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The suspense is killing me!

liquid-leaf May 29, 2007 06:06 AM

I'm nearing the end of my first attempted boa breeding season, and I can't wait! The first breeding didn't go so well - my hog island female didn't take (but I thought she did), but died near her due date from an intestinal abcess and broke my heart, back in March.

But the two Suris I adopted last year bred like mad, and that female's due date is June 15th. She swelled for ovulation and there was plenty of breeding behavior, but in the past few weeks I've been getting a little discouraged, because she doesn't show the huge swelling and scale separation that I've seen in some pics (like the Boaphile's!)...

But she does seem to be somewhat swollen compared to pre-breeding pics (especially considering she's been on a reduced diet).

Arrrrg, I can't wait to see what happens! Both she and her mate are very nice looking Suris that the person I adopted them from obtained from Ben Siegel, and if successful, this will be the female's first litter (though the previous owner tried breeding them last year with no results).

Here's a photo.... can't wait.... need a fast-forward button! What do you think, does she look gravid? I've heard some females don't seem to gain much weight, but after dropping will then look super-skinny.

Replies (4)

liquid-leaf May 29, 2007 06:18 AM

I have to put together a frozen rodent order... what size works for neonates? Should neonates be started on f/t and if they don't eat, use live, or is it more successful to just give live the first few meals to get them feeding well, and then switch to f/t?

All of my snakes are on f/t now, but since this is the first time I may have neonates, just wondering how much/what I should order along with my regular feeder order.

Thanks!

JackJebus May 29, 2007 06:59 AM

live for the first meal and get small pink rats or fuzzy mice

ajfreptiles May 29, 2007 08:11 AM

Your boa looks great in the pics!!! Good luck with her....

I use live pinky rats when available for starters or frozen Mouse fuzzies work well to....I feel it is always better to have both available because I have found if they won't readily take the rat pink, they usually take the mouse fuzzy instead. Good luck Andy
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liquid-leaf May 29, 2007 01:42 PM

I've seen from all the wonderful recent birth photos here that quite a few people seem to use a nest/birthing box within the mother's cage. My question is how close to the due date should I start putting such a box in my female's cage? I don't want to have to crawl over it too much too soon (her cage has two large branches screwed in at each corner, so putting a box in would take a lot of her floor space since I can't put it in a corner). She's an 8.5 footer, does it matter how big the nest box is? Should she be able to fit in it entirely?

Which substrate seems to be the easiest to clean up after birth, in the box? Should probably be a bit absorbent if there is a lot of fluid. I use newsprint now for most of my animals but wonder if carefresh (shredded cellulose) would work ok in the nest box.

Sorry for the billion questions... I can't help being worried/excited. Thanks again, everyone!
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Lauren Madar - OphidiaGems.com
1.0 BP, 1.0 Hog Is., 1.1 Hypo BCI, 1.1 Surinam BCC, 0.1 GTP

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