Sheds and Whatnot

Because life is so exciting I figure I'd share that both Leonard and Slither managed to shed within the past couple of weeks, and both did so with an absolute minimum of muss and fuss.  Yay, snakes!

Leonard gave me fits a few weeks ago.  I fed him and while he was yawning to realign his jaws, I saw what looked like black smears on both the top and bottom interior of his mouth.  So, because I am a panicky boa constrictor owner, I dragged his still-tiny snakey self in to see DocRock the next available appointment.

And let me state now, if you haven't already figured it out, but I am an idiot.  The "smear" I saw on the bottom of his mouth was his tongue, and the one on the top?

A freaking shadow. Yes, boys and girls, I am a complete genius.  But $21.00 later at least I'm not panicked.

I've also upped Leonard, at DocRock's behest, to 2 ROAASes* every other week, with a single ROAAS on the weeks in between.  It seems the little critter is growing.  I'll weigh him tonight and edit this entry with the results.

Weight edit (I'm a little late -- it's Monday, 8/26 now):  115 grams! 

Yes, I used Paint on the background. My skills are minimal.

Otherwise, all is well in the world of the slithery.  Have a good one :)

*Rodents Of An Appropriate Size -- yes, I'm still trying to ignore the facts about what I feed my damned pets :P

Vet Report :)

Well, Leonard (I've bumped the spelling to the English variant because remembering the "H" was messing with my head) is doing pretty well.  He's eaten for me every week except last, which he refused, but he ate again this Saturday so it appears all is well in his scaly little world.

I took him in to our exotics vet this past Monday for a general checkup in case I'd missed anything (like the micro ophthalmia affecting his right eye, for instance, that I didn't notice until I'd had him home for about a week); also because at that time he had yet to produce any waste for me, plus there was the whole meal-skipping incident.  Happily, when I went to pack him up for his vet visit, he'd managed to "perform" so I scooped that up and into a ziploc bag because DocRock is a fiend for fecals.  Might as well knock that out in one trip.

The vet report is good :)  The kink in Leonard's tail is minimal and isn't impeding his ability to pass waste (as evidenced by the giant 18g movement he managed*), she saw no sign of mites, his little right eye, although rendering him virtually blind on that side, isn't going to bother him, and he's absolutely lovely color-wise.

Also, the fecal came back clean so I don't have to worm him.  Thank goodness, because prying open a snake's mouth to dose it with ivermectin isn't on my short list (or even long list) of Things I Want to Ever, EVER Do Again..  We had to do it with the ball pythons and it was decidedly less than fun, so I'm thrilled I won't be experiencing a repeat.  There's a reason for my frozen/ thawed snake food obsession, and it extends beyond the nice little compartmentalization I work to maintain in light of The Rats That Ate My Free Time.

Oh, and the food refusal was likely because he may be going into shed -- he's looking a bit dull at the moment -- or it's possible his delighted new owner held him a bit too much the week prior *hanging head*.  So I'm putting myself on a handling schedule to make sure he gets the contact his eventual size (6', prayerfully not 7) requires, while not disrupting his thermoregulation to the point where he's unimpressed by food.

Anyway, we're good to go!  He ate yesterday, so I can't hold him until Tuesday lest I disrupt his digestion.  Since I'd prefer not to clean up a regurg, I'm going to go with that.


*I know it was 18g because I weighed him prior to The Event and he'd hit 102g, but afterward he dropped to 84g.  Impressive!

Backwards

When acquiring a new snake or reptile in general, the smart and responsible thing to do is to have all equipment set up for your new household addition well in advance of the actual animal's arrival.  I did this with our ball pythons.  I got their enclosures ready, ran the thermostat so I could watch temps and humidity (I'm an obsessive beast with a laser thermometer), and by the time we brought the little guys home a couple weeks after we'd purchased them I knew their setups were running smoothly.  I was able to put them in their little bins with barely a second thought.  The system ran itself.

I didn't do that with our boa.  Consistency is apparently not my strong suit.

We weren't really planning on another snake quite yet.  I knew I wanted either a boa constrictor or a Dumerils boa, and although I adore how Dumerils look (they are gorgeous!) I had some concerns about their reported issues converting to frozen/thawed food.  I also thought it would be kind of mean to expect them to take f/t while simultaneously being tormented by the scent of our rather lively pet rats a few rooms down.

So I was resigned to sticking with just our sand boas and ball pythons for a couple more years at least, or at most adding a hognose snake and perhaps a corn snake or king snake... or milk snake (they're all still on the list!).  But when I ran across our new addition I just couldn't resist.

See the little guy in there?  No?  Your eyesight hasn't failed, this is how we usually see his tank too.  He's actually camped out in the little black "hide" box on the right-hand side, and to all intents and purposes he seems fine, but it's making me nuts.  I haven't gotten his temperatures and humidity to suit me yet (although I've got a thermostat for his light that should help out some because having it off more should leave additional humidity in the cage and I'm tweaking as I go) so the fact that he's still not really making much of an appearance has me rather concerned that it's something I've caused... which isn't entirely out of the question.

He's just so young, hasn't eaten for me yet -- his breeder assures me he took frozen from the get-go, and like an idiot I tried to feed him last Thursday (I know better -- I know not to feed for at least 7 days after acquisition and should have waited for Sunday or even next Thursday but I listened to Choreboy who's busy anthropomorphizing the hell out of our reptiles and saying the boa needs to "feel" as if he's part of the family *facepalm*)... he was having none of it.

So, yeah.  Stressed, that'd be me.  Possibly the snake, too.  Prayerfully not.

I'm hopeful that the improvements I'm making to his environment (and him finishing his shed, whenever that blessed day arrives) will have him feeling much more himself... and much more hungry.

I'll keep y'all posted.


*Yes, I'm still managing to keep everything neatly compartmentalized.  Pet rats live in the Gum Zombie's room and are adorable little snuggly, smelly fuzzballs.  Snake food enters the house already in a frozen state, and I'm having continued success in mostly convincing myself the snakes' dinners are just mutant chickens.  If we end up with a snake that requires live food I totally get that it happens in the wild, but I'm too much of a mushpot to deal.  So if I can't convince it otherwise I'm going to have to bust my butt to find it a new home, which will suck... but not as much as being an idiot and starving my snake would.

Edited to add:  Okay, if it's not a rat it appears I'm not too much of a mushpot.  He's eaten, and that's all I'm saying on the matter.  Now to convince him that f/t offerings are, indeed food.

Look What Followed Me Home from Repticon!

Introducing my very own baby boa :)  He's a little boy (very little... only for now), has eaten 2x according to his breeder, and has a little kink in his tail.  He's absolutely perfect for us.

Name to be forthcoming.  I'm leaning toward George...