Feeding Frenzy Friday Part 33

Today's feeding was over in about five minutes. Odin was the lucky boy who got two pinkies because Coral is shedding.
You might well wonder why Coral would be eating a pinkie, well let me share. Since she's been so finicky with her food lately, that the only way I've convinced her to take her frozen/thawed mice is to first entice her with a pinkie. It works like a charm. But today she was dull colored and blue-eyed. She has gotten so much better, I can pick her up without her squirming at all. I'm pressed at her trust level.
Damascus ate without problem and Talulah did not eat because she had two live pinkies on Wednesday. My sister brought them for Tybalt but he was also shedding. They really should leave me notes so I can plan ahead. I'll start leaving them pen and paper nearby and see how that goes.

Beauty Kings and Queens

That's a fer-de-lance, most certainly not one of my babies, but one I saw today when I went to the Miami Zoo.
Today is my mom's birthday so we decided to spend the day roaming the large and beautiful zoo we have. I think it's the only worthwhile thing Miami has to offer. There are so many animals, so well kept, that it's something to really be proud of in this city.



That one is a bushmaster, the longest viper in the world. I think he or she is gorgeous.



And that's an eyelash viper. They are called so because of the protruding scale above the eye. They have many colorations, but I think my favorite is this bright yellow. It's incredible.

By the way, another of my poems is up, you can find it here: http://berg-gasse19.com/2010/12/29/guilty-conscience/

Pirates and Oranges

That is my escape artist, Damascus. He's looking so much bigger!
He decided he wanted to see what the oranges were, that nifty citrus scent was just too much temptation. He also discovered those figurines my mom gave my sister as a stocking stuffer. Aren't they adorable? She got a set of pirate figures and I got an Egyptian set. Mighty cool, and very detailed. I know, we are grown-ass women but something cute is something cute.
I took Barbossa out this morning and he almost got stuck under the bathroom door. I seriously thought I was going to have to unhinge the screws and bring the door down. I was freaking out, he was freaking out, the whole thing was a bit of a nightmare but I finally managed to slip the largest coil under the door and he slithered free. He then curled up and refused to move anymore. I don't blame him, we had enough fun for one morning.

Gift

Barbossa ate today! Yay! His holiday gift to me and I couldn't have asked for a better one.
Every one is doing wonderfully and all my babies ate except for Tybalt because the man who brings the live pinkies to the wildlife center did not come. He's sick or something, and I guess the world ends when he feels unwell. Don't the snakes in the center have to eat, also?
Human selfishness is unbelievable.

I got a new camera as a gift, so you'll be seeing tons of new pictures. My camera and I are practically attached at the hip.
Oh, I also had some more poems accepted in another literary magazine called Berg Gasse 19. They'll appear soon, so I'll post up the link when they're available.

Happy Holidays

Topkapi wishes you a happy day, from her den to yours!

Winter Celebration

Everyone have a happy evening tomorrow, whether you're like me, a little pagan melting in the Miami heat, or if you are Christian celebrating the birth of your Savior. Eat good food and try not to get into fights with your relatives.
Put a little food out for any animals you see hanging around in the cold and wish them a happy night.

Table-top Musings

I felt it was time to have some more pictures of Topkapi. It's been a while and Her Majesty has been complaining, or she would if she could speak.
I was preparing coffee so I placed her on the kitchen table because trying to make the coffee machine function while I hold her is asking for trouble.
She proceeded to melt me with her cuteness.


Don't you just want to plant a kiss on her nose? Maybe it's just me, then.

Houdini

I found Damascus last night! Yay!
I am so relieved I can't even describe it. He was still in the library/snake room, I think he'd been sleeping in one of the drawers, curled up tight, and as the cool weather petered off he decided it was time to come out. He drank tons of water and is now safely back in his warm home.
I'm going to be feeding him today, I already have the mouse defrosting.
That's all for today, just wanted to share the good news.

Feeding Frenzy Friday Part 32

I think Coral is getting used to the whole live mouse thing. She now scoffs at my poor offerings, laughs in my face as I beg her to please try the frozen/thawed mouse. Mwhahahaha.
Probably too dramatic, but I can assure you that's what it feels like when she flicks her tongue over the food and violently turns her head in another direction. I'll let her go hungry this week and see if she can get back on the prekilled mice.

Odin ate spectacularly as always as did Talulah. Tybalt did not eat on Wednesday because my sister could not get a pinkie, poor baby.
Topkapi will eat tonight.

Today was a really quick feeding day.

Oh, I've had another poem published so if you're interested here is the website to get a copy: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/33481

Movie Star

Just wanted to share Odin in his full splendor. He shed last night so it felt only proper to brag about his beauty. He is also much tamer than when I first got him; now he only tries to chew off one finger, not the whole hand. No, I kid, he is becoming a very sweet animal. Pretty much like any snake, or any animal in general, all he needed was attention and gentle care. He doesn't even hiss anymore when I place my hand inside his cage.
Aren't his patterns absolutely gorgeous? I can't get enough of him.



A close up. He could be a movie star, the camera loves him.
Ok, maybe he won't upstage Brad Pitt, but Johnny Depp? In a pinch.

Bloody Freezing!

It is freezing outside! I love it, but I can't help but think about all the poor reptiles out there freezing. Last year there were a huge number of them dying because of the suddenly cold weather. Poor babies. My home is open if any of you want to slither or crawl here.

Barbossa refused food on Sunday yet again. It's probably the cold, but he's making me a little worried. Two years ago he had a hunger strike and he didn't eat for about three months, but hopefully this is not a repeat. For now, I'll take him out to move around a bit less so I don't waste his energy sources.

Damascus is still not back. He's probably curled up inside a shoe or something (even though I've checked and rechecked) waiting the cold spell out. He's hibernating while I ransack the house and think of hiring a rescue squad.
Mean snake.

Cold Days

That is Barbossa's way of telling me it's too cold. I put him on my bed while I read and after he finally decided to move he headed straight for the covers. Fine with me.

Yesterday I had a lesson so I felt too lazy to write about every eating. Odin ate even though he has blue eyes, he's incredible.
Coral did not want hers so Topkapi got it and ate it with no problem. Talulah ate the pinkie Tybalt did not want on Wednesday so it was a pretty quick feeding day.

I forgot to tell you that another poems was published in a literary magazine. This poem is called "Of a Morning in Hell" and you can find it here http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/blinking-cursor-issue-4---winter-2010/14248491
if any of you are interested.

Photo Op

I just wanted to share some pictures I took of Talulah and Tybalt last night. They have grown so much! I just adore them.
You can see Talulah (she's the white and brown one) flicking out her tongue. You can also see the book I'm currently reading, The Stand by Stephen King.



And another one. Can you stop showing your tongue to the world, Talulah? It's not very lady-like.



And that's a close up of Miss Talulah, which meant I was sitting on the floor and staring at her through a lens placed very close to her face. She did not seem in the least perturbed.
I tried to get a close up of Tybalt but he wouldn't stay still.



Another one, a bit blurred. That's my hand on the left. I can almost hear you, "well, who else's hand would it be?"

Stubborn Snakes

I hope my baby is alright. It was really cold last night and I couldn't get the picture of him huddling in some shoe somewhere out of my head. My poor Damascus.
OK, so Barbossa is officially throwing a tantrum. He refused the two mice I got him on Sunday, still brushing his nose against the glass, showing me where the last mouse bit him. Barbossa, there's nothing there! If I had seen blood or even the tiniest cut, do you think I would have left you to languish in pain? No, I would have put Neosporin on the wound and coddled you even more than I usually do, but there's nothing there! You are fine! Please eat this Sunday.
And I actually killed one of the two mice. It's not pretty and I'm not proud of it but I did it in the attempt to get Barbossa to eat. I thought if it wasn't moving around but still smelled fresh, maybe he'd take it. So I killed it, I won't go into details because I don't want to write it and I'm sure you don't want to read it, but still he wanted nothing to do with it.
I offered it to Coral...nothing. I offered it to Topkapi, but since the scent of other snakes was already on it, my snake queen turned her head away in disgust. It's incredible, a room full of adult snakes and not one of them deigned to take a perfectly good mouse! Argh!

Harry Potter and the Missing Snake

No Damascus yet. I've been keeping the nightlight on so he can make his way to it during the night hours, but so far, zilch.
My dad is in a bit of a panic, afraid to find a snake under every tea cup and sofa cushion, regardless of my numerous comments on Damascus's fabulous personality.
I hope I find him soon.
I will attempt to feed Barbossa today. Hopefully the trauma of being bitten on the nose by the last mouse I offered has worn down enough for him to consider striking. Barbossa, seriously, you're a huge predator!
I have Topkapi on my keyboard right now, so any weird spelling things are purely her fault.

Yesterday I set off to the library after my French class and then to the mall to do a bit of shopping and watch the new Harry Potter. Of course, there was a showing that had started about two minutes before I bought the tickets and the following one would be almost three hours later. I got in line to buy the ticket for the one that had just started. I hate going into a movie after it already began, but it had really only been five minutes, and we usually spend at least ten in previews. So I got in line. There were only three groups of people in front of me, waiting to buy tickets. Not bad, I'd seen worse. But, of course, the mother and two kids in front of me had about a million coupons and promotion codes to try to get the lost price on their tickets. I am not lying, I spent fifteen minutes waiting for them to be done. When I say the fifteen minutes turning to sixteen I said, you know what, forget it, I'll come back another time. Why do these things always seem to happen? It's like something out of a cliched sitcom!

Feeding Frenzy Friday Part 31

Damascus is magical. I'm convinced.
It's the only way he could have made it outof his cage yet AGAIN! HOw does he do it? I have so many books, huge, fat textbooks, piled one on top of the other, I don't know how he can lift them. When I find him again, I have no clue what I'm going to do with him!

Other than that, everyone has been in a jolly mood, eating without issue. Odin is the quickest snake when he eats, and Talulah is a ball of sunshine. You can practically see the smile on her face when it's food time.
Coral ate on Tuesday a leftover mouse, and Tybalt ate Wednesday night his pinkies. Actually two.

Where the hell is Damascus?!And why does he do this to me every time the weather gets cooler?
I know why, so I can worry even more. Mean snake.

Quakes and Shakes

I've had a couple stressful days with Barbossa. On Monday, my parents got him three mice on the way back from work. They were three perfectly good, honest mice. But one of them decided it did not want to be pinned down while Barbossa took his time sniffing it, and it bit him on the nose. There was no blood, no gashing wound visible, but Barbossa was having non of it. He swung his head back, think soap-opera melodrama, and refused to even look at the mouse. Or any of the other mice. When I offered him any he would turn around and flee (well, slither quickly) in the opposite direction. I put the mice away in a plastic container with holes, gave them some food and water, and kept them to try again yesterday.
Well, apparently the humiliation and the pain was just too great, because Barbossa was still in a trembly quake. I tried a few more times unsuccessfully and then released two of the mice, keeping the third one for Coral, which she gladly ate.
Oy vey.

In other news, an online magazine has published two of my poems so if you are at all interested please head over to http://www.exercisebowler.site90.net/Issue3.htm, scroll down to the bottom, and the last two poems, "The territories" and "Trojan Horse", are mine.