Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here are 2 head shots of the female that is over 6 and a half feet....

Feeding shot... One of the biggest jumbo rats I ever seen...LOL

Thanks to those of you who read the gaboon article in this octobers reptiles mag... I hope you all enjoyed it and learned something from it...

great shots Greg! that girl must be hell to move around lol. shes a B. g. rhinoceros right?
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Dylan Lutz

1.1 BCI, 1.0 Bearded Dragon

Thanks Dylan... She is not to bad when it comes time to get her out of the cage... I pretty much just nudge her with a hook and she does all of the work for me... Sometimes a big plastic snow shovel comes in handy on the days when she is not to co-operative... LOL...

And yes, she is B.g.r.

I'm curious to see a size reference photo for your Gaboon? Creeping on 7 feet is pretty unusual. Not unheard of but unusual... The photo with the rat doesn't give a 7 foot reference to me... Also, do you have a current weight on her?
I would love to see it though. Our exhibit male just died after many years and he was an exact 6 feet.
Thanks,
T-
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It's what you learn AFTER you know it all that counts!

Terry Phillip
Curator of Reptiles
Black Hills Reptile Gardens
Rapid City, SD.

www.reptilegardens.com

I also wanted to compliment you on that fantastic article; it was jammed packed with great, common sense info and I took a few things from it as well (I'm making a nice restraint bucket like your's...great idea!).

Do you still have any Hopi's? I know we talked some time ago and I got so busy that I let it slide a bit. We can talk off line.

Great job Terry, Rob

>>I'm curious to see a size reference photo for your Gaboon? Creeping on 7 feet is pretty unusual. Not unheard of but unusual... The photo with the rat doesn't give a 7 foot reference to me... Also, do you have a current weight on her?
>>I would love to see it though. Our exhibit male just died after many years and he was an exact 6 feet.
>>Thanks,
>>T-
>>-----
>>It's what you learn AFTER you know it all that counts!
>>
>>Terry Phillip
>>Curator of Reptiles
>>Black Hills Reptile Gardens
>>Rapid City, SD.
>>
>>www.reptilegardens.com
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Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL

Hey Rob,
Thanks a bunch for the compliments. It was a lot of fun writing both of the articles.
That restraint can and U-plex is the best thing since frozen mice in my mind. Works great!
Give me a yell when you can, I still have the Hopi's for you and the Western Masassaugas too.
T-
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It's what you learn AFTER you know it all that counts!

Terry Phillip
Curator of Reptiles
Black Hills Reptile Gardens
Rapid City, SD.

www.reptilegardens.com

I'll give you a ring on Wed....thanks a bunch.

>>Hey Rob,
>>Thanks a bunch for the compliments. It was a lot of fun writing both of the articles.
>>That restraint can and U-plex is the best thing since frozen mice in my mind. Works great!
>>Give me a yell when you can, I still have the Hopi's for you and the Western Masassaugas too.
>>T-
>>-----
>>It's what you learn AFTER you know it all that counts!
>>
>>Terry Phillip
>>Curator of Reptiles
>>Black Hills Reptile Gardens
>>Rapid City, SD.
>>
>>www.reptilegardens.com
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Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL

While we are at it. Terry, I sent you an e-mail through your facility e-mail.
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Tim Cole
www.Designeratrox.com/
www.AustinReptileService.net
www.AustinReptileExpo.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<
Conservation through Education

Hey Tim,
Nice to hear from you. I have been inundated with snake [bleep] the last few weeks so haven't been very good at checking let alone responding to my email...
I'll try and give you a call in the next couple of days or feel free to call me as I think I gave you my contact phones etc...
Regards,
Terry
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It's what you learn AFTER you know it all that counts!

Terry Phillip
Curator of Reptiles
Black Hills Reptile Gardens
Rapid City, SD.

www.reptilegardens.com

..any chance you can get a better size reference for her? Its tough to gage just based on the rat.

She looks flawless though!

Thanks Gregg, she's a magnificent looking gaboon! MORE PICS!! Your set up looks identical to mine; those snakes sure love their leaves don't they? Like I said before, even though I do things a LITTLE differently (an example would be that I don't soak my gabbies but that was just about the only difference I could see from your article....I do keep optimal humidity levels and provide large, shallow water bowls that they drink from regularly), your husbandry information in the article was excellent and your animals look spectacular and if folks follow your advice, they'll have perfect looking snakes.

>>Here are 2 head shots of the female that is over 6 and a half feet....
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Feeding shot... One of the biggest jumbo rats I ever seen...LOL
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Thanks to those of you who read the gaboon article in this octobers reptiles mag... I hope you all enjoyed it and learned something from it...
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Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL

Nice snake! How old is it? I have a CB '99 female that is definitely over 5 feet long and eats jumbo rats the size of that one with no problem, although I haven't measured her in a long time. I also never soak her and live in a very arid place. She hasn't been soaked since she was probably about 18" long and the humidity here is rarely over 33% relative. All she gets is a cat litter pan with water and has never been sick or done any less than fantastic. I don't stick her head in the water or mist / spray her and she still never has a bad shed.

Gregg & Terry...Y'all did a fine job on the articles. That was a most interesting edition. I know so darn many of the authors in that one, as well as some of the people referenced. Most I know in person, a few just from this board, but it was really neat seeing all the familiar names.

That is an awesome Bitis. I had one at the park that would eat a young rabbit without showing a lump, but I don't think she was quite that big.

~~Greg~~

I do have two or three pics of me hooking her into a six foot vision cage that I use to hold her in during cage cleaning... I will see if I can find them and post them... There are a few people from these forums that have seen her in person and a bunch more who have seen the picture of me hooking her...

I dont blame you all for wanting to see a size ref pic... I would want to see it also...

If you notice her "horns" are so long that they twist and flop to the sides... This usually only happens with very large gaboons... I have never seen this in gaboons under 5 and a half feet long...

How big are they? If you find any, take a pic of one as well. Ever measure them along the curvature?

MH

These are from my 4.5 ft W. Gaboon. She yawned last night and has one side being replaced again. The scale is mm.

Al

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"I'm a lone rhinoceros there ain't one hell of a lots of us
left in this world." Adrian Belew, 1982

Very consise graph Al!

Randal