Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is there a way to tell how old an emerald tree is? I bought a pair that are supposed to be proven breeders and was told they were 6 years old, but I am worried they may be a lot older.

The male is about 5 feet long but very slender, though his body is round and does not look under nourished. He is about as big around as a stick of butter or just a bit bigger. He's been here 3 months and still will not feed. I offer him food about every other week though. I know that he may take a while to adjust and I am not to worried about him yet. I didn't touch him for the first 6 weeks and then I thought I better check him for mouth rot or any other health issues. He is very friendly. When I put my hand under his neck, he crawls right up my arm and has never offered to bite and doesn't ever resist or tighten up on his perch. Is it okay to keeping handling him or should I not until he starts eating? I thought maybe if he got used to me, it may comfort him and he may be aware that I am no danger to him.

The female is about 5.5 to 6 feet and has a huge head about twice the size of the male and a very long snout. She has a very good feeding response every time but her back is pointy and almost triangular in shape and she seems awful thin for her frame. Her skin feels a bit stretchy and she is about as big around as a standard incandescent light bulb. Could this from having a litter of babies and just not recovered her weight yet? I have been feeding her about every 2 to 3 weeks two small frozen thawed rats at a time. When she eats, she usually gets the first rat down within 5-10 minutes, though she wrestles it on the floor quite a bit, then when I give her the second rat, she is quick to grab it but she wrestles with it more and seems to take 20 min or so to eat it. She has massive and regular bowel movements about every 2 or 3 feedings. She just seems tired. She is fairly friendly. Once I noticed she had a bit of cypress mulch caught in her lip and I took a q-tip and cleaned out the mulch pieces and she didn't seem upset.

I adore both of these emeralds. The person, "TODD" I bought them from won't answer any emails when I tried to find out the last time she gave birth and if he ever had trouble with the male eating. I wanted to breed them this season but with the female being so thin and the male not eating I have decided not to even try this year.

Thanks for your time and wisdom!
Jason

Pictures would help a lot.

I think there is no reason for you to worry about the male not eating. He might take another 3 months or so before accepting any meal.

As for the female, its hard to tell, as some emeralds do get very round, almost like a Boa constrictor, while others will keep a little bit of that triangle-like back.

I think you should collect their stools for a parasite test, just in case.

It is hard to say how old they really are. If they are WC, they can be 15 years old or even more.

Anyways, do not try to breed this year.

Okay the first 3 pics are the female and the last two pics are the male (note in the 4th pic you can see the female in the floor of her cage, I had just put her back in the cage). Is it okay to handled the male he really seems to enjoy it. He crawls up on my arm when I put hand under his head and has never showed any aggression. The female is calm too, though I handled her very delicately since she seems boney and I would not want to accidentally hurt her.