Otis Progression Thread

The day I brought Otis home last November







He has the most beautiful coloring and has the best personality but he is a super picky eater!! He refuses to EVER eat more than once a week even though he really needs to be on a 5 day schedule to gain some weight!! It's almost like he is a "runt" and just refuses to grow much!! He is supposed to be a year old this month and is less than 40g!!!











He is a sweet boy and I love him to death!! I have taken him to the vets twice to make sure he was ok where he just wasn't gaining weight or growing much and both times he got a great report with no known issues at all so I will just continue to shower him with love and just see where it goes!!!


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He's so cute! He is definitely teeny, but his body condition looks fine, and I'm glad the vet was able to give him a clean bill of health! I love the pictures - adorable

:iagree: Ditto!

Otis certainly is a cute little sneaky one! I can't for the LIFE of me figure out how some of them can have the proclivity of being "picky" eaters! I mean, HOW could they POSSIBLY survive if they were in the wild with such a tendency? Makes you wonder.

At least you double-checked his health & well-being by taking him to a vet! What else can you do? Except maybe try an alternative rodent source (I would, BTW).

However, that said, they all DO grow at different rates. I have a yearling (Ozzy) who hit 175-180 at around the time of his first hatchday. My adult female (Lilly) was the first to reach 3' and 300 grams at a year and a half but that's where she virtually froze while Bozo and Chili-Pepper overtook her and kept growing. At 8 years old, she hovers around 300-330 grams (475 when gravid) while Bozo & Chili-Pepper average 950 grams & 745 grams respectively, both at around 5' long (Bozo certainly is a tad heavy as was recently confirmed by some members here and I've responded by switching his meals from small rats to large mice).

My thing is that I want to ensure my little sneaky ones have the best they possibly can. Kinda stupid when you think about it because what's good for them and what we perceive to be good for them might be two different things. Knowing that, I try my best to ensure they're all well-cared for. Even the six snow hatchlings I have left from Lilly's second clutch. They are all good eaters and were all relatively large out of their eggs (9 - 13 grams!!). They should all have new homes really soon, as I am really good networker and have been touting their arrival since Lilly laid the eggs back in July! I don't advertise here because I am not a breeder for monetary reasons.

In any case, THANX FOR SHARING!!!

Otis looks wonderful! So cute.

Otis is finally gaining good weight and getting bigger....he's such a handsome boy!!!


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Looks like he's growing now! He looks great

Yes he really is I'm so glad he was starting to worry me for a bit there


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Otis loves his new tree!! The picture is terrible cause I have to use a light to keep the temp up in the cold Maine winters! These 40 gallon tanks are hard to keep warm enough


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He's a beautiful boy and looks so happy in his tree!

We have the same heating probs in illinois, though off the floor on an inside wall goes a long way to keeping the snakes warm enough. I haven't had to resort to a light yet, but I do have to monitor both heat and humidity closely in the winter.

I've literally tried everything other than the inside wall thing but that's unfortunately due to not having enough electrical ports on the inside walls!! They are right up against the baseboard heating unit but it's still not enough in the winter!! On the upside neither Bella or Otis seem to have a problem with the lights. I just have a humid hide in both tanks and monitor the humidity levels twice a day lol


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You have even got a wooden snakes head poking out of your new tree

lol I didn't even see that


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Otis new photo shoot, he wouldn't stop moving but you can see his gorgeous markings and how much bigger he's gotten in the last few months






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Beautiful. He looks very healthy. Do you have a weight on him?

He's 178g now


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Remember when you thought he was so small and not going to make it?

He's a big boy now and eating at the grownups table.

I know I'm a worry wart!! I've been so busy lately I've missed out on the forum[emoji47] so glad to be back I'll have to post new pics of Bella and Otis, they are both doing so well!!!!

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