T. eques cuitzeoensis behaviour

[chris-uk]

I love our Cuitzeos, Lacrimosa is definitely my favourite (closely followed by Eskerina because she has bags of personality). Laci was really jumpy today, worst I've seen her, but then she couldn't see properly so that's understandable. Most of the time she's great when I get her out.

[johnc79@hotmail.com]

They really grow fast don't they Chris. I will dig out the photos when I got them last year, not much bigger than your black necks.

We have both Cuitzeos about to shed.

Vlad last shed on 26 November, and his eyes are clear today after being blue for the last few days. He'll shed at some point over the weekend. Vlad stops eating for a week before a shed so he should be hungry when it comes to his next feed (it's feed day today, but I won't even bother trying him today). I got a photo of him yesterday with white eyes, I'm sure his eyes went whiter than the checkereds' eyes do, and against the black skin... I'll upload the pic when I get a chance.

I just looked at Lacrimosa and he eyes are starting to cloud, she was clear yesterday evening. So it looks like she's a few days behind Vlad in the shedding stakes. She last shed on the 8 December, so we're seeing good growth rates from her considering she's 18 months old. Size-wise, she was 140g when I weighed her a few days ago, and she's around 90cm (so knocking 3' already). She's a good eater, and last ate on Monday, I'll skip her feed today because she didn't eat at this point in her last shed, and she was incredibly skittish when looked at her to check her eyes.

I'm really encouraged by the way these two are growing. I expect Lacrimosa is already the sort of size that we can expect the checkereds to get to in 3 years time, if she keeps growing at this rate we may have a female to compare to Steve Bol's largest (128cm).

[chris-uk]

Thanks John. Would be good to have some baby photos of them.

[EasternGirl]

Thanks for the update...guess the impending shed explains all that soaking in the water dish. Good to hear all are doing well!

[chris-uk]

Thanks for the update...guess the impending shed explains all that soaking in the water dish. Good to hear all are doing well!

Actually, with the Cuitzeos the change in behaviour was that Vlad was spending more time in his hides and less time in his water bowl for the last few days. Since his eyes clouded we've not seen him in his water. He shed when we were out but we must have got home within half an hour of him shedding, and he was half in his water already. Now he's doing his submarine impression, so it's back to business as usual.

[chris-uk]

So we just had both Cuitzeos shed on consecutive days, Lacrimosa shed this afternoon. She was subtle and quiet, because she hadn't shed when I sat down at my desk but had when I finished working. It looks like she pretty much shed underneath her bark hides, I could see the shed in a pile at the back entry to the hide. Everything intact, so no worries about shedding problems for her.

She's eaten well today, I may have overfed her slightly because Vlad didn't eat his pinkies (he's fussy and just ate the fish) so Lacrimosa got his two pinkies as well as her own. She's not eaten for over a week though.

Behaviour-wise, it's interesting to note that both of them behaved the same with respect to sleeping in their water bowls around shed time. It seems that popular conception is that garters spend more time in water when they are due to shed (is this anecdotal, or does anyone have species that soak before a shed?) but Vlad and Lacky both stopped sleeping in their bowls. Vlad returned to his to sleep last night, and currently both are back in their bowls. Based on garters feeling more vulnerable during shedding and therefore seeking their most secure hiding spots, I'm dismissing my earlier thought that they slept overnight in water for security. If sleeping in water was where they felt most secure then they would have hidden in their water during the shedding phase.
Which then leads on to the question, do Lake Cuitzeo garters in the wild actually prefer sleeping in the lake?

It could be a thermoregulation thing, their water stays at a more constant temp than the air in their vivs. But it stays at the same sort of temps as our nighttime air temperature in the house so it's of less benefit at night compared to day.

Curious little things these Cuitzeos.

[guidofatherof5]

Always love reading your updates Chris.

[chris-uk]

Always love reading your updates Chris.

Thanks. You'd better hope that the Cuitzeos keep doing interesting things so I post more updates on them. They're interesting enough, and raising enough questions, that I want to go and observe them in the wild. Too far and too expensive at the moment though.

By the way, if other Cuitzeo owners have any observations to add feel free, don't worry about hijacking the thread because I intended this to be a Cuitzeo thread, not a "my Cuitzeo" thread.

[guidofatherof5]

After our Skype conversation and background goings-on I think it might be time for an update. Full details and photo would be great.
Don't mean to put you on the spot but come on.

[chris-uk]

Update will come over the weekend. Maybe not until Sunday though as we have a busy weekend and the photos need transferring to the PC and cropping.
You just want me to tell stories about a snake's manhood, don't you Steve?