Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am finally a believer!!

I have read so many posts about what ferocious feeders indigos are & how quickly they grow but, it just never rang true for me because my 2 girls, an 02 & an 03 just didn't seem to want to eat more than once every 7 to 10 days.
This had been especially true of my 02 girl. All of this was a bit frustrating to me & I basically gave up & got into the habit of feeding them like typical colubrids because I was buying rodents locally a few at a time & hated to see the meals going to waste.
Well, a couple of months ago I got smart & decided to buy in bulk from Rodent Pro which made it easier to for me to accept a few uneaten meals since I knew I had plenty more in the freezer. I'll bet you guys can guess what happened...
They are both feeding about every 4 days or so & are growing like burms & they have suddenly developed ATTITUDE!!!
I'm guessing the 02 girl to be perhaps 39" & the 03 girl to be about 32" (she has always ate better) & will probably pass the other in length soon.
I've been weighing them periodically & here's what i've seen...

02 female:
2/12/04 weight was 356 grams
4/11/04 weight was 424 grams
5/11/04 weight is 472 grams

03 female:
2/12/04 wt. was 82 gr.
4/11/04 wt. was 138 gr.
5/11/04 wt. is 192 gr.

Needless to say, I am VERY pleased with the results.
I'm hopeful that i'll be obtaining a male this season & can only imagine what a treat it will be to see him grow now that I know how to properly feed these awesome beasts!!!

Great info Eric....your little girls are going to really take off in growth. Other newby owners should take note and adjust their feeding patterns (particularly with younger indigos). I have found that I periodically cut feeding to prevent obesity but as long as you give these animals teh proper amount of space, this is rarely a problem; even when on an optimal diet. Hopefully, Eric, I'll have a beautiful, unrelated boy for you this summer! Rob

Eric,

Having a freezer full of mice definetly changes a persons attitudes on feeding. As far as neonates go, as Rob said, given enough space they will eat much more than expected, and grow at an alarming rate. I have found,however, that s tend to become obese if overfed, even when given sufficient sized cages as to give them room to move freely. Congratulation on your snakes taking off and feeding so well. Post pics.

Congrats,

Fred Albury

This one is of my son Aaron & our 02 female.

This Aaron's twin brother Jacob with our 03 female

And this is me with the 03 girl. Since Dean calls them the Great American Snake, I figured a few flags were in order! Notice also, the requisite drymarchon keepers hair style!

Man, you are blessed. Truly. Not one, but TWO sons, and a couple of really SWEET Drymarchon to boot! Does life get any better than that? Snakes look healthy and well fed, boys look happy, and of course, you are**bald** which ISNT a prerequiste for Drymarchon keeping but sure helps when your head is sweating from cleaning those cages(lol) I would liket o think I started the hairstyle fad in Drymarchon keepers( 13 years ago) but am probably dissillusioned. Thanks for sharing pics of your snakes with us Eric. Very cool indeed.

**Cheers**

Fred Albury

Nice hair cut!

I guess you are in the dry club now.
Being bald is great isn't it?

Although you have to watchout for sunburn...

All hail the Great American Snake!

the peer pressure is killing me!....I'm enjoying my short hair at the moment but if all of you "mugs" can look good with bald heads, heck, I know I can to!

Eric, it is the BEST feeling in the world when I see folks who have obtained indigos from me raise them in a way that shows just what great care they are receiving....those indigos are beauties and your boys are going to be some handsome lads (are you sure they are your's?. Thanks for sharing.

Yes Dean it is great, no maintenance! However, i'm not totally bald, just receding. I figure if I wear it as short as the clippers will allow it'll be good practice for the inevitable.

Eric,

I did the same thing, wore it shorter until their wasnt much to wear. My advice(Should you take it) is simply this:

Take the plunge!

Cut that stuff down to a "1" level with the clippers and then get some disposable razors(I started on straight razor myself) and some shaving cream and GO FOR IT! Shave it off. Youll be glad you did. Youll never go back.(In my case I had precious little to go back too!!) lol

*Cheers*

Fred

I was HORRIFIED when I realized I was receding. I had (belive it or not) a big head of curly black hair.

But...as Fred did...I eventually embaced teh fact...went to a #2, then a #1...and now it's the Gilette Mock 3 turbo!

I don't think I'd change now even if I could.

Hair is overrated!

Unsolicited advice: For even better growth I would switch the larger female to small f/t rats now and do the same with smaller female when she's a little larger. My largest female Eastern really likes mice this year. Why I don't know. She won't take a f/t rat until she's been excited by scent and eating a f/t mouse. Last season she was content with just rats.

Winter in New England sucks, but tonight is hot and humid. In addition to spring peepers and pickerel frogs, gray tree frogs and taods of some sort have joined the chorus.

Thanks for the advice but, i'm a step a head of you. They're both feeding on rats, they've never seen mice. The smaller one eats fuzzie rats 2 at a time & the larger eats 1 or 2 pups at a time.

Eric