Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My female rubber passed 5 infertile eggs yesterday. They were all about an inch-and-a-half long. One seemed to have some blood vessels in it, and maybe a very tiny embryo.

Not sure what went wrong. She was with two males all spring until the end of May. All were brumated.

Maybe better luck next year. Now I just hope I can get some good meals into her before fall.
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Kent

Wow, I'll bet that was disappointing

Hopefully, next time will go well. I know there are some herp species that tend to have duds the first time they breed...perhaps rubber boas are one of them.
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Carl

Since she is a wild caught young adult, I do not know how old she is, or if she has produced young previously. I collected her in 2010. The problem this time of year is providing her with a way to stay cool. She has not resumed feeding yet, so I don't want her to burn up her reserves. I will soak her today to make sure she is well hydrated, then try feeding again tonight.
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Kent

I hadn't realized how hard it is to keep these guys cool until acquiring a few for the long-term. My house normally reaches the low 80's easily during the day in the summer, and I've had to resort to some odd solutions, the only real working one is leaving a loud, power-hogging portable A/C unit running in their room all of the time.

How do you normally manage it? I could use some new ideas.

Since I live in Washington State, I can usually get the snake room cool at night if leave windows open. Then I close it up in the morning, and close the blinds so the sun doesn't heat the room up. We have been having a "heat wave" the last few days, so it has been more challenging. It got up to 102 in the Portland/Vancouver area on Saturday the 4th.

I always provide them with a moist hide, which they use frequently, and also soak them in water occasionally to make sure they stay hydrated.

Since they go for long periods without eating, keeping them cool is very important. Normally this time of year I think they spend most of their time underground to stay cool.
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Kent

Yup, I'm just outside of Portland, and we've had a few nasty hot spells (for here, anyway) looks like 97-100ish for the next few days.

My house doesn't even cool down at night- the last time we had a short heat wave, we didn't cool below 87 until 3 or 4 in the morning. Can't wait to move.

Anyway, I ended up completely changing how I deal with the cage- they've got coco husk/soil substrate now, quite deep, and very moist on one side heading to dry on the other.

I still keep 'em on the floor, no lights even for display, and in the coolest room. Not enough, but a start. I've definitely noticed they don't leave the deep wet side of the cage much right now. Still trying different ways to keep them safe.