Manach
Snake in the Grass
Howdy, folks!
I was a member here a couple years back, but I haven't been around since I sold my collection. At the time I had about 25 snakes and I loved every one of them, even the nasty little grey rat who wouldn't stop musking me. But with four homeschooled children and us parents working full time there was little time to enjoy the critters. A few went up online, but I sold most of them to a guy in the local herp society, so I know they were treated well. I miss them, though.
Anywho, I'm back on a very limited basis. All this time the only herp we've maintained is our old bearded dragon. Little b*****d just refuses to die!
Camping recently I caught a big black racer. Great Croc Hunter moment, leaping into a gully, chasing the snake, plunging through briers -- I got the crap beat out of me, the snake tagged me twice on the hand and once on the arm, and I stunk like musk for a day, but it was so much fun.
Oh! The point. Yeah.
Well, I took the racer into camp, snapped a few pictures, and intended to release him where I found him. Having been all calm for a good ten minutes while we photographed him, he suddenly realised he was in the grip of something big enough to eat him and freaked. I lost my grip and he took off through camp, right past my two-year-old daughter, who did a little freaky dance causing the snake to rear up at her. Luckily, he didn't strike and they went their separate ways, but the poor kids was in tears.
It really sucked, her first hands on herp experience scaring the bejeezus out of her, so I'm getting the family a pet snake. The older girls remember our snakes, and they loved them. Heck, it was one of them who put me onto the racer! But I want the toddler to have some good experiences, something to wash away the spookiness of that first encounter.
Alright, well, I've rambled on enough to bore the socks off anyone dumb enough to read this post. Thank you for putting up with me.
I'm out of touch with the herping world, and a lot of things have changed. I'm in the market for a Honduran, and I would have gone to Terry Dunham but it looks like he's out of business. And one of my favorite guys, Steve at Napa Valley Snakes, is, I assume, also gone. Really sucks. Well, if anyone wants to direct me to a good Honduran breeder, that would be great. Otherwise I'm doing my research and reading every bloody post in the BOI.
So as to not appear shady in any way, I will point out that, while I used the name "Art" way back when, it was not then my legal name. At that time I was Spencer Hudgins. I finally legally changed my name to Art MacAilein a little over a year and a half ago.
Thanks for having me. This is a great place to be.
I was a member here a couple years back, but I haven't been around since I sold my collection. At the time I had about 25 snakes and I loved every one of them, even the nasty little grey rat who wouldn't stop musking me. But with four homeschooled children and us parents working full time there was little time to enjoy the critters. A few went up online, but I sold most of them to a guy in the local herp society, so I know they were treated well. I miss them, though.
Anywho, I'm back on a very limited basis. All this time the only herp we've maintained is our old bearded dragon. Little b*****d just refuses to die!
Camping recently I caught a big black racer. Great Croc Hunter moment, leaping into a gully, chasing the snake, plunging through briers -- I got the crap beat out of me, the snake tagged me twice on the hand and once on the arm, and I stunk like musk for a day, but it was so much fun.
Oh! The point. Yeah.
Well, I took the racer into camp, snapped a few pictures, and intended to release him where I found him. Having been all calm for a good ten minutes while we photographed him, he suddenly realised he was in the grip of something big enough to eat him and freaked. I lost my grip and he took off through camp, right past my two-year-old daughter, who did a little freaky dance causing the snake to rear up at her. Luckily, he didn't strike and they went their separate ways, but the poor kids was in tears.
It really sucked, her first hands on herp experience scaring the bejeezus out of her, so I'm getting the family a pet snake. The older girls remember our snakes, and they loved them. Heck, it was one of them who put me onto the racer! But I want the toddler to have some good experiences, something to wash away the spookiness of that first encounter.
Alright, well, I've rambled on enough to bore the socks off anyone dumb enough to read this post. Thank you for putting up with me.
I'm out of touch with the herping world, and a lot of things have changed. I'm in the market for a Honduran, and I would have gone to Terry Dunham but it looks like he's out of business. And one of my favorite guys, Steve at Napa Valley Snakes, is, I assume, also gone. Really sucks. Well, if anyone wants to direct me to a good Honduran breeder, that would be great. Otherwise I'm doing my research and reading every bloody post in the BOI.
So as to not appear shady in any way, I will point out that, while I used the name "Art" way back when, it was not then my legal name. At that time I was Spencer Hudgins. I finally legally changed my name to Art MacAilein a little over a year and a half ago.
Thanks for having me. This is a great place to be.