pictures of my new dumerils boa rocky [Archive]

nick654377

11-12-12, 09:14 AM

so my nephew named "her" rocky. here she is. i cant wait till she gets on rats!!! today is day one of feeding for her at my place. she ate a mouse no problem at the store before i picked her up.

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t119/5speedstang/photo5.jpg
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t119/5speedstang/photo4.jpg
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t119/5speedstang/photo6.jpg
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t119/5speedstang/photo2.jpg
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t119/5speedstang/photo3.jpg
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t119/5speedstang/photo1.jpg

nick654377

11-12-12, 09:17 AM

EmbraceCalamity

11-12-12, 10:14 AM

now everyone says these are slow growers...... she is about 18 inches now i would guess her at maybe 20. how long do you guys think till she is on small/med rats? after i bought her and found out they are slow growers kinda made me wish i got a red tail but my nephews birthday is in march and he wants a lisard... maybe i can talk him into a red tail and ill keep it at my place :)I can't answer that question for you, but why are you so eager to get her on rats?

Also, if your nephew wants a lizard, make sure it's something he's really gonna stick with. Like snakes, they live for much longer than most people think when cared for properly. (Leopard geckos are a common child's reptile gift, and they live 10 to 15 years.)

~Maggot

MoreliAddict

11-12-12, 10:19 AM

I can't answer that question for you, but why are you so eager to get her on rats?
Not trying to speak for OP, but...

It's always best to put snakes that will need rats as adults, on rats as soon as possible. There are a number of reasons.

One being that snakes can form a preference for mice, and will refuse to eat rats. (not sure if this is an issue for Boas, but this is a major issue with Carpets)

Another is that mouse poop, well not mouse poop, but when a snake poops out a mouse it smells bad. lol

When a snake poops out a rat, it smells like bad breath.

I've also heard there's more nutrition to rats than mice...

Nice Dum!

EmbraceCalamity

11-12-12, 10:22 AM

Not trying to speak for OP, but...

It's always best to put snakes that will need rats as adults, on rats as soon as possible. There are a number of reasons.

One being that snakes can form a preference for mice, and will refuse to eat rats. (not sure if this is an issue for Boas, but this is a major issue with Carpets)

Another is that mouse poop, well not mouse poop, but when a snake poops out a mouse it smells bad. lol

When a snake poops out a rat, it smells like bad breath.

I've also heard there's more nutrition to rats than mice...

Nice Dum!Ah, okay. Thanks. :)

~Maggot

lady_bug87

11-12-12, 10:46 AM

She's probably already big enough to take a rat. It's hard to tell for sure but she looks like she may be ok with a pup (the rat equivillant of a fuzzy) what size mouse is she on?

My gtp takes a hairless rat and they are significantly more slender than drums

lady_bug87

11-12-12, 10:48 AM

nick654377

11-12-12, 11:47 AM

the guy gave me two frozen mice. smalls with her when i picked her up. i can prob get away with bringing her up to a med mouce. after these two are gone i am going to grab a medium and see she does on that.

lady_bug87

11-12-12, 11:52 AM

There you go, she could easily take a rat pup. Yo'll know he food size is big enough by how long you can see a lump made by the item. If it is less then 36h I would go up a size.

jaleely

11-12-12, 09:48 PM

hey nick! Nice dumeril's!!!
Good to see her : )

If you have someone around who is experienced, she may be able to be probed or popped, to see what sex she is for sure. Only let someone experienced do it.

Snakes can eat up to twice their width (at the widest point) in prey size. At 18 inches or more, she probably easily sucks down mice and could probably go for a rat pup.
Like others said, it's always best to move up the prey item in size, for numerous reasons.
It's good for their organs to have the bigger size (some say), but mainly it's more food, more calcium, and since they will only get bigger it's easier to get them interested in rats as soon as you can since they'll be on them for a long time.

She's looking good so far!

If you want a cool big snake, that's active, you could always try a carpet python. Red tail boas, dumerils, and for instance ball pythons all tend to be very docile.
Female corn snakes actually get pretty big.

Don't worry too much about them growing fast...depends on the snake itself. Besides, if you do have a female she'll get about 9 feet, so you don't want her to get that big too fast LOL

nick654377

11-13-12, 06:56 AM

I liked the carpet python we used to have at the pet store aronun here. she was mostly black with grey i believe? this is going back 6+ years. she was very easy to handle and bout 5 foot at the time. once i get her down i may want to look into a BRB.... but like i said one i get her down and back into it.

as far as sexing her. the petstore/breeder i got her from had probed her and she is a female. so honestly i dont know how big she will get. guess ill find out in a few years....

as far as last nights feeding. yeah she wanted nothing to do with it. im going to wait and try again friday. she seemed interested but wouldnt strike. i tryed laying it in there with her and walked away and she cuddled up next to it for a minute then burrowed. she had her head laying next to its head and then she went underground.

as far as heating her tank i think i have it pretty much dialed in. I know some of you will not like this but i went to over tank heat bulbs. i have a 50w day bulb that keeps her hot spot at 82-84 and cool side around 72. I just got a night bulb last night and i went with a 75w red bulb. it held her temp right around 88-90 in her hot spot and cool side went to 74. she is on apspen and i do plan on changing it over to reptibark. should i switch the day bulb to a 75 or the night bulb to a 50?

lady_bug87

11-13-12, 08:16 AM

Hmm the temps at night shouldn't (In my opinion) be higher than day time temperatures. And if they are it *could* be messing with her

I would make both bulbs the same whichever way you choose to go either 50 or 75 as I don't keep durms I wouldn't know which one is better

I also wouldn't personally offer food more than once every 7 days. When snakes are first brought home they could be stressed. Which is why in my home I initiate no handling until the first 2 consecutive feelings and one poop

nick654377

11-13-12, 09:46 AM

i just put that night bulb in not knowing what the temps would go to. I am thinking about switching the substrate to repti bark. people say it helps with the humidity. would the repti bark bring the temp up with the humidity or down? hot side is 80-82 right now on the ground. thinking about going to the 75w day bulb but i dont want temps too high. oppinions please.

Kavyrie

11-13-12, 09:48 AM

My dumerils is about the same size and she takes down rat pups no problem. I would toss the mice and just get rat pups, the sooner she takes rats the better.

nick654377

11-13-12, 02:54 PM

well i had some fun today. i got a bug up my *** and changed her substrate out to a mix of repti bark and coconut husk shavings. i think it looks 100% better. im glad i decided to because i had a heat pad on the bottom of my tank and when i pulled the substrate up, the zoo med pad cracked the bottom of my tank. so swapped out the tanks at the store. the lady was awsome. gave me my money back on the heating pad and dont have to worry about that now and that made me happy.

so i set up her new tank and i had never seen her crawl around and explore like this before. with the aspen she would just burrow and hide. she has been out crusing around for about an hour. i think she likes it better. and it looks 1000000000000x better than the aspen shavings if you ask me.

here are a few pictures. the tank is a 20 long. so 29lx12dx12h to give you an idea of her lengh in one of the pictures.

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t119/5speedstang/photo7.jpg
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t119/5speedstang/photo9.jpg
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t119/5speedstang/photo10.jpg

and one thing i found out when you use aspen a 50w bulb will hold it around 82-84 on hot side. this repti bark/coconut when moist a 75w bulb holds it at 75 so i dropped a 100w in the dome to see what happens. i have a 75 for night time. thats ground temp with an infared gun not ambient temp.

TeaNinja

11-13-12, 03:43 PM

they grow pretty fast actually. here's when i got my female dum in may
http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af184/teaninja/newdum002.jpg
http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af184/teaninja/newdum007.jpg
http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af184/teaninja/postshedoracle001.jpg

here she is now.

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af184/teaninja/postshedoracle007-1.jpg
http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af184/teaninja/postshedoracle013.jpg
http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af184/teaninja/snake022.jpg

promdom

11-13-12, 11:59 PM

my dumerils is about the same size as yours and shes on large mice

iBaman

11-14-12, 12:12 AM

let me guess...you don't have the UTH on a thermostat? that's why the glass cracked. get a thermostat ASAP. makes a WORLD of difference.

EmbraceCalamity

11-14-12, 01:11 AM

let me guess...you don't have the UTH on a thermostat? that's why the glass cracked. get a thermostat ASAP. makes a WORLD of difference.Why/how would a UTH crack glass? The only way temperature can crack glass is if it goes from hot to cold really fast. If heat by itself did it, we wouldn't be able to use glass cookware in the oven.

~Maggot

TeaNinja

11-14-12, 01:47 AM

Why/how would a UTH crack glass? The only way temperature can crack glass is if it goes from hot to cold really fast. If heat by itself did it, we wouldn't be able to use glass cookware in the oven.

~Maggot

she's 100% right. i cracked the bottom of a tank as a kid burning out a UTH with no thermostat. thankfully i didn't cook a snake!
(i don't know why it happens, i just know that it does lol)

EmbraceCalamity

11-14-12, 02:03 AM

she's 100% right. i cracked the bottom of a tank as a kid burning out a UTH with no thermostat. thankfully i didn't cook a snake!
(i don't know why it happens, i just know that it does lol)A quick search seems to indicate that it only happens if it's used improperly (with water or without allowing space underneath the tank for excess heat to escape, which makes sense, as then the trapped heat increases pressure causing cracks). I'm pretty certain that heat by itself can't crack glass (hence glass cookware going in ovens several hundred degrees).

~Maggot

nick654377

11-14-12, 05:44 AM

No i did not have a thermostat on the pad. Have i used pads before without them? Yes. Did i have a prob with them without using themostats before. No. It could of just been a weak bottom on the tank. There quality problems we dont all see. I did also have the tank a 1/4 inch off the wood table with the corner pads. O well its all set now with no problems. The manager at petco did take care of me and trusted me 100% to bring the old tank back after i had it all switched.

Jay

11-14-12, 06:21 AM

Nick, no offense. You should have done a lot more research, you went prepared for a snske yet.

nick654377

11-14-12, 09:05 AM

why because i decided to switch the bedding from aspen to repti bark? because with my ball python i never used a thermostat on the heat pad? because the tank was spaced off the wood table like it should be and still was getting irregular hot spots on the pad? yes this is my second snake, yes it has been a few years since i had my ball but what makes it that i should of done more research because i didnt know what bulb to use and yes i should of had the tank set up a week before i got the snake not 3 days. ill agree with you on that part jay. but i am not here on this forum to argue. that is not my intent on these sites. not in the least bit.

marvelfreak

11-14-12, 09:51 AM

My Dumeril has grown from 18" Last May to just under 4 feet. That's 2.5 feet in a year and a half. Plus mines a male.

icole

11-25-12, 06:55 PM

Mine grew fast so far. Here is a picture of her at 3.5 months when I got her and now at 11.5 months old. She was born December 2011.

My guess is she will eat if you can get temps and humidity correct. My temp is 80 all the time in a plastic tank that is quite humid.

nick654377

11-25-12, 07:12 PM

that is if i can get mine to eat..... she ate once. wouldnt take the food today.

nick654377

11-26-12, 04:25 AM

Icole. What is your cool side temps? Or are u keeping the whole tub at 80? Do your temps drop at night?

icole

11-26-12, 06:09 AM

Icole. What is your cool side temps? Or are u keeping the whole tub at 80? Do your temps drop at night?

The cool side is cooler. I keep it in my basement. I have a 48" Pro Line Plastic enclosure with an 80 watt Radiant Heat Panel on a thermostat. I don't know the cool side temp, but the heat panel is on one side of the tank. I suspect the hot side is above 80, because of where I placed the sensor. She spends most of the time near the hot side.
As far as bedding goes I used news paper when she was in a glass tank, and now I have a role of paper. It was spring when I had her in the glass tank, and I kept her up stairs. She had bad sheds because it was too dry. I did not have a cool side and kept the temp 80 degrees, and she ate. When she was that young I fed her live mice. Now I buy live rats and knock them out. She is on medium, and about to switch to large.

icole

11-26-12, 06:14 AM

Icole. What is your cool side temps? Or are u keeping the whole tub at 80? Do your temps drop at night?
My temps don't drop at night. When I had a small tank I had the heat light on a day night timer and kept the heat pad on all the time. I put cardboard on the bottom of the tank covering the heat pad.