Reptile & Amphibian Forums

im wondering, what would be the best size cage/housing for a yearling blood and what is the normal length and size of a yearling blood because i feed mine 1 med rat a week and they just seem a little small compared to other ppls pics i see on here of yearling bloods. i just want to put them in a big enough housing area where they can grow because right now i have mine in 20 gal. long tanks and i dont know if thats a little too small or what and i just have them in there because i know alot of ppl say that young bloods dont like or need alot of space and mine have space but not much because of the water bowls and hide spot & i just want them to have the best size housing for them you know. and i want to make sure they grow normally and healthy and not live in a space too small so if someone could answer this ? for me it will be greatly appreciated!!!!!! thank you

Seven,I'm not by all means an expert,but my best suggestion is to save your money and buy a cage 4ft long x 2ft wide x 12 inches tall.That should hold you till the boa reaches 5ft.Their are numerous cage company's that produce this size of cage for ONLY 200.00 SHIPPED!BOAPHILE PLASTICS,VISION, MOONSTRUCT EXOTICS.That's what I'm about to do with my yearlings.Hope this helps.

Hey,
My school of thought on the subject of glass aquariums, is a lot different than most keepers here on the forum, and probably most others too. However, that said, I don't particular shun glass aquariums if you don't have the means to provide something of better quality or something in the way of a "Freedom Breeder" or "Vision Cage", as I have raised quite a few bloods and pythons in my days using glass aquariums. Mind you though, I by no means am a proponent of glass cages, but if for the time being that is all you have, then you can make it work for you, till you are able to get something better.

Firstly, glass cages have what's called a low R rating. This means that they have poor insulating property and the animal, in this case blood, will depend on the quaility of the heating device and cage placement in the house and ambient temperature of the room. I think you get it. However, a well placed glass cage can make an adequate home, if you make some modifications to the cage. Proper heating device and thermostat, and substrate make the difference. Humidity is a little bit tricky to control in glass cages, but not impossible. By covering the top of the cage, with plastic or a well fitted piece of plexiglass hot glued to the under side of the screen lid, you can control the humidity in the cage just as readily. You can drill some holes in the plexiglass with a small 1/8th bit and reduce the high air flow that you would normally get with a bare screen lid. Two hides is plenty, and newspaper for as a substrate should be fine. I like to use several layers of newspaper 3-4 pages thick.

Place a thermostat probe on the heated end or plug the heating device to a dimmer and monitor the temperatures using a digital thermometer. You should be able to establish a gradient using a 20 long.

A one year old blood, can live in a 20 gallon long cage, quite nicely, if you provide the necessary cage accoutrements like: large water bowl for soaking when needed, hide boxes (2 tops). Substrate, newspaper, makes the best substrate and afforedable too, and easily cleaned when soiled. A one year old blood, should be any where from 12-18 inches on a good feeding regimen.

I hope this answers some of your questions.

-Angel
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"Until we lose our self, there is no way of finding our self."
-Henry Miller.

i just measured them and they are both exactly 30 inches and its weird because you said a yearling blood is around 18 inches and the breeders i got both of mine said they were born last september so i guess im doing a good job lol. they arent that fat though, well my black blood is pretty fat but he doesnt seem real short and real thick and fat like some ive seen on here and my female red blood isnt that fat but she isnt skinny and like i said i feed them each 1 med rat a week so i think they are doing alright. lol i think im just too anxious for them to grow lol

This is one of my black females born in June this year!!

here is one of her being held to give you a better scale..

does your snake have little or no pattern on the front half of its back?? it looks cool
jeff

Hey,
I have some babies from O4, and they aren't nearly as long as your snakes. You must be feeding them power rats, by ACME. LOL! That's very impressive! I guess, I'm not one to power feed or feed larger food than a feel necessary. I like to grow my bloods slowly, and over time. My bloods from 04, have just now been put on small rats, and are pounding them with no problem. The first and second years of their life, are crucial to growth, and I think that the larger food, will make the difference in the second year.

-Angel
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"Until we lose our self, there is no way of finding our self."
-Henry Miller.

Hi...all 3 of mine have very little patterning and pics don't do them justice..Angel mine aren't power fed and are only eating large adult mice at the moment..they have taken rat fluffs also..I am feeding every 4-5 days at the moment and they seem to be doing fine..those pics are a few weeks old now so will post some more soon..Large female is in slough and very milky so will leave her be and other pair have fed today so may post some pics in next day or so..By the way angel thanks for the mails and compliments..I agree with you about powerfeeding also..guess mine are just large for their age...

Hey Malcom,
I didn't mean to imply that you were power feeding, just put that thought out there as there are keepers that are in the habit of over feeding to maxmize size and weight for breeding within the second year of the animals life. I think that is over-kill, particularly given the species optimal growth rate and breeding physiology. The 3rd to 4th year of the blood/short-tails life is the ideal time for breeding.

I love that one dark male? with the melting stripe. Ouch! that one is incredible. You have to post which one is which, as far as male and female in the pic's.
-Angel
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"Until we lose our self, there is no way of finding our self."
-Henry Miller.

Hi..I know what you mean angel...the two pics in this thread are of same snake..she is a really stunning snake..I will post a pic of the other pair tomorrow but they are dulling down coming up to shed also..growing fast!!Glad you all like them..

Ok this is just info from my personal collection and I cant really comment on what is the norm since I dont know. I just measured my yearling (15 months or so) and she measured out to about 38" my May birth baby measured to 20" (fairly plump, eat like champs) and my late June early August measured to 15" (just recieved a few weeks ago,healthy girth). These are all from different breeders and parents so of course there is going to be size difference at hatch and different growth rates etc. IMO I dont consider the amout of food that I give to be power feeding, but they surely aren't underfed. They all eat what I consider to be appropriate sized prey; the yearling gets one small rat a week, I just started giving the May babies two med mice a week and the 15" are getting on med/small mouse a week. I cant remember any ever missing a meal tho aside from maybee a week or possibly two because of shed. All of them are thriving and growing consistantly, tho a few I just recieved and cant judge due to the time. I'm also kind of thinking I may live on some sort of radiation as my 3 year old male is over 5'6" and still seems to be growing...?

As for cage sizing the yearling (38"is about to be upgraded, but her current cage is a rubbermaid that is 20" x 16" x 9" Not sure what I'm going to put her in tho, shes not large enough for a cage the size I built for my large male.. aprox. 45" x 24" x 18"? so I might buy a slightly larger rubbermaid and then build her one of those sometime late summer/next winter. As i was fairly unexperienced with my older male when I got him he was kept in an aquarium up until I built his new abode.. he was actually fine and seemed to do very well in it, so I would say there is no problem with aquariums aside from the obvious. I've just switched to rubbermaids as they are much easier to clean and take care of.. and a whole lot cheaper, and durable, and stackable etc etc....
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"It's my snake, I trained it, so I'm going to eat it!" - Mad Max, The Road Warrior

Hey Jordan,
Are these all late 03 to early 04?
-Angel
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"Until we lose our self, there is no way of finding our self."
-Henry Miller.

Angel,

The yearling female at 38" is a June 03', 20" babies are early May 04', and the 15" newbies are I believe late July 04'. The May babies I have fed about 12 times, and the newbies just ate for the second time for me today and I'm assuming they were fed about 2-3 times from their breeder. Dont have a gram scale, but if I find access to one I will get weights. The yearling and two of the 15" are related but from different hatchings so they could be from overly large parents? I have another that is from a different breeder and about the same age and size tho. Do you know what average length/weight at hatch is for Borneos?

J
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"It's my snake, I trained it, so I'm going to eat it!" - Mad Max, The Road Warrior

Rhianon (January '04 NERD, thanks Kara) is around 3' long and taking small/medium rats. She is in a rubbermaid about the size of a 20L.
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0.1 "Tremper" looking Albino Leopard gecko (Lex)
0.0.1 tiger crested gecko (peachs)
0.1 Red blood python (Rhianon)
0.0.1 ball pythons (FELIX!!!!!)
2.1 Feral cats that we adopted (Fuzzy, Bear, and Tony)

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