You know that gag about the snake in the peanut jar?
So, long story short, I gave away a piebald. As a graduation present, to a very deserving friend who I know will take care of him.
Long story long: Karen and I go waaaay back. We've known each other 13 years now. Karen and I went to graduate school together, and flunked out of the same PhD program. (I mean, we both finished with a Masters degree instead of a PhD. But we both lost several years of our lives to floundering around without proper PhD advisors. You know, the usual graduate degree failure story.) Karen and her then-boyfriend were the photographers at my wedding; I was a bridesmaid at their wedding. Somehow we both ended up in Phoenix, and we both eventually re-enrolled as PhD students in the program here. We collaborate together on projects, we complain about the same people, other students mix our names up.
And Karen has wanted a piebald for years. YEARS. She knows several people with ball pythons, and my big lazy (inert, really) pied female helped Karen get over her snake phobia. When I hatched my first pied clutch this year, Karen came over and immediately fell in love with the 50/50 male hatchling. But she couldn't afford the pied price tag. And I sure as heck wasn't just going to give away a pretty 40% white male for free.
Anyway, that's what I thought.
The little pied had other ideas. He didn't want to eat. I started assist feeding him in November. He started eating on his own around Christmas. By spring he was taking f/t, but he was still underweight.
So when Karen announced she was defending her thesis in April, I still had the little guy.
She's thinking of naming him Peanut. Or maybe Dr. Peanut, PhD.
(And yeah, normally we wear jeans and T-shirts to thesis defenses. But since Karen has basically worked twice as hard for twice as long, she declared it a black tie event. Several people wore bowties and ball gowns, and Karen's husband showed up in a top hat and tails.) (And no, I'm not defending this year. Next year, or the year after.) (Never ask a PhD student when they are defending. They might answer, or they might curl into a ball. Or they might cut you. Very dangerous, hard to predict.)
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