Reptile & Amphibian Forums

In a recent post I outlined some issues I was having with low humidity here in NC...I switched to cypress mulch and have had great results. My big female is breathing easy now...a couple of new photos:

All the best-
Jim Lineberger
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"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he can never lose." (quote from Jim Elliott, "Shadow of the Almighty"

That is one beautiful albino! I've read several of your posts over the past couple years and admired your snakes each time.

Where did you originally get her? Do you keep more bloods than you usually show in your photos? I think I've seen just two.

I have a normal blood about a year and a half old who has put on incredible growth in the past year. I'm not powerfeeding her, and I have no intention of breeding. Just normal feeding. But, wow! She's gone from tiny to impressive, and she's as tame as can be--like yours seem to be. They are really great snakes. I don't know why I keep anything else.

Thanks

Thanks for the feedback. I got her from Ben Siegel, but don't know "exactly" who produced her, and he wouldn't divulge.

I have 5 Bloods, 1.1 albinos and 1.2 hets. A couple more photos here. These snakes are pretty when they're young, but when you put size on them they become a lot more impressive, don't you think? I've had one or two Bloods that were temperamental, but this crop is very relaxed...
I kept Surinam and Guyanan Red Tail Boas for years before getting into Bloods. Keeping the collection small and enjoying it more.
Enjoy this day-
Jim

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"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he can never lose." (quote from Jim Elliott, "Shadow of the Almighty"

Thanks for posting more photos! My blood female lacks that pretty red color--she's kind of carmel colored instead. I'm amazed at how much her head color changes from day to day. It can be almost charcoal gray to very light gray, depending on...well, who knows what.

I wonder if you can shed some light on a common blood concern: mine hasn't defecated in a VERY long time (since last March!). She seems fine, eats regularly and sheds in one piece. She has ready access to fresh water, and I see her drinking from time to time. Humidity in her enclosure is between 50 and 65 percent. So, I haven't sweated it. But, come on! Sooner or later something that goes in has to come out... She urinates regularly, but no urates or bowel movement. There's some degree of solids inside her, in her lower third or so, but it seems to shift around in there just fine, and she isn't distended.

I've been thinking that possibly she's just been very efficient about using the nutrients she gets to increase growth, and maybe that explains why there's just not a huge amount of waste left over after digestion.

Soaking doesn't seem to have any effect. I don't do it regularly or for more than about a half hour or so.

Have you ever had this problem? Care to shed any light? I'd sure appreciate any thoughts you may have.

Thanks!

I certainly understand your concern...Bloods are notorious for going a long time between defecations, but your situation does seem a bit extreme. On the other hand (and I am no expert on this by any means!), I think you may be on track to suggest that she's efficient with nutrients...perhaps whatever she eats is being burned up in her growth process. I did have a Blood that went from August to December without pooping, and he's still healthy and doing fine a year later. He still goes to the bathroom very infrequently.
I rarely soak my Bloods...and have pretty much stopped paying attention to defecations in my recordkeeping.

Good luck with your snake---I'd love to see a photo-
Jim
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"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he can never lose." (quote from Jim Elliott, "Shadow of the Almighty"

Yep, it's the only thing I can figure with her. The sheer volume of food going in, versus the next-to-nothing that comes out, makes me think somehow if she was "backing up" she'd also stop eating voluntarily or seem to be blowing up in her posterior, which she really isn't. But, I'd be happy to clean up a really huge "gift" from her one of these days... I keep waiting.

When I got her a year ago last Thanksgiving, she was about 16 in. long and quite thin. Nothing like what I expected a blood to look like, even young. She took awhile to get adjusted. It was a month or so, at least, before she would feed regularly. Then, last spring, she went off feed for six weeks. Since then, she's been eating once a week (F/T small rats, on per week) without fail. Now, she's probably 30 to 32 inches and about the circumference of a baseball or maybe a little larger.

Is there an easy way to post photos? I've got the camera for the job, but I just haven't tried to figure out how to post photos yet. Done it before with on-line auctions many times but never on Kingsnake. If you can explain it to me, I'd be happy to take a few and share them with you.

My name is Chris, by the way, Jim.

Good talking with you!

Jim,

Here are a couple photos of Louise, my 1 1/2-year-old blood...who doesn't want to EVER poop.

Gotta love em.

I love the gray head!
Looks like you got the photo thing figured-out pretty well.
Take care-
Jim
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"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he can never lose." (quote from Jim Elliott, "Shadow of the Almighty"

Thanks, Jim. Her head is really dark in that photo. It can be very light gray, too.

Now, if I could just figure out a way to add four or five more in my house--like you! Got any pursuasive lines I can use to convince my wife we need a black blood, a really red one and an albino, too? I haven't figured out the "sell" of that one yet. But, we do have a normal ball and a Woma that live in my home office, so I'm making progress!

Take care, and keep sharing those great pics. I'll be sure to send my regards.

Chris Marshall

My snakes keep me around the house...as opposed to many of my friends who like to golf and therefore spend several hours away on the weekends. I've kept large collections of snakes at times, but my wife has never complained unless it became obvious that I was spending too much cash on my hobby.
ANYHOW, our hobby can be family friendly, and once I got my wife to see this she came to appreciate my animals.
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"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he can never lose." (quote from Jim Elliott, "Shadow of the Almighty"

Smaller bloods poop a lot more often than a the bigger ones do. Its normal for mine to pee with no urates in it at all. Sooner or later she is going to pass them, I cleaned up a clump today that was the size of a baseball. One thing you can do is kick the heat up a few degrees. My bloods will not poop from november to march. But in the summer when my house gets hot as hell the bloods poop every month.

Doug

Thanks! Still waiting for mine to unload...