Happy Halloween!

Today's the day when ghosts and ghouls come out to play. I hope you have enough candy stocked up!
Today is my favorite day of the year. There's just something about Halloween that makes me supremely happy. It is the Pagan new year, Samhain (pronounced Sow-in), that's part of it, but it also has a naughty gaiety about it that is truly enjoyable.
I am dressing up as Cleopatra and my sister is going as a glitzy Robin Hood, with sequins and everything.
I've been trying to figure out a costume for at least one of the snakes, but you have no idea how hard it is to fashion one when the model has no arms or legs!

I had to feed Topkapi last night because Friday she refused the mouse I offered her. Since I had attempted to give it to Coral, it obviously had her smell on it. Topkapi was shocked. How dare I give her a secondhand mouse?! As soon as she took one whiff of it she retreated into her hiding spot and nothing would tempt her to eat. Yesterday, however, with a brand new mouse she had absolutely no problem.
These animals are seriously spoiled.

Feeding Frenzy Friday Part 28

Odin ate, even though he has blue eyes. This little animal surprises me more each day, I love how feisty he is! When it comes to snakes, feistiness is definitely a good sign.
Damascus ate wonderfully, like always, as did Talulah.
Coral, on the other hand, is being really picky. She refused once again to take the frozen/thawed mouse. I was hoping that this week she would give in, but no, she felt it was beneath her.
I'm not going to give in that easily either. I'll give her one week without eating, maybe when she feels a little hungry she'll be willing to take the frozen.
Since she is a grown snake, a week is no problem.
We'll see. I do have a hunch I'm going to have to start buying mice for her as well as Barbossa. Argh!

Shenanigans

Topkapi has shed and she looks stunning, like always. I think she knows it because she is preening more than usual.
This morning, when I took her out, I was on the computer. Obviously this offended her because she decided to cause as much trouble as she could. She pressed the keys on the keyboard, she got under the keyboard and lifted it up so I couldn't type, she crawled behind the monitor, and the tour de force, she turned the same monitor off. From the back. She actually unplugged it.
I was shocked, but also in awe of her manipulating skills. I bow to you, mistress.

OK, Mercutio sleeps the whole entire day. I know he's nocturnal, but I expected a little more action during the day. He doesn't even twitch a foot. I checked, multiple times, and yes, he is alive. At least he has eyelids, unlike snakes, so I can see when he's sleeping.
I actually sat by his cage for about ten minutes to see if he was just waiting for me to leave to move but nothing. Of course, now that I think about it, what did I really prove?
Faulty reasoning.

A Creative Snake

I think Barbossa has found his Halloween costume. Now, I'm not quite sure what it's supposed to be. Maybe he's trying to figure out how to turn that into Elizabeth 1st's neck frills, I don't know.

I wish the camera on my phone was better.

Anyway, everyone has been behaving and looking happy. Mercutio is getting used to sharing a room with snakes, and the snakes don't seem to care one bit if he exists. All's well.
He's been eating meal worms, which is great. I didn't want another animal with feeding problems, too stressful.
I want to get a picture of him, but I'm still trying not to handle him too much, until he gets completely comfortable.

A Gecko

So now we have a gecko. Don't ask me why or how, but my mom decided she NEEDED one to survive.
I really can't blame her, he is ridiculously adorable. His name is Mercutio. So now, we have two Shakespearean characters residing in our home. If they start speaking in an English accent we might have to take drastic renaming measures. Somehow I think that's not going to be a problem.

I fed Coral a live mouse today, to get her back on her feeding schedule. She always seems reluctant to eat after shedding.
I've never offered her an adult, live mouse so I wondered what she would do. I was ready with my tongs to pull the mouse out if I saw it get aggressive, or if she got too scared. I underestimated my beautiful Coral.
She is a complete, perfect, predator. It took her about five minutes to strike, kill, and eat. I was so proud.

Feeding Frenzy Friday Part 27

I had high hopes for Tybalt today. I woke up with the certainty that today was the day Tybalt would take a dead pinkie. Alas, my hopes were shattered. Woe is me.

My sister was unable to get live pinkies this weeks, so I attempted to feed frozen/thawed to everyone.
Odin had absolutely no problem. I think I can stop feeding him live because he seems to have no objections to the mice pops. Which is wonderful.

Tybalt, on the other hand, adamantly refused to even smell the horrible stuff I was putting in front of him. It's not junk food, Tybalt, it's the same stuff you like, just bought in bulk!

Damascus ate fine, and Talulah was the lucky girl who got two pinkies. It's funny, because today I was running late and so I fed her in her cage, not in another container, so while she was eating, her brother slithered by her and she tightened her grip on the mouse. The last thing Tybalt was going to do was try to steal her food when I was pestering him to eat his own.

Tomorrow I have my French class. It's going really well, but slooooooowly. There are some people who are having a lot of trouble, so the teacher has to stop and repeat things. A million times.
If I were her, I would fling my book in the air and storm out of the classroom. Patience is not one of my virtues.
Yeah, I'm not teacher material.

Fowl Play

Both Topkapi and Barbossa are getting ready to shed. I've been submitting them to the spa treatment and they seem to be enjoying themselves.
Well, kind of. When I spread baby oil on Barbossa this morning he had a mini panic attack. Flailing his tail all over the place in fright. You'd think, since I do this every damn time he sheds, he'd get used to it.
Topkapi is not fazed, but that's to be expected when you have a reptile queen in your household. Pampering is just part of the deal.

It's getting a bit out of control on my doorstep. Every morning when I head out for my walk, there is a momma duck with her five ducklings (although by now they are looking pretty big, almost as big as she is) waiting for food. Now, to that waddling crew, add two and sometimes three random cats and you'll get what I find right outside my door. Some of the cats, okay, are looking really well fed so I'm sure that they have proper homes somewhere. They all stare at me with sad eyes. If they could squeeze out a tear, they would. So I go back inside and bring out food.

It's hilarious because sometimes the ducks come back in the afternoon, and to make sure I know they are out there waiting, they start peeping and just making such a racket that I have to go out there to get them to quiet down.
I'm being manipulated by fowl.

A Thanks

I am slowly getting back to normal after the loss of my baby snake. It seems to be a year of loss in the ophidian department. It sucks.

Animals can really bless your life. Even as I grieve for one of them, my other snakes have taken it upon themselves to help me out by being their most wonderful selves.
Odin is a laugh riot, with his posturing and hissing. I swear he thinks he is a Cobra mistakenly stuck in a corn snake's body. Sorry Odin, you'll never be a Cobra. Maybe in your next life.
Barbossa with his many different neuroses; Topkapi with her delusions of grandeur; Coral as Ms. Speedy Gonzalez; Tybalt and Talulah being so adorable I want to cuddle them forever, and Damascus staying in his cage. I am blessed with riches and I thank them all for allowing me to share my life with them.
Big cold group hug.

My Baby, Maat

Maat died last night.
I am still reeling from the shock and the grief. I wasn't sure I was going to post anything today, but I think some things need to be said.

A few days ago, while I was giving her Pedialyte, I thought that she had a bit of grey in her mouth. I had my sister hold her while I opened her mouth, and sure enough, her top palate was teeming with grey patches of skin. That can only mean mouth rot.
Since she has never eaten since I've had her, and I've been extra meticulous with her heating and humidity, it means she's been sick since the moment my mom bought her at PetCo. It really comes as no surprise, but it hurts.

I am just so tired. Tired of going into the pet stores and seeing the reptiles with empty water bowls and looking so dehydrated that their skin has grooves and wrinkles. I am tired of complaining, someone telling me they'll take care of it, and then everything staying the same. I am tired of people taking care of their shoes more than living creatures. I am tired of people buying fancy cases so their iPods don't get scratched but passing by an empty water bowl and not filling it.
I am tired, but I am also angry.
I feel ashamed at sharing genetic code with these beings that, just because they have opposable thumbs, think that the world is theirs and every other creature is inferior and therefore of less value. We, as the more intelligent creatures (although I am seriously having doubts), have a responsibility, an obligation, to take care of those that are weaker and defenseless. This increases ten-fold if we have them in cages. If we have the nerve of putting a wild animal in a cage, the very least we can do is make sure he or she is happy. We (I most definitely include myself) tell ourselves that even though they don't have their freedom, they are at least well-fed, healthy and safe. We trade off freedom for safety. It's not a fair choice, because we are not GIVING them a choice, but it's something that exotic pet owners deal with every day. We can live with it.
We cannot live with the mistreatment of these, or any, animals.
I did everything I could for Maat, but it makes my blood boil that she never had a meal in her short life. She was sick probably from the moment she hatched in whatever hell-hole they keep the eggs, while they wait to make money off of them.
My little baby didn't even have the hope of anti-biotic treatment because, since she's never eaten, the medication would have destroyed her organs. The only thing that I could do, and what I did do, was give her fluids. I'd been injecting her with liquid fuel for the past few nights, but that didn't stop her from getting weak and lethargic. The only consolation, and it's a poor one, that I have is that at least she didn't die alone. Odin was wrapped carefully around her, keeping her company. It's astounding that a little snake, a supposedly "stupid" being, has more compassion and understanding than all the "higher beings" who work in these pet stores.

It is a sad day.

Feeding Frenzy Friday Part 26

Feeding day! The snakes are excited, I am excited, the whole house is in an uproar. Well, it was, but now they're done eating. You should have been here, is all I'm saying.

Damascus was his fiendish little self, taking the mouse, rolling and constricting. I could almost hear the dramatic music in the background.
Talulah grabbed the pinkie like she had been shipwrecked on an island with no mice (does that exist?)Down the hatch it went.

Although Coral is still shedding, I made the attempt but she was not even remotely in the mood. So that's the mouse Topkapi will eat tonight.

It was a super fast feedin day. No one gave me trouble. I wonder if they read the last few posts about the trouble they were giving me on their iPhones?
Silly, where would they hide the iPhones? I would have seen them.

Odin

I was finally able to get a picture of Odin.
Isn't he gorgeous?
He is a little darker than Maat, has more grey in his scales, but he is a beauty.
He is also what i would call spunky. He strikes at everything and hisses like he just saw some one miss a shot at a basketball game.


Here he is getting ready to strike. You can see him in the "S" position, although he doesn't seem to realize that the person he is scared of is actually holding him. Ok, I'll put the camera down if it freaks you out.
Just wanted to share the beauty that is Odin.

A Mouthful

I fed Barbossa his three mice yesterday.
Why does that snake insist on strangling mulch? He missed the mouse and got a mouthful of wood bark in his mouth and then decided "well, this tastes kind of funny, but if this is what's for dinner, then so be it". Barbossa when has your food ever tasted remotely like coconut bark? I have never slathered the mouse in a tropical sauce or rubbed him against a tree. You're a predator! Get it together!
I had t grab him by the back of the head and pull out the pieces from his mouth. This is much harder than it sounds and should NOT be attempted, EVER. I did it because I know my snake really, really well.
Constrictors have inward-pointing teeth. This helps them hold on to a prey while it struggles. It also makes it incredibly difficult to take away anything that is lodged in their mouths, like, say, coconut mulch.
I had to be really careful because the last thing I wanted was to break one of his teeth. I managed to get all but one piece, which he swallowed. In a snake Barbossa's size, it's no problem, there's very little chance of it getting impacted in his bowels.
He managed to eat the mice without further problems.

Incognito

Odin and Maat are getting along beautifully. They sleep all curled up, like they've known each other since they were born.
I took Odin out this morning, just for a few minutes, but to start getting him used to humans handling him. He was pretty good today, not too scared. I'm dying to take a picture of him to post, but he is still skittish and bringing a camera into the equation would probably not be a wise move on my part.
What I can do, however, is try to get a picture of both of them curled around each other while they sleep. That would be adorable!
*grabs camouflaged hat and rubs dirt on face to fit in to the scenery. Which is a library.*

Feeding Frenzy Friday Part 25

Everyone and their mother had to be persuaded to eat today.
Too cold, too hot, not white enough, it's not alive, I'm shedding, I don't eat in the presence of humans...all things that were obviously running through their heads because they all refused to take their mice when I offered them. Jeez. Ophidian gals and guys, I cannot spend my whole morning catering to your requests!
They know I'm bluffing. That's the problem, they know that I freak out if one of them doesn't eat so I run to find whatever he or she needs. They are too spoiled. Period.

Anyway, I attempted first with Damascus. He seemed excited, ready to lunge at the mouse and then ...nothing. He retreated into his hiding place and continued to flick out his tongue from in there. I put the mouse close to his face, nothing. I heated the mouse up in even hotter water, and then he did take it. Sorry Damascus, I didn't realize you need the prey a couple of degrees warmer to please your palate. Spoiled!

Coral looks like she's about to shed, so she is excused.

My sister was not able to get a live pinkie this week, but although Odin behaved like an angel and ate his frozen/thawed one, Tybalt did not even attempt it today. He was not fooled by my impersonation of a live pinkie. Moving it around is obviously not enough to prove it's alive. Spoiled!

Even Talulah gave me a headache. She just did not seem interested. I took her out of her cage, to see if maybe a change of scenery would tempt her to eat, and that made it worse. She got into "exploring" mode and refused to even look at the mouse. So, I put her back in her cage and she finally realized that what was dangling just above her head was not mistletoe but FOOD. Spoiled!

Thus ends the tirade.

Jailer

So, Odin is fitting in beautifully. He is still a bit on edge, but that's to be expected. He was obviously not handled enough while he was growing and that makes nervous snakes even more nervous.
Damascus has remained in his cage, Hallelujah! It seems the maximum security I've provided is working out. Think barbed wire, motion detectors and guard dogs.
Yeah, I'm exaggerating, except for the guard dogs, well, guard CATS, but still. I am watching him like a hawk. Every time I leave the room I point to my eyes and to him in the old "I'm watching you" sign. He must think I'm nuts.

I am baking Challah today.
I am using this recipe:

3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. warm water
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup honey
2 eggs
1/2 tbsp. salt
4 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cups butter, melted
1 tbsp. water
1 egg

Put yeast in water and honey. Let set for 10 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, salt, and butter. Slowly add the flour.
Knead and let rise in a warm place for two hours. Knead again. Shape into whatever shape you like, place in prepared pan and let rise 2 more hours. Then beat egg and water to make the glaze.
Spread over the top of the bread. Bake at 375 F. for 35-40 minutes.

Norse God

So yesterday, when my sister came home from work, she brought a little surprise with her. Yes, I've got another baby snake! A beautiful baby corn snake who is now sharing a cage with Maat. He is a little bit bigger that she is, but they are getting along fabulously, and actually, Maat seems incredibly interested in him. Hopefully, when she sees him eat she'll be tempted to follow suit.
His name is Odin. We don't really know if he really is a male, but for now, we'll give him that name. My sister named him. Since we already have an Egyptian goddess, why not add a Norse god into the mix?

He was brought to the wildlife center because he was "too aggressive". OK, this animal is not aggressive, but if you don't know how to handle snakes correctly, then yes he can can get frisky. The family had bought it for their young kid (mistake number one) and the poor snake kept biting him or her.
Snakes are not kid-friendly. At least not for regular kids. If the child is patient and careful, and most importantly, LOVES snakes, then sure, it could work out well. But if the kid just wants a pet, get him something furry or fluffy that will be tolerant of children's behaviours. A snake most definitely will not.

Prodigal Son Returneth

I found Damascus last night. You do not understand the relief I felt and am still feeling. As soon as I saw his little tail poking out of the bathroom door, I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. All thoughts of punishment left my head, I mean, really, how can I punish a snake to teach him a lesson, take away his TV privileges?
He drank tons of water last night, which was what I was most worried about, him dehydrating.
I am ecstatic he's back. I just finished feeding him. Now he has four huge textbooks on top of his cage's lid, so unless he's the Hulk, he's not getting out again!

Yesterday I went to see Case 39. I was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining it was. Now, don't get me wrong, it's nothing to write home about, but if you're looking for a good way to kill an hour and a half, then go see it. I was, however, mildly disturbed at how weird Renee Zellweger looks. I know she was never a great beauty, but her face looks so strange, it actually distracted me during her close ups. Oh, well, what can we do?

Feeding Frenzy Friday Part 24

I went to feed Damascus this morning and I found his cage empty. I have and continue to be extremely worried. I'm pretty much tearing the house apart, but snakes are tricky. He'll find some hiding place and sleep there during the day, and then move around at night when the whole house is still and quiet.
I have checked everywhere. I started off in the likely places, wherever there's warmth, and the progressed to more outlandish places, inside shoes, on top of bookcases (although I have no idea how he would have gotten up there). Nothing, not a trace. I'm trying to keep the panic down, but I do worry, especially when there's many bigger and meaner animals in the house.

Apart from that miniature disaster, everyone else ate just fine. I have Topkapi to feed tonight and Damascus...whenever I find him.