

[Hayezoo]

Hey stew nice lookin asian. I cant really tell from the pics but it seems as though your new Striped Tail has been underfed while at its previous home. At apprx. 8.5 feet he/she should be comfortably feeding on medium rats, small at minimum. How thick is he? Do you know his/her age?
http://http://s226.photobucket.com/albums/dd89/Hayezoo/?action=view&current=PB261145.jpg

[stew721]

Hey stew nice lookin asian. I cant really tell from the pics but it seems as though your new Striped Tail has been underfed while at its previous home. At apprx. 8.5 feet he/she should be comfortably feeding on medium rats, small at minimum. How thick is he? Do you know his/her age?
http://http://s226.photobucket.com/albums/dd89/Hayezoo/?action=view&current=PB261145.jpg

I was thinking the same thing actually about it being underfed. I only fed two mice the other night because that's what I had here, but am going to try to start feeding it rats the next feeding. When I'd finished feeding the two mice to it, I could see it was looking for more food still. I was told they've been feeding it two mice once a week... That didn't sound right to me and I have every intention of correcting that ASAP.

I have no idea how old it actually is because the shop I got it from said they didn't know. All I know is they've had it for about a year. It was in a tank about a quarter/third of the size of this one. It's still a little nervous being in a new environment and such a bigger one at that, but is getting used to it and is coming out of it's hide quite a bit the last couple of days. I'm moving to a new house in the new year and am considering either a 260 gallon Reptarium or building a custom for it.

It's thickness at the largest points are between a loonie and a toonie... I'd say probably about the diameter of a toonie. I have someone who runs a reptile sanctuary in the region coming to sex it for me and give it a general check-up.

[Hayezoo]

Hey Stew. Good idea on uping the feeder size. IM sure he/she will beef up for you in no time. Currently I keep my Taiwans in enclosures that measures 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 x 5 tall. I have a very large slated drift, that leads up to a large cross weave of vines, in each of the enclosures. Fantastic display snakes. A 260 gallon vertically oriented would be fantastic.

[stew721]

Here are a few recent and better quality pics I took today.

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/6345/keeran200801201151ya9.th.jpg (http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/6345/keeran200801201151ya9.jpg) http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/9378/keeran20080120151502oq1.th.jpg (http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/9378/keeran20080120151502oq1.jpg) http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/1126/keeran20080120151503aj2.th.jpg (http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/1126/keeran20080120151503aj2.jpg) http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/4904/keeran200801201535bk6.th.jpg (http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/4904/keeran200801201535bk6.jpg)

I've got him/her feeding on small rats now. I fed two last night and was still looking for more, but that's all I had left and I didn't want to jump from a couple adult mice to a few rats in one feeding. He jsut shed a few days ago too. He/she's much more active now than it was too. I mean, it was active before, but moreso now though. Still eating outta my hand with no problems and I changed the substrate in the tank today without any signs of agression or anything, so that's good. Hopefully, will bulk up a bit now that I've started feeding rats. A friend was over one night last week though and it struck at him through the glass, but then a couple minutes later I was in the tank to change it's water and move some stuff around with no problems. Seems to be alright with me, but not liking strangers much. Too bad for them. HaHa