My new pet snake *PICS*

[chilling in muscadine]

Quote:
I think the babies are beauties if I do say so my sellf.

 

[OthalaAcres]

Cute babies! Congrats.

I must say I am very happy to have found this thread! I've been a snake freak pretty much since I could walk. I was always the crazy kid who instictively ran TOWARD a snake when I saw it.

I never owned and have no desire to own venomous snakes. Although I do think many of them are very beautiful. The most venomous thing I ever had was a Curly Tarantula who died about 5 years ago after having her for almost 20 years! Who'd have thought a grown woman would cry over a spider?!

I'm definitely more of a python/boa person myself. I've had everything from Garter & Water snakes to Ball Pythons, Red Tailed Boas & Burmese Pythons (I have to say having a 14 ft Burmese strike at you and miss your face by a few inches can really get the adrenaline pumping!).

I had to LOL at the rattlesnake=ratsnake post. Years ago I had a Texas Rat Snake and a Ball Python together. The ratsnake had a nasty temper and was always trying to bite, and the ball python was a total sweetheart, but they got along fine in the same aquarium. One day I reach in to get the ball python, when suddenly I heard a sound that instinctively would make anyone's blood run cold.... rattling. I froze for what seemed like forever, to scared to move, then slowly looked over. There was my grump ratsnake rattling her tail on a piece of newspaper in just the right way to sound EXACTLY like a rattlesnake! It was pretty funny, especially since I had the sense to know it was her (she shook her tail at me every time I had her out and put her down) and there's no way a rattlesnake would just randomly crawl into my snake cage in an area that is MILES away from any rattlesnakes. I think it was just primal fear instinct kicking in when I heard the sound.

Sadly tho, my DH doesn't like snakes, and our big old farmhouse is pretty cold in the winter, so I don't want to deal with having to go crazy heating tropical snakes (keeping the Green Iguana cage that we had when we first moved up to the right temp/humidity was a chore). So I've been devoid of snakes for years now. I do occasionally catch the random garter snake or milk snake on the property (found a couple gorgeous little redbellies too!), but I really miss having a big Red Tailed Boa or Python around.

My love for snakes rubbed off on my son, who grew up with all my snakes around and never had a fear of them. He is currently stationed with the Marines in the San Diego area. He told me that a little while back, he saw this cute little snake and without thinking picked it up. His friend, also "not from around there", reached out to touch it and it promptly bit him seconds before my son felt the rattle at the end of the tail. He said the kid's hand started swelling up, but luckily he ended up ok after a trip to the ER. I told him to pick up NOTHING THAT MOVES around there unless he knows exactly what it is first. Half the critters around there bite or sting and can mess up his day! Totally different than here in NH... the worst thing to worry about here are really ticked off baldfaced hornets and the random bears that very occasionally like to break into homes and slap the homeowner around a bit!

 

[buck-wild-chick]

Quote:
Whats the purpose of having a venomous snake? You cant take them out and play with them

and they aren't endangered. (no offense , just curious)

 

[OthalaAcres]

Quote:
Yep, definitely make sure the snake is eating! When I got my Ball Python, she refused every single thing I gave her and didn't eat for a good many months! She fortunately didn't lose too much weight but I was still pretty worried. Then one day she decided she was hungry enough, ate a couple of mice, and had no problems scarfing down mice from that point on.

 

[Kanchii]

Quote:
Whats the purpose of having a venomous snake? You cant take them out and play with them

and they aren't endangered. (no offense , just curious)

Because you respect them, and enjoy admiring them. Why do people own fish? You can't play with those either.

 

[buck-wild-chick]

True.

 

[gypsy2621]

Quote:
Thats actually wrong Lily, we do have a resurgence of Timber Ratttlers and not all that far from either one of us.
There is a small growing colony about 35 miles from your place and about 20 from mine.
We used to hear and see them when we would go fishing. weird sound for up here but while living in Fla you got to know the sound well.

 

[PeepsInc]

Quote:
Yep, definitely make sure the snake is eating! When I got my Ball Python, she refused every single thing I gave her and didn't eat for a good many months! She fortunately didn't lose too much weight but I was still pretty worried. Then one day she decided she was hungry enough, ate a couple of mice, and had no problems scarfing down mice from that point on.

I had 1 I force feed from a sering with a tube for over a year(chicken liver powderd milk & egg). Untill I found this vitamin stuff. You put a few drops in there water, & they start eating a week later. It's been a long time I cant remember the name of it. I got it at the pet store.

 

[OthalaAcres]

Quote:
Well, actually I did know about the timber rattlers, and there are also copperheads down in parts of Mass (the one venomous species that I actually entertained keeping if I could ... .they're gorgeous), but they're pretty hard to find if you're not in the areas they are found. Many years ago when I worked as an Assistant Aquarist at the Science Museum down in Spfld MA, one of the guys who worked there was rock climbing at Mt Tom (which is not too far from there) and he heard a rattling sound, looked down, and saw a Timber Rattler coiled in the crevase that he was straddling.

But I'm pretty doubtful that if I randomly grabbed for a snake around here I'd end up holding onto a rattler. (Although we now have moose and bear wander through town on a regular basis and a few mountain lion sightings that I don't doubt, so who knows!

)

 

[gypsy2621]

AH I didnt know about the ones on Mt Tom!!! I must have been slacking.
When we found them on my property in Rindge many years ago , fish and game decided they were captives that were let go.

Since finding them in so many other remote and not so remote areas thankfully they changed their minds.
The ones on Mt Tom, did they ever do a study to find out if they were a large colony or small, healthy vigorous etc?

I cant remember off the top of my head and the fact thats its so early and 3 sips of coffee just are not enough where there is a cave type set up where the snakes den up together for the winter. its further north than either one of us. But find it they did although by accident.

I can remember my mother many moons ago always claiming we had copper heads and cotton mouth here also but I have never seen one. Her reasoning was she saw it strike the dog, but in retrospect I am more willing to believe it was a small Timber that killed the dog not a cotton mouth.
With her living in Fla for so many years she was convinced the little green grass snake were pure poison.

I rather get a kick out of the thought that snakes can not adapt to our freezing winters, after a few generations anything can survive anywhere.
Pacu and Bow fish,Snake Heads to name just a few in rivers streams and lakes of NH, Tropical fish who have adapted.Granted most started out as aquarium fish that got released because of size but all it takes is 2 to establish an adapted mass.
Or in the case of snakes all it takes is one gravid female to establish a breeding colony. babys survive and there ya go.