I now have each of the babies set up in its own little nursery–a plastic shoebox with holes drilled through the sides for ventilation, lined with paper towels, and with a water dish and a mound of damp sphagnum moss to hide in. (Baby Brazilian rainbow boas dehydrate very easily, so high humidity is essential.) They are utterly adorable.
Now comes the question of what to do with Astarte. I can’t keep “her”. Isis is his mother, which means that the four babies are first-generation inbred. This isn’t as big a problem in reptiles as it is in mammals, but it’s still not good, and I wouldn’t feel good about breeding mother to son. I don’t have enough room for two cages. So, one of them has to go, and I’m much fonder of Isis, having had her for 12 years now, so Astarte has got to go. (Sorry, Astarte.)
Whether to get another male to replace Astarte is an interesting question. I LOVE baby boas–they are adorable–and they are also quite valuable at about $150 apiece (retail), but I also don’t feel Isis needs to be a baby factory for the rest of her life, and I don’t really have room to cage them separately. So I’ll have to think about it. I may just keep only Isis.
But damn, those babies are CUTE!!
Today I selected eighteen photos as candidates to go with my sample chapter, and heard back from my friend the fashion designer–I’m going over there this weekend to see about getting that basic pattern drafted.
