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




Monday, May 31, 2010

Barbossa's Story

Barbossa ate his two mice yesterday like a good little snake. I don't understand why he's not growing. Maybe it's so gradual that I don't see it, and I did not measure him when I first adopted him, but he doesn't look much bigger and it's been two years. He eats every week and he sheds regularly, I just want him to become a big, fat snake that requires ten people to lift. That's a bit of an exaggeration, a boa is never going to be that big, but you get my drift.

I haven't written about how he came into my possession. He belonged to the brother of one of my sister's friends. My sister had slept over in her friend's house and she was given this guy's room to use, since he was not at home at the time. Barbossa was in a cage in that room. She called me and told me that the snake kept pacing up and down, trying to find a way out. Her friend even told her he had escaped from his cage before. I can't even fathom how, my little shy baby Barbossa, could have conceived to escape his cage. He must have been really miserable. I told my sister to tell the guy who owned Barbossa that if he ever wanted to sell him or give him away, I would gladly take him. At that time, I only had Topkapi.
A few weeks after that, surprise surprise, my sister gets a call from her friend. Her brother wanted to sell Barbossa. We talked about the price and within a week he was in a new home.
We picked him up in his tank and he was an angel the whole car ride to our house. His cage was filthy, with months of dried feces stuck to the corners, so the first thing I did was take him out to clean it and to fill it with mulch. I took him out and he got into what I thought was a defensive position. I was pretty sure he was going to bite me. Now, the only contact I'd had with snakes was with Topkapi, and when I first got her she was a little spit-fire. Any quick movement would get her to strike. If she got in the "S" position, you were about 3 seconds from getting bitten. So, when Barbossa got his upper body in an "S", I thought "here we go..." But, no, he did not even hiss. Knowing him well now, I can look back at that moment and be amused. That's the way he moves his body. He curls around himself, and lifts his body in all kinds of weird ways, always trying to keep his head close to his coils. It wasn't aggression, it was a confused snake getting his bearings. He has never bitten, or attempted to bite, any of us.
I left him alone that night. The next day, I started taking him out, only for a few minutes at a time, to get him used to being handled again. Fast forward two years and he now walks happily around the pool for an hour each afternoon, on top of the half hour upstairs in the morning. He is still shy and cautious, but they can't all be Topkapi, can they?

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Dragon Tattoo


They finally put up some of the pictures from the pagan festival I attended. That one is of the opening ritual. The center people are the "guardians", they are there to help you in any way if you need them. They are on duty, in different shifts of course, 24 hours. It's incredible they do that, because they don't get paid, they are volunteers. This picture is also one of the only ones in which I appear thanks to my anti-social behavior. Oh well. I am, of course, the woman circled in red. I don't just go around circling random people.

CocoRosie is looking a little bit better. It might just be my wishful thinking, but she does seem better. Let's hope so. She's getting her antibiotic shots and she's also getting her mouth cleansed with a saline solution.
This morning when I turned on the lights in the garage I must have really startled Damascus because I saw him literally jump. I must have woken him from a very deep slumber.

Yesterday I went to the movies. I went by myself this time because my sister was working and I, unlike her, have no qualms about going to the movies alone. I went to see "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". This movie is based on the book by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson. The book was quite famous, as was the second one. There is the third in the series coming out soon, like next week. I have not read the books, but my dad has and he really liked them so I thought to give the movie a try. Nothing else in the movie theater appealed to me, certainly not that monstrosity of a movie "Sex and the City 2". They should have called it quits after the HBO show.
Anyway, the movie was excellent. It might not be for everyone, it is subtitled, and there is quite a lot of violence in it. I had read some viewer's reviews that complained the rape scenes were gratuitous, and I can't disagree more. They are a vital part of the story line and they are done quite tastefully, if you can ever say that about a rape scene. I have seen much worse, regular sex scenes in movies half as good as this one was. So, for me, it was not really an issue. The acting was fantastic and, although it is a 2 and a half hour movie, I was never bored. I highly recommend it.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Feeding Frenzy Friday Part 10

I didn't have time to write yesterday, but I have great news (well, at least for me) Tybalt ate on Wednesday night! My sister was pretty late coming home from work since she went out to eat afterwards, the Gods know how she managed that bit of multi-tasking with a live baby mouse in her bag, but as soon as she got home I rushed to feed him. I had already turned off the snake lights, but I brazenly said screw it and turned them on. I moved him to a separate container and I placed the baby mouse in front of him. I will not describe what happened next because I am working efficiently to block that evil action on my part from my memory, so all I will say is he ate!!! Yay!!!

Today is of course feeding day. No one had the least bit of trouble eating. I did not even attempt to feed CocoRosie, she was certainly not going to eat after all the pestering I've been doing, and all I would have done is aggravate her further. No point.
Coral ate with surprising speed and then was on the look-out to escape from her feeding container. I have learned from my mistakes, so I do place something heavy on top of the lid to make sure she doesn't go Houdini on me.
Damascus of course ate without issue, Gods bless his little cold reptilian soul.

I finished "Under the Skin" this morning and the best word I can use to describe is "blah". It's a "Blah" book, not terrible but not exciting, or even really entertaining. If you like sci-fi maybe it's okay, but I doubt even using that genre's criteria would elevate it to amusing. Truly disappointing after reading "The Crimson Petal and the White".
I started to read, almost immediately after putting that book down, "The Biographer's Tale" by A.S. Byatt and so far so good. I love her writing, and have read a bunch of her books, my favorite so far being "Possession". Her writing and stories are not for every one (my mom hated them) but I love her dry English prose. Really good, thick writing.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Under the Cardboard Box


This was a picture from yesterday, but I forgot to put it up. So here it is today. I wasn't able to take Barbossa outside this afternoon because it was pouring in that obnoxious, instantaneous Miami way. He walked around my room for a while, but of course, he wasn't too happy. Blame it on the weather Gods.

I've been keeping a hawk's eye on CocoRosie, making sure she is not lacking in anything she might need. I put a bigger hiding place for her, a huge, hard cardboard box, right under the heat lamp, because when reptiles get sick (pretty much like any other animal) they need lots of warmth. I also put two different water containers, one really close to where she is so she doesn't have to go far if she is thirsty, and a bigger one in the cooler side of the cage so she can drink cool water, and even soak in it, if she needs to. We'll see how long it takes to see improvement and to get her eating again.
My sister is bringing a live pinkie for Tybalt tonight. She got one from the center where she works, knowing how concerned I am that Tybalt is not eating. As horrible as it is to put a little, live, baby mouse in the jaws of a snake, hopefully this will tempt him back to eating.
When I first got Talulah, that was the only way I got her eating regularly. Here's hoping.

I am reading a very strange book. It's called "Under the Skin" by Michel Faber. I picked it up from the library because I've read his most famous book "The Crimson Petal and the White", which I absolutely loved. This one, I'm not so sure. It's science fiction without truly being science fiction. I'm half way through and I'm not convinced yet. There really is not much action in the book, which is not necessarily something that bothers me, but it makes this particular book seem lacking in something. I don't know, maybe essence. It seems pretty hollow and cold. Maybe that was Mr. Faber's point, but it's done kind of half-heartedly if so. I don't hate it, but I would not really recommend it. It's more background noise than anything else.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

A Sick "Red Mamba"

I took Barbossa outside today, eve though the heat was ridiculous. For him it's no issue, but for warm blooded creatures like myself (as much as I like to pretend otherwise), it was like the very pits of hell. He did enjoy himself, so it was worth it.

CocoRosie is sick. A vet has seen her and my poor baby has an infection. At least now I know why she hasn't been eating. I was soooooo sad to hear that she was sick and that it had taken me that long to put two and two together. She has been put on antibiotics, administered by my sister, since she does this on a regular basis, and I hope she is on her way to a quick recovery. To give her the antibiotic injection, we have to catch her every night. This is not as easy as it sounds. Remember how I said she was a bit of a bully? Yeah, well, let's just say sickness has not helped her disposition. I have to catch her with a snake hook, which I HATE do, because snakes really hate them and I feel like I'm stressing her out more than is necessary. If she were a bit more tame, like my other babies, I could just hold her while she gets her injection, but not with CocoRosie the self-proclaimed "Red Mamba". I have to remind myself every time I see her hissing or rearing up in anger and fear that it is for her own good. Without the medication she would die. That is my mantra.
I also have to soak her every day but this does not seem to annoy her quite as much. She is pissed when I grab her, but she relaxes in the luke-warm water. For cold-blooded animals, if it feels hot or cold to our skin, it's too cold or too hot for them. Always aim for neutral, or luke-warm water.
I let her soak half an hour and then the whole rodeo begins again. She is going to hate me forever.
It's for her own good, it's for her own good, it's for her own good...

Monday, May 24, 2010

Targets

Why is it that animals always seem to target our house? Is there a map somewhere out there in the animal world with our house circled in red, or maybe glowing in neon? Maybe it's not even the house but us, we're tagged as "Animal Lovers" and we have no way of hiding our true nature from all the furry, scaly, feathery creatures out there.
On Saturday, my mom and I went out walking around the neighborhood, as we sometimes do. This time we went later than usual, it was already getting pretty dark but the weather was beautiful and we said, why not? We walked to a park a few blocks away and then we walked back home. As we were crossing the street parallel to ours, we hear a meow. A high pitch, pathetic little cry. We looked around and saw a beautiful female cat, she must have been about 5 months old walking towards us. We stop and wait for her to catch up. She comes close, still crying, and starts rubbing herself against our legs, as cats invariably do. We petted her and said cute things to her and then we turned around to leave. She had been sitting on some one's yard, so we assumed that was her house. But no...she started following us home, meowing as she walked. At one point she actually got ahead of us and kept looking back to see if we were coming. She crossed the street with us and seemed to know very well which house we belonged to. I think she had scouted the premises and had been waiting to ambush us with her feline cuteness. Of course, we gave her a can of cat food, which she greedily ate, and the she munched on some more dried food that was out there to feed the mother duck laying on her eggs. Yes, she's still there, and no they haven't hatched yet.
It's getting a little insane at our house. Inside and outside.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Stranger's Snakes

Yesterday I went to help at the wildlife center my sister works at. Last week, a reptile (among other things) expert went to the center to check up on the animals and he found some of the snakes in appalling conditions. He actually used those words. One of the snakes, a carpet python with neurological problems, was one of these unfortunate babies. She has not eaten in 19 weeks and she is getting dangerously close to being euthanized. The vet said she needs to be taken outside, to exercise a bit and to get sunlight, but the person in charge of the reptiles in the center is a bit of a loser so it falls to other people to do HIS work. I wanted to go yesterday and help a bit with these poor animals. We took the carpet python out and let her walk around for quite a bit. I was actually impressed at how much better she was doing. I had seen her a few months ago, when I was volunteering at the center every Saturday, and the last time she was still struggling to maintain her head straight. The problem she has is neurological, like I said, so she doesn't know which way her head is facing. But yesterday she moved almost normally. I think as long as they continue to take her out on a regular basis she'll get the urge to eat again.
We also had to put a big Burmese python to soak, becaus ehe has some sores on his body. He is huge, but pretty tame so it's not dangerous to grab him or carry him. He behaved like a little ophidian angel. The only problem with grabbing him is his cage-mate, a female Burmese python who has quite a temper. She also just laid eggs, which does not improve her patience with humans.

I saw also a little orphan duckling that someone brought in which was quite possibly the cutest thing that ever quacked. There was nothing wrong with him, other than being an orphan, so they'll send him to live at a duck farm with other duckies. He'll be happy.

I was happy to see the snakes (and all the other animals) at the center. Hopefully the next time I'm back the carpet python will still be there, preferably with a full belly.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Feeding Frenzy Friday Part 9

Tybalt did not eat, yet again. He seemed interested when I first put the pinkie in front of him, but then he changed his mind. I have scrubbed his cage and not handled him at all this week, so at least it's not something I'm causing. But why doesn't he eat!?
CocoRosie is also refusing food. I didn't pester her too much today. When I saw that by the third strike she was getting pretty worked up I backet away and closed the cage. No point in upsetting her and getting her to burn needless calories. I must be patient.
Damascus ate without problem, as did Coral and Talulah. Coral was hilarious today. She struck the mouse almost immediately, but she got it by the middle. So, being pretty smart, she knows that she can't swallow the mouse sideways. She instantly let go and attacked again. This time she got it by the tail. Again, frustrated she let it go. You could almost see the steam coming from out of her nostrils, she was so pissed. She must have struck four more times before I had to position the mouse with its snout pointing perfectly in her direction. Finally, she was able to grab it in the correct spot.

Later today I'll be baking brownies. I'll probably use a really simple recipe, but I'll post it later anyways.

Ok, I realized I didn't have eggs, so I didn't make brownies, but a kind of banana bread. Here's the recipe:

1 cup flour
2/3 cup orange juice
1 banana
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup sugar (I used brown)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 tbsp. flaked coconut
4 tbsp. oil
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Mash the banana and mix it with the orange juice. Set aside. Mix all the dry ingredients and add to the banana mixture. Add chocolate chips and coconut flakes. Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 F. for 40-45 minutes.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Close Encounters of the Avian Kind


Ok, this is either the dumbest, the vainest or the most suicidal bird I've ever seen. I was just standing there, reading, while Barbossa did his daily walk around the pool, when I catch movement out of the corner of my eye and look up. I encounter this sight. A little grey jay has decided today is the day to see a snake up close. He was not crying or making any noise at all, just looking at Barbossa, as if he's never seen a snake before. And he probably hasn't. They really are not that common in suburban Florida, although you do encounter garter snakes once in a while. Nothing, however, like my beautiful boa Barbossa.
I expected the bird to look at the snake and then rush off to the safety of the trees, but he had another idea in his head.

He started walking around Barbossa, opening and closing his wings. I think he mistakenly thought he was competing in a multi-species beauty pageant. He kept showing off the patterns on the inside of his wings while Barbossa had a little panic attack nearby. What the hell was he doing?

The poor snake was trying his best to avoid him, he certainly did not want ANYTHING to do with a crazy bird exposing himself to him.
I don't know if the bird felt threatened, although he did not look it in any way, and he surely could not have thought the snake was a mate he had to impress.
I shooed him off so Barbossa could walk without fearing for his life, but as he was turning the corner around the pool, there's the bird again. He hops down from a nearby bush and walks towards my poor baby opening and closing his wings. I took a picture although it is hard to tell where the bird is, so I circled it.

He got so close to the snake! I know Barbossa is not the most ferocious looking snake on the planet, but is a little respect too much to ask for? I was offended for him.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

I'm Ready for my Closeup


Kiss, kiss.

Yeah I know it's not the best picture, but she was being too damn cute not to post it. Topkapi is such a curious animal. But, then, all my snakes seem to have been bitten by the curiosity bug.
Some days it's like having badly behaving 5 year olds, by which I include ALL 5 year olds, running around the house.
At least snakes can't speak. I can't even begin to imagine the things that could come out of Topkapi's mouth, or CocoRosie's. The cursing would be atrocious.

Barbossa was moving around his cage today, stalking something. Of course, there was nothing in the cage, so either he was hallucinating or he was practicing his predatory skills. I hope it's the latter, not only because an insane snake could maybe turn out to be a bit challenging, but also because he really needs the practice. He is the worst predator that walks or slithers the Earth. Sorry Barbossa, but it's the truth.

Yesterday I saw Coral yawn. She is such a beautiful animal. Her face looks a little bit like the dragon from "How to Train Your Dragon", Toothless. She opened her mouth and held it open in a huge yawn for a few seconds. The inside is a light, baby girl, pink. I only had a few seconds but it was enough for a loud "Aw" on my part. Then she saw me, shut her mouth immediately, and dove for cover under the mulch. These animals...

Monday, May 17, 2010

Bed Time Stories

A funny thing happened a few days ago. I took Topkapi out in the morning like always, and I left her cage door open, like always. I spent some time with her and when it was time to put her back I went into the library/snake room and I leaned down to place her inside her cage. And there, as snug as a bug in a rug was Ophelia, my adorable female cat. At first my eyes didn't really register what they were seeing, something so crazy did not make much sense to my senses. I shook my head and she was still there, so I wasn't going completely crazy just yet. Poor Topkapi also looked a little put off, I thought I saw her wrinkling her nose in disgust. Now she would have to sweep her home of all that nasty cat hair. I kid, of course...she'll make me do it.
All our animals are nuts.

Last night, my mom called me into her room to show me our other female cat Tika's face. It was really swollen on one side. She is a black cat so it's hard to see much in her fur, but we did see a little puncture mark on the side of her face. I think something bit her and she had an allergic reaction. We carefully examined her, touching very gently the side that was swollen and she didn't seem at all in pain. She was purring away, not a care in the world. This morning the swelling was completely down. I still put a bit of Peroxide on it, just to make sure nothing gets infected, but she looks back to normal.
That's the thing with keeping so many animals, there's never a lack of excitement.

Today has felt inordinately long hasn't it? I, for one, can't wait to turn off the lights and go to bed. I still have a number of animal-related tasks to do, so it will be some time before I can head up to sleep...plus it is only about 5 in the afternoon.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Waves

My sister and I went to the beach yesterday. We went pretty early which was great because the number of people was much less, and the sun wasn't quite so bad. I still got too much of it for my own taste.
There were actual waves. That's not such as common an occurrence as people might think in Miami. The beaches are without a doubt beautiful, but the water stays pretty calm most of the time. Yesterday, however, there were enough waves for everyone. Both of us really enjoyed it. Our legs hurt from bracing ourselves to confront the gigantic waves. Well, not quite gigantic, but again, being dramatic comes naturally.

Topkapi is in the process of shedding as I write. She is wriggling her body, rubbing her face against different surfaces, trying to find the right one. She is going to look incredible, like always. I'm glad she still ate on Friday despite not being done shedding. She ate because her eyes were not cloudy anymore, otherwise I would have wasted a mouse. I am always reluctant, that's not even the right word, it's more like I refuse to freeze the mouse again after it's been defrosted. I don't think that's safe for my babies, so if no one wants the mouse it goes in the trash. After all, they are only 50 cents a mouse. I won't save money t the expense of my snakes' health.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Feeding Frenzy Friday Part 8

I finished feeding my morning babies. I am really getting concerned about Tybalt. He shed last week, so he should be hungry enough to take the pinkie, but he refused it again. I made sure it was hot enough so he could see it, but still nothing. I don't know why he is not eating. I've gone through the mental checklist of things that could be bothering him: it's not the temperature, it's not the humidity, I've been really careful with the light/dark schedule, I only took him out once this week, so he can't be feeling stressed. What is it? I wish he could tell me so I could fix the problem.
CocoRosie continues to refuse food but she is a grown snake that can go a while without eating so I am not AS concerned, although I am getting there.
Yesterday I received the order of fuzzies in the mail that I bought from RodentPro. I offered one to Damascus today and he took it with gusto (he also ate Tybalt's pinkie). Talulah ate without problem and so did Coral.
Tonight I feed Topkapi and tomorrow Barbossa.

Every time my snakes don't eat I ask myself, why do I put myself through this worry? Don't I have enough on my plate? That lasts about 2 seconds, until I think of what my life would be without their flicking tongues and bossy attitudes and then I feel like the most ungrateful person on the planet. No matter what kinds of troubles or frustrations they add to my life, they are my spoiled babies and I adore them.

I am baking some bread, called Swiss Cinnamon Bread so here is the recipe.

1 packet active dry yeast
1/4 warm water
1/2 cup warm milk
1/4 cup butter
3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tbs. sugar
2 eggs

Add the yeast to the water. Let dissolve. Mix milk with butter, let cool and add the yeast mixture. Slowly add the eggs, the salt, sugar. Add the flour. In floured board, knead until the dough is flexible. Place in bowl, butter slightly on top, cover and set in a warm place to rise until doubled.
Knead again. Cut dough into 3 pieces. Roll each piece into strips. Roll the strips in 1/4 cup sugar mixed with 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Braid the strips. Let rise again until doubled. Bake at 350 F. 30-35 minutes.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

A Wild Woman Screams

Coral has finished shedding! She looks gorgeous and she knows it. Topkapi has not shed yet, but it will be either today or tomorrow, because she's already lost the blue tinge to her eyes. I have been spraying her cage liberally whenever I walk into the room so that she won't have any problems shedding in one piece. The air conditioning and the heat lamps deplete the humidity in the cages so, except with Coral who takes action into her own hands and curls up in her water bowl, I have to really pay attention to the humidity levels in Barbossa's and Topkapi's cages. Obviously, Coral does not have faith in my reasoning skills.
CocoRosie continues her pacing of her cage. I keep offering her food but she doesn't want any, so it's not hunger why she's being so active. Hopefully it's just hormones (it is mating season) and not anything more serious.
Barbossa was acting strangely this morning. I went to turn the heat lamp on and he was in a very awkward position, with the top part of his body pressed tightly against the glass. I knew something was up, so I looked all over the cage and, sure enough, under a bunch of mulch there was poop. I cleaned it up and he is resting comfortably. Even without being able to make sounds, snakes learn to communicate with us really well, we just have to be paying attention.

In my unintentional series of reviews and recommendations, I must add a particular book that I recently started. Now, I am not a hard critic on books. I will read pretty much anything I can get my hands on. I am not picky on authors, on styles, and I am not swayed by other people's reviews or comments on any book (the Gods know why I write recommendations myself if I put no value in them). In other words, I am easygoing when it comes to liking a book. Having said all that, when I dislike a book, I REALLY dislike it (it's actually close to hate), and since there haven't been that many of them, I can remember them all or close to all. I can tell you that "Catch 22" is at the top of that horrible list, as is "Prague", "Slaughter House Five" and a few others. I have another one to add to the bunch. It's called "Women who Run with Wolves: Myth and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype" by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. This book is a serious waste of trees. I know that it sold millions of copies, that people love it and think it's amazing, and want to cuddle with it at night, but I cannot swallow it. When I bought it (thankfully for 50 cents at a book sale) I liked the look of it. It was completely feminist, written in a spiritual way, using stories to express psychological ideas to make women realize the powerful beings we are, etc. Sounds good, right? Well, it's not. This woman must really think we are all idiots and that we need everything spoon fed and over- analyzed for us to get it through our tiny, tiny brains, because she just doesn't shut up! She puts a story as an example of a particular idea (the story takes up a page and a half) and then continues to talk for 10-15 pages about every little thing in the story. We get it, you're a psychoanalyst or whatever you want to call yourself, enough! These stories are not that deep, and even if they were my brain works just fine. Guide me in the right direction but don't shove the ideas down my throat or I will use my independent, female, "loba", wild woman spirit to throw the book across the room, which I actually did this morning when I decided I refuse to read one more page. This is a huge thing for me, because I never leave a book half read. But I can't put up with it anymore, it's been days of torture and I will not waste my eyesight on this.

And... scene.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Reptiles Galore


That is Termophilas. She is a red-footed tortoise and she is my mom's. My mom actually has 5 tortoises and 2 turtles (turtles are aquatic), so I thought I'd at least post a picture of one of them. This one is the first one she got, and she is also the most spoiled of the bunch. Termophilas has quite an attitude on her, although it might not look like it from her sweet, wrinkled face. She is always willing to fight for food, especially bananas and sometimes we have to separate her from the other ones for a few seconds until she calms down. None of us knew, until we started keeping tortoises, that they LOVE meat. Once a week we'll give them a little bit of chicken or lean meat and they go nuts. They eat and eat until there's no more and then they have so much energy they want to run (I use that word loosely) around the house. We usually let them walk a bit if they get too hyper after all that protein. Anyways, I just wanted to share one other inhabitant of our house.

Coral is finally out of her water and back to hiding under mulch. She must be getting ready to shed either tonight or tomorrow. Tybalt shed last night and he looks fabulous. I also noticed yesterday, when I was holding both Talulah and Tybalt in the same hand, how much fatter Talulah is. She is actually bigger than Tybalt. It's amazing that she, the reluctant feeder, has gotten so chunky. Now I need to get Tybalt back on the feeding schedule. He's the one giving me trouble now. Arghhh!

I started reading "The Sign of the Four" on Sunday. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am pretty much a Sherlock Holmes fanatic, so it came as no surprise that I had an urge to read one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories. I'm pretty sure I've read this one before, but that has never stopped me from enjoying a book and I very much doubt I'll ever get bored of reading these stories. This short book is the second one Doyle wrote about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson so he is still introducing the characters to us, which is great because I am relearning some things I'd forgotten about.
I will not even comment on the travesty of the recent movie with Robert Downey Junior, the whole thing is beyond appalling. If you've never read a Sherlock Holmes story and you've seen the movie, please pick one of the books up and you'll realize what a load of crap that film was. Don't take my word for it, see for yourself.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Holy Hieroglyphics, Horus!

Triple alliteration, yes!

My sister and I watched the strangest movie last night. It's called "Immortal" and it is a futuristic movie that takes place in New York City, where a floating pyramid appears full of Egyptian gods. The two main characters are a blue-haired alien female and a human man who gets possessed by the god Horus. The basic plot is that Horus is going to die and he must mate with the alien to leave an heir. That's really all I know, and even that much doesn't make sense. As far as I know, gods can't die, unless I am missing some of the finer points of godhood.
I usually have no problem making up my mind if I like something or not, but with this movie I am ambivalent. I still don't understand all of it. IMDB (Internet Movie Database) usually so enlightening seems to be as confused as I am, so other than writing to the director with a respectful "what the hell?" I can't really comment more on it. I just don't understand it. Watch it and let me know.

Coral has been soaking for about three days straight. As soon as I saw that she was still curled up in her water this morning, I opened her cage to check on her. She raised her head and looked at me with a look of such irritation that I'm surprised I wasn't felled by a bolt of lightning on the spot. I sheepishly withdrew my hand and closed her cage door. I'm going to give them all "Do Not Disturb" signs so they can post them by their doors, so at least I have some warning of their moods.
Living with the Fearsome Seven is complicated.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Happy Mama's Day!


Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! That does include animal moms, like the duck we have by our front door sitting on her eggs. Yes, our house is going to be the site of around 16 duck babies' births. I don't know how animals do it, but they always seem to know that we welcome all kinds of them and that we will feed pretty much anything that appears at our doorstep. So, we are patiently waiting for all those little ducklings to be born. What's cuter to see than the babies waddling after their mom?

I wanted to post a picture of Topkapi with her blue eyes. You can see she looks very dull, her scales are lacking brilliance and color, but in a few days she will shed the old skin and look brand-spanking-new. She will also shed her eye caps. All snakes have a scale covering their eyes, which, since they don't have eyelids, they use as protection. The only problem is that when they start shedding, their eye scales also turn dull and they can't see well. Some of the snakes, like CocoRosie, get very nervous and aggressive, which is understandable. You wouldn't like people picking you up if you couldn't see well, either. Others, like Barbossa, get even shyer, if that's possible. And still others, like Topkapi, Damascus, Talulah and Tybalt, don't really give a crap one way or the other. I guess it comes from being in human contact since they were born. They are so tame, they feel no danger in our presence.

Yesterday, my mom and I went to the beach. The water was really glorious, but the sun was murder. This Miami heat is really becoming unbearable, you can feel the sun cutting into your skin. It doesn't even feel like burning anymore, it's like a million little paper cuts appearing on your skin. I didn't get truly burned because I carry my SPF 50 sunscreen pretty much everywhere I go, but still I have a tan. Once again, I HATE tans. I'm like a vampire (not the Twilight ones, if my skin glittered like a high school girl's at prom, I would die again of shame) the less sun I get on my skin, the better. Oh well, the water was incredible, so it was worth it. We'll probably go back next Saturday, but this time earlier in the day so the sun is not quite as brutal.
I'll be baking later in the afternoon, so I'll probably post either the recipe, the picture or if I feel really inspired, both.

Ok, I just finished baking. Here is the recipe for a simple vanilla cake

3 cups flour
2tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Add vanilla extract to the milk. Set aside. Beat butter and sugar. Add egss, one at a time, and beat after each addition. Add 1/3 of flour mixture to the butter mixture. Add half the milk to the batter. Beat well. Repeat.
Bake at 350 F. 30-40 minutes. Frost as desired.
Once again Happy Mother's Day!

Friday, May 7, 2010

Feeding Frenzy Friday Part 7

I just finished feeding the babies. CocoRosie did not eat, yet again, so I am reaching a critical worry level, but what can I do? Keep trying and hope for the best, I guess. Talulah ate hers with gusto and Damascus ate three pinkies. Even though Tybalt is not done shedding, he seemed interested in the food today, so I defrosted a mouse for him. He didn't eat it, so I gave it to Damascus. I gave his first mouse and he had a weird grip on it, but he wouldn't let it go so he could reposition it. I tried giving him another one, so that he would open his mouth and let the other one go, but he ended up taking the second one at the same time as the first one. He had two pinkies in his mouth at the same time and he proceeded to eat them both without problems. What a glutton.
Topkapi has bright blue eyes so there's no mouse for her today and also none for Coral, who is also shedding. Barbossa will eat his tomorrow, so I get to take him out walking a bit this afternoon. It looks really gloomy outside, hopefully it won't rain so I can take him to walk around the pool.

I haven't mentioned Vincent in a little while. He is doing beautifully. He seems really comfortable and happy with his cage and with us. He eats like a fiend and he is already quite chubby. Rats have extremely fast metabolisms so fat is good. He sleeps the whole day, but at night he goes absolutely nuts. He crawls and climbs all over his cage, he plays with his stuffed toy (a Scooby Doo plush animal) and he eats, and eats, and eats...
Vincent really is a sweet animal, he has not bitten any of us, which is good because the size of his teeth is quite frightening. He's becoming a vital member of our household.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Dragons!

Today my sister and I went to see "How to Train your Dragon". Since it is about HUGE reptiles, we had to go see it. It also doesn't hurt that the dragons look cute as hell.
This movie was great. I looked at the ratings that the critics and the viewers gave it, and I can see why they loved it so much. It is a surprisingly touching story, with tons of funny moments, wonderful animation and my favorite quote of the month: "Thank you, you useless reptile". I am planning on putting those words to much use in the coming weeks. The movie really is too cute for words, so the only thing I can say is go see it immediately.
I am so pushy.

While I was getting ready to leave this morning, I took Topkapi out. She loves when I let her play in my makeup bag, well, it's more of a basket. She crawls all over it and flicks her tongue out to see what all those different scents are. I remember one time she was extra needy, and I was trying to put mascara on, but she wanted me to pay attention to HER. So, she crawled all the way up my arm until she reached the stick of mascara and started flicking her tongue. I had to put the mascara down. One more victory for Topkapi.
Today I was wearing a kind of satiny dress and she seemed to revel in the feel of it, she kept crawling back and forth. She also almost fell, but it's better not to speak of that, I would not want to embarrass her.
Coral is curled up inside her water bowl because she is about to shed. I always worry when she does that, even though she is a full grown snake and can take care of herself. It makes me nervous when she puts her head underwater, but I must let her do her thing. She is wiser than I am.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Heat Wave

I am holding Miss Topkapi in my lap. She is also about to shed, so she's looking very scruffy. Don't tell her I said that. Pretty soon, in about a day or so, she will have bright blue, cloudy eyes and all she'll want to do is sleep.
Damascus finished shedding yesterday and he looks absolutely beautiful. Shiny.
The air conditioning in the garage is not working properly so I've had to resort to drastic measures to keep my babies healthy. They need their lights but not the heat, because it is sweltering in there. So, I have rigged the heat lamps so that they are dangling from the cages, so they see the light but do not feel any of the heat. Hopefully I can keep this up until we can get the air fixed. CocoRosie does not seem too happy with this arrangement, and I'm sure if I had a "suggestions box" I would find it filled with all kinds of curse words and disparaging messages, but it's the best I can manage. Sorry.

I just finished taking Barbossa out. It's night by now, I had to put a halt to my earlier typing because dogs needed to be fed, turtles needed to be cleaned, etc. So now I am picking up where I left off this morning, well, kind of.
I brought Barbossa downstairs today, but not outside, just in the middle of the living room. He has been there before, but he acted as though he were in the middle of the predator-infested Amazon. He moved his head a bit, but did not want to travel around. I guess I will not be bringing him to the living room again. Tomorrow I will try to redeem myself and take him to walk outside. I didn't today because it really was so hot outside, which for a snake might be perfect, but for me was quite uncomfortable. I will put aside my own discomfort tomorrow and be a good snake mom.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Expensive Ice

Barbossa ate his two mice yesterday. He is getting much better at being a predator. He rarely misses anymore and when he does miss he still tries again. Maybe he is getting more confident as he gets older, which is a great thing to see.
Last night I ordered more mice for my little snakes. The regular sized mice I get from the wildlife center where my sister works since it's much cheaper and quicker, but when I need to get pinkies or fuzzies I have to order them online. The mice themselves are not expensive, I bought them yesterday at 0.14 cents a fuzzie, the only problem is the shipping costs. They have to package it with a ton of ice, so the cost goes up. I paid $40 just in shipping. That's something else people need to take into consideration before buying a snake. Yes, it is best to get a baby snake so that it gets used to humans from the very beginning, but can you afford their food? You can't just walk into a pet store and ask for baby mice. They don't have them. It is a pretty expensive "hobby" to have.

I took a Stephen King book with me while i camped. I know myself enough to realize that no matter how good my intentions are to be social in a situation like the pagan festival (or any other event where there's people), I always find myself alone with a book. I can't help it. Books are more interesting than people (yes, I know books are written by people). I took "Lisey's Story". I haven't finished it yet, but I cannot praise it enough. This is, I think, the best Stephen King book I've read so far. How can people say bad things about his writing? It's not Dostoevsky, and you can't judge it as that, but his writing makes me think and makes me happy to have eyes to read, so what's wrong with that? Nothing, just a bunch of uptight literary critics. Anyway, I'm running out of pages and I don't want it to end. It's too good. Read it, read it, read it.

I just fnished baking some cookies. They are Swedish. Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
1 egg
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 F.
Cream butter and sugar. Add the honey and the egg. Add flour, salt, cinnamon. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Roll out and cut into desired shapes. Bake in prepared pan 5-7 minutes.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Pagan Madness


I'm back!!! Fresh from 4 days of pagan craziness! Man am I tired, but it was tons of fun. I heard some really interesting workshops and listened to some good music (provided by the Australian band "Spiral Dance) and also fought bravely against the invading hoards of insects that threatened to eat my tent with me still in it. That's right people, a tent. No sharing a cabin for me. Even though they are available in the campsite, and even though they have air conditioning and running water, I like my privacy and sharing a room with seven other people would put me on a homicidal edge that is not conducive to my good health, not to mention other people's lives.

I got there on Thursday afternoon, around 3:30. The campsite is really removed from pretty much everything. It was a pretty nice and a big area, with a generous view of Lake Sellers and lovely trees to camp under. By the time I got there, a lot of the tenting spaces under all those beautiful trees had already been taken, so I had to make do under one solitary tree in the western (more sandy) part of the camp. As it turns out, this was a much better spot than where I had wanted to camp originally. The eastern part of camp was much, much louder and was also infested with wood ticks. I only had to contend with some pesky ants, the regular and the flying variety, which was much better than disease carrying ticks. I pitched my tent an set my beach chair facing the far trees. It was a lovely spot. At night, I had the labyrinth they set up on my right side and it was all lit up with twinkle lights, so I could see it from my tent. The picture above I took sitting on my chair from my site. The flag on the tree is the one my sister made for me. Snake and Crow Army. Yeah!

That first night we had the opening ritual, to tune our energies to each other and to the place. Then we had a brief meet-and-greet session, just to socialize a bit. I was out of there in about three seconds. I retreated to my tent to read.

The next morning, after an interesting shower in the trailer they had set up, and after a HUGE cup of coffee, I went to the first workshop. That ended around noon, and before lunch I checked out Vendor's Row. This was where, you guessed it, vendors were set up to sell their various things. They had some really lovely things. I bought two dresses, a wind chime for my mom, a stress-relieving stone for my dad, and a cool wall sculpture for my sister.
After lunch, provided by my own tent's private cafeteria-in-a-backpack, I went to the next workshop. This one was about making a Witches' Cord. This is a device that has many uses, but mostly it is a portal between worlds. It's really complicated, but very interesting.
When that was over I went to see a Druidic ritual. Not many people went to that, so it was a nice intimate setting and we all got a private rune reading, which was cool.
At 8 that night the band played a concert, very nice music that got people dancing and just having a lot of fun. My only peeve with all of this is that everyone was pretty much drunk. I understand drinking, I do it myself, but when you can't enjoy anything without being drunk or high it is not normal. Being drunk to the point of having hallucinations does not a mystical experience make. No one got aggressive or particularly disruptive, but you could see some people were about to topple over. I don't know. It bothered me a little bit.

That night, I was getting ready to turn off my lantern and go to sleep (enjoying the low drumming in the background coming from drum circle). I turned off the light, lay down...and a bird started singing. Now, I was pretty sure that birds, apart from owls, do not sing at night. They can't see well in the dark, so they sleep. Think of the parrots that quiet down as soon as you put a sheet over their cages. Apparently, I was very wrong.
I looked around to see where the sound was coming from, and of course, the bird was using the tree above my tent as his personal stage. He warbled, tweeted, chirped, squeaked, pretty much any sound his little throat could make he made throughout three long hours. You can imagine my surprise slowly but surely turning to irritation. I love birds, but I think this one was a bit off his rocker. I think I had a loony-tune bird on my tree.

After that night spent being the very much reluctant audience to avian opera, I had an even bigger cup of coffee and headed off to another workshop. This one was about raising energy for healing. After that, I went to the workshop that I was most interested in: Past Life Regression. The presenter led us through a guided meditation to help us see something from one of our past lives. It went very well. That's all I'll say about that.

We had the main ritual that night. It was a Native American, Cherokee, ritual that had been given to the High Priest to share with us. Truthfully, I was a bit disappointed. There was too much ceremony and not enough energy. I didn't feel anything at all, and I was bored. I wasn't the only one. Behind me, there was a bunch of teenagers that would not stop making comments and laughing at what was going on in the middle of the circle. If you think it's bullshit, why show up? This isn't school, no one is forcing you. But I guess that's teenagers.

That night the bird did come back, but only sang for about twenty minutes and then he blessedly shut up. The next morning I packed up my tent and started the looooong drive home.
Air-conditioning is a gift from the gods.
I really enjoyed the experience and hopefully I'll be able to go to the next one in November.

While I was gone, my sister took care of my babies. I had fed Topkapi before I left, but the other ones hadn't eaten yet so I fed some of them last night. Damascus and Talulah ate without problem, but Tybalt and Coral are shedding, so they did not eat. CocoRosie again refused food, so I'm pretty sure the fact that it is mating season has affected her eating patterns. I will continue to tempt her every week and try to keep the panic at bay. She IS an adult snake so she can go a bit without eating. Very rational, but means nothing when I see her reject food.