My new BEL travels well and wins hearts...

So I originally set out to purchase this young lady to be my first breeding project, but it turns out that I lucked out and got a BP with a fantastic personality.

Wintre is a little over 3 years old and has been owned by a couple who apparently raised her right, but decided they just weren't interested in BPs anymore. They put her up on craigslist, which is where I found her.

I picked her up on my way to my parents house where she stayed for a couple days in a tub. Then back down to home where she got her current tub in my 32 quart rack (soon to be moved to a 41 quart I have on the way). During the trip, she won over my mother who is/was NOT a snake person at all as well as everyone else she came in contact with. She is exceptionally docile, not head shy at all and the perfect blend of exploratory and willing to just hang tight if you give her a nice spot to anchor.

After an hour drive in a shoebox tub we got home and she pounded a small rat for me and looked entirely unsatisfied with it (she can clearly take bigger). She had another small rat just 3 days later and ate it just as quickly as the first, looking a bit more satisfied this time. I think a medium is in order for her next time.

Since she seemed to do fine with traveling, I decided to take her to work as I have a coworker who was asking about seeing one of my snakes. Back into the shoebox tub and in the sidecase of my motorcycle, we battled SF bay area traffic together and made it to work just fine, where she continued to be awesome and win over everyone she met. I think she's going to do a lot of good for battling the common misconceptions about snakes and pythons in general.

The trip home was fine, however she peed in the little shoebox tub and when I pulled it out of my bike she was giving me the look of "get me out of here....NOW!" Took her up to the sink for a little bath that she seemed to enjoy and back into her home tub where she's been sleeping since.

While I still plan to breed her, I think she is going to be my go-to for people who have never seen snakes before and need a good impression to be made. My baby Coral Glow has a similar personality, though she is still young and growing and gets antsy if she's away from her home for too long. I'm hoping she will turn out the same way in a couple years.

Here's my new girl!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...2011.11.18.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...2011.11.09.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...2023.21.16.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...46104412_n.jpg

Congrats! All is have ever seen in craigslist are normals who don't look like they were taken good care of.

That's a good lookiny BEL! Congratulations on the score.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

She is absolutely stunning!

Stunning BEL! Congrats. :D

Great story, Congrats Treaux! :)

Lovely girl.
So refreshing to hear of an adoption that wasn't a sad story.
Good luck with her.

Very beautiful girl and a very cool story!

Congrats!

Sent from my SGH-T399N using Tapatalk

lol she rides in a motorcycle? that's awesome. (i'm just imagining a BEL with a little helmet, goggles and a scarf flapping in the wind.). :)

she's beautiful. and has personality to boot. congrats!

First of all...BEAUTIFUL GIRL!

While doing a hands-on event as a member of the Minnesota Herp Society, I discovered what great ambassadors these snakes can be - there's something so non-threatening about them. My BEL, Khaleesi (a Craigslist find, BTW!), literally turns heads! People make a B-line for her! I had one woman, who had never touched a snake and was very afraid of them, start out by keeping at least a 5 foot distance from me to touching her and calling her an "angel snake" - all in less than 10 minutes!!

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12...449c32122d.jpg

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Herbie'sMom

First of all...BEAUTIFUL GIRL!

While doing a hands-on event as a member of the Minnesota Herp Society, I discovered what great ambassadors these snakes can be - there's something so non-threatening about them. My BEL, Khaleesi (a Craigslist find, BTW!), literally turns heads! People make a B-line for her! I had one woman, who had never touched a snake and was very afraid of them, start out by keeping at least a 5 foot distance from me to touching her and calling her an "angel snake" - all in less than 10 minutes!!

---

Cute girl! Is she a super mojave? Something about the white/lighter colored snakes makes them seem less intimidating. It helps when they have great personality as well.

Yep, she's a super mojave!

I like the little Mojave dark head BELs. Nice thing is I have a Mojave to pair Wintre with as well so she may make some of those eventually as well.

Poor thing ended up with an RI however from all the commotion. Took her to the vet today and she needs injections for 14 days. She'll be going in the nice T8 habitat at least until she's better (it has the most stable temps).

oh noes! get well soon Wintre.

please keep us updated!

also my 2016 goal is to now get a BEL. these pix/thread just put me over the edge.

I agree, there's something about light colored/white snakes that make people lose their fears about them. I think it's even just some visual association of the usual brown/black/dark patterned snakes to the "venomous/scary" snakes that that have been ingrained into their minds since they were children. But white or yellow snakes have not.

My mom isn't exactly "scared" of snakes, but apparently there's something about the intricate patterns that make her feel disgusted/repulsed... even in something like a lesser bee, where the colors are light, but there's still a visible patterning. She isn't scared of Cake or Yukon (BEL) at all, because they don't have that kind of pattern or color. Maybe this kind of "disgust/fear" process applies to most people.

I love the BELs! My poor sweet snake is still sick though. Today is her 4th day of antibiotics (Claforan injections) and she hasn't seemed to get better at all. Now a little more popping sounds when breathing and the occasional long exhale (not really a wheeze, but a little junky sounding). She is still acting normal and doesn't seem to be in any distress. The vet said I should notice improvements in about 5 days, so I'm going to give it the weekend to see if she gets better, otherwise I'll bring her back in for a culture. The vet said he wanted to try a less harsh antibiotic as some of the stronger ones can leave scarring that's visible on the white snakes. He seems pretty knowledgeable so I'm following his recommendations.

I have her in my T8 (half of it at least) and I raised the temps to 80 ambient and 92 on the hot side. She has been sticking to the hotspot and felt nice and warm when I picked her up this morning. I hope that will help.

I'm having a bad respiratory cold myself so we've been miserable together.

My other snakes are doing well, except for Quorra who had a misfire on a rat and caught it by a single toe and tried to wrap it up. She struggled with it for a little bit and I had to hold its head with tweezers so it wouldn't bite her. She eventually gave up and went back in her hide and wasn't interested the next day. She may need a week off to be ready for a meal again.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...2022.21.09.jpg