We just lost ANGUS...

For those of you who don't know ANGUS is one of my male breeders /BCI. The last time I had checked on him was the middle of yesterday afternoon and at that time there were no problems at all. Being as he is one of the male breeders, he is at times placed/housed with any one of my female snakes. His demise was a direct result of being in with a female. He was in with DIAMOND and had been for about 2 weeks time now. There were mating efforts going on also during this time that were observed. Angus was a 9'er BCI that weighs 45lbs...DIAMOND is a 10'er BCI that weighs 60lbs. The size difference was not a major issue with this pair for me. I had refused and still do to place any of my smaller males like under 8' in with any of my females that are 8' or more. A lot of people here in other threads have stated that the size of the male doesn't matter and that a huge female would not pose any risk of "crushing" the smaller male if placed with a huge female. I had my doubts in relation to doing such and now they have been confirmed, unfortunately with the loss of one of my snakes. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cry.gif[/img] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cry.gif[/img] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cry.gif[/img]
Those of you looking to place a male in the 4-5' range in with an 8' female, may want to think again in doing such.
I was awakened by my husband this am with the news that one of my snakes was dead, it had been crushed. My husband can't tell the difference like I can from some of my snakes to others. Once he told me which cage it was and it was the smaller snake, I knew it was ANGUS. The size of the cage was not a problem either for these snakes to be in...they were housed as a breeding pair in a cage that is actually bigger than the cages that most breeding pairs are placed in due to DIAMOND's size. The cage is 8' wide x 3' high x 4' deep. It is a custom my husband made. The cage also had two heating panels so that there wouldn't be an issue of heat only being in the very extreme corner and one snake having to sit on the other [ this was due to Diamond and her size] This also is not where ANGUS was found either. He was sprawled out through the middle of the cage half length and his head was located mid cage. Apparently what happened is that Diamond laid on top of him, possibly in a coil and crushed him. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cry.gif[/img] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cry.gif[/img]
ANGUS was due to go to an educational showing this week with a youth group. He's been one of my boas that usually goes to the shows since I obtained him last year due to his calm nature. He has never so much as hissed at anyone since I have had him and was the typical great personality/temperament that the BCI/BOA is known for. He also was my husband's favorite of all my boas. This is ANGUS...







ANGUS was also one of our boas who had quite a character going and thought he was a high wire acrobat...





He will be missed [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cry.gif[/img] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cry.gif[/img] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cry.gif[/img] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cry.gif[/img]
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	Boa Constrictor Imperator Boa Constrictor (Boa constrictor imperator). Most common is the Colombian Boa.

[wino]

So very sorry to hear about your loss...

A hard way for us to learn another lesson.
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[Karen]

oooh Lori, thats horrible. I'm sorry to hear about it. That didnt seem like too big of a size difference either.
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[Shadrach]

Dang lori sorry to hear this I know Angus was one of you favorite snake's!
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[Boaguy]

awww [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_frown.gif[/img]
sorry about the lose. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_mad.gif[/img]
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[CaptainHowdy]

Lori...this is really unfortunate..hopefully others can learn from this...and hopefully it will open some people's eyes to the fact that size does matter.....[I wasn't trying to be a smart #$%^&#$%^&#$%^& with that comment, just so you know]
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Hoping it will Cap'n.
Yeah the size difference was not a major thing here karen..or so you would think. It should not have been a problem to have them together like this. My issue with placing them together in relation to size has always been when people say to go ahead and place a 4' male in wth a huge female like this. I wouldn't have thought that this close difference would come to such myself. BUT I have always thought that placing a 4'er would have. That's why I never placed a 4'er in with one of my big girls for breeding or even to house them at any time.
THANX GUYS/GALS
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[kirkje]

sorry to hear about your lose...
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[XzyluM]

Sorry about this Lori. It is a good point to prove that size does matter. I hope this opens up and shows others that there could be a risk placing a smaller male with a female.
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[eddie]

Dang, I am sorry to hear about this....
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[LdyDrgn]

Oh, Lori, I'm so sorry to hear this. Big hugs for you, hun! [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_frown.gif[/img]
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[reptilemama]

Oh, Lori, I'm so sorry. It's so hard to loose one, espcially when it comes as such a shock. I hope you at least get a beautiful son from Diamond to remember him by.

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[Dr.Oviparous]

very very sorry to hear this Lori [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cry.gif[/img] . do you have any little Anguses left to carry on the legend? -Juggalo
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[DianeOr]

[i]Lori, I am so sorry, my heart felt simpathy. Glad you have beautiful pictures of him.[i] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cry.gif[/img] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cry.gif[/img] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_frown.gif[/img]
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