Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A friend of mine recently commented that a well-known breeder hasn't had a single Colombian Motley live longer than 2 years. Furthermore, he isn't alone. Is there any truth in this? How old are your motleys?
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signature file edited, contact an admin. 2/13/06

As I type I have motleys males that are 5 years of age and proven breeding.

Chris Nicholas

that may be due to those breeders powerfeeding the crap out of them to get them to breeding size earlier. I like to think of it as karma

.....is now over 4 years old and is the healthiest and most trouble free boa I have ever owned. No respiratory infections, no constipation, no loose stools, no stuck sheds, no skipped meals....nothing......except producing three healthy litters of babies. Other than that I can only comment on the babies I produced last year that are now yearlings......all doing great. I must agree with the previous comment that Motleys (and other expensive "investment" level animals) are probably subjected to their undue share of powerfeeding to achieve breedable status.
gray

some big adults on his old site. I think they were his early stock but they were big and beautiful! I've never heard anything about motleys having longevity(sp) issues. Like the others said, it's probably the people that are trying to make a quick buck that are losing their animals do to power feeding.

Ruben Michel

I have 1.1 motleys that I purchased from Chris Nicholas last year. They are doing great and show no indication of problems. I agree with Gray and Chris. Mine are such good eaters I could probabaly kill them if I fed them as much as they want to eat.

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Brian Gundy

www.for-goodness-snakes.com

I have a 6 year old female that is one of the strongest boas I own. I also have 3 others that are over 4 years old, and 5 that are over 3 years old...
All the above have been 100% problem free snakes.

Our motleys from Alex are going on 5 years old now, and have been problem free. The female has produced the last two seasons, and the male has been an excellent breeder as well. All the babies seem to thrive as well. I would agree with the others that any premature deaths are more than likely caused by keeper errors. Take care

Paul Mitzelfelt

We have 1.2 Motleys that are 4 years old and I am really looking forward to breeding them this year. The oldest boas in our collection are 10 years old and I'm hoping at least three of those normal females will be having babies this year--each have had babies in alternating years. We have a Kenyan sandboa that is 25 years old!!Tracy/VPI

I too have had 2.2 Motley Boas for at least 4 years as my oldest Motleys purchased from Jeremy. I have since produced my own that are 2 years of age and doing great. I have Motleys Het Albino form 2 years ago and some normals that are healthy as can be. I also had a beautiful Motley female breed at 18 months this year for me and dropped a perfect litter of motleys and super motleys at the young age of a little over 2. She has put all of her weight back on and is bigger than she was before she dropped. I will be posting a pic of her tomorrow.

So my opinion on your question, is that you have definately heard wrong. Motleys live alot longer than 2 years of age and thrive.

Hope this helps. Good luck to all.......Thanks

So let's see some pics.....I think we should make some rules up in the forum that you have to post a pic with every post.

If and when I have a Motley it will live a long healthy life at least for a couple of years until he has bred all of my adult females....

Have a great weekend!!!

Hope they had full coverage!

that would happen to my truck!!!!!

LOL, I can relate to that! Maybe if I just.......lol, take care

Paul

catch fire or accidentally fall off a cliff(without me in it) I hope the insurance company doesn't read this post....I think alot of that stuff is going on right now with the gas prices and value of these trucks dropping significantly.

Great looking super and congrats on that litter this year!!!