Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I don't have it yet, so the pic isn't mine. It's a wild caught adult around 24" that has been treated for parasites and is feeding on rodents weekly. I was a bit surprised to hear that it fed weekly, do these have a faster metabolism than other Candoia? I could use some tips on these if any of you keepers would like to share some. I know the basics from Jerry Conway's site but I wouldn't mind hearing some personal experiences from the people who have kept them here. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up a male or two later on and breed them (if this female isn't already gravid). Thanks for looking.

I keep mine on the cooler end with a hot spot in the cage, and saw copulation rather frequently.
As far as eating they do seem to do nicely on a biweekly feeding[once every two weeks]
I do have two females that seem to want to eat every week a smaller meal and the males are not into it as much, but all are healthy as hell.
I see you bought Ben's waiego he had advertised, nice female

Thanks. Yeah, she's the one Ben Siegel advertised and as soon as I saw her I was hooked. I'm planning on setting her up in an enclosure somewhere around 28x20x16 inches with some type of natural substrate like moss, a few humid hides, lots of narrow branches and fake plants, and a large water dish. Does that sound about right or should I change something? Is humidity a big factor or will they do fine if given a large water dish and a humid hide spot?

If you can rig an elevated small plastic water bowl it would be beneficial and I have a big water bowl also on the bottom of the enclosure with a plastic stick in it so they can suspend from the stick and drink as they like to cling to stuff all the time, especially your fingers when you pick them up. Keep in mind to have easy access to remove the branches as they sometimes poop on the branches and I just take the entire branch outside and hose it off every couple weeks. And also keep in mind that to not hold it often and allow it to adjust to its new home.

It seems mine may have started to breed again with daily mistings or the male is just very attracted to the fat gravid female as he ignores the other gals? I have her separated now and she has refused her first meal ever last night, so I think she is gonna bust soon but I know it will be another month I guess? I suppose they eat often in the wild, small lizards and frogs, however not as many rodents so it will be interesting to raise a captive born on rodents in a big enclosure to see how long it will eventually grow to, keeping in mind to not plump it up too much also.

I plan to offer the babies pinkie heads scented with defrosted frogs/lizards in an attempt to keep any type of reptile parasite away from them from the start.

Oh, and a trick I learned recently is that they like to see their prey hop and move above their heads. I have some new born pulsoni and one was a stickler for frogs and lizards, however I kept it in a 6 inch deli and it would refuse scented pinks. A few weeks ago, I took the time to scent a defrosted pink and hopped the item around it as if it were a frog and then elevated it above its head and kept it shivering, and it came up to it and jumped it like a mad man. And the same trick worked this week again.

Dan

I appreciate the input. I can't tell you how excited I am to finally get my first Candoia. If yours drop their babies with no problems, I may try to get a cb male or two for future breeding if you guys have some to part with. I'll be sure to post some pictures as soon as she arrives.