Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi Forum...
I haven't posted anything recently, but a lot has happened. Kinda long.
Just over a year ago, I traded an albino boa for a 01' male GTP and a '03 female GTP. I kept them in quarantine for 6 months and both were doing great the entire time (in small opaque tubs).

I then moved them both into one large glass enclosure with a divider between them. Both stressed. The female stayed on the bottom of the cage from day one. I thought that she just didn't like the perches, so I put smaller sized ones in, nothing changed... I just figured she needs some time, but she died! I was so incredibly upset. I wish I had moved her back to the quarantine tub when I noticed something was wrong, I just figured she would get over the stress and be ok. Well.. that is my learning curve with GTPs.

So.. the male was doing okay, but not eatting. He did not eat for almost 8 months straight, but was staying on his perch and drinking water when misted. He kept having bad sheds. I would have to put him in a shed tub each time. I added some pillow cases around the glass cage so he could not see out. Finally after a full shed he took a f/t medium rat. Everything seemed fine. He didn't eat again for a while. Had another bad shed, still stuck on, and I fed him. Well... count that as another mistake.. cause then he regurged. ARGH!!! I waited a week, then back into the shed tub. Nothing came off. I just tried to keep him as comfortable as possible.
FINALLY.. this is what I found about 2 weeks ago:

A full shed! Oh I was so, so, so excited. Especially since this is Las Vegas and humidity is always trouble. You can't really see him in this pic, on the bottom right hand perch in the back.
I waited 48 hrs and he took a f/t rat fuzzy, I didn't want to feed him anything too large too fast. He's kept it down! Yes! I plan to offer him another fuzzy soon. Keep your fingers crossed for me, please. I really want to do good with him and be able keep him. I am working on a design for a new tub type cage that will be opaque. I just don't want to move him too quick and start the 8 month-moving-stress all over again.

The dog didn't know what to make of the shed skin...

thanks for looking,
April

Hum,

I could not imagine that you have that many problems with those animals? Did you get necropsy done on that female who passed? Also you should run an fecal and a mouth swab on that male. Just to be save.
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Julian Garcia
Chondros Exquisite
Seattle,WA

Hi Julian,

It's been a real trying time for me. Especially since all of my other snakes do great (mainly colombian boas, an ATB, etc).

I did not have a necropsy done on the female, although I should
have. Nothing appeared to be wrong with her except for the way she acted once in the huge glass cage. It may not have been stress, but that was the only explanation I could think of since she ate, shed, had fecal and everything in the quarantine tub.

The male's problems were a lot of my own husbandry errors, not being able to maintain humidity during sheds and feeding him when he had stuck on shed. He seems to be doing fine again now but a fecal check would be good since I didn't do that originally. I just found a local vet that is willing to work with snakes, so once I move and get settled, that's the next thing to happen.

I love GTPs and hope to keep him, if I cannot maintain a good environment for him, I will look for another home for him and just admire them from afar... but I hope that doesn't have to happen.

-April