l The Blumen Boas Blog: June 2007

Monday, June 18, 2007

The Waiting Game.....


Pictured here is one of my Female DH Sharp Snow Boas, Cartagena. She is due any day now, and it's driving me crazy! She has been maintaining her heat conservation position like a champ throughout her pregnancy (as in the picture above which I took yesterday). She also has been gradually losing weight in the front half of her body over the last few weeks which is a good sign of a healthy litter to come....
Unlike Colombia who had a Post Ovulation Shed (POS), Cartagena shed mid-way through her pregnancy - 43 days after her final ovulation. So, I can't calculate her due date by the POS date, which is usually 105 days (give or take 5 days). Colombia had her litter 102 days after her POS, so I had a good idea of when to expect babies.
Since Cartagena didn't give me a POS, I have to calculate her due date from her final ovulation date. Cartagena's second ovulation occured on 2/20/07, so 123 days puts her delivery date at 6/23/07. Give or take 5 days puts her right on schedule for a nice healthy litter any day now. She also had a waxy stool yesterday (don't worry I won't post a picture of that, lol!), so she should hopefully go within the next 24-48 hours.
I'm wearing out the carpet in front of her cage constantly checking on her! I'm hoping for the best, and I just hope she makes it through her first litter OK. I'll of course be posting an update here as soon she has her babies!
One more thing, if all of the above info is Greek to you, or if you want more information on the breeding or parturition process of boas, I highly recommend you check out the article that Jeff Ronne submitted to Reptiles magazine in November 1996. You can also find an excellent chapter on breeding boas in the book The Boa Constrictor Manual.

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posted by Kevin Blumenthal - Blumen Boas at 9:44 PM 0 Comments

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Happy Father's Day!

A happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there, especially those Dad's serving our country!

I spent my Father's Day morning running a 5K. I like running (but I don't love it...), and was fortunate enough to run and finish the ING New York City Marathon last year.

The run was the Michael's 5K Run and Fun Walk. The proceeds for the run went to the Michael Hafke Foundation. Michael Hafke is a 17 year veteran of the Clinton Township, New Jersey police department who served 18 months in Iraq for the Army National Guard. Michael trained Iraqi police officers in Tikrit. Upon returning from his deployment, he was diagnosed with Multiple Myloma, a type of bone cancer.

Michael is a father of 3 teenagers, so he really has his hands full! I personally know Michael, and you will not find a nicer, more generous guy. He really is a terrific person, and my thoughts and prayers are with him and his family as he goes through this tough time.

If you would like to donate to the Michael Hafke Foundation to help his family with medical bills, please visit the Michael Hafke Foundation website.

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posted by Kevin Blumenthal - Blumen Boas at 3:03 PM 0 Comments

Friday, June 15, 2007

Playing hookie from work

I took a day off from work and spent the day with my daughter and her friend at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson New Jersey. If you're any kind of a coaster nut like me and my daughter, you have to put this park near the top of your must see list! We've been season pass holders for the past few years, and we can't get enough of this park.

Great Adventure has 13 roller coasters including the tallest and faster roller coaster in the world, Kingda Ka. This bad boy goes from 0 to 128 mph in 3.8 seconds, and shoots up 456 feet! Of course since it was built a couple seasons ago, it's had a few problems with reliability. When it's working though, it's well worth the 50 second ride!

The other coasters are well worth the trip too, especially El Toro. El Toro is the newest coaster at the park, and also holds the record for the steepest drop of any wooden roller coaster in the U.S. (76 degrees). It's also the second tallest and fastest woodie in the world. My daughter and I think it's the best coaster in the park, and it is such a smooth and fast ride that it's surprising that it's a woodie.

The park wasn't very busy, which made for short waits for the coasters (except for the 2.5 hour wait for Kingda Ka). It also was only 70 degrees or so, which helped make it even nicer to be at the park for the day. My only complaint for the park is the EXTREMELY high prices for food inside the park.

Great Adventure also has the largest drive through Safari outside of Africa that is pretty cool. It opens an hour before the park, so you can get there early and drive through the Safari and enjoy the 1400 animals (the giraffes are the best!).

It was great spending time with my daughter, and I'm sure we'll be going back a few more times this year!

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posted by Kevin Blumenthal - Blumen Boas at 9:15 PM 0 Comments

Thursday, June 14, 2007

So I've jumped on the Blog Train!

Well, better late than never! I've actually been looking at different types of blogging programs to integrate with the website for a while now. I finally settled on the one from blogger.com. It's free, can integrate with my existing web page layout (with a little tweaking of course....), and it looks like one of the more "user friendly" blogging programs out there.
So, I will try to keep my blog focused on the care and breeding of my pet Boas. I also will blog about the business side of things. Since I am far from being a major breeder (I have no intention of becoming a major breeder), I'll share with you (the reader - if there is any, lol) how hard or easy it is for a "small guy" to sell the offspring of a litter once they're born. Of course, I'll be sure to talk about all of the cool new types of Boa morphs being introduced out there in the world as well. There's some incredible Boa morphs being created, and many more interesting ones to come! I'm sure I'll mix in some other miscellaneous stuff every now and then too.....
I have also turned on the ability for readers to leave comments. Feel free to leave a comment (or you can email me if you don't want your comments to be seen by others), I'm always open to criticism. Don't worry I have a thick skin, lol. You can leave anonymous comments too for anyone that wants to stay under the radar :)!
Oh, and the picture is of the first Sharp Snow Boa born in the world - I love this little guy (can you tell?!? LOL)! More pictures of him can be found here.

posted by Kevin Blumenthal - Blumen Boas at 6:00 PM 0 Comments

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