Atlas and Astraea, the BCIs

[Floof]

Today it occurred to me that I've never introduced either of my beloved boas to CS.com (at least, that I can remember, anyway). Shame on me! So here they are!

First is Astraea. She's a 2011 female Salmon hypo BCI.

Astraea was a birthday gift from my dad (who refuses to admit that he's a total enabler!) when I turned 19 last year. Back then, she was just a wee baby thing at about 50 grams! Here's a picture of her perched on my brother's finger, the day she came home... So tiny!

She shed today, and the sun is, amazingly, still shining this month, so the little gal got to go out for a quick photo shoot. She's maybe a bit on the small side still, at 512 grams--I haven't been in any hurry to grow her up fast, so she's been on a nice and easy schedule of one appropriately sized rat about every 7-10 days.

Here's some of the less terrible pictures out of the 70 I took today!

My camera is an awful point-and-shoot whose only redeeming quality is the ability to survive long drops, but occasionally I'll get lucky and get a semi-decent macro shot.

I'll introduce Atlas in the next post...

 

[Floof]

This is Atlas. I'm fairly certain he's a 2011, as well, though he's quite a bit larger than Astraea! I found him at a pet store this last January. A new "reptile specialty" store had opened up in Salt Lake, so how could I not investigate? This sweet little boy was being sold on consignment through the store.

He was being sold as a regular Colombian BCI, but there's no denying he has a unique look! Even though, I know, there are MUCH better places to buy a snake than a store, I simply could not resist... Long story short, he is SUCH an awesome snake, and I'm so thrilled to have him!

Here's a quick picture of him the night he came home.

He's due for some new pics, but here's some from July. He weighed 650 grams at the time of these pics.

Another couple of those lucky macro shots

Thanks for peeking, I hope you enjoyed! I'll be using this as a "progress thread" of sorts for these two, if I remember to post the pictures, lol!

 

[Dakota314]

Cuties! I love boas. By far my favorite kind of snake. Those are some amazing macro shots. I can't even get good ones with the $1000 camera I take home from school occasionally.

Quick question for you. Did you start them both on pinky rats, or were they previously on adult mice?

 

[Floof]

Thanks! That's one thing I love about crappy point and shoots... You don't have to learn how to mess with the settings and such, you just flick it to Super Macro and do your best. Lol

Astraea was started on fuzzy/hopper mice. I alternated between hoppers and pinky rats until she moved up to fuzzy rats, and she's been on just rats since.
Atlas was already on adult mice/rat pups when I got him, so he's been on rats the whole time I've had him.
Hope that answers your question...

 

[Dakota314]

Yes it does, thanks! I'm probably going to switch Musket over, he is almost a year old and only about 300 grams.