Show us your pet reptiles.....

Purgatory · 3 Jul 2017 at 21:49

robfosters said:
Some pics of my 12 year old female who after a period of heavy feeding has burst through the 4000gm barrier for the first time ever.

She is stunning Rob

thanks for the pics that's what I have to look forward too in a few years with my BP female, I love when they get chunky, I miss the old days of when my Burmese was a perfect handling size and girth, probably why I got a BP, they are like the perfect snake for a family handling environment and love their gentle nature.

So upset this weekend I didn't have time to decorate out her new viv with foliage and a climb. Will stick some pics up of before and after. I have a lot of crafting to do as i'm making a fake climbing branch out of a aluminum mop stick/handle that can be adjusted to size as it can be placed exactly where I want it and easy to take out and hard for her to knock it over and saves me screwing/bolting a branch down to the viv as I may use that viv for something else in the future and trying to not add many holes and things that may need a lot of work to fix for a different species later. I will show you guys in next few days hopefully what I mean.

ValiantUK91 · 9 Jul 2017 at 16:14

Well after going to the petshop to pick up the colombian rainbow boa i walked out with a Brazilian Boa instead (Female, 11month old.) Will get some pictures up once she has settled in.

Purgatory · 10 Jul 2017 at 18:28

ValiantUK91 said:
Well after going to the petshop to pick up the colombian rainbow boa i walked out with a Brazilian Boa instead (Female, 11month old.) Will get some pictures up once she has settled in.

You mean a Brazilian Rainbow Boa ? I have one on hold for this Friday as I'm waiting for a viv to come into the store too as I want same as the one I currently have so can keep them looking the same when stacked. My BRB is a female high red and CB15. She looked pretty small to me but again I'm comparing her to my CB15 Female Royal Python. Make sure you setup the viv right for the BRB if that's what you got as they do like the humidity up and a big water bowl for her to soak in and some moss hides and get orchid bark for the substrate as that stays nice and damp too and will not mold or rot.Make sure to line the bottom of your viv with something to keep it water proof, I'm going to use pond liner on mine and silicone it in place, don't use any type of tape to hold cables or things down in the viv as if it gets stuck on the snake it is a huge headache to remove without damaging the snakes scales and worse if it happens while you are out or asleep the snake will fight to get it off to the point they rip all their scales out. SO rule one no tape of any form.

Will also try get some pics up of my monsters on the weekend. Looking forward to seeing yours

.

If you got a BRB how much did you pay for her ?

Ohh just a heads up Colombian rainbow boa's become brown when adult and their pattern fades, they are not like when young. So if you pick a CRB when young because of the patterns and colour then you will be very disappointing when they are adults.

ValiantUK91 · 10 Jul 2017 at 22:05

Yeah for some reason i missed the rainbow out of brazilian rainbow boa, got her on Habistat Coir Substrate for now as a friend had 3 litres of it lying around it's holding the humidity well but think I'm going to swap to orchid bark in a week or so, I'm using the tub she came in as her humid hide as it already had a hole cut into it covered with mesh for a air vent so i just pulled that off filled it with moss and put it at the back of the viv in the middle.

Ive sealed the corners of the viv with aquarium seal, Im also considering lining the bottom with pond liner or floor vinyl as ive got a few roles lying around.

Ive seen first hand what tape can do to a snakes scales as my friend use black duct tape once which got stuck to his BP, I had to help get it off using warm water and slowly rolling it back abit at a time it was horrible to do.

Not many people seem to like the colour of adult CRP but i like it a lot.

I paid £80 for my BRB doesn't seem to be many about.

Purgatory · 23 Jul 2017 at 17:44

ValiantUK91 said:
Yeah for some reason i missed the rainbow out of brazilian rainbow boa

How is your new BRB monster doing mine seems to just dig herself into the bedding and stays there till I pull her out again.

I will try get some pictures up maybe tonight or next couple of days I finally got their vivs sorted for the royal and the BRB, now have them stacked and now trying to balance the temps between them now the bottom viv keeps the top one warm and hardly comes on, I stuck the Royal on top as she is super tame and I can stick my hand in and get her out with out a single fuss and of all things she comes to me when shes active and comes to hang out, the BRB hummm she is a bit nervous and needs some work and time I think, I'm really happy I didn't go for a younger BRB as the CB15 is as small as I would want one when they want to thrash and get out of your hands or worse she does the whole body relaxing thing to flop like a child that doesn't get its way and if I don't have her held well and away from stuff she could bang her head by doing the flopping thing.. very pretty snake but needs some work to get her to calm down, shes not struck out yet all she has done is trying to get away so far and times she seems happy to be held but is really working you out and minute you give her half a chance she wants to shoot off. She's fed twice now too, 1st time she struck at her food and wrapped round it, 2nd feed very interested chased the rat on the tongs and just stuck her head under the head of the rat and just started swallowing while I had hold of the rat with no strike at all. Had and have snakes that do that but was kinda funny to watch how lazy she was about it all.

Hope yours is doing well and not driving you crazy.

ValiantUK91 · 23 Jul 2017 at 19:10

Mines doing fine barely see her though unless i get her out, shes really tame loves been handled and really inquisitive once out, she doesn't want to go back in after, haven't seen her feed yet she prefers the food to be left in the viv over night. Ill try and get some pictures up in the next few days.

EDIT: Just seen her feed for the first time she still wouldnt strike feed so left it ontop of a hide and she came over to it and took it was the most gentle thing ive ever seen im used to my gopher neally taking me hand off when strike feeding.

Purgatory · 24 Jul 2017 at 01:28

ValiantUK91 said:
Mines doing fine barely see her though unless i get her out, shes really tame loves been handled and really inquisitive once out, she doesn't want to go back in after, haven't seen her feed yet she prefers the food to be left in the viv over night. Ill try and get some pictures up in the next few days.

Yes same with mine seems while they are young they just hide, I had a nice session with her earlier tonight and took her out to handle she is getting better with handling but still needs time to settle more but she is so pretty she is worth the hassle, so happy I didn't get a younger one and feel more comfortable with her at her size as she feels so delicate to me as i'm more a large snake man and it has been a while since I have dealt with a smaller snake that is so slender, most of the snakes I have had are a bit more chunky than her even at her age.

Have some pics of her from tonight's handling session (she was white walling as it was night time but not got to the full white wall, where her crescents glow almost yellow, as you know they change colour from night and day), this was right after I took her out so she holds on for dear life at first then calms down and moves around freely.

Also some pics of my Royal from a couple of weeks ago before I did out her viv too, will update the pics for her and show the vivs for the Royal and BRB. Just need to wipe down the glass doors from all the hand smudges :-/.

The pics were done with a phone camera I will take some nicer ones with a proper camera and take some of my 25 year old Burmese python and try find the pics of the GTPs I had and other snakes I re-homed over the years.

Well these are the monsters I have at my home the Burmese is at my moms in my old bedroom as she needs a room sized enclosure at her size and I don't have room for her at my current home sadly

.

Scania · 24 Jul 2017 at 09:05

I glanced at the thread title and thought it read "show us your pet genitals"

- I blame Monday mornings

I'm very glad I didn't post a picture of my German Shepherds gonads!!

robfosters · 24 Jul 2017 at 09:26

Purgatory said:
Well these are the monsters I have at my home the Burmese is at my moms in my old bedroom as she needs a room sized enclosure at her size and I don't have room for her at my current home sadly .

Wow, you've got an understanding mum.

Purgatory · 24 Jul 2017 at 16:45

robfosters said:
Wow, you've got an understanding mum.

Yup my mum is a true gem and really has a good heart, considering she doesn't like snakes and feared them when I first got her 25 years ago, she now changes her water and cleans her viv if she sees a mess she can easily get to, but of course does not handle her while shes in the viv and never takes her out unless I am there.

My mum grew to realise she is just another animal like her other pets she has and nothing creepy or scary about her, just have to remember she is a snake and can be dangerous at her current size, even though she is super tame and rarely becomes cage defensive. I am the only one that feeds her as she only strikes for her food and I don't allow anyone to feed her unless I am there and if they want to feed her I show them how and make sure they are doing it 100% right and always standing beside them and holding their arm in case they get too close or panic and move back while she is going for the food as that will end with a snake out of the enclosure and trying to get her food that keeps moving away from the enclosure. She does strike out and hangs outside of her enclosure sometimes with the food in her mouth and I just pick her up while she has her mouth full and stick her back in but the regular person would find that very uncomfortable to do, but my mum is pretty cool if that happens she does go and grab her and toss her back in when I say it is okay to do and I know 100% she is not going to release her food and may strike again.

That is the reason I never got rid of her she converted me into a snake lover and even my mum that was terrified by snakes and I really mean terrified where she would almost burst into tears when someone had a snake near her. That's the only reason she is still "our pet" and living with my mum as we both have a lot of respect for her and would never want anything bad to happen to her, she is just as much my mums pet as she is mine now. How funny things turn out really.

Purgatory · 29 Jul 2017 at 22:00

Great example last night of a person that shouldn't own a snake... full 911 call here.

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2017/07/sheffield_lake_firefighters_ch.html

Saw the original news article here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40762326 but doesn't have the full 911 call.

she has 11 ball pythons and goes to rescue two small boa constrictors, small 5 and a half foot boa constrictors (basically a very young snake, which most snake owners would class as a baby to a juvenile) and well listen to the 911 call and the firefighters ended up killing the snake because they simply couldn't remove a small snake of her the right way.. you would have thought anyone with 11 ball pythons would know how to remove a snake if it bites you anywhere... I'm guessing shes never ever been bitten and that was her first bite and she panicked and got the poor snake killed by the emergency services that probably had no skills around a snake and didn't realise it was very easy to take off if you know how.

She better get rid of whole ball python collection if she can't deal with a 5 and a half foot boa when it bites her.. She clearly had the snake around her neck at the time it nailed her too, which was a very dumb thing to do with a new snake that she doesn't know and a snake that doesn't know her yet, any responsible snake owner knows any new snake you keep at a distance and control it till you grow to trust it and realise it will not react in that manner or what can trip it to bite, she probably was showing off with her new snake and that's what happened.. This is the perfect example of how people like her destroy the snake hobby and make it out as dangerous, that snake could not even harm a child at that size and she was 45 years old with 11 ball pythons so has kept snakes, well god knows how long she has had the 11 ball pythons too... I expect minute a ball will bite her it will end the same for the poor snake. :mad:

Edit:- she actually had 9 ball pythons and the 2 boas she rescued/adopted so total of 11 snakes.

Purgatory · 3 Aug 2017 at 19:32

doran1801 said:
GTPs custom planted viv,

My partner says thank you for showing me the GTP and the setup ... this is her face when she said that :mad:

...

Doran I blamed it on you and this weekend I'm the new owner of this beauty

. CB15 Female ARU GTP.

Doran I also ordered the EVO Pro thermostat for her, how are you finding it as you said you are using one, has it been reliable and not caused any strange things to happen ?

doran1801 · 4 Aug 2017 at 07:24

Purgatory said:
My partner says thank you for showing me the GTP and the setup ... this is her face when she said that ...

Doran I blamed it on you and this weekend I'm the new owner of this beauty . CB15 Female ARU GTP.

Doran I also ordered the EVO Pro thermostat for her, how are you finding it as you said you are using one, has it been reliable and not caused any strange things to happen ?

That is one beautiful snake!. the evo pro is worth it. I have a proper humidity and temperature cycle. with it connected to a fogger as well. i mist every few days to water the plants. my GTP was able to shed so much easier in this setup compared to the artificial one previously

ValiantUK91 · 4 Aug 2017 at 09:42

Scum scum scum the pair of you :mad:

..... Not jealous one little bit

as ive said before gorgeous looking snakes, GTP is definetly on my next list.

Rainbow boa (Skittles) is doing fine only really comes out at around 2am unless its feeding time.

My gopher has decided to be a teenager past few days and act out struck at me twice in the past 3 days, never done that before its really out of character for him. Hes been fed every 5days temps are spot on aswel so not to sure why hes been cranky.

robfosters · 4 Aug 2017 at 10:10

Purgatory said:
My partner says thank you for showing me the GTP and the setup ... this is her face when she said that ...

Doran I blamed it on you and this weekend I'm the new owner of this beauty . CB15 Female ARU GTP.

Doran I also ordered the EVO Pro thermostat for her, how are you finding it as you said you are using one, has it been reliable and not caused any strange things to happen ?

Beautiful snake. A stunner.

That face though. You can tell she's got it in for you.

Purgatory · 5 Aug 2017 at 18:04

Yes she's pretty but deadly sadly, she will nail you 3-4 times in one blink of an eye :rolleyes:

... Aru more docile than a Biak ... LOL my Biaks before were no where near as bad as her and I think he lied to me and she's really a CB16 female not CB15, she's too small and he's only had her 3 months and 2 months after he put her up for sale... Now I see why and he has never had snakes before.. his wife got it for him as a birthday present fully set up in a viv for £1500, he still has the viv, I just wanted the snake and picked her up today after a 4 hour journey :rolleyes:

because he can't describe where he exactly lives, he lived in no where land out in farm land so was almost impossible to find as google maps and sat nav couldn't even find it..

Anyways have her home now sat in the rainbow boa tank in her little make shift tub with a perch and substrate.. She is 100% pure heat seeking missile.. and rarely misses grrr... had to go to the reptile shop in leeds and get her a hook and I hate hooks but she needs one till she calms down and grabbed her some small mice as she is no where near CB15 size I went and got some mice other day but they are too big for her so he either lied about her age or really didn't know as his wife was probably lied to in the store she got her from and they should have never sold her to some one that has never kept snakes before the shop that sold it to his wife should be ashamed for that .. :mad:

Anyways he was terrified of her and he wouldn't even take her out or get near the viv when it was open, so after I got tagged 3 times I had to stick the gloves on and fish her out and in the process totally rearrange his viv to get her out safely without hurting her.. fun fun fun.. :eek:

Yes she's stunning but sadly smaller than I thought but anyways she will grow now with me at least, just need to plan her viv out accordingly now for her size.

Purgatory · 5 Aug 2017 at 18:08

doran1801 said:
That is one beautiful snake!. the evo pro is worth it. I have a proper humidity and temperature cycle. with it connected to a fogger as well. i mist every few days to water the plants. my GTP was able to shed so much easier in this setup compared to the artificial one previously

Thanks mate, I may have to ask you what you have setup as her heat cycle on the EVO Pro, also what sort of heating are you using ? I have a heat panel for her and will set it to pulse on the EVO Pro. Any experienced suggestions with the EVO pro and the GPT would be appreciated

.

Purgatory · 5 Aug 2017 at 18:11

robfosters said:
Beautiful snake. A stunner.

That face though. You can tell she's got it in for you.

LOL she had it in for me for sure mate today when I went to pick her up, you were so right

.

Purgatory · 5 Aug 2017 at 18:23

ValiantUK91 said:
Scum scum scum the pair of you ..... Not jealous one little bit as ive said before gorgeous looking snakes, GTP is definetly on my next list.

Rainbow boa (Skittles) is doing fine only really comes out at around 2am unless its feeding time.

My gopher has decided to be a teenager past few days and act out struck at me twice in the past 3 days, never done that before its really out of character for him. Hes been fed every 5days temps are spot on aswel so not to sure why hes been cranky.

Me and you need to talk before you go GTP or ETB hunting LOL or I get you over to try mine out first, to get a real feel what you have to deal with. Get a bit more experience with snakes mate before one of these, they really are not a fun snake to deal with if you don't like being bitten while cleaning or getting anywhere near the inside of the enclosure and trust me on this when shes 5-6 foot I would rather take a bite from my 25 and bit year old 18 foot Burmese than one of them.

You only got your first snake was it last year ? These really are different beasts to many of the more popular pet snakes, these are like wild venomous snakes think Black mamba having a very bad day at you, and I bet even Doran will tell you once they have you as a target they are really smart and think how to nail you not like most other snakes.

I got the Aru because they are classed as more docile and a little smaller as adults than a Biak would normally be and really they are the smallest of the GTP family are the Aru and most docile... take that with a pinch of salt.. It really just depends on the snake , this Aru is just pure evil and if it wasn't for the fact I liked how she looked and seeing how her previous owner behaved around her and worried she would end up dying in his hands I wouldn't have got her to be honest. Was one of them purchases that was done more to help him out and the snake. I can deal with nasty snakes and from many years experience with them but a lot of hobbyists can't so have a good think and make sure you get to handle any GTP you get before you pay and see how they are, and I mean go in a few times different days, on feeding day before they feed see how they behave and other days.

Get some pictures up of your BRB and Gopher snake would love to see them.

doran1801 · 5 Aug 2017 at 19:48

Purgatory said:
Me and you need to talk before you go GTP or ETB hunting LOL or I get you over to try mine out first, to get a real feel what you have to deal with. Get a bit more experience with snakes mate before one of these, they really are not a fun snake to deal with if you don't like being bitten while cleaning or getting anywhere near the inside of the enclosure and trust me on this when shes 5-6 foot I would rather take a bite from my 25 and bit year old 18 foot Burmese than one of them.

You only got your first snake was it last year ? These really are different beasts to many of the more popular pet snakes, these are like wild venomous snakes think Black mamba having a very bad day at you, and I bet even Doran will tell you once they have you as a target they are really smart and think how to nail you not like most other snakes.

I got the Aru because they are classed as more docile and a little smaller as adults than a Biak would normally be and really they are the smallest of the GTP family are the Aru and most docile... take that with a pinch of salt.. It really just depends on the snake , this Aru is just pure evil and if it wasn't for the fact I liked how she looked and seeing how her previous owner behaved around her and worried she would end up dying in his hands I wouldn't have got her to be honest. Was one of them purchases that was done more to help him out and the snake. I can deal with nasty snakes and from many years experience with them but a lot of hobbyists can't so have a good think and make sure you get to handle any GTP you get before you pay and see how they are, and I mean go in a few times different days, on feeding day before they feed see how they behave and other days.

Get some pictures up of your BRB and Gopher snake would love to see them.

wise words. ive not been bitten for a while now. but for the first few months he would bite me at every opportunity, even at random times when you thought it was calm. hes calm now, but if i was to pick him off his perch or grab him in any way he would savage me

*Show us your pet reptiles.....*

Show us your pet reptiles.....