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




Tuesday, August 31, 2010

The Chosen One


I can't believe I caught these pictures. Seeing Barbossa yawn is seeing something unique, sacred, something that the ancients have whispered about around campsite bonfires, something only the very brave and very lucky ever see.

Ok, that's a tad bit exaggerated, but who knows, maybe someone somewhere is rejoicing and exclaiming "Finally the prophecy is fulfilled!".
It could happen is all I'm saying.




He is hilarious. My other snakes just open their mouths and yawn, simple and to the point, but Barbossa takes it to a whole other level. First, his whole face starts to twitch (the first time I saw this I thought he was having a stroke), then he lifts one corner of his mouth followed by the other and finally opens his mouth as far as it will go. I wasn't able to get a picture of the full extended jaw, because my camera was being an idiot, but you get the gist.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Religious Freedom

I went to see "The Last Exorcism" yesterday. I am a sucker for scary movies, if you haven't realized it by now. My sister wasn't working so I asked her if she wanted to go with me to the movies, but she sheepishly said no. She, on the other hand, is really terrified of scary movies. Fair enough. I went by myself.

Overall, I liked the movie. It is not nearly scary enough, but it is an interesting premise.
The main character, Reverend Cotton, was a child preacher who grew up so used to the whole idea of God that he found himself an adult lacking faith in his own preachings. He had performed tons of exorcisms, but believed in none of them. The whole movie is filmed documentary style, with an actual cameraman following the Reverend along while he tries to show the world that exorcisms are scams and that the people who perform them are frauds.
We follow him to a house in Louisiana, where a young woman has been supposedly possessed by a demon. I don't want to give anything away, beacuse it is a movie worth seeing, but there are several twists and turns that I, as the audience, didn't see coming and which were quite refreshing.
I was, however, a little disappointed at the ending. That's becoming kind of the norm these days, and I am left wondering why. In a lot of the books I've recently read and in a lot of the movies I've recently seen, the endings seemed to be thrown together at the last minute and held in place with clothepins. I can imagine the writers and directors praying to their respective gods that no one would blow too hard on their creations and unravel them.
The ending was crap, which sucked because I really liked the movie.
Something else that bothered me was the use of magical symbols in the ending scenes.
As a pagan, more specifically a ceremonial magician, I was a bit on edge when I saw pentacles and triquetras drawn on walls as symbols representing the devil and Satan worship. An upside-down pentacle is not a problem because that truly is the sign of Satanists, but when you put a right-side up one next to it, you're bashing my religion. I am not a Satan worshiper because I don't believe in Satan or Jesus. I respect everyone who does, however, and I would never go around misusing THEIR religious symbols.
Maybe I am being too picky, but my religion has been persecuted by every other religion for a very, very long time, and I don't think we need to give the Christian and Jewish fanatics out there more ammunition. They already call us Satan worshippers, blasphemers, evil, damned, etc. I have people making the sign of the cross at me when I go walking around my neighborhood with my pentacle on. Why should I be accosted like that when they get to wear their crosses and Stars of David whenever and wherever they want?
Please do your research before you use one of our symbols.
Thus ends MY preaching.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Feeding Frenzy Friday Part 21

Today was feeding day from hell. All the snakes had some problem or other with the food item I provided.
I started with Coral, who usually does not give me any trouble. On the contrary, she was getting so chunky that I put her on a bit of a diet, but she had refused a mouse last week so I was a bit worried when she didn't take one today. I pestered her a while, and then I brought out the live pinkie I had saved from Wednesday. My sister got me two from the wildlife center and Maat didn't eat hers, so I kept the baby mouse alive until today. It is a ridiculously small item for Coral, but I thought maybe if she sees it moving she'll be enticed to take it. I was not disappointed.
I then tried again with the frozen/thawed mouse, but she did not want it. I hope she is not going to throw a tantrum and only want live mice.

Then, it was Damascus's turn to be picky. Something about the fuzzies I offered did not please him. I do not know what, they are the same I always give him. He finally ate one, but ignored the other one. Since I had a leftover adult mouse I decided, hell why not, and placed it in front of him. If someone ever tells you that snakes don't have expressions you can tell them I told you they're liars. As soon as his tongue flicked and picked out the new scent his eyes seemed to widen in surprise. You could almost hear him thinking, "now what is this delectable smell?" (in an English accent, because that's how I think of his voice).
He took it and ate greedily.

Talulah also gave me trouble. I had to pretty much bribe her to take the fuzzie. She did eat it, but still what the hell was going on? Was there a hunger strike I was not aware of?

Maat, of course, continues to refuse food. I have tried absolutely everything. I have written to many forums and I have tried every suggestion I was given. Nothing.
I did try something new today. If you are squeamish, though, I highly recommend you get far away from this post.

Ok, when I realized she was not going to eat the fuzzie and that I would have to give her Pedialyte again, I had an interesting idea. What if I open the thawed mouse, take the organs out, the blood, and the brain matter, crush it as small as it will go and then mix it with the Pedialyte? I could not think of any reason not to do it. So I went to action. I am not sqeamish in the least, which is a good thing when you own snakes, so I had the mouse open and was crushing and mixing in a matter of seconds. I took Maat and started giving her the concoction with a syrynge. She was not that happy about it, but at least I know she got some mouse nutrients on top of the stuff provided by the Pedialyte.
Alright, you can stop gagging.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Apocalypse NOW

It is looking really ugly down here. I've checked the clock repeatedly because I can't believe it's only 5:30. It looks so dark outside.
Of course, our basset hound Dublin, is in the middle of a panic attack, and Chaos is patiently working on ignoring him.
When I took Topkapi out this morning I put her on the kitchen table while I put some dishes away. She started slithering around, flicking out her tongue, nothing out of the ordinary. I kept going with the dishes and when I turn back around she was on the floor. How did she get there that fast? I didn't hear a clunking sound, so she didn't fall. She must have acquired superpowers while I wans't paying attention, OR she is the world's fastest snake. Either way I have a famous snake in my hands.

I was planning on taking Barbossa outside today but the apocalyptic look of the sky otside does not bode well. I'm sure that as soon as I put him outside and sit to start reading we'll both get soaked. Miami weather, ugh.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Belly Scales


This is a perfect example of the crazy stuff Topkapi does on a regular basis.

I was sitting, using the computer and of course I have my snake queen on my lap. I was engrossed in whatever I was reading and didn't notice that she was slowly slithering off.
When I realized "hey, where's the snake I had on me?", I shifted my eyes and saw her doing this. Whatever it is.


I'm pretty sure she was trying to scan her belly, but you would have to ask her.

In other news, my sister and I are going nuts trying to catch lizards for Maat. I read in some web pages that corn snakes can sometimes be enticed to eat if the prey item smells like a lizard. Which is all well and good, except where the hell am I going to get a lizard from? Hence the backyard chase sequences we've been stars in. Those little buggers are really fast.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Reasons for Sibling Homicide

I'm going to kill my sister.

OK, you probably need a bit more information. For a few days now, pretty much since the commercials started, she's been bugging me to go see "Vampires Suck". She wore me down and I agreed to go see it. I had to go to the library yesterday, so I invited her to go afterwards.
I just...I don't know where to begin. It's a bit hard to make fun of the Twilight movies because they are ridiculous all on their own, so I really can't blame the parody too much. But seriously, did this movie really need to exist? I could have happily lived out the rest of my life without having experienced it. Again, the same goes for the whole Twilight thing.
And people were actually laughing all the way throughout! It was not funny, none of it! Halfway through I was seriously considering how I could manage to hit myself unconscious so the time would pass quickly.
I will give my sister credit in that she also did not laugh once. As soon as the credits began she and I made a bee line for the door, regardless of the little clips in between the names. That, at least, calmed my urge to throttle her for making me sit through that.
The one thing about the movie that was moderately amusing was how the main actress did a perfect imitation of Kirsten (or however the hell you spell her name) Stewart's psychotic mannerisms.

Please, I urge you, do not, I repeat DO NOT see this movie.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Feeding Frenzy Friday Part 20

Maat is driving me up the walls. I am really concerned.
My sister brought 2 live pinkies on Wednesday, one for Tybalt and one for her. Tybalt ate his of course, she did not. So I had an extra baby mouse on my hands. I decided to keep it for a few days, to keep trying with Maat. So, I took care of it for two days and nights. For me this really sucked.
Do you understand how cute a baby mouse is? I had to give it milk with Pedialyte every four hours and I had to keep him warm, but I also had to keep myself detached, because he was destined to be eaten.
I tried again today and again Maat did not want it so I decided to give it to Tybalt since he is the only one who eats live pinkies. It was horrible.

Damascus ate fine as did Talulah. Coral was really moody today and she did not want her mouse. Maybe she's pissed I put her on a diet.

I baked some cookies today. They are double chocolate chunk, yummy.

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder
8 ounces chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 F.
Melt chocolate with butter. Add sugar, eggs, vanilla extract.
Mix flour, baking powder, salt, cocoa. Add to chocolate mixture.
Place in prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Moria

Something quite amusing happened a couple of days ago. I came down in the morning and sat at the computer to check my email. I started noticing that my rottweiler, Chaos (and there's never been a more appropriate name in the history of dog ownership) was trying very hard to get my attention. He tends to do this often though, for any reason whatsoever, like a little child wanting to show you something interesting. So, I tried to ignore him. He really kept insisting, though.
Finally, I followed him to see what the hell was so important. Well, our basset hound, Dublin had one of the tortoises in his mouth.
This tortoise is one of my mom's favorites. Her name is Moria and she is a box turtle. Way too cute for mere words.
Well, anyway, she has a habit of crawling out of her cage. She lifts the grate covering it and just walks out. She did just that and Dublin decided it was too good an opportunity to pass up.
The poor reptile was scared out of her mind but otherwise uninjured. I guess that teaches me to pay more attention to Chaos's warnings.
Moria now has some heavy clay items weighing the top of her cage down.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Talking Dogs and Sulking Snakes

Maat continues to refuse food. I am getting close to a code red. I'm going to try again with a live pinkie on Wednesday, but if she doesn't take it I might have to give her fluids. She's just so damn little.

My snake room/library had a bit of a makeover this past weekend. The desk has been moved around, and so has Damascus's tank. Barbossa, although the change did not apply to him in any way, is throwing a little bit of a hissy fit. He does not like where the desk is and he lets me know it by somehow managing to move his basket so that it is facing the wall. Now, he is curled up in there, refusing to even glance at the rest of the room.
Well, I might be exaggerating a bit, but he really is annoyed.

I finished reading "The Dogs of Babel" by Carolyn Parkhurst. I was pretty sad that I finished it so quickly because it is a truly gorgeous book. When I picked it up I wasn't sure if it was really my thing, a man that tries to teach his dog to talk so she can tell him what happened the day his wife fell from a tree. A bit too sci-fi for me, or so I thought. Actually, the book is written in a very careful way, toeing the line of the believable in very artfully. I'm very glad I picked it up, and I want to read more stuff by Ms. Parkhurst

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Weird Week

It's been a weird week. I haven't been feeling my best, which is why I haven't written as often as I do. My babies have been great, doing their usual stuff, it's just me who's been a bit off.
I fed them yesterday. Well, I fed some of them. I tried again with Maat and still she won't eat. She seemed interested for a few seconds then changed her mind about eating. I tried and tried but she wanted nothing to do with the pinkie. I ended up giving her some Pedialyte drops instead. At least I know she is getting some nutrients.
Topkapi ate, as did Damascus. You know, I always read that ball pythons are picky eaters, but I've not had a single problem with either one of them. I really recommend them as a first snake.
Talulah ate. She was very funny yesterday. I grabbed her and positioned her to take the pinkie. She struck, let go, and then struck multiple times, as if she were a venemous snake. She then proceeded to constrict the dead pinkie. She's never done that before. I guess she was feeling frisky.
Tybalt was still shedding so I didn't feed him.
By the way, I did end up buying the humidifier, so I will be using it the next time the snaked are shedding. Since I have them all on the same feeding schedule, they usually shed at the same time, which is good.
I did not feed Coral, because, although I hesitate to publicly announce this, she is looking too chubby. I've had to put her on a diet, so I'll be feeding her every other week instead of every week.

I finished the last Dark Tower book in the Stephen King series. I was devastated by the ending. Don't worry, I'll not give anything away, but really it was astounding. A lot of people complain about the way it ends, but, although I was surprised by it, I think it was really the best ending possible. If you haven't read the series, I highly urge you to do so.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

The Spa

I just finished a VIP spa treatment for Barbossa. He is shedding, and he looks like a mess. Something's going on in the snake room/library because the air conditioning seems to be sucking all the moisture from the air quicker than it used to. I even have a window slightly open to let in some of this perfect Miami humidity, and still my babies are having trouble shedding. I spray them pretty much every hour but it doesn't seem to be working. I might have to resort to drastic measures: put all the tanks in the garage (I don't even want to ponder the outrage Topkapi would feel), or I could get a humidifier. One of those portable ones. I used to have one, that I took with me when I was auditioning for music programs. I went up to North Carolina, it was freezing, and the hotel room's heating would have dried my voice out completely if not for the humidifier.
The problem of using that is that not all my snakes shed at the same time, so I would be increasing the humidity needlessly for some of them, therefore putting them at risk of getting respiratory infections. There is no easy solution. Aaaaah!

Well, anyway, let me explain what the spa treatment consisted of. First I soaked Barbossa in the bathtub for a few minutes. Probably five, because he did not want anything to do with the water and he was getting very scared. Then I placed him on the bathroom floor and turned the shower on at full blast at the hottest it would go. This, of course, creates steam. My mom and dad used to do this for me when I was little because I suffered from pretty severe asthma attacks. My dad would sit with me in the sauna that was the bathroom and made me breathe in deeply. If you suffer from any breathing problems, I recommend it, it really helps (if you can add some eucalyptus leaves to the water, even better). I still use it today when I get sick and feel on the verge of breathing trouble.
So today, I did this for my little shy boy. He seemed to like it.
I sat with him for half an hour, I read while he walked around. Then I put lots of baby oil on him and misted his cage to the soaking point. He seemed to be having less trouble right now getting rid of the leftover old skin, but I'll see. I might have to repeat the whole procedure.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Super-Hero Arachnid

I went to see "Salt" on Saturday. It was surprisingly good. I expected the same type of movie that Angelina Jolie always does, so I was pleasantly surprised at the story line's twist and turns.
Her acting was fine, not Oscar worthy, but then I wasn't really expecting that either.
The only negative comment, and I know I'm being a bit of a nitpicker, is a lack of research when it comes to spiders. Let me explain.
Jolie's husband in the movie is an arachnid specialist and he keeps some specimens in their apartment. Early in the film, Salt goes to pick up some things and she stashes one of the spiders in a container to take with her. It's obviously a venomous spider, but she picks it up with her bare hands without any type of precaution. OK, that's problem number one. The next one is that she puts this poor spider in her backpack. She then proceeds to scale the walls of her apartment window in freezing weather, to run like a maniac through the streets, to jump off a bridge onto a passing truck, to propel herself from that truck onto many other vehicles, etc. You get what I'm saying: she did a lot of risky, very physical stuff. She then went to a hotel, took out the spider that looked perfectly fine and drained it of it's venom. That's where I have a problem. The spider could not have survived all of that. They are quite fragile, and the poor arachnid's exoskeleton could never have sustained the blows that Jolie's backpack received. She would not even have survived the cold (that's why you always see pet spiders in tanks with heat lamps).Even in the container that she was placed in, which looked like a simple plastic jar, it's impossible. There, that's my issue. Other than that really trivial problem, the movie was fun, go watch it.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Feeding Frenzy Friday Part 19

Maat did not eat Wednesday night or today. I tried the live pinkie and nothing. I am getting a bit concerned. I've checked and double checked her temperature, but it is always in the correct range. She has hiding spots, I've not handled her in days, I don't know why she refuses to eat. I did manage to give her some Pedialyte, she was not too happy about it, but she drank quite a number of nutrient filled drops. She kept opening and closing her mouth in disgust. Sorry, Maat but it's for your own good.
So Tybalt ended up eating the live pinkie. He was still shedding so I had to convince him to eat, but he finally took it.

Topkapi just finished eating. No problems with her as usual.
Damascus, Talulah and Coral all ate and look very full and happy. All in all, a good day for snakes at my house.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

The Elusive Coral


Finally, a picture of Coral!
It's not a perfect picture, I know, but I am always alone when I take her out and I can't really hold on to her and a camera at the same time.
With her it really feels like a rodeo. Some days she lets herself be picked up without issue, then a minute later she starts freaking out, wanting me to PUT HER DOWN. But, if I do, she goes running in the opposite direction at the speed of light, and I run the risk of never seeing her again, so no, I do not put her down.

I am going to try tonight to feed Maat a fresh pinkie. My sister is going to bring a live one and I will inch my way a little more into the gates of hell by killing it first and then offering it to her. The best way to do this (I have done it before) is to put the mouse in a bag and smack it against the wall or the floor as fast and as hard as you can. It sounds monstrous and it is, but it is also instantaneous. Hopefully she eats, although I am sure Tybalt will take it if she doesn't.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Morning Madness

I walked into the library/snake room this morning and encountered something interesting. Topkapi was crawling all over, investigating every corner of her cage. She raised her body up and flicked her tongue out at her heat lamp, which I had just turned on. I expected the shenanigans to stop with me around, but I sat on the floor to watch her for a good ten minutes before she decided to go inside her hiding place and sleep. What the hell was she doing?
She's usually hyper like that only during the night, when all the lights are turned off, but never during the day. She is nocturnal, after all.
I have a couple of theories.
There are two cats in the room with all the snakes. These cats get quite hyper at night aas well. They play around like crazy and this morning they were still playing when I went in. So, either Topkapi wanted to see what all the commotion was about OR she wanted to get out of the cage and strangle both cats so she could sleep. With her, it's a toss up.

I have a pound cake in the oven, which already smells pretty fabulous. Here's the recipe:

1 cup butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 tbsp. honey
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. orange extract
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Beat butter, sugar. Add eggs one at a time, then the extracts and the honey.
Sift flour with salt and baking powder. Add slowly to the wet ingredients, beat until smooth.
Place in prepared pan of choice. Bake at 350 F. for 50-60 minutes.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Melodies

The Internet at my house has been on the fritz so I haven't been able to log on for a few days. Technology is so moody.

Talulah has finished shedding and she is looking so cute. I have to take some more pictures of her and of Tybalt, because they have grown so much. They're looking like big chunky snakes. I'm such a proud mamma.

Damascus has looking a little scruffy even though he shed recently, so today I soaked him for the first time. I expected a lot of squirming and escape attempts but he behaved like the little angel he is. He was even relaxed enough to drnk water while he soaked. After about 20 minutes, I took him out, dried him and put baby oil on him. Hopefully that will help him if he's a bit dehydrated. I don't think he is, but better safe than sorry.

I am reading 'Delirium' by Laura Restrepo. Like an idiot, I picked it up at the library in English, when the original is in Spanish, and guess what, duh, I read Spanish. I'm such a moron. I'm always talking about how books are much better in their original language and there I go and grab a translated book of a language that I can actually read.
Anyway, the book is very good. Her writing is in the style of Isabel Allende and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It is a milder form of magical realism, which I love. A really touching portrayal of madness and the love of a husband and wife. It's a melodius book.