• Posted 12/19/2024.
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    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

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    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
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    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Halamahera Ground Boas

T

toddnbecka

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I just received a pair of these mini-boas, and was hoping someone with previous experience keeping and/or breeding them could offer some advice. They're currently set up in sterilite tubs with cypress mulch for substrate. Humidity is very high with condensation all over the inside of the tubs, ultratherm heat mats, upper 80's on the warm end with a suitable size 3 tier shelf to provide a vertical heat gradient as well as escape from the damp mulch if preferred.
No clue on their age/s, both are between 2-3' long, the female is of course bulkier than the male. Main concerns at the moment are whether the humidity should be so high long-term, and what size mice and how often they should be fed.
 
I have a just two year old Halmahera ground boa, Sidney, and he's a pretty easy snake to keep, and super handle able and laid back.

I have his cage running on a herpstat, so his ambient goes to 82.5 during the day and drops to about 78 at night. He always has a hot spot available, he has a little shelf under his heat panel, but I've seen him use it as a basking site only twice in two years. For a boa, he really doesn't like it hot. If the cage temp gets over 83 he will bury himself in the substrate to avoid the heat. Other than that he is pretty good about chilling out in the open...I used to have hides for him, but he never used them, so now I just put plants in the corners and he usually goes behind there if he's feeling shy.

As far as humidity goes, that's a tough one. Sid does NOT like to be on even damp substrate, but if I don't keep a moderately high humidity when he's digesting a meal(60-80%),he will get constipated and then have to soak for several nights in his water bowl before he can go. I have him in a pvc cage, so keeping the humidity in that range is pretty easy in the summer. In the winter when I want to raise his humidity, I spray the cage walls and his climbing tree, and the substrate right below the heat panel, and he's a happy guy. In fact if I want to show him off and get him moving during the day, I spray as above and he starts roaming about and drinks off the leaves and cage walls. i do let the humidity drop to 50% for about a week after he poops, just to let the cage dry out some, to no ill effects.

Lighting is 12 on/12 off all year long. Even though he just turns 2 this week, he refused food and roamed his cage constantly during last breeding season (about 2 months), so something to keep in mind.

With feeding I just let him tell me when he wants to eat. He is not a very active snake, so when he starts roaming and tearing up his cage I get the message. He goes about 2 weeks at present, but he's two now so I'm going to start extending it to 3. Because he is such a sedentary snake, I make sure to take him out regularly, but he's still getting a little chubby for a boa lol. He's 24", which is on the long side for a male Candoia carinata, and 124g as of last week.

he has a large water bowl, not too deep but wide, because he does like to soak and poop in there...makes cage cleaning pretty easy. I don't have to change his bedding for up to 3 months, and he's never had a problem with scale or mouth rot. He's a really clean snake...as long as you change the water regularly.

Hope that helps. Good luck with them. I really enjoy my little guy.
 
So far the female has stayed in her water bowl all the time. The male ate 1 pinky mouse the first feeding, (a week ago last Sunday) while the female took a good-size young adult mouse. The person I got them from said that the female was taking live hopper or weaned mice and the male was taking 3 pinks each week.
The female did poop in her water bowl last week, and continued soaking regardless. I pulled it out and hosed her off a bit in the sink, put her on top of the shelf since the clean water in the bowl was cooler, and she returned (and has stayed) in the water bowl since. SHe didn't eat this past Sunday, though I did fish her out of the bowl to make sure she was aware of the mouse in the tub. The male ate 3 pinky mice SUnday, then 2 more last night. One of the rats escaped her tub and got into a mouse tub, ate a litter of pinkys except for 2 and killed the breeding male and 2 females. The 2 remaining pinks were doomed anyway, so I offered them to the male. He has taken up residence inside a ceramic cichlid stone, which I've found to be much more useful for snakes than cichlids, lol. There's always condensation on the sides of the tubs, even though the mulch over the heated ends is dry, so I figure the ambient humidity is high enough. I checked them both for mites, haven't found any, so I don't understand the female staying in the water bowl. I did find some mulch in the male's, so clearly he had been in the water bowl at some point. Every time I've looked in on them they're in the same places. As far as handling they're essentially dwarf ball pythons. Pick up either one and he/she just sits there like a rock.
 
Thanks for the reply, BTW. I currently have 23 snakes, and expecting 2 litters of baby Dominican red mountain boas in about another month or so. The Halamahera's are the most recent addition, and the hardest to find care info for.
 
I would bump the male up to a larger prey item if he's taking three pinks...a fuzzy should work. My guy is about 124g now and his last meal was 16g (small mouse)

When my guy sits in his water bowl its because a) he is constipated, or b) the ambient temp is too high. So if she pooped, I would lower the ambient temp to about 82-83 at the highest...these guys don't like it very hot.
 
The female's water bowl was on the cool end for the first week, then I moved it to the warmer end after she ate the mouse. Both have identical ceramic caves on both ends of their tubs. The male has been in the warm end cave ever since he moved from his position on top of the shelf over the warm end. Since the female can't still be digesting and has pooped I'll move her water bowl back to the cooler end and see if that makes any difference.
 
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