The other thing: Snakes
I’ve been interested for snakes for several years now, even before I went to University a few years back. Here’s all the snakes I’ve had. Years in the headers I when they were born and died, not ownership dates, those are mentioned in the text.
Bailey: Corn Snake: 1990s - 2010
About 2 years ago, I acquired someone elses snake that had not been well cared for and hadn’t been fed in what seemed like months. She was an old (Estimating early-mid 90s, no one knows) Corn Snake and 4 1/2 to 5ft long. I nursed her back up to health and she started to get nice an chubby.
The problem was, she’d been so badly cared for she got very defensive within her Vivarium, so shoving your hand in to attempt to handle her was a risky manoeuvre that took some effort if you didn’t want to get bitten, and even though I know it doesn’t hurt (from experience) I don’t want to get bitten.
Bailey sadly passed at some point last month, but she was old and had stopped eating, so it wasn’t much of a shock
Blaze: Amelanistic Corn Snake: 2008 - Current
So, I had an aged Classic/Normal Corn snake in my care. What next I thought. Within a month of acquiring Bailey I purchased a month old Amelanistic (Lacking melanin, so no black, similar to Albinism) from a breeder I met online. He was about 8” long when I got him, and was an awesome little guy.
He’s going strong nearly 2 years later, has been growing well and eating well. Due to my constant handling of him from a young age, I could probably poke him in the face (I wouldn’t) while he’s in his viv with no chance of being bitten, this guy is tamer than my cat. Despite being this tame, he strikes amazingly, which is the most awesome thing to watch a snake do
Chester: Western Hognose: 2007 - current
About November last year, I purchased a Western Hognose from a local exotic pet store as an ex-breeder. He’s the most active snake I’ve ever seen, and he just looks amazing (I really love hoggies).
Unfortunately, since I got him, I’ve yet to get him to take a meal. This is a growing concern as he’s obviously losing a lot of weight, and has even shed due to being too small for his skin, which is not a good sign. He’s still active though and I’m still trying as many techniques as I can find to get him to eat.
One thing I didn’t realise when I bought him, is that Western Hognoses are rear-fanged venemous. It was unproven and thrown away as incorrect information for quite a while, but recent information suggests it is actually true. In order for them to inject their venom (very weak stuff, comparable to a bee sting) into you, they actually need to “chew it in” to get the fangs in the back of the mouth to dig into the flesh. It’s all very interesting stuff :D
Pics coming soon
