Samy shed
Here are a couple pics that I took the other day of Samy, my 8 foot, 36 lb. female (the 2 liter Coke bottle is for size reference - it's not a play toy for her...).
When I first looked in on her I thought she somehow escaped from her locked cage! I have never seen her soak in her water bowl, and she blended in pretty well with the bowl which made me do a double-take to find her. It is a 20"x18"x6" tall water bowl that I wish was still available. I use them for my large 7 foot Cages By Design cages to help maintain proper humidity, and they work great. Usually when I see that Samy is opaque, I will spray her a couple times a day until she sheds to ensure that she has a good shed. After she sheds, I unroll the shed (which is always in one nice long piece) and check to make sure that her eye caps came off as well as the tip of her tail. I do this with all of my boas every time they shed, even the babies, to make sure that there isn't any retained shed that needs my attention. If an eye cap doesn't shed, it can lead to permanant eye damage if is not taken care of. If the tip of the tail doesn't shed, it can get to the point where it will cutoff the circulation in the tail and lead to the tip of the tail coming off. If you own a boa, be sure to check the sheds for these two spots in particular to avoid issues down the road.
Samy has been on a diet and exercise program for the past 15 months. When I got her, she was slightly overweight - she had fat rings on her tail past her cloaca. I have been taking her out of her cage and letting her exercise on my stairway to help her work off her extra weight. She will climb up the stairs and then head back down and go back and forth for a good 45 minutes. There's nothing like a good stair workout! The stairway has a door at the bottom and one at the top, so I don't have to worry about keeping an eye on her to make sure she doesn't escape....She has lost a little under a pound in 15 months, and her fat rings are almost completely gone. I also VERY slowly cutback the frequency of her feedings to where she is now getting 1 jumbo rat (300+ grams/9") every 3 weeks. This should be just the right size/frequency of meal for her for the rest of her life. Of course, I will increase the frequency if I think she gets too thin, but this feeding schedule should be fine for her. I also think she really enjoys being out and exercising. Not only does it keep her attitude good by being handled, but I believe it helps her to stay happy with her little "exploring". She is now 10 years old, and hopefully she will be around for at least another 15 to 20 years!
Here she is post shed:
When I first looked in on her I thought she somehow escaped from her locked cage! I have never seen her soak in her water bowl, and she blended in pretty well with the bowl which made me do a double-take to find her. It is a 20"x18"x6" tall water bowl that I wish was still available. I use them for my large 7 foot Cages By Design cages to help maintain proper humidity, and they work great. Usually when I see that Samy is opaque, I will spray her a couple times a day until she sheds to ensure that she has a good shed. After she sheds, I unroll the shed (which is always in one nice long piece) and check to make sure that her eye caps came off as well as the tip of her tail. I do this with all of my boas every time they shed, even the babies, to make sure that there isn't any retained shed that needs my attention. If an eye cap doesn't shed, it can lead to permanant eye damage if is not taken care of. If the tip of the tail doesn't shed, it can get to the point where it will cutoff the circulation in the tail and lead to the tip of the tail coming off. If you own a boa, be sure to check the sheds for these two spots in particular to avoid issues down the road.
Samy has been on a diet and exercise program for the past 15 months. When I got her, she was slightly overweight - she had fat rings on her tail past her cloaca. I have been taking her out of her cage and letting her exercise on my stairway to help her work off her extra weight. She will climb up the stairs and then head back down and go back and forth for a good 45 minutes. There's nothing like a good stair workout! The stairway has a door at the bottom and one at the top, so I don't have to worry about keeping an eye on her to make sure she doesn't escape....She has lost a little under a pound in 15 months, and her fat rings are almost completely gone. I also VERY slowly cutback the frequency of her feedings to where she is now getting 1 jumbo rat (300+ grams/9") every 3 weeks. This should be just the right size/frequency of meal for her for the rest of her life. Of course, I will increase the frequency if I think she gets too thin, but this feeding schedule should be fine for her. I also think she really enjoys being out and exercising. Not only does it keep her attitude good by being handled, but I believe it helps her to stay happy with her little "exploring". She is now 10 years old, and hopefully she will be around for at least another 15 to 20 years!
Here she is post shed:
Labels: Samy
posted by Kevin Blumenthal - Blumen Boas at
8:37 PM
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