Pacific Boa Constrictor Snakes (Candoia bibroni bibroni)

Alfie's snake named Samael... Samael ( Hebrew : סמאל ‎) (also Sammael ) is an important archangel in Talmudic and post-Talmudic lore, a figure who is accuser, seducer and destroyer, and has been regarded as both good and evil . It is said that he was the guardian angel of Esau and a patron of the empire of Rome. Also called Sammael and Samil, he is considered in legend both a member of the heavenly host (with often grim and destructive duties) and a fallen angel , equatable with Satan and the chief of the evil spirits. One of Samael's greatest roles in Jewish lore is that of the angel of death. In this capacity he is a fallen angel but nevertheless remains one of the Lord's servants. As a good angel, Samael supposedly resides in the seventh heaven, although he is declared to be the chief angel of the fifth heaven.

Is it a Fiji boa? Is it a fire breathing dragon? You decide.... Well. OK it's boa - and a very tiny one, but such Fire!

I have two extremes of Fiji Boa size in my house at the moment: Thomasina (vastly pregnant) I estimate at over 2m long, weighing almost 3Kg, while the two babies we just got from Taveuni, now three weeks old, are about 33 cm long and weigh 11 gms each. The babies are eating one small frozen (and thawed) house gecko a week (straight from the floor of a feeding cup), while Thomasina really hasn't eaten much at all for the last 2 or 3 months. It's the coldest time of the year here right now (down to 20oC at night) and the babies are spending all their time curled up into little balls hidden inside dried fern leaves, while Thomasina, who is too fat to coil up tightly, seems to be enjoying a "cushion" made of a locally woven coconut leaf bag filled with fern leaves. My others are also all curling up under the smallest hides they can fit into at night, (sometimes it's a pile of 3 snakes with a hide riding high on top of them as they all push in at once). They seem more ...

Finally we have some new babies - not from our own pregnant snake-in-waiting, but from our friends at Paradise Resort on Taveuni Island. During land clearing a pregnant wild female was found and gave birth in captivity on 29 June. She had 27 live babies, in three different colour ways, many with amazingly orange eyes. See below for photos taken 9 - 10 days after birth..... Momma, resting

It is now between 6 and 7 months since Thomasina was bred, and as she has put on more than 1Kg (almost twice her body weight), and stopped eating, we think she may be close to giving birth. Here's a brief run down of her pregnancy: Date and measurements Event Months after mating 14 Oct 2009 (2m long, 1.5 Kg) Put in with 2 males, mating began immediately 0 7 November 2009 Removed from males 0.75 (3 weeks) 15.Jan 2010 (1.75 Kg) Putting on weight, feeding weekly on geckos, chicken portions, rats/mice 2 to 3 months Late Feb Shed 17 April 2010 Last accepted food, started fasting after this 5 to 6 months 15.May 2010 (2.7 Kg) "Blue" (getting ready to shed) 6 to 7 months Reading suggests that Candoia bibroni bibroni may be pregnant fo...

Just to show you where my snakes come from: we have Taveuni, Kadavu and Viti Levu snakes. See how different they are in the post below

I've mostly been posting about Thomasina lately because she may be pregnant, but I thought it was time to give the others some attention. It's the end of summer here, and they are eating like machines. Currently they are taking frozen (thawed) geckos and chicken portions every week. In winter they sometimes won't eat for a month or longer, but right now they are slamming it down and getting fat! They are also shedding their skins every 2.5 or 3 months, and putting on both length and weight. First, the original trio from Taveuni Island, two males and a female born in captivity in late 2006. One of these is (hopefully) the father of Thomasina's babies.... The Taveuni snakes have a very diamond shaped back pattern (Thomasina is from Taveuni too) , a lot like the Solomon Island Boas. These three are similar colours, but all can be very changeable. At the moment they all seem to want to be dark brown, but they are capable of changing to pale pink at times. They're about...

Well, Thomasina continues to grow wider and wider, and now I am finally beginning to hope. It's over 5 months since she was originally mated to Rifraf, and as the normal gestation period for this species is quoted as 7-9 months, we may have baby Fiji Boas anytime between mid May and mid August. Last time this snake gave birth she had somewhere between 20 and 30 live babies, so although there are no guarantees, I look forward to a busy time ahead! Here are a few snaps taken as I cleaned her tank - she is pretty grouchy at the moment, so I am minimising the amount of handling she gets, and trying not to flash the camera in her face too much, but it's pretty clear how thick her body now is, and how the scales on her sides are stretched apart. These photos were taken 4 days after her last feed and after she had defecated the night before, so it can't ALL be food.... Stretched scales on her side

It's now 4 months since Thomasina was mated to Rifraf (and still he hasn't called....) but I'm still not sure whether she's gravid (pregnant) or just putting on weight. She has a very hearty appetite and eats at least weekly, so she's quite likely to be just a little hefty, but she does feel very firm when handled. Here are a few pics - see if you can work it out! October 2009, the blushing bride before mating January 2010, 2 month after separation February 2010, 3 months after separation Early March 2010, 3.5 months after separation Late March 2010, 4 months after separation (and just fed) And here is Lilith - a smaller female, unmated, also having just fed, for comparison. Any opinions can be left in comments - guess we'll know for sure about June or July.

A beautiful large female Fiji Boa was brought in to Nature Fiji, a local nature conservation society, rescued from a development site in the forests of Viti Levu Island (the main island of Fiji). We photographed her, checked that she had not been hurt in the capture (she hadn't, so kudos to those who picked her up), and (I have to admit with considerable reluctance on my part and very active encouragement on Stuart's part) released her into another forested area not currently threatened by development. She is VERY dark, almost black in her main patterns, and has the black belly stripe we are starting to see is a characteristic of the Viti Levu Island snakes. She was also quite fat, so may have just eaten or may be about to give birth - either way we hope she (and her offspring) will do well in their new undisturbed home!