I have been busy and am a bit behind on posting about all the goings on! So to look back a couple weeks... We drove over to Pahrump back on Aug 24th to pick up an unwanted ball python. She is healthy, but underfed. I think she might be het for pied as she has some pretty strong markers.... so I have Cheerio hanging out with her. She's not quite big enough to breed, but a few more meals and she will be. She and cheerio like each other and are happy to hang out together.
I also got a big batch of window screens on September 10th to make the big outside play area for the snakes. I have not had time to put it together yet, but hope to work on it this weekend!
Our corn snakes are doing well and eating like piggies. I saw an ad on Craigslist of a kid that had his albino corn snake stolen from his backyard. I offered to give him one of these, but so far have not heard back.
Meet the newest adoptees at Qwatra Rescue! Two sweet female corn snakes we picked up yesterday afternoon. One albino and one snow. They are probably sisters, approximately seven years old. Both are very small, only 150 grams each. But both appear to be very healthy and eat like champs! They already had a mouse each, and both were snoozing under their box this afternoon. They should gain weight quickly, so check back soon to see their progress! :)
I have decided to split my personality so to speak... My original blog will contain all the garden, homesteading, and sustainability stuff, plus occasional mentions of my critter corners which will be split off into 4 sub-blogs. Reptiles here, plus my other critters as soon as I can get those going -- someday soon I hope! :) So for those of you who follow my snake posts, here they are all together without the hike through my garden!! ;)
Amina really enjoyed her time outside today. A little too much in fact! She made me feel
guilty that I have not been able to have her out more these past few months! She spent her time crawling along the river rock path, looking into every nook and cranny. But when it came time to come inside, she threw a bit of a hissy-fit. Literally! First, when I reached for her, she turned and hissed at me. I paused for a bit, and then slowly continued my reach until I was touching her lower back. As soon as I touched her she pulled away and half-struck at me in the typical "don't touch me!" posture. I slowly picked her up to more hissy protest and started down the hill with her. When we passed a low tree branch, she reached for it and grabbed on and would not let go!
*giggle* I could just hear her thinking "NOOOO!!! I don't want to go inside!!! I wanna stay out here!!!" I felt soooo bad bringing her back inside! I want to make a big outdoor enclosure for the snakes so they can stay outside for longer periods of time; places to climb, hide, explore, water to cool off in, rocks to warm up on,... yes.... this will be accomplished very soon! :)
Just a quick post to announce Mala's first eggs! Mala is my prize bumblebee. She is full grown and still bright yellow with very little browning like so many bumblebees tend to do as they get older. The photo is more her true color, the video kinda makes everything look brownish. This is her first clutch of eggs and she laid seven good eggs! Kye was the father, my mystic male. I can't wait to see the babies from this clutch! Will I get a mystic bee? Here's hoping!
What a cool little snake! Discovered in 1846, (according to this link) Xenodermus javanicus, known as the Dragon Snake, or Javan Mudsnake, or Tubercle Snake lives in the jungles from Burma to Malaysia. Not much is known about this little snake and it is quite rare in captivity. Here's what information I could find. Not a lot, but it's neat! :)
I am happy to report that Loki's health has greatly improved. :) Unfortunately, her attitude has not :( She still hates to be held and hisses at even the slightest touch on her body. She tollerates being petted now, but hisses and squeaks the whole time. It's been a great way for me to monitor her respiratory infection without disturbing her too much. I just listen to how raspy her hiss sounds. The real test came at feeding time. I gave her a 2 pound f/t bunny last night. At first she didn't recognize it as food. She literally laid on top of it for an hour without even looking at it. So plan B- I fished it out and warmed the belly by the heater for a bit, and then dangled the front end of the bunny over the door and gave it a shake or two. She came up and looked at it and thumped it and held on kinda like she was tasting it. I gave it another shake to convince her and she took it. She then proceeded to eat it from the wrong end. It took her forever to get her mouth around the butt and back legs! I dare say it's been quite a while since she has been fed something that was the appropriate size! lol I was planning on giving her antibiotics at the advice of a friend, but now I don't think I'll need to. As she ate, I listened for her to gasp and strain like she did at her last meal of 3 rats (which was all I had at the time). This was a full size meal and she ate it without a single gasp, whistle, or raspy breath. Her breathing was smooth and even. I was thrilled. :) Now... maybe since she has a full belly she won't be quite so grouchy! :) I'll give her a couple of days alone to digest this bunny and then we will see how she feels. Personally I think she just needs a boyfriend! I'll report more later... I should film our social session! Here's the video of her eating her bunny, butt-end first. (Silly snake! try from the nose next time! It'll be much easier!) It took her so long to get the rear in her mouth I was worried that she would get tired and spit it out and give up. (I've seen that happen) But she kept at it. Once she got her mouth around it, it went quick and I missed most of her swallowing it as I had gone upstairs to eat a snack myself.
I have been busy and am a bit behind on posting about all the goings on! So to look back a couple weeks... We drove over to Pahrump back on Aug 24th to pick up an unwanted ball python. She is healthy, but underfed. I think she might be het for pied as she has some pretty strong markers.... so I have Cheerio hanging out with her. She's not quite big enough to breed, but a few more meals and she will be. She and cheerio like each other and are happy to hang out together.
I also got a big batch of window screens on September 10th to make the big outside play area for the snakes. I have not had time to put it together yet, but hope to work on it this weekend!
Our corn snakes are doing well and eating like piggies. I saw an ad on Craigslist of a kid that had his albino corn snake stolen from his backyard. I offered to give him one of these, but so far have not heard back.
