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Re: Riverrun
I thought she was cute, acting like an angry little ratsnake, but I realize it won't be long before that sort of behavior becomes dangerous and I'm not one to purposely antagonize my snakes so I know I need to start taking extra precautions.
She's not generally easy to spook luckily, but I guess she gets lost in her thoughts in a way and then reacts instinctively, like jumping up behind someone and yelling "BOO." I don't blame her, but now I know to be a little more careful so as not to trigger that defense mode. I'll probably start checking in on her a little more often while I have her out so she doesn't forget about me and use the hook, which she's already familiar with, to help if she does start to get defensive.
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Re: Riverrun
I really enjoyed reading this thanks its River's story and well done.
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Riverrun
I weighed Riverrun and she is now 378 grams. I can barely shut her weighing tub now so I think it's about time to find something else....
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09...82447dbcba.jpg
She actually has room to roam around in this new place, so hopefully I'll actually be able to keep her out of things now. In the apartment she'd be across the room and climbing enclosures to the ceiling in seconds.
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Re: Riverrun
I'm soo happy I just put money down on a sd retic :) super excited I've wanted one for awhile not but can't exactly get them here but I found a guy who is selling his 7 ft male sd
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Re: Riverrun
Congrats! Retics are awesome, and an SD should be a easier to work with as far as size dictates. :)
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Re: Riverrun
They are they're such intelligent snakes too and yea as much as I wanted a normal they get just a little too big
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Re: Riverrun
I am getting it illegally but I don't get why their illegal because the sd stays smaller then some boas and where aloud to have those and olive pythons and a few other snakes that have reached over 10 ft
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Re: Riverrun
Most bans are species-specific, or ban whole groups of snakes. They don't really make room for smaller locales or subspecies.
If they aren't allowed I'd think about maybe passing on it I've heard a lot of horror stories.
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Re: Riverrun
Yea that's why I want them to take the time and go through it instead being like of its a sub species it's still dangerous and I have thought about it alot and I still do really want him and I know if he ever does have something wrong I can take him to my vet and he will not report me as he treats alot of illegal reptiles because he knows not everyone is a bad owner and their not the killers like the news makes them out to be
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Re: Riverrun
As that's been said I know not to go and post pics all over fb and what not and I can't go take him to the park but I have a big enough yard with a nice size apple tree he can climb :) awh I'm soo excited the more I think about him
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Re: Riverrun
You should be worried about your neighbors too, sometimes grudges push people to report if they know you have snakes. :(
I'd either pass on it if I were you, or try to combat the restrictions before getting one.
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Re: Riverrun
The cops know I only have ball pythons and some boas and kingsnakes because my drunk neighbor did call the cops but he said I had rattle snakes so I told them I don't and showed them all my snakes and they haven't been back since
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Re: Riverrun
But I have also been in the process of filling out a permit just need to send it off and wait now
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Re: Riverrun
You're lucky then. Good luck with it. If they allow permits for your retic then you should be good then, if that's what the permit is for.
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Re: Riverrun
I do appreciate your concerns though because I have also thought about that and I'd be crushed if I had to give him up but I wouldn't without a fight I love my reptiles and give them the best care I can lol sometimes better then me I make sure their all fed before I am lol
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Re: Riverrun
Yeup I just needed to find one I could buy/adopt first to get the size the weight what it eats how's it's temper meant
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Re: Riverrun
Breaking the law dose not help the fight USARK is fighting...all you would be doing is help usfw....please think about the big picture here.
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Re: Riverrun
I'm not American
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Re: Riverrun
And if I was I'd be in a place we're I can own every reptile I want
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Re: Riverrun
Sorry if that sounded rude not trying to be but yea I wouldn't be down waiting years to finally own something I have wanted for about 5 years and finally getting a chance to have a dream snake I can't pass no matter what
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Re: Riverrun
Quote:
Originally Posted by dylanjwicklund
I'm not American
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You are actually. North American to be more specific. The Americas are continents not countries. Over a period time, somehow the country of the United States seems to be the only thing that comes to mind when "America" is mentioned. The US, Canada and Mexico are all part of North America.
Pardon the little geography/country interruption LOL!
Back to topic. I suggest doing it the legal way no matter where you are from. Accidents/incidents that may or may not happen could put you in a bind. Plus the crappy neighbor will probably pop his ugly head again.
The reptile community as a whole needs to be in line with local regulations and restrictions. The incident at the pet shop in Canada still sent out waves here in the US. The folks that are against us look for any little shred of bad news for their agenda.
I like the idea of the permit and more power to you if you push a bit to get it the right way!
Best of luck!
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Re: Riverrun
Yea I know that no matter how good of an owner you are something may happen that's why I'm planning incase a bunch of stuff I have plans in place to ensure the safety of the snake itself because the last thing I'd want is it to be euthanized because I posted pictures or decided to take a walk with him that's why he is going to be in my room where no one goes and only shown to people I trust very well and love reptiles like me
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Re: Riverrun
Quote:
Originally Posted by dylanjwicklund
Yea I know that no matter how good of an owner you are something may happen that's why I'm planning incase a bunch of stuff I have plans in place to ensure the safety of the snake itself because the last thing I'd want is it to be euthanized because I posted pictures or decided to take a walk with him that's why he is going to be in my room where no one goes and only shown to people I trust very well and love reptiles like me
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Good call!
What is legal in your area and what is not?
Does the permit allow you the snakes you'd like to keep?
There are a lot of great species out there and some don't fall under regulations.
IF,,, and this is a big if; The Lacey Act sticks here with the Anacondas, Burms and Retics, I feel there are some other species that can fill the void.
I almost hate to name them because of "big brother", but Olive pythons and Scrubbies are often overlooked.
I am not a true giant snake owner even with a coastal carpet and Colombian locality BCI, but if I was looking to get into something bigger and not able to go Burmese or Retic, I'd look to the Aussie pythons.
The scrubs are highly arboreal and very exciting and challenging too.
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Re: Riverrun
The permit will allow me to keep him here but I like the fact yea I'll already have him but I'll keep sending in the permit till I finally get approved because I would love to show him off but can't until it's done being processed and sent back which I've been told up to 6 months but every time I've been told that for something it's always came alot faster
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Re: Riverrun
River now weighs about 440 grams, and has officially been moved up to small rats. Not much else has changed yet. Once the PVC enclosures arrive she'll be moved out of her tub, it's been about 7 weeks so hopefully it will be sent out in the next week, but I could wait as long as until February or later from what I've seen. If that's case, she'll probably end up skipping the 4'x2' entirely.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11...f8d1e38dde.jpg
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Re: Riverrun
Despite all this weight she's gaining she doesn't seem to be growing much at all in length, most of her weight seems to be going to thickness now. :/ Measuring her on SerpWidgets shows she hasn't grown an inch since I measured her in September, and she definitely doesn't look it in person either, which is why I brought her up on SW in the first place. This seems weird to me because I have both bumped up her food size and upped her feeding frequency to every 7-10 days in the past 2 months.
Over the ~7 months I've had her she's grown pretty much 6" every 2-3 months and now her growth has stopped.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11...962c62aeda.jpg
This is the photo I used to measure her.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11...ee1b9cbc4b.jpg
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Re: Riverrun
Quote:
Originally Posted by CloudtheBoa
Despite all this weight she's gaining she doesn't seem to be growing much at all in length, most of her weight seems to be going to thickness now. :/ Measuring her on SerpWidgets shows she hasn't grown an inch since I measured her in September, and she definitely doesn't look it in person either, which is why I brought her up on SW in the first place. This seems weird to me because I have both bumped up her food size and upped her feeding frequency to every 7-10 days in the past 2 months.
Over the ~7 months I've had her she's grown pretty much 6" every 2-3 months and now her growth has stopped.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11...962c62aeda.jpg
This is the photo I used to measure her.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11...ee1b9cbc4b.jpg
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Looking great!
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Re: Riverrun
So after some recalculation I realized she could easily take mediums so I doubled her up on one small rat and one weaned rat this time around. Once she goes through the few weaned and smalls I have I'll be ordering some mediums and larges for her, as well as small adult mice for Sanji and Nymeria when she's ready to move up, and fuzzies for Guin. I don't think I'll order everyone's food at once because I still have a ton of rats and mice I need to go through, but it will be nice to bump a few of them in size and be ready for when others need to be bumped.
The small rat.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11...b34d3b7b8d.jpg
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11...0b509d6f27.jpg
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11...5da6676e3e.jpg
And the weaned.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11...f54192c803.jpg
I don't like doubling up, but her lack of growth in length has me worried and retics seem to handle higher volumes of food so I figured it will hold her over. If this kickstarts her growth she may outgrow mediums before she finishes off the weaned and smalls....Or come close to it. She's gone up 4 rat sizes in ~7-8 months so yeah there's that retic growth too.
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Re: Riverrun
Her growth has kickstarted again since doubling up her meals, she is now right around 4.5' and 556 grams. I thought she'd reached 5', but SerpWidgets showed her to be 4.5', and although it can have 2"-3" of difference it normally isn't half a foot off as long as I get a good overhead picture.
So yay! She's growing again! I'm thinking she'll end up ready for larges by the time she finishes off the rest of her weaned and small rats.
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Re: Riverrun
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Re: Riverrun
She's beautiful
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Awesome retic always love their pattern so impressive
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Re: Riverrun
I think I'm going to start putting her back onto a 10-14 day schedule, since she's getting bigger meals now. She also seems to get out breath rather easily lately so maybe she's getting a little chubby, and she's also outgrown her tub so she can't get as much exercise. Even if I took her out every day, that wouldn't be as good as her having space to explore in her cage. I really need to get someone to help me put my T12's together....Thought I could do it on my own but I couldn't get the bottom and end piece to line up on my own. :/
She's finished off the weaned rats, so she's getting 2 small rats now, which is probably more food than she'd be getting with one medium rat. She's got enough to last several weeks doubled up so I'm going to wait until then to get the other mouse/rats I need and just buy a few adult mice and mouse pinks from the pet store in the meantime for Demigod and Sanji.
Here's a few crappy nighttime cell phone pics. She doesn't like to sit nicely on my hand, so getting size pics is difficult. Lol
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/16/01...a3db906a51.jpg
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/16/01...f5d8acdd14.jpg
I have about 1/3 of her wrapped around my arm and lifted off the ground out of sight in this pic.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/16/01...7886f24ae7.jpg
And how her head rub looks now (I'm not even really gripping her just holding her head up).
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/16/01...774419b4c2.jpg
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Re: Riverrun
She's getting long and look at the Sweetheart face.............
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My mom got a new camera that I'm borrowing, so here are some recent photos of River. I still haven't gotten a recent length on her, but last I weighed her she was over 700 grams, so she could be over 800 grams by now, I need to find a container big enough for her because she no longer fits in any of my Tupperware at all, and will immediately crawl back out if I can't completely latch her in.
Her in shed from the end of January.
http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...psxalj4qcv.jpg
Her on my arm to show her size.
http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1aluaa8r.jpg
http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...psvichpubn.jpg
She is the messiest snake, I swear. Here, she had knocked over her water and peed. She pees multiple times a week and dumps her water dish over at least another 1-2 times a week. I'm beginning to wonder if it will be worth giving her a particulate bedding at this point....hopefully a bigger water dish will at least keep her from tipping it over.
http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...psgoa2hny3.jpg
http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...psd02jkb9y.jpg
And her goofy little face.
http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...pstcfyociu.jpg
The heat panels are officially on their way, so hopefully they'll be here no later than next week. Her cage is all ready, minus the heat, so once the panels arrive she can be moved out of her tub, but I still need to get the other cage put together.
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Beautiful animal :)
Have you tried a dog bowl for a water dish? The kinds that are larger on the bottom so that they just get pushed around rather than tipped over.
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Re: Riverrun
Her tub isn't big enough to fit a larger dish. I've got a tub exactly like what I use with my 6.5' boa so I'm hoping that will stop her for awhile, and I'll be using that once she's moved into her T12.
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Re: Riverrun
Wow CtB, River has really grown and looks fantastic! Congrats on your success with her. She's lucky to have you as her keeper.
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Re: Riverrun
She really has! It's amazing to see how much she dwarves her size just from November. She's still behind but she's really exploded in size. I may pull her out today and get at least a SerpWidgets measurement.
Soon she'll be sharing Cloud's rabbits!
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I've been talking about it for awhile, and she finally got moved into her T12! Bud has also made the move.
Here she is the very moment I set her in the T12. Her pupils are dilated like nobody's business. lol She's usually on the move, but she was so excited she was frozen in place for many minutes before she started to rapidly explore the enclosure. I tried to buy some hides, but came to find out LLL was sold out of the smaller size I wanted, so she'll have to wait until Reptile Basics sends me some.
http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...pskgynwro9.jpg
And later that night (or maybe it was the next morning), greeting me from her basking shelf. She tends to spend day time hours laying on the ground on her hot side, and moves up to her basking shelf during the night, on either the side where the panel is or the other side.
http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3avy0e6r.jpg
Also, today was feeding day again, so she got her second medium rat, her first meal in her new enclosure. She is probably about ready to move to larges, but I was going to wait until she was 1,200 grams, since that's when the smallest listed large rat size on Big Cheese becomes 15% of her weight. She should be nearly there by now, if she isn't already there, so her next meal may be a large rat!
http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...psqlggm7zz.jpg
And apparently I forgot to post feeding pics from the last feeding, so here they are! This was a day or two before I moved her into her new enclosure, and she ate 10 days ago.
http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...psb36jx00e.jpg
http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3nknqxh7.jpg
http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7xp47dwm.jpg
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Re: Riverrun
She is beautiful. Thank you for sharing the photos. What morph is she?
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Re: Riverrun
You're welcome, I love sharing my snakes.
She isn't a morph, she's a regular wild type. :)
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River seems to have reached 6' now! She stretches along one short and one long side of her 4'x2' perfectly.
Here she is checking out her new hides. :) I came in earlier to see which hide she was using and all of a sudden I see her head whoosh out of her hot side hide to look at me. It was so ridiculous, I couldn't help but laugh.
http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...psxcgpddvo.jpg
http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...psher7chgt.jpg
http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...pss8wsdsiy.jpg
http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...pshbh38g8z.jpg
http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...psnxt8xzcb.jpg
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Re: Riverrun
She has such amazing color. And the whooshing movements - my retic does that too, and I've not noticed any other snakes move that way.
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River appears to have hit the 6' mark, she stretches along one short side and one long side of her 4'x2' perfectly.
Here are a few outdoor photos, these are a bit old (I get behind on updates on some websites, it can be a bit difficult to keep up with what I posted where). I was kinda worried about letting her on the ground by herself, since I'm in a new area I'm not sure how the neighbors would react if she got defensive again, but they tolerate the sight of the snakes overall it seems. She's so big now, I'll have part of her balled up in my hand, and her head's on the ground before I know it. haha I'm going to take baby steps getting her used to the outdoors, since she's had very little exposure to it in her life most likely. Always got my trusty snake hook to remind her that I'm there, too. http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif Once she puts on a few more feet, I'll have to start having a buddy come outside with me, but I shouldn't need help actually lugging her out there for awhile yet.
http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...psqylngw1k.jpg
http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...psuh0hp5mt.jpg
http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...psuw3ivolj.jpg
Idk what she was doing here, but she looked silly. I opened the door, and she just kinda leaned her head backwards at me instead of turning her head.
The Canon is really hard to focus, and takes a long time to do it on the auto setting, so unfortunately her head came out blurry, but I took what I could so I could at least document her antics.
http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...psiwtpzwci.jpg
http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...psbisbqajk.jpg
http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/...psuwkomjql.jpg
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Well River has eaten several rabbits now. Last I weighed her she was about 1,200 grams. Whoops, the rabbits are bit big for her. Still, she's growing rapidly and retics are one of the few snakes that I'm not too overly worried about giving bigger meals to. She recently shed, and looks a ton bigger...she doesn't sit still long enough for me to see how she measures up against her PVC cage. I'm thinking of plopping her in the 6' cage again and seeing if she's near 7' yet. If she is, I'll need to order a Herpstat 2, 4, or maybe even that new Herpstat 6 (you guys have no idea how tempted I am) so I can run the heat in her cage.
Here's some pics of her taking a rabbit. She's eating one of these every 2 weeks so Cloud can have the other large rats. I feel these rabbits are a bit too large to be giving him, since he's got a significantly slower metabolism than she does.
https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1459/2...086c9e44_h.jpg
https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1452/2...a2af3bd4_h.jpg
https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1607/2...0435e3b2_h.jpg
Her in blue. :D
https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1505/2...7f01ebfb_h.jpg
And hanging out on her basking shelf. These things are so useful for convincing her to go back in her enclosure. lol Her head touches the shelf and she crawls right off, after trying to fight to the top of Bud's cage just a second ago.
https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1521/2...63383023_h.jpg
https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1715/2...ec4e03e2_h.jpg
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Re: Riverrun
She's gorgeous! Your photos are great, too- mine never turn out that good 😄
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She's getting bigger by the day it seems! She has to be at least 7' by now...I need to weigh her and try to at least get a picture for SerpWidgets to get a guesstimate of her length. It's hard to get her to stretch out along the 6' cages, but she's definitely easily longer than they are. She appears able to double up along the length of her enclosure, with her tail touching her nose, but she hasn't perfectly lain up against it like that so she may actually be short of double the length of her 4'x2'.
Despite how big she looks next to her hides, she can still fit in them, but there's no more room left anymore. lol In another month or two, she won't fit at all.
https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7503/2...16667b06_b.jpg
She's also just as messy as ever. I scrubbed those hides clean last night, and she's already dirtied them again.
https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7489/2...938a5796_b.jpg
I just got more rabbits in, so she'll be put back on rabbits. I do have some jumbo rats as well, so I'll probably give one to her every other feeding until they're gone.
I'm hoping to get a Herpstat 6 by end of August or September, so I can move her into the 6' enclosure.
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Here are some old photos, before getting into the update.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8898/2...86e8e5e1_b.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8726/2...ec8ce34b_b.jpg
River has been getting jumbo rats for awhile now, and has grown a bit in size so she got her first 1 lb rabbit about a week ago. At first she didn't seem all that interested in it (strange for her, she loves rabbits), and wouldn't strike at it. Eventually she pushed it up against the wall like "ugh ok I guess I'll eat it" and wrapped slowly around it once I started shaking it up and down. She had some troubles getting it down at first, so I thought it might be too big for her and tried to get her off it but she wouldn't let it go. Eventually she started swallowing it and got past the shoulders so I figured she could get it down and left her alone. It must have been a big meal, though, because she soaked in her water dish for the first couple of days. That's the only 1 lb rabbit I have, the rest are 2 lbs or 8-9 oz and below, so she'll be getting the smaller rabbits after that. I don't feel comfortable giving Cloud the 8-9 oz ones, so she can finish those ones off.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8344/2...21555771_b.jpg
https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7524/2...24a764bf_b.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8087/2...a2ce6e3a_b.jpg
Her basking shelf was also getting kinda gross, and trying to wipe it with it inside the enclosure didn't seem to help so I removed it and gave it a good scrub and it seems to have gotten cleaned. Retic pee is some strong stuff. haha
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