My pet project

[BFM_JANE]

I've been wanting to get a pet for a while. A cat would be my first choice if it weren't for my allergies, and instead I've been looking at small pets and doing lots of research on them over the last few months. I'm pretty much an expert on small pets now.

I've looked into rabbits, ferrets, guinea pigs, rats, gerbils and birds (may still get a budgie/parakeet later in the year) and finally settled on a ssssnake.

Any current/former reptile owners out there? While I now know everything there is to know about corn snakes, I haven't actually seen or touched a snake since I was six years old. Also, the cage setup is quite a bit more complex than anything you'd have for a mammal or bird.

But I have committed to it now, ordered a thermostat online since I couldn't find one I liked locally. Will get the whole cage done this week and make sure I can maintain the proper environment. Will get the snake sometime in the next month or so.

There is a reptile expo in a few weeks here, I may get a snake there if there is one I want. Even if I don't get a snake there, I will be aquiring many other small pets at that location, in the form of packed frozen mice. Their enclosure is much easier, as long as they don't mind hanging out with my pet chicken breasts and pet quesadillas. They're super docile, shouldn't be a problem.

If not the reptile expo, I'll be ordering a snake from a place called BHB Reptiles (if anyone has any experience with them). I want the reddest corn snake I can get and will hopefully get a "bloodred", "hypo diffused", or "fire". The titles are just a description of the color pattern, they're all the same snake.

So anyway, looking forward to that. Will update after I'm officially a creepy snake lady. I lived near one of those when I was younger, she always stood outside with a big python or boa draped over her shoulders, yelling at us to stop tormenting her evil dog.

[ËQINÖX]

My dad used to have snakes and there acualy a good pet to have tho they do need alot of care when maintaining there tank like the temprature / humidity level / how to heat it be it heat mat or heat bulb (personaly heat bulb i think is better) and many other things but all that info is  online.  Just dont make the mistake he made when he was first starting and that was to underestimate the size they can grow to 4 to 6' and  buying a tank that was to small only to then have to buy a bigger tank and make sure the lid is secured down or you may have a great escape . On the plus side and if i remmber corectly corn snakes dont need a UV light so there is less cost and less problems there but one thing i would say is make sure you have a spare heat bulbs incase they fail.

As for budgie/parakeet they make alot of noise O.O

[BFM_Kiwi]

JANE, didn't your mother used to keep snakes?

[BFM_Kiwi]

Googles "BFM_JANE corn snake" and came up with this.  Love the hair.

[BFM_JANE]

I've told a few people I'm getting one, and from their reactions I think this is what they picture:

   

[InSanity]

... every 1 i know hates spider not me oh no 4 me it's snakes

idc what kind it is i c it im bashing it's face in with what ever i can find  stick,rock,my boot,my trucks tires, idc it's going to get it  <_<

[BFM_JANE]

So I went to the reptile show this morning (and only got lost 2.5 times along the way -- not bad! )

I didn't find the exact snake I wanted there, so I'm ordering one online, assuming one of these breeders ever replies to my messages. Grr.

I got some baby mouses while at the show, which was packed and stinky. It looks like I don't have enough tattoos, piercings, or black clothes to be a serious reptile owner. Not yet anyway.

So! Maybe order some snake this week or the next. I've got the cage set up, the pinkies taste all right, I'm ready to go!

[BFM_JANE]

So I got the snake today, after FedEx "missed" me and I had to go pick it up.

I gotta tell ya, I've watched a lot of videos over the last month of people handling snakes large and small, looks easy. But when it came time to take this little guy out of his container, I didn't want it to touch me!   And he was waiting for me to take the lid off too, ready to poke his head through the first opening.

But I lifted him out and... How cool! He's about a foot long and really skinny, a little bigger around than a pencil. Very soft and he's just one long, strong muscle, the entire body moves. He was born/hatched in July.

He didn't want anything to do with my hands, kept his head and as much of his upper body off them as he could. I was going to take a few (bad) pictures with some old camera phone I have, but I was already awkward enough trying to hold him with two hands, didn't want an escape while I attempted a photo shoot. I'll try again tomorrow.

[BFM_Kiwi]

Shogun says you should call him Anamanda.

[BFM_JANE]

Anamandaconda, just call him Amanda for short 

[BFM_Crimson]

How is he meant to eat mice if he's only pencil-thin?

And, love the name

[BFM_JANE]

They're really small mice (one day old "pinkies"), plus the whole hinged jaw thing and snakes are supposed to bulge a little until their meal is digested.

I took a picture of a little frozen mousie, probably shouldn't post it, but it's here for the viewing if anyone wants to see my other little pets

[BFM_JANE]

With only a little provocation, I managed to get him to come out of his toilet paper tube, and this time he didn't immediately dive under the bedding. I did see him this morning lounging out in the open almost fully stretched out, but didn't have the camera nearby. We'll have to make do with these expert shots for now:

Click for larger images -
          

His "cage" is just a plastic tub and is temporary, will move him to his mansion of a 10-gallon tank in a few months. It's quite ugly but does the job, which includes 1) prevent escape and 2) make him feel more secure and less stressed.

In addition to the fabulous photos, he allowed me to touch him. I didn't hold him since he panicked last time, but I did get a finger on him. We made great strides today, especially considering half of us don't have legs.

I'm determined to get better pictures.

[BFM_Crimson]

He's adorable!

[MrMxyzptlk]

Kids....

They never smile for the camera when you want them to! 


FYI: I had a snake once, when I was a pre-teen.  Got "it" a nice glass terrarium and all.  Kept it in the laundry room.

About three months passed all peachy between us both. (Although, being wild, it never really took to be handled all that time....)

Woke up to find the terrarium empty one day.

Found it months later dead and dessicated in the garage. (It got stuck in some kreasote....  )


A few months later I got another snake from the wild: A diamondback rattler in California! 

(Long story, but some guy shot it with a pellet gun where we were camping, and my dad dissected and skinned it.  Coincidentally: Though we lived in Michigan at the time, the snake was in a place in California just a few miles from where I later lived in California! Talk about a small world....)

I just found the snakeskin in a box of stuff when we moved a last month. Hence this timely story.

So be careful JD!  Them snakes are crafty escape artists!