You KNOW your snakes

[R and J]

Sooo, it doesn't matter if it's a corn. a rat, a king, a burm, a retic, ... You KNOW your baby, the way it relates to you...
Well, suppose one day, after it has been cooped up in the same tank for 4 years... you allow it to crawl out of it's tank, for the FIRST time, no hands on, (of course you have grabbed it out of it's tank many times, BUT, this is the first time the snake has CHOOSE to come out) She came right to me. I put her back in her tank, and she REFUSED to eat.
This weekend, I gave her small fuzzys to eat, (we are talking about a 5 foot pueblan) she cruised the lid, as if she wanted to come out, she refused to eat again.
I do think these critters remember stuff, and If there are any sssnakee lovers who have been in a simular situation, I would like to know. I brained her food, then reheated with egg yolk, she isn't eating. I'm not worried, Scarlett is very round and healthy.
So what do I do, let her out alone, and then try to get her to eat, or just go back to the same regiment... clean, fresh water, then drop a couple of mice in...... Thanks Jan
I really need a hug, and some good support.

[Copperheadman]

Hey guys..glad to have ya here...How's Lil Jaf doing?

[Sybella]

It's warm...it's spring. Give her a little time. ;)

[Babysnake1]

In my experience, the one thing any snake (or any other caged animal for that matter) craves is freedom. You say you just gave your snakie a taste of it for the first time in 4 years! That is probably distracting her from food and probably will for a while. You just changed her routine and she is reacting to the change. this doesn't have to be a bad thing.

Before I moved, I would often leave the tanks open and let the snakes go for a cruise around the reptile room. Unfortunately, the room they're in now isn't snake-proof, so I can't let them do that anymore. I even let them go (one at a time) to the feeding tub and get their own food when it was feeding time. (This also made it much easier to find them if they did manage to get out on their own, as they would usually be hanging on the feeding tub waiting for a meal) They perk up and come to the top of their cages whenever I'm in the reptile room now, hoping for a chance to come out. When I do open the cages, to change water, spot clean,etc. they climb out. I just keep an eye on them and put them back in when I'm done. They eat just fine because they are used to things being that way.

I would try just letting the snake come out on her own whenever you are going to take her out of her cage, instead of grabbing her. That way she will get accustomed to that happening and will probably settle down and go back to eating normally again. As I'm sure you're aware, a healthy, well-fed snake can go for months without eating and be none the worse for wear. Just look at it as an opportunity to get to know your snake better, see how she reacts to changes in her environment. Your snake will be fine, I'm sure.

[R and J]

Thanks for the kind replies, feeling MUCH better now.
Scartlett is a zoom-zoom critter, of course being a milk snake.
But I had never seen her being so careful and slow before, kind of brought tears to my eyes. I guess I'll have to let her try it again, but.... I can't let her loose... we have two recliners, a hideabed couch, and alot of bookcases ect in the room! oh boy, would that be a major hide and seek! :D (DARN this small, one bedroom apt...)

[R and J]

Could I just use this thread as a little personal journal, Randy is better at the other places.....
Anyways, Scarlett shed last night, right before bedtime, so I figured I'd clean the mess up this morning. Well between making coffee, turning on all the cage lights and the T.V., I found a movie on I liked.
At some point I noticed movement in her cage, and glanced over to see what she was doing. Scarlett had a BIG piece of shed drapped over her head, like a bonnet, and was climbing/reaching for the top of her cage. It was almost like she was telling me, "If MOM won't clean up this mess, I guess I'LL have to do it MYSELF!"
LOL, needless to say, I got her cage cleaned up right then!
She still isn't eating, sigh, maybe in another week...
Sometimes critters have funny sides to their personalities...
We have a Taiwan Beauty,1.0, about 6', that when he takes a dump, he'll just lay by it (and watch it), until somebody (ME) cleans it up! When I clean his "swimming pool/water dish", put it back, and try to pour new water in it...He gets in it while I'm trying to fill it! Then... he will completely go underwater afterwards
and blow bubbles though his nostrils. NO, he doesn't have any body buddies... He just likes making bubbles! He's my BIG sweetie! Just another weekend at home :D Jan

[R and J]

Randy has raised a Ceretroprys Ornata, (pac man frog) since he was a frogling....May of 1981.
Friday we discovered that Rambo had passed away, 23 years after Randy fell in love with a quarter sized froggy.
I have only known him for 5 years, but in that time he grew in my heart as well. He was my sweet prince, my sweet breath, my "other guy" in my life.
We learned after we bought this computer back in 2001, that the Ornatas bought today only live for 8 years. It was a blessing to know that Rambo had lived 3 lifetimes, and blessed my life in the process.
Randy wondered if we had a World Book Record... it doesn't matter, a little place of my heart is broken right now...
Rambo is sleeping in the freezer right now, we are making plans to have him freeze dried or taxi-mounted, so he can always be with us always.
I'm sorry.... can't write anymore.... Jan

[R and J]

She finally ATE this weekend! I offered her a small mouse and a hopper....Nose bleeders. She ate the small adult first, then wolfed down the hopper! Our 6'ft Tawain gulped down 3 jumbo mice, and the Blotched king, (Jaffo), was in BLUE shed, but "MR. PIGGY" ate 2 small mice, then thanked me Sunday by pooping all over the top of his hide....
I'm worried about our new snake... She is the Rough Green Snake... we named Greenlee. We have put 4 to 5 medium sized crickets in her cage.... First every 3 days, now it is EVERY day, she pounds them down in no time flat, and then.. is looking for more!
I'm worried about internal buddies that may be making her want to eat more, or she may have had crickets in her "last" home bite her, or she might have had alot of other snakes in the same tank, "whoever eats the fastest, gets the mostest"! (I was raised on a farm with 6 siblings... I know that tune!)
Our hoggy was in shed/blue... not going to eat... The banana Cali shed quick on Friday, she got her 1 live hopper, then ate 2 f/t hoppers after I dangled them in front of her. I still can't get her to eat a f/t at first, she needs the "wiggly" to get her in the mood!
Our temps are right, we have thermostats in the HIGH,medium, and low spots. Our critters just have their own SPOILED wants!
Just another weekend....Jan
P.S. We threw Rambo's tank in the dumpster today, Monday, it crashed into alot of pieces, I just couldn't use it for another critter... I miss him SOOOO MUCH!

[R and J]

We decided to have Rambo "freeze dried" after he passed away, so we found a place back east that would take care of him. He will be mounted on a piece of driftwood, with a plaque " Rambo 1981-2004" It will take a few months before we get him home...
but the wait is worth it! Jan

[R and J]

SFR...
Most of our snakes have gone from hoppers to small adult mice! Except for the baby variable king, he is on 3 large pinkies now! THANK YOU SUMMER!
The banana cali is eating F/T now!
(Of course the hog nose isn't... He still wants live hoppers!)
SOOOO, my 2 year old TAIWAN, who has been handled in the past with mouse scented hands!!!! Tonight I put 2 jumbo mice in his tank... WITH 18 inch tweezers, guess what... Snakes HAVE TEETH!
(He Got my Eagle finger!) WOW!
Most of the finger is in a bandage right now. No wonder we nick named him "BUCKET MOUTH"!
No matter how much you trust your critter, they are still WILD!!!
Teko is eating 3 JUMBO mice every 7 days, I suggested 4, but Randy told me "3 BIG mice and a FINGER tonight is enough!"
TEKO is almost 7 feet long, and never tried to bite before, but ALWAYS wash your hands between feedings! (Stupid feeding response.) Just another weekend.... Jan

[R and J]

Just wanted to share this with you all!
Today Randy's son and grandkids, 6 and 3, stopped by with a Fathers Day gift. We introduced them to our snakes. I brought out our very calm Grey Banded king, the kids loved her, and his son held her for a while...
Later... after they had left... Randy got two phone calls from his son, he had just bought a young Red Tailed Boa! Randy told him what to check for..(in a healthy snake), housing needs, etc.
I guess we have 3 new snake lovers in this family!
On the home front...
The weather has been a bit warm lately, so tonight the hognose and Scarlett (Pueblan milk), refused to eat. They are both FAT... so maybe next week.
Everyone else ate normally except our Taiwan Beauty snake, He scarffed down his 2 large Jumbo Mice, then ate 3 regular adult mice... and was looking for more!
OH.... about the bite... all cleared up... it looked like two cat scratches with a bruise in the middle where he hit. ( I think he was more upset about it than I was!)
Happy Dads Day!:) Jan

[R and J]

I am sooo glad this kid DOESN'T own a computer.... otherwise this place would be FLOODED with newby posts!
Randy's son has called about 4 times today. The R/T Boa ate today... "was it too soon?".... She's in her water bowl, (head under water), "Can she drown, what's wrong with her?"... Questions about the UTH and the heat lamp.... "Is she too warm/ not warm enough?" He got a climbing stick from outside, "Can I just stick it in her cage?"
The kid is more worried about this snake than when his own SON was born!
I had to warn Randy about laughing about his son's concerns....
YOU HAVE TO TREAT EVERY CONCERN/WORRY as being important,
otherwise he might go somewhere else and get the wrong information!
I know we all get tired of seeing/answering the same questions.... but what if the person asking was your own child? Would you still post the same..."READ THE POSTS DOWN BELOW...? Just my .02 cents Jan

[R and J]

So most of our critters are in shed this weekend... The hognose isn't, and still isn't.. eating! Scarlett shed, ate two hoppers. Jaffo, the Blotched king, ate 3 small mice. And Teko, in shed, ate the last 2 mice!
But this isn't the main reason why I'm posting. I have recently become aware of the fact that some people don't know...POOP!
Yes, king snakes poop alot, usually 3 days after they are fed, and then 2 or 3 more...(We feed every Saturday.)
The Milksnake poops twice a week... The green snake ALL OF THE TIME!
Now about the TAIWAN BEAUTY Snake..... AAAAAHHHH!!!!
BIG...HUGE... and a smell that would send a sewer worker running for fresh air! Believe me, the smell would GAG A MAGGOT!
The Hognose... maybe once or twice.. depending how much he ate. But I noticed he pees BIG!
So I've covered KING, RAT, MILK, Green and Hognose snakes potty habits... and I hope you all have a very enjoyable 4th!
Just another weekend... Jan

[R and J]

We have lost 2 pets recently, that we loved the most...
Our leopard frog that we raised from a tadpole, DIED, and afterwards, the rough green snake, Greenlee, who was also eating the same crickets that our frog ate, past away.
Both were skinny, it was like they didn't want to eat the crickets we had bought from the petshop. Maybe the crickets had something fed to them was toxic to our critters? We made sure of their tanks, clean water, misting, the temps, NOTHING WAS CHANGED!!!! I am really bummed about this... I can't believe a reliable feeder dealer would do something in order to kill what ever ate his product! Randy said not to say anything to the pet store owner.... But... WE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG!!!
I hope no one else has to go through this.... JAN

[meretseger]

You gotta keep in mind, unless the petstore breeds its own crickets, those bugs may have only been in the store a day or two and anything that might hvae been wrong with them could have been from the bug dealer. But it could just be a coincidence. If both were thin, maybe they both had an illness that took them down at the same time. I've never had a death or illness I could attribute to bad feeders but I guess it's possible.

Erin B

[R and J]

Went to the reptile show here in Puyallup, Wa., Oct. 23. AWESOME SHOW!
Found a frog we had really wanted, $16.00, a Pixie frog... Hey, we had really missed having a frog in our life, and we found the perfect one!
While we were looking through the different displays I spotted a black milksnake, juvinile, for $80.00. Well, to make a long story short, (No, Maybe), we get back to the car... I just felt like I had left my own child behind!
I went right back into the show to buy the black milksnake, and found out that the dealer was holding it for someone who had promised to buy it! I told him I had the money RIGHT NOW!... but he took my name and phone # and said if he didn't hear from the guy by closing time, he would call. I was in TEARS walking back to the car,
(Randy thought I'd lost my best friend).
The guy CALLED at 5:10 that night! NO SALE! We were on the road the next day, and I was SOOOOOOOO HAPPY!
The Pixie we named "Bubba" after a very good friend, and our new black milk snake... after a short span being called "Buck Wheat", I renamed him "ACE". :)
Ace and Bubba now make our home complete. (For now anyway)
Oh, BTW, my Variable king BIT me last weekend, now I have been bit by (almost) all of our boys! (Since ACE is a male, it's only a matter of time!)
Just another weekend... Jan

[R and J]

I had promised a snake shed from our Taiwan beauty snake to a gal at work (her son has medical problems, and she knew he would love it), but for the past 3 months... just sheds in pieces...
So this weekend Teko finally shed one beautiful shed...8 feet long. My friend was in tears today when she came to get it, along with a picture of Teko, of course.
Now for the sad part... Randy had always wanted a grey banded king snake, which we did 12/11/01. Sunday morning I found she had passed away. Star was a light Blair phase, orange, with perfect markings. She was a difficult feeder from the start, and we learned alot feeding her! Randy watched over her like she was his own child, but she had gone off feeding for a couple of weeks. I guess while we were at the reptile show last Saturday she pooped in her water dish and drank some, because later that night she regurged the live pink mouse we had fed her.
We had cleaned her water dish as soon as we got home.
So we waited a week and tried to feed her this Saturday, she wouldn't eat. I can't understand this, because I had the same thing happen with my eastern king 3 months ago, he's still a eating machine, and still as onery as ever!
Randy's heart is broken right now...... He really loved that snake.... NOT just another weekend... Jan
:bawling: