Strolling

That picture was taken months ago, by my dad, while I was obviously "walking" Barbossa. I have to keep a close eye on him and follow him around or he tries to get into the pool. I think I've mentioned he may be many things, but a swimmer is not one of them.
You can see I am in full relaxed mode, in pajamas and watermelon socks. Wow, this picture IS old. One of those socks has a huge hole on one of the toes and I don't wear it anymore because it's a pain to have one toe sticking out. It puts me on edge, and since I tend to live there enough to have pitched a tent, why add fuel to the fire? So, the socks are gone.
Barbossa is a truly beautiful animal. If I wanted to breed him, however (which I don't) he would not be a suitable candidate for "prime specimens". Whatever the hell that means. He has a dip in the upper half of his body, you can tell in this picture. That is a defect. It doesn't hurt him or stop him from enjoying his life, but it's not the way boas are supposed to look. It could have been caused by improper feeding when he was a little baby, but since I didn't have him then, I don't know. Or, it could be genes. Some snakes have a genetic...glitch, let's say, where they get these kinds of concave sections between their coils, or even in one of the coils.
Since I am not trying to make money off of selling his progeny, and I know he's not in any pain, I don't pay that "flaw" of his any attention, but I did want to point it out to those of you who are not as enamoured of him as I am.
(I seem to be reading Orient Express by Graham Greene. Good book, by the way)

Today I'll be putting Barbossa in a bowl of Pedialyte. He's been looking a little scruffy and the electrolytes seem to help. I've done it before with Topkapi when I first got her and was still getting the hang of a snake's humidity requirements. I had a little panic attack when she had trouble shedding the first time. Who am I kidding, more like a psychotic break, and found that some people had luck with mildly dehydrated animals by putting them to soak in Pedialyte. The unflavored variety, of course. If I put Barbossa in bubble-gum flavored Pedialyte, he would have a stroke.
I don't think he is dehydrated, but after the tragedy of CocoRosie, I'm not taking ANY chances.