Last year I subjected little Loki to a pink Barbie chair and a photo shoot. I did the same thing again tonight. Oh how he has changed! He is still the same calm and perfect black milk snake. I cannot wait until he is a big guy and he can come to educational events!
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We moved to a new house in March, and since April came around, I have been busy. With what? Catching snakes on our new property! The first snake of the year was found when we had friends over. I wanted them to see some of the trails on the property, and as the kids were running up ahead, my friend and I heard something in the dead, dry leaves. She wondered, what was that? I looked and saw the garter snake, and said, "SNAKE!" and tossed my camera to her and then took off after it. I caught it and held it up so she could take a picture. I will make an effort to get my blog updated to reflect all of the fun we have been having! I hadn't even made a blog post for little Elliot. He was my black and white banded California kingsnake. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_kingsnake I bought him September 2013. At the time he was bigger than Sherlock, but Elliot didn't eat very well for me. I had heard that this happens with some snakes as winter was approaching, though it hadn't happened for me the previous year with the corn snakes, and it hadn't happened yet with either Sherlock the Cal king or Milkshake the Pueblan. I was able to get him to eat occasionally by putting him in a plastic ziploc container (with ventilation holes of course!) and trapping him in with a frozen/thawed pinkie mouse. Then one day in early winter, I found a lump in his body, though he had eaten a week ago. The next day it appeared worse, and I started soaking him daily to see if he was impacted. He defecated every time I did this, so I didn't assume it was an impaction. I took him to my vet, and she prescribed some meds for him to deal with parasites, though none were seen on the fecal sample. She did find white cells, however. He seemed to improve, even ate a time or two, and the lump seemed to go away. I felt like it never truly went away, though. Then came the day when he regurgitated a mouse, and just continued to look skinnier. I started to see his spine toward the lower part of his body, the part after the lump. I knew it was time to end his ordeal rather than put him through more meds or vet visits. He was euthanized, and my vet asked if I'd like her to check his lump area to see if she could give me any answers. I was there to watch, and what she found out was a new thing for her, and a term I hadn't heard of before. She said that he had an intussesception, and after reading descriptions of what it is, I definitely agreed with her diagnosis. RIP little Elliot. I am sad we never saw you grow up. Your personality was spunky but not musky, so that was nice! Since that time we were graciously given another black and white banded king by the same breeder; in fact, a sibling of Elliot's. He looks somewhat the same, of course, but different enough that I know it's not El. Look for his post sometime soon. It's been awhile, my readership of 2 or perhaps 3. We bought a house and have been working hard on it, so thank goodness snakes are low-maintenance pets that don't care if you are busy!
I have some updating to do, for sure. For now, enjoy this picture of our new addition. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lampropeltis_triangulum_campbelli I started typing this while he was hanging out in my hand, which meant I was typing very slowly. Then I set him on my lap and he just sat there (pictured below). Milkshake was my first non-corn snake. When I got him, we had the 4 corn snakes for the 4 kids, though all of the snakes were in my room in the snake rack my husband built for me. It had room for 4 snakes and their bins. Not too long after Milkshake joined the snake family, my husband built another rack so he would fit, too. Last April, I was talking with my friend online, doing research on a reptile pet for their family, when I came across a Craigslist ad for a Pueblan milk snake. I sent the link to my friend, and she replied with, "Ooooooooooh! Beautiful! Milkshake!" and then we had a good laugh about Swyping and it correcting what she meant to type. She asked if I would name it Milkshake, and I said, if I get it, I will! And in the end, she did end up getting a reptile pet for their family (a bearded dragon), and I got Milkshake the Pueblan milk snake from a local breeder, Kevin Collison. I bet if I had not seen this ad, I would not have known about this breeder, and I also would not have Sherlock or Loki. He hatched in August 2012. When I first met him, he was very laid back and did not musk. Since that time, he has earned the nickname of poop slinger and other assorted names of that ilk. I am happy to say that he hasn't musked very badly in the last few times I have taken him out, so I think he is outgrowing it. He seems to have 2 speeds: lightening fast or completely still. The second time we had him out, my daughter was holding him and he took off and went into our couch! Thankfully he didn't escape down a hole, and I was able to get him out. He doesn't do that so much anymore, generally just assuming the ball python pose and hiding from you as you hold him, though last night he did seem to be watching me as I watched TV and tried to type one-handed. Loki ate 3 days ago and he left evidence of that meal on his paper towels, so I had to take him out of his bin to take care of business. As I was holding him, I looked around the living room and saw a Barbie couch. Silliness ensued. We humans got a giggle out of it. All of a sudden he had enough of that and made a run for the tree, but my daughter was there to catch him before Loki could have the last laugh.
We were driving home from a South Dakota vacation, and we saw a license plate that said SNKBIT or something like that, and I was emailing with my friend who then asked me, what would yours be? I think I replied, "SNKLDY."
Why this blog? Because I have another friend who likes to see pictures of my snakes, so I figured this would keep them all together. That and I enjoy reading about people's snake collections, so this blog is for me, too. I'll also post pictures of snake/reptile related things that we attend. I have a few posts that I can make of past events where we have had a lot of fun (such as this Herps Alive event this past June). Meet Sherlock, the striped California Kingsnake. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_kingsnake He was my first Cal king. I had wanted a high-contrast black and white banded Cal king, but found this adorable stripey thing instead. He was such a sweetheart, too. No musking or attitude like I had heard about with Cal king hatchlings, except this guy wasn't exactly a hatchling. He was hatched in August 2012, which made him close to a year old when I got him, and he was only 9.1 grams. He was a problem feeder and was cooled over winter, and his appetite did pick up slowly over spring. Ever since I have had him, he has eaten for me. He is slowly getting some weight on him, and is around 30 grams right now and is about to shed within the next week or so. Like I mentioned before, I named my kingsnakes after movie/TV characters. My brother introduced me to BBC's Sherlock series a few years ago, and I really liked it and the actor who plays Sherlock, Benedict Cumberbatch. Unfortunately my husband hates that show, so I only watch it when he isn't here! And as for why he hates it, I thought it was just the particular acting style of Cumberbatch, but no, he hates Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal of Sherlock as well, so it's just the character of Sherlock that he despises. As for Sherlock and his personality, he is a stinker. Literally. He likes to musk every other time, and he often rattles his tail as you are going to take him out. Once you have him, he is generally pretty nice. He hasn't bitten me yet, and I really did think I would get my first (pet) snake bite from him, but that honor went to another snake just recently. I love his mercurial attitude, though. Unless he is going to shed, he is often slithering around in his bin, watching me as I walk by. Generally, the closer he gets to feeding day, the more attitude he has! But so far, he has been all bluff. I gave him the opportunity to bite me the other day when I was putting a mouse in, and he just hissed and struck at everything but my hand. Silly snake! You can see his pattern better at the top of this blog - that's a picture of Sherlock on a sidewalk. |