First Litter Has Arrived

[Albert Clark]

Terribly sorry for the loss! Digging that plastic canvas idea! Definitely will have to take a page out of your book with that one.

[Minkness]

What does the plastic canvas DO exactly?

[Albert Clark]

Originally Posted by Minkness

What does the plastic canvas DO exactly?

I think he is using it primarily for a perch or shelf like platform for the boas to use. I know they probably like the security as well bc it wedges them into a smaller space off the terrarium floor.

[toddnbecka]

Hated to lose that one, though not too surprised considering what happened to it. On the other hand the rest seem to be fine, and it was a larger litter than expected w/out any slugs.
Dominicans love to be up off the substrate, and the plastic canvas drains water so it doesn't puddle and make a wet spot where they perch. Shoeboxes are a bit small for actual arboreal perches or even sticks, and like Albert mentioned it also creates a fairly narrow space below the "ceiling" so they feel more secure. Also easy to clean up when they poop on it, lol. I use plastic canvas on rubber-coated wire corner shelves from Wal-Mart in a number of my enclosures to provide comfortable areas for smaller snakes to hang out. My carpets, candoia, and Jap rat snakes use the shelves as well, didn't put them in the king or bull snake's enclosures though.

[Minkness]

Ah, neat idea! Thanks for sharing =)

[JellyBean]

Nice clutch! (Is it a clutch or a litter?)
Sorry for the wee one.
Do you have pics of your corner shelves with the plastic canvas? Neat idea!

[toddnbecka]

Originally Posted by JellyBean

Nice clutch! (Is it a clutch or a litter?)
Sorry for the wee one.
Do you have pics of your corner shelves with the plastic canvas? Neat idea!

Litter since boas have live young, clutch refers to eggs. Pic of the plastic canvas on page 1 of this thread.

Second litter was born sometime Wednesday, late afternoon or evening, while I was at work. Becky found them and moved them into the 10 gallon tank. There were 15 babies, 2 were dead, apparently mashed by the mother. She gave birth inside a pvc hide that was barely large enough to contain her, and most of them had moved out on their own before Becky saw them.
I haven't handled or even looked too closely at the new ones yet, but I did notice 4-5 of them in the 10 gallon tank in defensive positions and striking when I got close with flashlight to look at them. There was only 1 in the first litter that was defensive/bitey, and I believe it was the same one that was mashed by the mother when I was moving them out and died a couple days later. I'm hoping the defensive ones in this group aren't injured and will calm down shortly.

The one web page I found with care/breeding info states that the babies are 12" at birth. One random baby from the first litter was stretched out on top of a 75 gallon tank the other day, and reached exactly front to back, which is 18". So far only 2 of the first litter have eaten live pinky mice, the other 15 ignored them. I'll offer unscented live pinks again tomorow night, then try scenting the pinks with quail to see if that helps get them started.

[toddnbecka]

Here's a pic of something never before photographed, an extrememly rare baby Dominican red tree boa... on a stick (about the same diameter as a sharpie) lol.


Bought a smaller scale to weigh the babies, my larger one (used for shipping) didn't even register when I tried to use it. Average weight was around 15 grams for both newborns and the nearly 3 week old babies.


When I moved the new litter into another tub temporarily to change out the paper towels today only one acted defensive and struck once at my hand, then calmed down when picked up. Looks like they're hale and hearty overall, and all have shed (unlike the first litter, 5-6 went for nearly a week before they shed.)

[dannybgoode]

Just gorgeous. I love the way just about any snake can pretend to be a tree boa or gtp. The way they just wrap themselves up there and don't fall off!

[macandchz]

what wonderful babies! good luck with them!