My experiences as a snake owner and as a snake enthusiast. With a healthy potpourri of other stuff...




Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Rising to the Occasion

Barbossa today has been really active. I haven't taken him out for about a day and a half because I assumed he would want to be left alone while he is in the process of shedding. But today, as soon as I went to turn his heat lamp on, I saw him pacing around the cage, looking up expectantly. I had breakfast and then I took him out for a morning walk. He actually moved around! Very surprising. I think he is growing up and realizing he is a big strong snake that is afraid of nothing! Or... he just wanted to stretch and is still terrified of everything that breathes, and even everything that doesn't. I know Barbossa, inanimate objects are scary.
Well, last night I got it into my head to bake bread today. Specifically an Easter bread. I don't celebrate Easter per se, since I am a card carrying Pagan, but I am not averse to getting chocolate eggs and bunnies fresh an early on a Sunday morning. Besides, the holiday has it's roots on the pagan day of Ostara, celebrating the goddess of light and spring (that's where the eggs and bunnies come from), so I am not quite being a hypocrite.
The bread that I decided to make is a Romanian one called Cozonac. It's a bit like the Italian panettone, with raisins and an optional walnut or chocolate filling. I am making it with the walnut one. Right now, the bread is in the process of doubling in size, which takes about an hour and a half, so I've got time to kill. I was reading how Romanian women used to, and probably still do, get up early in the morning to be able to finish the bread in time for dinner. I can see why. After this rise, I have to do another one, so it'll be close to six in the afternoon before I finish the bread. It already smell Divine, though.

Here is the recipe I'm using:

2 1/2 tbsp. + 3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup + 1/2 + 1/4 cup milk
1 package active dry yeast
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup golden raisins soaked in rum
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tbsp. rum
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tbsp. oil

Scald (bring close to a boil) 1/2 cup milk and add 2 1/2 tbsp. flour. Stir. Let cool.
Heat another 1/2 cup milk just until lukewarm. Pour over yeast. Stir. Add to flour mixture and beat until large air bubbles appear. Cover and let rise at least 15 minutes.
Heat rest of milk to lukewarm. Add egg yolks, sugar, raisins, zest, yeast mixture, flour. Add cooled butter and knead for 15 minutes. Add rum, vanilla, oil. Knead for 2-3 minutes. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size (about 1 1/2 hours).
Punch down, knead 5-10 minutes. Spread dough out on floured surface, spread filling and wrap up. Heat oven to 350 F. Coat a pan with cooking spray. Place dough on it, let rise until it reaches the top of pan. Mix 1 egg yolk with 1 tbsp. water and brush top of dough. Bake 1 hour.

For filling:
1 cup walnuts, ground
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix sugar, milk in pan. Boil. Add walnuts, stir. Let cool and then add vanilla extract.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Strangers' Memories


I don't think I've posted any pictures of Damascus yet, so here he is. From afar, he looks a lot like Topkapi, but if you see him up close you can see the differences. His scale patterns are quite distinct, he even has a small heart-shaped brown spot on his torso. He also has a longer face than Miss Topkapi, which gives him ind of a snooty look.


He is a bit of a snob. If I breathe on him to hard, and I'm not exaggerating, he flinches and pulls his head as far away from me as possible. But he is truly very sweet and as curious as anything. He tries to climb curtains, cups, books, pretty much anything he comes across.

Coral today spent most of her time in her water bowl, so she must be a day away from shedding. Some people find the shed skin a bit disgusting but it's really not that bad. My mom can't stomach it. She is not by any means queasy, especially when it comes to animals, so it is even more curious as to why it bothers her so much. The shed skin is not slimy, or wet, it doesn't smell or feel weird. It's just crinkly and dry. Hopefully she'll shed in one piece. That would mean that she had the correct humidity throughout the process. If they shed in many small pieces the humidity levels were not enough.

Today in acting class we began our monologue preparations using the method. Our teacher made us all sit quietly, far from each other, and made us think about our lives, one year at a time. He gave us a minute to think about each year, and then would move us on to the next. When we were finished he told us to write about one memory that created strong emotions in us. We had to write a short summary of the event, without necessarily including our feeling too much, just the bare facts. Then, we turned the papers in to him and he passed them back out randomly. Now we had someone else's memory and the basis for our monologues. For Thursday we have to modify these pages, giving them our own voice, making them ours. For the next few weeks we will be working on these strange memories, using our own for emotional inspiration. It's not going to be easy, but we all seem to be up for the challenge.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Nature's Whims

Speaking of the devil, yesterday I wrote about Barbossa's way of shedding and today I pick him up and discover he has a lightly pink belly. I thought he had been looking kind of dull. In a few days his stomach will look like a raspberry. Poor baby! Actually, they don't feel any pain when they are in the process of shedding, they only want to be left alone. Which is what I am doing today, no walking for him. I'm actually surprised he ate on Saturday. Usually he wouldn't even dream of taking food that close to shedding, but I guess a whole week of fasting made him really hungry. I think I mentioned that for a few weeks I had given him 3 mice instead of 2 which must be the reason why he is shedding again, relatively close to the last time. He's gaining weight! Yay!
I'd been a little concerned because he didn't really seem to be growing, which is why I was feeding him more. It's seems to have worked.
For the next week I have to make sure his cage is sprayed multiple times during the day, and maybe even give him "the spa treatment". I developed this after Topkapi had a bad shed, and I use it every once in a while for the other babies. I start by getting a bowl big enough to hold the snake. In Barbossa's case it'll have to be a big salad bowl. Then I fill it with water. The water must be the right temperature, because what feels warm to us is way too hot for a reptile, same thing with something that is too cold. I don't have a thermometer but I know when the water is ready because it feels neutral to my skin. For a snake it will be warm. I put my baby in the bowl, and try to him or her in there, with the head above the water of course (remember they are not amphibians) as long as they'll let me. With Topkapi it is a fight to the death. She squirms and tries to get out immediately, using every muscle in her body to hold on to the table or counter.
After they've soaked for a few minutes, I take them out and dry them with a towel, and then for the secret ingredient, I'll massage them liberally with baby oil. This helps them retain the moisture. They all hate the baby oil. Barbossa will try to slither away as fast as he can, and once I put him back in his cage he will sniff himself to see what that frightful baby smell is. It's actually quite funny.
I'll do this whole process maybe twice before they shed, and it does help a lot.

An update on the albino rat residing in our home: he is still ridiculously cute. His name is Gustav. I've been researching a bit about rats and the albinos are almost always blind, which is why they don't survive in the wild. Same thing with snakes, the albino ones never make it past a few days. They just don't blend into the surroundings and get eaten by birds, mammals, or other reptiles. It's really interesting, though, that an albino snake will cost more if you want to buy one. I guess what we consider beautiful and desirable, nature just thinks as mistakes.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Of Mice and Snakes

Yesterday was a super lazy snake day. Barbossa ate his two live mice without too much hassle. The first one did bite him on the nose and as soon as I saw Barbossa pull his head back and try to hide it underneath his coils, I thought "here we go..." fully preparing myself for feeding failure. But, surprisingly, my shy baby pulled himself together and went back out in search of the ferocious mouse. He is a good 15 times larger than the mouse, so really I wasn't chewing my nails in anticipation. He ate both and wanted more.
The only one that didn't eat this week was Coral. She's about to shed. Snakes shed periodically, depending on their size, age, health level. My Fearsome Seven eat pretty much every week so they shed regularly, every couple of months. The process takes about a week and a half, sometimes two weeks for the older snakes. First you see their scales get darker, opaque, their bellies might get pink. Barbossa's stomach gets a bright pink, as if he had a rash, but Topkapi's, for example, doesn't get pink until much much later. Then their eyes get kind of hazy and a few days later they are completely sky blue. At this point they can't see well. They usually don't have great eye sight, but when they're shedding it's even worse. Some of them will get a bit aggressive, in my case CocoRosie starts acting like a mamba. Most of them won't take any food, and will not want to move at all.
When snakes are about to shed, their humidity requirements go up, they need to be at 65-70% humidity, which in an air-conditioned house is not as simple as it sounds. The babies I have in the garage are fine because of the wonderful Miami swamp heat, but the ones upstairs give me a ton of work. I have to mist their cages much more often than I usually do. And on top of it all, they HATE the mister, so they contort their bodies so not a singly droplet of water touches them.

I was so bored yesterday, and what better way to cure that than baking! (or reading, or singing, or swimming, or...)
So I made a chocolate cake with a Cinnamon frosting. I followed the recipe of a Coffee flavored frosting, but it sucked so I changed it a bit, or more like a lot. Here are the recipes:

Chocolate Cake:

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup hot coffee

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Mix sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt. Add eggs, milk, oil, vanilla. Beat on high. Add hot coffee. Pour into prepared pan, bake 30-35 minutes.

Frosting:

2 tbsp. butter, softened
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
3 tbsp. hot coffee
1 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Mix it all together. Allow cake to cool completely, then frost to your liking.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Feeding Frenzy Friday Part 3

I'm typing this right after feeding Topkapi. I have to keep checking on her to make sure that she grabbed the mouse correctly, by the head, and has no trouble swallowing it. Some snake keepers don't do this, either from laziness or lack of experience, but the animal ends up going hungry. If the snake did not strike correctly and got hold of the mouse by the midsection, sometimes he or she will drop it to realign it. The problem with this is that if it a frozen/thawed mouse, it goes cold very quickly and then the snake can't find it. So the owner wakes up the next morning to find a cold mouse next to a very grumpy snake. Sometimes even Barbossa does this to me with his live mice. He'll kill it and for some reason drop it, then he can't find it. He has it in the middle of his coils and he has no clue where it might be. I have to distract him with one hand and grab the poor dead mouse with the other and give it to him again. It's amazing because he does remember that he already killed it, so the next time he does not strike, he just opens his mouth and takes it.
Topkapi is succesfully swallowing her food, so I am relieved. Usually she is amazong with eating, but recently she has decided that if she misses it's too much work to try again, which means I'll have an anxious night of worrying before trying again the following day. These snakes...

Ok, so on Wednesday my sister brought home an albino rat from the wildlife center she works at. They were about to euthinize him (or what's more likely, feed him to a snake or a bird of prey) so she said "Hell no, I'm taking him home".
Yes, I know, a rat in a house full of snakes (among other animals), but no I will NOT be feeding him to any of them. He is way too cute. He's obviously someone's pet, who was either abandoned or who escaped, because he is so friendly and tame. He doesn't bite, hiss or anything that might make us think he is a wild rat.
I do have to remember to wash my hands before I handle any snakes, though, because I could easily be taken as food. That would suck, especiall considering the size and number of Barbossa's teeth.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Bow to the Keeper

My sister and I were sitting today at a Starbuck's downtown before our classes. We were huddled over her laptop, our eyes glued to the screen. We were watching the Viperkeeper's channel on YouTube. This man (whose name is Al) is incredible. He keeps an unbelievable number of venomous snakes in a special room in his house. He has been doing this for decades, dealing with some of the most dangerous reptiles in the world: black and green mambas, countless cobras, brown snakes, gaboon vipers, if you can think it he has kept it. Al cares for these snakes with such a degree of patience, respect, and also with a bit of light=hearted enthusiasm that puts most herpetologists to shame. He videotapes himself dealing with these animals and then posts them up so we can all benefit from what he's doing. If I'm on my laptop, I'm probably watching one of his videos.

Today we didn't have acting class. Our professor took us to see a dance show, a sort of showcase of the dance classes offered at the college. Like most dance shows in this school, it was pretty mediocre. It is not the fault of the students, on the contrary, I saw some real talent, and even the ones who were obviously beginners were giving it their all. The problem are the choreographers. I guess there's a reason why there's only a few famous ones, the rest of them suck. The best one was the finale, an Afro-Cuban dance that was pretty good, and that was seriously enhanced by live musicians. The rest were performing to recordings which weren't timed as correctly as they should have been. All in all, nothing I haven't seen before and certainly nothing worth seeing again.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Sneaky Snake Activities

This afternoon,I settled myself comfortably in a chair around the kitchen table with a good book and with whom else but Miss Topkapi. I was fully prepared for the usual shenanigans: having her lay on the exact page I'm reading, having to save her from a near fall, having to "untangle" her from a nearby chair, etc. I don't know if I interrupted a nap or what, but she did not want to move. I did take her out a bit later than usual, because despite what you read here, I do have a life of sorts. Maybe she had decided that the ingrate who takes care of her had forgotten it was her turn to come out. The ingrate however had not forgotten.
She just lay on my lap, once in a while opening her mouth in a big yawn. Snakes do yawn and ball pythons even more than other species. Scientists are not sure why they do it so often. For some snakes, especially after they eat, it is to realign their jaws, or even to breath better, since their lungs are not as efficient as a mammals'. Ball pythons yawn a lot, and Topkapi was giving me a prime example of that today.

No matter what I did, petted her, tried to shift her weight, nothing could entice her to move. Finally, I stopped being a bitch and left her alone to sleep. I was able to get through quite a few pages, which is never the case when I am snakesitting.


Today when I took Barbossa for his walk, he did the cutest thing. Well, it's cute to me. I took him to my room, since it was still a bit chilly outside, and put him on the floor near my bed. As he usually does when he is not taken outside, he behaved like a brat and refused to move for a good quarter of an hour. I was doing other things, so I didn't mind his inactivity. Some time went by and I checked on him, and there he was trying to use the comforter as a means of climbing the bed! He had half his body off the ground, which is amazing because he is a pretty big and heavy snake, and was desperately trying to hold on to SOMETHING before he toppled over. I immediately jumped to his rescue and placed him safely on the floor. What could have possessed him to try to climb the bed?! I guess the floor was too hard for his sensitive scales. Whatever the reason, he made me laugh and he added another reason to the long list of why I love snakes: they do whatever the hell they feel like doing.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Method to the Madness



A close up of the elusive Tybalt! Finally a half decent picture! He is gorgeous isn't he... but I'm prejudiced. He is a bit funny looking and his eyes are really far apart, which you can't really see in this picture. What you can see, however, is his little snout pressing into the tablecloth, trying to dig a little burrow for himself. Talulah also does this, and they both have rougher scales on their tails and on their noses to help them push "sand", or in their case, paper towels.
Here is a dramatic look at Talulah

Today I went to the public library with my sister. I went to the main branch, and I headed off to the science department to see their selection of snake books. They have quite a lot and I took the majority of them. One is mainly an encyclopedia with gorgeous pictures of pretty much any snake you can think of. I've read a ton like this one, but I never tire of looking at the pictures. Another book seems to be really interesting: it's about a man who had a snake phobia and went looking for a "cure". He travelled to many countries to meet herpetologists and snake lovers, and the book is all about those experiences. I'm excited to read it. I can't remember what the others are like and they are all the way upstairs, so yeah, they are about snakes.
As soon as my sister and I put the pile of books on the counter at the checkout, the eyes of the man behind the desk went a little wider. What is it about snakes that freak people out?! I just don't get it, but again I might be prejudiced.

Today in acting class we started talking about the "method". We've all heard about this technique, mainly because of the great movie actors and actresses who have spoken about it. Our teacher explained the basics to us, and he showed us how important the method is for stage actors, even more than screen ones. It mainly revolves around affective memory. This means, and I am seriously paraphrasing, being able to recall your own true emotions and calling those memories up at the right moments when you need help on stage. This makes the character come to life, because you are not acting, you are actually feeling what the character feels. Of course it is not half as easy as it sounds (but what is?). To bring those emotions to the surface in the split second when you need them it is necessary to toy with the personal experiences that bring them up. A lot. They are not always pleasant memories and to bring them up time and time again must not be fun. We are starting our first exercise using the "method" next week. We'll see how we all fare.

Monday, March 22, 2010

The Cowardly Snake



I took this picture a few days ago, when the weather was warm enough to take Barbossa outside. He loves to travel all around the pool. I usually take a book and follow him around to make sure he doesn't get into any trouble. Sometimes he stays staring at the water for minutes at a time, almost hypnotized by it. Other times, he decides the water looks so nice he could go for a swim. He sticks his head under water and then tries to put his whole body inside. Only one problem...he can't swim. I have no idea why, since my other snakes are good swimmers. If you put Topkapi in a tub of water she floats easily and swims by whipping her coils around. It's actually quite beautiful. She hates it, but nevertheless, it's pretty to see. Barbossa sinks right to the bottom, but he seems to forget this and he keeps attempting to go swimming. I have to gently redirect him. He is quite stubborn though, so he will try at least three more times.
He loves the green hose in the picture, he follows it around and walks right next to it. The first time he saw it, however, he was a bit scared of it. If you couldn't tell by now, Barbossa is not known for his courage. You would think an animal that size (he is about 4 1/2 feet) would realize he could be a little more intimidating. But no, he is pretty cowardly, and anything new sends him into a panic. I remember one time my mom moved a pot from one side of the yard to the other, not a particularly frightening pot, one that he had seen a million times before. For about half an hour he kept trying to find ways to get as far away from it as possible. I finally had to move it back.
Barbossa ate two live mice yesterday, so today I will not be taking him out. His previous owner used to give him one mouse every two weeks, which is ridiculous. Now he gets two EVERY week, but even that amount doesn't seem to be enough in his opinion. After the second mouse, he raises his head and looks around asking for the next one. A few weeks ago I bought him three to see if he that would satisfy him. When he was done he kept asking for another one, so he is definitely just greedy, not dying of hunger. These animals...

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Resposibility



That is a picture of me holding the beautiful CocoRosie. My dad took it a few months ago. I've been trying to get a good picture of her face, but holding a camera and CocoRosie at the same time is not conducive to good health, so this will have to do for now.
As I've mentioned before, she is an Everglades rat snake. That makes her a diurnal constrictor. If you could see her eyes you would see that the pupils are round, not in the shape of slits. This makes her able to see better during the day, and makes her a lot more active than a nocturnal snake. She is very fast and don't be fooled by how thin she looks, she is incredibly strong. When she gets on my arm like in the picture, she can give me quite an uncomfortable squeeze. Of course, she is not doing it on purpose, she is just trying to hold on. Don't believe what people tell you about constrictors, they don't just start squeezing you randomly to kill you. If he or she bites you and starts squeezing, then you can worry and try to get help, otherwise the snake is just using you as a tree branch or whatever. Snakes are NOT out to get you.

I'm writing with Topkapi. She started off on my lap, but has now worked herself onto the keyboard, and she keeps hitting the backspace key, so I've had to retype a lot. I think she's jealous because I was writing about some other snake. Damn it, she won again!
No, I will not be bested by a reptile. Back to CocoRosie: when I first got her, which was almost a year ago, she was pretty wild. The previous owner who'd only had her a little while works at Venom One and did not have as much time as she would have liked to handle her snakes. She decided she needed to make room in her collection and was looking for a good home for her. I gladly volunteered. It's funny because when I went to pick her up, she was in her own homemade carrying bag. It was made of a really pretty patterned cotton, so see I'm not the only crazy person spoiling their snakes. Our dad was driving, and I was sitting in the back seat (he is not too fond of my snake babies), and she kept sticking her head out of the bag to see what was going on.
It took a while to get her to the point where her first reaction was not an agressive one. I took her out every morning for weeks until I could stick my hand in her cage with impunity. She has not bitten me yet. She's the only one of my babies that has "mood" swings, and I've learned to recognize them and respect them. She is also the oldest of my snakes, around 10 years, but I'm hoping she'll live many more. Snakes can live up to 30 years in captivity so they are a pretty big commitment. That's one of the problems with people buying an animal without doing the research. Yes, it looks very cute as a baby in the store, but can you provide the proper nutrition and space when the animal grows, and do you want it around for 30 years? You can't just let it loose once you tire of him or her. Do your homewrok people!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Full Bellies

It's been pretty boring around my house today. All the snakes have been lazily laying under their heat lamps, digesting their meals for the week, so I have been on serpent withdrawal.
Snakes take a substantial amount of time to fully digest their food. If someone moves them before they've had a chance to process it, they might throw their food up, which would not be pretty for me or for them. So I err on the side of caution when it comes to moving them after they've fed.
Topkapi is the exception. Isn't she always? Twenty-four hours after eating, she is ready to explore. So at least tomorrow I'll be able to handle her.
I checked today to see how CocoRosie liked her new shawl/blanket and she seems to be really enjoying it. She spent the day curled up under it, flicking out her tongue when I lifted the covering, to see who dared disturb her. She is such a bully. But as long as she's happy (and bullying me seems to make her quite happy) then everything is fine.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Feeding Frenzy Friday Part 2

Feeding day has arrived!
Actually, I just finished feeding most of the babies who eat today, except for Topkapi. She eats tonight, but her mouse is already thawing in anticipation. Everyone else took their mice with gusto and they are preparing for a good rest to digest their food. Damascus gave me a bit of trouble today. He ate the first pinkie without problem and he looked very willing to take the second one. He struck...and missed. I have noticed in my snakes, but it might be in all snakes, that if they miss when they strike they don't want to try again. Today Damascus seemed ashamed of not hitting the mouse, as if I pass out awards for "Best Aim" at the end of the year. Barbossa does it to me all the time. Since he eats live mice, many times it happens that he just misses. When I first got him, if he missed the first time that was it, game over, but now he gives it three tries. If he misses after the third strike, he refuses to try again. No matter how much I do to entice him, he hburies his head beneath his coils operatically to hide his shame. So then I have to find a container for the poor mouse or mice, and save them for the next day. I do give them a good last meal, though. The next day Barbossa USUALLY takes the mice. Sometimes the shame and trauma is just too much, and he must abstain.
They are sooo dramatic.
Damascus is a snakeling, which I'm pretty sure is not a word, but I am already seeing the same type of behaviors in him. God help us if I get one single drop of water on him. He pulls his head back as if burned and rubs his face vigorously against the paper towels in his cage. After that, he MIGHT forgive me and take the mouse, or, if the offense was too great, he will refuse for a few hours. One of these days I'll have to ask for forgiveness and do penance before he eats. I would not be the least surprised.
I took Barbossa out this morning to walk around a bit around the upstairs hallway, and he decided that he felt like going downstairs, so here is a picture of him deciding that stairs are completely doable.



Okay, so, it is the end of quiet at my house. My sister recently bought a set of drums. This morning the blessed drums were delivered and you can imagine the joy on the faces of all the family members, just thinking about the coming hours of uninterrupted banging that are on the horizon. Pray for us all.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Confused in Wonderland

This morning I went down to the garage where I keep Talulah, Tybalt, and Damascus. Since it's been pretty cold these past few days I have to keep the cages heated with red heat lamps. I doubt there's anyone out there who doesn't know that snakes are cold-blooded, but I'll explain it anyway. Cold blooded simply means they can't regulate their own temperature so they depend on the environment to provide the right levels to survive. If it's too cold they'll die and if it's too hot they'll die. For the scorching Miami summers I have an air conditioner installed in the garage, and for the winters I have the heat lamps. During the day they have regular light bulbs, since, unlike other reptiles, snakes don't need UVB light. For the night they have the special red lamps because these don't affect their light/dark schedule. They can't see red light.
Anyway, I went down to the garage to switch the regular lights on, and I see Damascus in the "S" position. When a snake gets in this position it's a pretty good bet that someone is going to get bitten. I know my babies really well, so I recognized his behavior as "I want food". But why did he think he was going to get fed, especially that early in the morning?
Topkapi does the same thing. I feed her at night because she is nocturnal, and she has gotten into the habit of expecting food EVERY DAY at sundown. Snakes do not eat every day, some of them don't eat for weeks at a time, so I have no idea why she does that. My guess, she's a spoiled brat, which is why I love her.
I also finished a little shawl-like blanket for CocoRosie. I've been knitting it for a while and I finished it just in time for this next cold front that's coming. It's very warm and soft, so there shouldn't be any complaints from the hissing department.

Today, after my acting class and rehearsal for a play I'm part of, my sister and I went to the movies to see Alice in Wonderland. The comments on this movie have been varied. The critics have not been kind, while some people really like it. Others hate it. I am in the latter category. I don't know if it was the hype that ruined it. It was inflated so much by the previews that it was bound to let people down. But I don't think that was the only thing: in my opinion the script was ridiculous and the acting laughable. Not even Johnny Depp could save it. I usually love his and Helena Bonham Carter's acting but I couldn't stand them today. He did the same things he always does, and I didn't see the Mad Hatter, I saw Johnny Depp in a funny costume. Bonham Carter's character was repulsive and not in a good way. Usually I am rooting for the bad guys, but today I wanted that stupid character to keel over. I loved Mia Wasikowska in the show In Treatment but her acting was terrible in this movie. Granted, she didn't have much of a script to work with.
The only person that was watchable in the whole movie was, surprisingly, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen. She was a breath of fresh air in the midst of all that other dribble.
The visual effects were okay, but nothing I haven't seen before, and definitely not worth sitting through the movie to see them. Don't even get me started on the ending. Spoiler alert: Alice just comes back from Wonderland and tells her family that she will not marry the boy they'd forced on her and she WILL be an independent woman, and her family actually accepts it without a word. What Victorian England is this? Certainly not the historical anti-feminist one.
All in all not a good movie. Buy the book or watch the cartoon Disney version which is a lot more entertaining.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Happy Green Beer Day!

As a pagan and snake lover, it might seem a little strange to celebrated St. Patrick's Day. It is. But I am such a fan of all things Irish that even a Catholic saint is not enough to keep me from dressing in green.
Most of us have heard about St. Patrick banishing the snakes from Ireland, but how exactly did he, supposedly, do it? I didn't really know either.
Well, there are a few versions to the story. One says that he stood on a tall hill and with a huge wooden staff drove them all into the sea. Another version says that one ancient serpent resisted and St. Patrick had to trick him. The saint made a box and invited the snake to enter. The snake smartly refused, complaining that it was too small. They argued for a bit, and the snake finally got in the box. The stories say that the serpent got in to prove that it was too small, but I am convinced it was just so Patrick would shut up. We will never know. Of course, the saint slammed the lid and threw the box into the sea.
St. Patrick did not banish snakes from Ireland, for the simple reason that there were no snakes to begin with. Ireland separated from the rest of the world before the ice age was over, so once all the ice melted there were no snakes in the island at all. And since they can't swim through the English Channel, Ireland has never had them.
Most likely, the story is meant to represent St. Patrick driving out the pagans from Ireland. Since the Bible has snakes as symbols of evil, and pagans were and still are considered "evil", it is only fitting that they represent one another. Plus the druids that were practicing their religion in the British Isles long before the Chritians arrived had the serpent as a powerful symbol. It's an interesting allegory.

Topkapi is on my lap now, staring at the computer screen as if she could read. She looks horrified.

But enough with the history lesson. All you need to know is wear green to avoid getting pinched and drink tons of beer with food coloring. That's it!

I have some baking to do, the recipe of which I will post later along with a picture of the finished yumminess. It will not be green because I don't have food coloring and it is raining which makes me too lazy to go to the supermarket. We'll just have to pretend.

Here is the recipe for
Pecan Shortbread Cookies

2 1/2 cups flour
6 tbsp. brown sugar
1 cup butter
1/2 cup pecans, chopped (I used walnuts)
8 tsp. jam
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp. milk

Preheat oven to 325 F.
Mix flour, brown sugar. Add butter, pecans. Knead into a ball. Roll dough out into four logs. Place in prepared baking sheet and make a 1/4 inch groove down the center of each log. Spoon jam into grooves.
Bake 30 minutes. Cool and cut into slices.
Stir powdered sugar and milk and drizzle over cookies.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Masters


So these two beauties are Talulah and Tybalt. They are Sand Boas and siblings. I'm not sure how old they are, but it can't be more than a year. I doubt if they get to one year old. The pictures are not the best because they move sooo much it's impossible to get a one that is not blurry.
I take them out every other night and they are the sweetest thing. The male, Tybalt is the orange and dark brown. From the first day that I got him, he was very friendly, willing to be touched and loving to wrap himself around my fingers. You can't see it in the picture, actually you can't see his head at all, but his eyes are very strange. They are almost lopsided, both of them. Since they are sand boas, their pupils are not slits, that's only for nocturnal animals, therefore these snakes are diurnal, which means they are most active during the day.
Talulah is a beautiful white and dark brown. Her pattern reminds me of a little cow. She was a little more reticent when I first got her. She didn't bite but she also didn't seem too interested to see me or any other humans. She has completely changed now. When I take her out she crawls all over my arm, flicking out her tongue and she is very interested in who and what I am. Most of the time she crawls up my sleeve, usually of my pyjamas, and curls up, sticking her head out as if my shirtsleeve were her personal hiding place. Sometimes Tybalt does the same thing on my other arm and I have to walk around like a zombie, with my arms stretched out.
With Talulah the main problem was that she did not eat frozen mice. I tried the first couple of weeks to get her to eat and she just refused. Ordinarily, this is not such a huge issue. I go to Petco every week for Barbossa's mice anyway, so it's not something to cry over, but when snakes are so little they can't really swallow a mouse. She needs to eat pinkies, baby mice. Well, Petco doesn't sell live baby mice. Thankfully, since my sister works at a Wildlife Center, and they also keep snakes, she could contact the person who sells them the mice and get some pinkies for me. I did that for a week, and thankfully it was the only time. It is heartbreaking to have to put the little, tiny, blind, mouse inside the cage. I know, I should feel the same way about the adult mice, and I do feel bad but Barbossa's got to eat, but the baby mouse was too much. I tried the following week with a frozen pinkie, and thank all the Gods, she took it without problem. She has been eating pre-killed (not by me) baby mice alongside with her brother ever since.

Today I had my acting class. We did another assignment dealing with status called "Master and Servant". We each got a partner, randomly picked, and we were assigned either Master or Servant (it didn't really matter which because we all got to be both things). Then we had to make our servant do everything we told them. This is surprisingly easy to do, you see people getting more and more into it. There could be no sexual advances or physical harm, of course, but even with those boundaries it got a little bit crazy. We were all laughing our heads off. Then the tables turned, masters became servants and vice versa. Being the servant sucked! I was a master first, so I had tasted power, and then to have to obey another person's command, the shame!
Kidding aside, it was an amazing experience and one that many people, especially those assholes we all come across, should do.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Kitchen Explorations

I was going to write about Talulah and Tybalt today, but I don't have any good pictures of them, so when I take them out later I'll try to get some that I can post and I'll write about them tomorrow. For today, however, I turn to the endlessly amusing Miss Topkapi.
I took her out this morning, like every morning, and proceeded to give her fresh water in a glass. She drank happily. I then sat down with a book and a cup of coffee to enjoy the morning while she explored a bit. Some days she is very active and other days she curls up in my lap and goes to sleep. Today was the former.
She crawled onto the table to see what was so interesting to take my attention away from her. She started looking around, and it is the cutest thing. She lifts her head and the front part of her body and scans the "horizon" to see where she is. Topkapi has seen our kitchen about 3 billion times, but she still scans it for signs of gold or something. She is discovering new lands and naming them Topkapiland. I kid, I hope.

She walked around the table a bit and then came back to see what I was doing. You know how when you are doing something, be it reading or writing, your cat will always come to lay down right on the page you were focusing on? Yeah, well, snakes are the same way.

And then she saw my coffee cup. What better way to really explore the surroundings than to find the tallest landmark and get on it?

I guess I was done with my coffee. She didn't really drink it, she just flicked out her tongue (that cute pink thing) and realized that it was a human drink. And thank God, can you imagine a snake hopped up on caffeine?
Topkapi is what I would call a chunky snake. All healthy ball pythons are quite heavy and very "round" looking. What makes them extra cute is that they have a pretty small head in comparison to the rest of their body. So, now that she is a bigger snake, I have to hold on to whatever she decides to use as leverage. In this case my Cafe du Monde cup (ahh beignets...)

And coming to say hi to mommy.


So, between holding the coffee cup, making sure Topkapi didn't fall off the table, and admiring how cute she really is, I got very little reading done and I didn't drink too much of my coffee. Mission "Become Center of Attention" was a success, hats off to you Topkapi.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Lazy Sunday



This is what Topkapi does on Sundays. One of these days she's going to ask for a cup of coffee and the paper. Yes, she is under my covers with her head on my pillow, enjoying the "feel of cotton". I guess it makes sense, about a year ago I knit a little blanket for Barbossa in a beautiful white, soft yarn, which I put in his cage when it gets a bit cold. Topkapi does not have one. So, of course the most reasonable thing is to let her take over my pillows. Just plain common sense. So I just sit next to her reading and enjoying some serpentine company.
I'm going to change Talulah's and Tybalt's cage today. Since they are so little, they don't have mulch in their cage, they have paper towels. Mulch looks very pretty but it is a pain to change and for little babies like the sand boas it is actually dangerous. As I've mentioned I feed them frozen mice, or in their case pinkies (which are baby mice) so when they thaw they are obviously wet. The mulch can get attached to the wet fur and they can end up swallowing it. For the bigger snakes it is no problem, they can digest it but for the little ones it can get impacted in their stomachs. So, to avoid a meltdown on my part, because I like drama but not that much, I keep them in safe paper towels.
They have a small cage so it's easy to scrub it with a bit of soap. I have to make sure that it is very clean but it doesn't smell like soap, ammonia, alcohol, nothing that could create fumes once the heat lamp is turned on.
Snakes are really picky, if it's not obvious by now. When I clean their cages, all of them, and I mean all of them, throw a hissy fit. They do not want to touch the new paper towels or mulch and they try to crawl out of their cages. Barbossa slithers up his basket and curls up on top, refusing to let even the tip of his tail touch the alien mulch. After a few hours, they realize that it is not boiling lava and they calm down.
You would think they would be grateful. And, of course, usually the first thing they do is poop in a corner. Just to spice up my life.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Real Castles

Today was a lazy day for the snakes. Since most of them ate yesterday (cough cough CocoRosie) they spent most of the day basking under their heat lamps, full and happy. It's interesting that Coral, unlike the other babies, likes to lay inside her water bowl while digesting. A bit strange, but I guess she knows what she is doing.
I wasn't able to get Barbossa's mice today from Petco, so he gave me the evil eye when I came home empty-handed. Clearly he was disappointed in me.
I, however, had a lot of fun today. I went to the Coral Castle here in Miami, to take part in a pagan gathering called Moonfaire. They host it there four times a year, and it's a good way of seeing some pagan lecturers and hear some drumming from the impromptu drum circle. I'd always heard good things about the festival, so I decided to see for myself. It was pretty good, there could have been a little more organization and some better vendors (at least more of them) but all in all not a bad experience.
The highlight, however, was the Coral Castle itself. It was built by Edward Leedskalnin, as a monument to his love for Agnes Scuffs. She was supposed to marry him in his homeland of Latvia, but the day before the marriage she backed out. No one is sure if it was because he was older (by ten years) or if it was because he was poor, or both.
Instead of hating her very existence, he built this incredible monument for her. It is built completely of, you guessed it, coral and carved by very rudimentary tools of his own invention. He was a master craftsman and a brilliant engineer, who was able to move tons, and I mean tons, of coral by himself. No one has yet been able to provide the answer as to how he managed to do it. He was a diminutive man, standing at 5 feet and weighing 100 pounds. Even if he had been a 6 foot tall wrestler it would be an impossible thing to do. He still has scientists baffled.
To read more about him and his creation visit http://coralcastle.com/
Below is a picture of Ed's bedroom. This was my favorite part of the exhibition. It was on the second floor of what he called "the tower".


This is one of the many tall, huge, stone sculptures that make up the Coral Castle. This serves as a wall to protect one of the most important things for Ed, his privacy.



One of the workshops today was about astrology. It was a beginner's guide to reading astral charts. Really interesting stuff and very complicated, with tons of data to analyze.It mainly dealt with interpreting the chart, not necessarily creating it, since that is an even more complex process that requires a LOT of math. I won't be doing that any time soon, but nevertheless, an instructive lecture.
Then we had one about sex magic. The presenter made her own set of Tarot decks, with doctored famous classical images and added her erotic touch to each image, changing it to represent the Major and Minor Arcana which we use to make our reading. It's probably not everyones cup of tea, but it does open some doors in our uptight world that are extremely important to keep open for our well being as animals in this planet.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Feeding Frenzy Friday!

Actually, it's more like everyone-waiting-for-their-turn-in-an-orderly-manner- Friday, but in my continued effort to make my life as dramatic as possible, I will keep the title. Plus, a little alliteration never hurt anyone.
Yes, today I feed all my snakes except for Barbossa. He is the only one that still eats live mice, so I have to go buy them at Petco tomorrow. All the other babies eat frozen mice. I buy in bulk and when I need them, I thaw them in warm water about a half hour and then feed to my hungry critters. Getting snakes to eat is the most challenging part of keeping them as pets. Any little change in temperature, humidity, lighting (they need 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark, so if I am a few hours off, some of the pickier ones refuse to eat) upsets them and they throw a tantrum. Which means for them "I don't want your stupid mouse" and for me "This is a perfectly good mouse, don't make me worry!".
Barbossa is the one who takes the crown for tantrums. The person who had him before I did trained him to eat live mice only. I guess he liked to see a snake kill mice every week in the comfort of this own home. I am not a fan of feeding live anything to snakes, so I tried to get him hooked on the frozen ones. He took it for a few weeks, but one day decided that he'd had enough and refused to eat it anymore. I tried for a couple more weeks, but nothing. I caved and bought a live mouse and ...nothing. He refused that too. He had me worried for about 3 months, until he decided that his hunger strike was over and took a live mouse willingly. You can imagine the relief. I was already planning intravenous feedings and was well on my way to hysteria-land. He now ONLY eats live mice. He won.
I am not posting any pictures of the snakes eating. I think it is a bit disrespectful to them, after all no one likes to be photographed with a mouth full of food.
CocoRosie was the only one today who was not in the mood to eat. She's actually looking a little chubby, so it's probably better for her anyway. She was in a pissy mood and didn't want anything to do with me, which is fair. We all have does days.
It's funny because my sister got up today, like every Friday, and went into her bathroom. And, like every Friday, there was a jar of thawing mice on the counter next to the sink. She doesn't complain, since she too deals with wild animals (her thing is birds of prey, she works as a rehab person at a wildlife center) she doesn't get disgusted. But she does comment on it sometimes.

Last night I watched an amazing movie with my parents. I had seen it a few weeks ago on the Sundance channel, and I had to have it. It's a Chinese movie called "Curse of the Golden Flower". It is a beautiful, colorful, astounding movie. The costumes alone are enough to put me in a swoon. I'm like a crow, anything shiny and colorful and I have to have it in my nest.
It is in Chinese, so if you have a dislike for subtitles this movie is not for you, but otherwise it is worth watching.
I highly recommend it.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Leverage

Today I went to my acting class. I go every Tuesdays and Thursdays, and today's exercise was very interesting. We are working on portraying status, and we had a little "party" today. We all had to bring something to eat or drink. When we got to class we were given a poker card, from ace to 10, and that was your status, the ace being the lowest of the low and the 10 being the highest of the high. We then had to behave as a person of that status would. This was extremely fun to do, and on the first exercise I was given a 9, which was even better. I am naturally bossy, not rude by any means, but I never realized how mean I could really be. I was ordering and pushing people around, as nasty as can be. To think that some people are really like that.
The next exercise, we were given a card but we were not allowed to look at it. We had to hold it in front of us and then, by analyzing the way other people treated us, we had to guess what number we were. This time I was a 4, and it's amazing how much other people's behavior towards me changed the way I behaved. It was an enlightening class (apart from being able to enjoy some good food people brought, and some awesome coffee our teacher brewed)
Anyways, today I haven't had much time to handle my snakes, but I did take Barbossa out on his daily walk. I usually take him outside to our backyard, he walks all around our pool, but today it was raining so I had to let him stretch inside. He does not enjoy this as much, and he takes a while to get started, but finally he decided that the upstairs hallway was better than nothing. Here are some pictures of him stretching himself.

Here he is before he decided to move. He was flicking his tongue out, checking the environment out. By the way, that's not his book, it's mine :) It's Fortunata y Jacinta, a very good book by Benito Perez Galdos, a challenging read but really well written.

This is Barbossa checking out my foot (aren't my socks cute?) No, it is not food.

And finally, here he is around an old gasoline sign. It's actually an antique that my parents bought God knows where, but for him it's just leverage.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Bread and Water



That is Miss Topkapi, as I like to call her. Yes, she is drinking water out of a glass. This is what I mean by having the most spoiled snakes on the planet. She has a water bowl in her cage, of course, and for about the first year, she used to drink out of that. She would wait until I grabbed the bowl, cleaned it and then put fresh water. She would then drink, all stretched out in her cage, first the water droplets around the bowl and then lightly placing her mouth into the water.
I don't know how it happened, but somehow she got hooked on water glasses. Every morning, when I take her out to let her walk around a bit, she starts looking around. I then have to get a glass, it could even be a teacup, and pour her fresh water. I have to hold her though, otherwise she doesn't drink.
This is beyond adorable, except when for some reason I am out of town and I have someone else taking care of her. She just doesn't drink. It seems ridiculous, and I hope that if she gets very thirsty she will drink, but it worries me anyways. My sister and I went to New Orleans for a week and I had my mother looking after my snakes. When we came back I took her out and she drank water for about half an hour. She is sooo spoiled!
Here is a closeup


Anyways, right this minute I have bread baking in the oven and it smells delicious. It's my first attempt at bread, so we'll see how it comes out. I'll include a picture as soon as it is done, and also the recipe.

Okay, here is the recipe for Brioche

1 pkg. active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
2 tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
3 1/4 cups flour
Egg Glaze: 1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tbs.milk

Sprinkle yeast into water, stir until dissolved. Heat milk, just warm. Beat butter, add sugar, salt, eggs, and egg yolk. Add milk and yeast mixture. Add the flour gradually. Knead on lightly floured board. Place in greased bowl. Butter top of dough and cover with towel. Let rise until double about an hour and a half. Knead again. Shape into ball or braid, place in greased pan, let rise 40 minutes. Brush with egg glaze, and bake at 375 F oven 30-35 minutes, or until loaf sounds hollow.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Introductions...

So, snakes.

I don't know what comes into you minds when you think of this creature, whether it's disgust, fear, loathing, respect, or a beautiful pair of pumps. The majority of people, when faced with the idea of a snake, or God forbid an actual live one, is either to take two huge steps back or calmly find a way of excusing themselves from the vicinity. Not to say that there aren't many people out there who love them, in fact, snake-keeping is becoming quite a popular hobby. All you have to do is put on Animal Planet and count how many shows have reptiles in them (yes, mostly the venomous kind) to realize that there is a growing interest in these incredible beings.
There I go, gushing away already.
But I don't want to talk in generalities. I love all snakes and could write about them forever, but I want to introduce my snakes, my seven babies.
Now, I have only been keeping snakes for about three years, so I am most definitely not an expert. If you want answers on snake behavioral patterns, biological data, or info on veterinary care you are screwed. I am just writing about probably the most spoiled snakes on the planet and how adorable and, dare I say it, cuddly they are.
These are my particular snakes, so I am not responsible for the bad tempered ones out there, and they certainly exist, so with these animals a healthy amount of careful respect is never out of place. With that said, here is my roll call ( I will add pictures when I have good ones to post)

My first snake Topkapi is a ball python. She is the queen in my snake kingdom. She is the only snake that I've actually bought so far, all the other ones have been adoptions. They've pretty much been dropped on my doorstep, think pink and blue bassinets, Disney style. Topkapi was tiny and feisty. She used to snap at anything that moved, but she has completely mellowed out.

My next baby is Barbossa, a beautiful male red-tailed boa constrictor. This is the shyest snake ever. I've had him for almost three years and he is still unsure if I am about to hit him with a club or pet him. Barbossa was his original name, but I kept it when I adopted him because he loves water, so what's more appropriate than a pirate's name?



This is my shy baby

Next is CocoRosie, a copper colored everglades rat snake. She is older than the others and she knows how beautiful she is. She has her own way of doing things, and watch out if you try to stop her. I adopted her and another of my snakes from a member of the Venom One team here in Miami, who are the people who usually run to save you, no matter where in the US, after you've been bitten by a venomous snake. And, by the way, a bunch of really cool people.

Then we have another ball python, a male named Damascus. He is still a little baby, but he is so tame it's ridiculous. It's amazing the difference between Topkapi at his age and him.

After that we have two Sand Boas who are siblings. The female is Talulah and the male is Tybalt. They share the same enclosure and are inseparable. These type of snakes are really interesting, they have a rough tail and snout, which they use to dig in the sand. They are gorgeous and sweet as can be.

The last so far, the other one I've gotten from the Venom One member, is Coral, a milk snake who I am convinced is running for World's Fastest Snake. Once I grab her, she does not stop moving. She is amazing and probably the most challenging snake I have so far, because of how incredibly fast she is.

Well, there they are, the "Fearsome Seven" who make my life unbelievably more amusing and who have introduced me to the astounding world of snakes.