The Whole Crew - In honor of the new year

At this point, I would say I am notoriously bad at keeping up with progression threads, or even starting them for most of my snakes. So, in honor of the new year and to share some of my better pictures, I'll be posting pics of my various snakes.

My first snake, Noodle the Abbott's Okeetee corn snake as a tiny baby:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...7b250a4b64.jpg

He only ever was super defensive in shed once, back when he was tiny, but he gave his all to a rattlesnake impression. Hissing, striking, lifted strike pose, and tail rattling.. the whole 9 yards.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...c3fe0a8a10.jpg

Couple more recent pictures.
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And my first ball python, Obi, a spider het for piebald. I was somewhat ignorant of some things, so I set out to get the nicest individual adult male I could find locally in my price range. I didn't have specific morphs in mind, since I was looking primarily for temperament.

I had seen many posts on troublesome babies and eating and had wanted a smaller adult a sa start. Needless to say, those of you with experience know my problem... I got Obi in October just before winter and he had started his fast. He was a former breeder male and weighed about 1,350g to start. During his fasting he ate roughly 1 small meal per month, live only, for the first 5 months. 2 40-50g rats and 3 adult mice... needless to say, it was stressful trying to get him to settle.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...58ff1f122a.jpg

But since then, he has transitioned to frozen rats and is by at the crowd favorite of my snakes. He is extremely calm in motion and not at all head shy, although he is very energetic and moves constantly 90% of the time. (The other 10% he is mimicking a bracelet.. or an anklet.)
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...a8f2bd1bb0.jpg

He is also a very good climber and seems to really enjoy climbing down as many things as possible. Tables, ladders, and even people.
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I love Obi. Awesome markings.

That Corn is a beauty. Did the camera not pick up the colors in the early photos or did they come in later?

Nice pics of your collection,that corn is stunning

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by hvactechgreen

I love Obi. Awesome markings.

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Compared to some I've seen, he is a pretty reduced pattern spider. I love the pattern on him.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Helonwheelz383

That Corn is a beauty. Did the camera not pick up the colors in the early photos or did they come in later?

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He was actually that dark as a baby (though my camera isn'tthe best either, haha). I think it is common in wild type corn snakes, as the dull colors are better camoflage.

Corns typically get much brighter as they age.

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My next snake is a bit of a sad story. I haven't posted it before;by the time I thought of it, it was too late to get help. But for the sake of full disclosure and perhaps to explain why I am adamant about the timing with any new owner who has had a regurge of unidentifiable origin, here's Red's story.

At the same time we bought Obi, my husband decided that he wanted a snake of his own (rather than "my" 2 snakes). So, at that expo, we went back by the table of the breeder we got Noodle from. He decided he liked one of his corn snakes, a male blood red tessera that was promptly named Red. Red was bigger than Noodle, and at the time, I had thought it likely to be a yearling of a decent size. I didn't have much perspective of corn snake growth rates, nor did I find much online that would give any concrete numbers to judge off of.

I only have 1 picture of him (my husband has 3 or 4 more, I think, but we did very little handling of him or picture-taking while we had him). He was 28 grams when we got him, and looked roughly 2+ times the length of Noodle who was 10 grams at the time. (Log was just clutter/decor, his 2nd hide was behind the camera)
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...62300d01ce.jpg

As far as we can tell, he must have been a yearling and a poor eater or an early-season baby that had quit eating regularly. Looking back, I can say that he looked quite skinny for his length and much longer than a 5 or so month old corn snake should be for his weight. We got him home, waited a week for him to settle, and fed him. Meal 1 went okay, but a week later after meal 2 (each 1 large pinky about 2 to 3 grams), he regurgitated.

Of course, we panicked a bit. I spent hours researching regurgitation and protocol for it. I found what was a highly respected corn snake breeder on the cornsnake forum saying what to do in a sticky (Kathy Love, if I remember correctly). It called for an 8 day break, no handling, and a smaller meal. We did that to a T and offered a 1g pinky (that may have been less since our scale barely read it as 1 gram). This one was also regurgitated.

After that, we took him to a vet. The vet is considered good for exotics and snakes and he actually bred corn snakes himself for years in the past, so we considered ourselves lucky; he clearly knew what he was talking about when we were there, how to easily handle the snake, etc. He gave us some meds to inject into the pinky as a precaution of any parasites and told us he was very skinny; my memory isn't the best, so I don't remember what ned it was. He said that the snake had probably been regurgitating meals or at least refusing meals for quite a while before we got him due to how skinny he was.

By that vet visit, after about 3-4 weeks of owning him, he had lost 8 grams, down to 20 grams, and shed once during one of the waiting times. He did keep down the small pinky with medicine (injected into the mouse's belly) the vet gave us, but after the following meal, he regurged that one and we found him dead in his tub the following day before we could bring him back to the vet or call to get more information.

Months after this, I found another set of pages about regurgitation that suggested waiting a minimum of 2 weeks to allow the throat time to heal and replenish stomach enzymes. To this day, I wonder if I had found that page sooner and waited longer to offer if he would have pulled through.

We never did get around to calling the vet again after; it was too depressing. So, it was a bit of a surprise when they sent a birthday postcard to Red last month. Oops..

(Promise this is the only sad-ending story.)

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Ah that’s a shame.at least you tried with red


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Next up is Ash, my Texas Graybanded Kingsnake. He's considered an alterna phase, and as such has minimal orange.

This guy managed to squeeze out of a ventilation hole that safely contained Noodle at 6 grams when he was 12 grams within 48 hours of a meal. We triple-checked everything and that's the only possible way he could get out. He escaped about 1 month after we got him, last winter. And proceeded to make himself scarce for 4.5 months. We were moving our snake room in May and while setting up the new space spotted a small shed... and found him under an automan 5 minutes later having only lost about 1 gram.

Day 1
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4.5 months after AWOL he turned up under this
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Took a BIG drink (drank nearly half that bowl)
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And took a meal a few hours later
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Here's what he looked like when he turned up
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Some more random pics:
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He is now almost 60 grams at his last weight check, growing slow and steady.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...df555f4478.jpg

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Beautiful collection. So sorry to hear about Red. For what it is worth, if he was undersized and skinny as the vet stated, I think there was likely an underlying problem long before he went home with you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dianne

Beautiful collection. So sorry to hear about Red. For what it is worth, if he was undersized and skinny as the vet stated, I think there was likely an underlying problem long before he went home with you.

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That's what we've decided was probably the case, so we're sad that we couldn't get him help in time, but it is what it is. That picture I have is from the first few days; I think you can see enough of his shape to see that he is pretty triangular there. :/

But I've got more to come (including more ball pythons! I swear there's more than just the one).

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by pretends2bnormal

But I've got more to come (including more ball pythons! I swear there's more than just the one).

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That’s always the case, they’re like potato chips. :D

I started 2018 with 2 ball pythons...I added 8 more from July to December. :rolleyes:

Our 2nd ball python! We almost didn't get another with how difficult of a feeder Obi started out as, but we did pick up a baby banana male.

Unlike Obi, Vega was a great feeder from Day 1. He switched from live our first try at home and swapped to rats a few months later with a total of 3 seconds hesitation.



Day 1 with Vega
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You'll notice a bit of a trend with him.. he likes to rest his head on random objects:
Baby
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1 year later
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...4725af0cf9.jpg

He's super cute
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And looks really nice outside in good light
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Taking a break before making the climb down the ladder/jungle gym
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Baby Vega with Obi
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And year old Vega with Obi (900 vs 1400 grams)
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And my lucky shot of a yawn. Went for a picture and he yawned right as I clicked. Look at his huge teeth!! (JK)
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...734677879a.jpg

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nice family

Very nice! Love the corn and the king, they are both gorgeous. And the spider is also very nice! Oh yeah, the banana is also very sharp.

Still more left!

While Ash was AWOL, we picked up a few new pals.

First, Ghost our albino honduran milk snake. We didn't quite realize what shed would look like for an albino, so we just thought he was pink at first.
Pardon the mess in the background (and the orientation, I think this one will post goofy)
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Also in shed:
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And after shedding
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Ghost weighed 25 grams when we got him and has been a fantastic eater for us. He never refuses meals, even in shed, and despite the reputation milk snakes have for being flighty and musky, he has always been a dream to handle. From day 1, he likes to wrap his tail around your wrist, hold on, and explore with the rest of him. Now that he's bigger the only change is he wraps 2 to 3 times. He's calm, very inquisitive, and has one of the longest tongues of all my snakes (on par with my boa even).

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He likes exploring things as well, and unlike my others is usually prone to holding positions long enough for a picture and for him not to get into trouble before I can set the camera down.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...613c5b8637.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...9355efe67a.jpg

Until he outgrow the gap, he really enjoyed using it as a hide..
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Funniest of all was a period where we had mounted a light fixture with a narrow gap behind it. He spent a solid week up there and would periodically go there until we swapped to LEDs. Even going so far as to strik, eat, and digest a meal up there once.
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The living in the light fixture is hilarious 😂. Beautiful color and pattern.

Ghost is such a fantastic colour


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At the same time we got Ghost, we picked up a chain kingsnake also. As much as I love MBKs, having just a bit of pattern is nice too. We picked up Queenie at 17 grams of sassy, defensive kingsnake.

She was the polar opposite of Ash and from day 1; she was skittish, musked constantly, tail rattled... we didn't expect it to be honest, not after Ash had been so easy-going.
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For months after she started eating, we tried all of the various tactics, usually several weeks of each method before changing, to try and calm her down to no avail. Everything from a small tub + short handling every day except for digesting, handling not at all for several weeks/letting her gain some size, more burrowing substrate, and attempting handling until she acted calm/stopped musking... that last one was the biggest failure, as she would progress from musking to projectile poop/pee and would keep up her sprinting behavior mixed with complete stillness (waiting for us to let our guard down so she could leap for the floor) for up to 15 minutes by which point, we figured it was way too much stress to be helping her any.
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We even tried a tactic a corn snake breeder we know uses with babies to get them calmer at smaller sizes. Basically, cup them in your palms without an exit and wait till they go still as if in a hide, then give them 5 to 10 minutes it being warm/safe/smelling you and put them back. It almost worked for her, though only while it was dark, but she was a bit big for my hands to keep her contained by the time we heard this.
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She is the only one of my snakes that I have caught shedding on camera, though she was mad the whole time because she could see me.
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She is a very good eater, though when offering food on tongs, she gets so defensive that she will bypass the food to try and bite me/scare me off. Gotta keep out of sight or drop feed her
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In the last month, she has made more progress and is closer to 50/50 if I get musked. She is still erratic to handle, but I've gotten 3 weeks in a row without being musked, so I think she is finally getting big enough to be more confident. On the downside, if I'm not quick scooping her up, she will strike to bite in her cage and has gotten me once (barely bled at all). Outside, she is just skittish and prone to musking.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...fab8e22eb3.jpg

Despite her food response, both her and Ash shos no reaction to the smell of other snakes, even small ones, and have not ever bitten us thinking it was food.

She's now approaching 150 grams, so there is some hope that her calming has to do with her size. We generally feed and handle once a week now, just to do a thorough spot clean and see how she is. She is #1 for avoid like the plague when she is in shed though I usually find out she's going dull the hard way lol; very bitey and even more flighty and panicky than usual.

Even if she is never good for handling, she'll have a home with us. Just not one to show to any visitors.

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We've also got a Kenyan Sand Boa, Pixel.

We are pretty sure she is female, thanks to Deb and visual sexing, but she wasn't sold with that listed.

She's been good for us so far and is the most enjoyable visually empty-cage critter I could ask for.
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I love how her eyes will be looking different directions when seen from above. Always comical.
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She even likes to play video games!
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From time to time we take her out to play in a sand box, and that's always a hit
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Overall, Pixel is a good girl
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Getting back to Ball Pythons again, our 3rd is a 2018 female pied ball python with 2 emojis.

She's our smallest ball python and quite shy. Shes the only one I have to keep put of sight of the tub when she's eating, but as she grows she is getting a bit more confident.

Emoji 1
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Emoji 2 (upside down smile)
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In addition she also has a very close match to Noodle's head stamp as well! Hard to see, but her highest patch of color near my fingers.
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She's been the oddest BP also, in that she has yet to poop in her tub... after 4 or 5 meals and a shed, I've given her a brief warm water bath and had her poop very promptly twice now, but only once did some tiny urates got left for me in her tub. I'm going to see about waiting longer this time, but both prior times she had some MAJOR sausage butt and dropped something like 25% of her empty weight in poop both times. Didn't seem constipated or dehydrated, so I'm guessing it must be the cooler weather and her being very shy.
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Had to work with her for weeks before she would come out of a ball at all when picked up.
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Unlike all my others, she is probably the only one I could watch TV with.

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Revali, our coastal carpet python boy.

He's been absolutely amazing to own thus far, and gave exactly 1 bite the very first time I had to move him out of his QT tub to clean up a mess. He turned around 180 degrees and decided to taste my knuckle for a second and promptly realized oh, no threat here. He has since refused to bite anything but food.

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Even when we have accidentally moved fast near his head, he just ignores it. One of my top 3 least head-shy snakes, right next to Obi (who tolerates gentle head rubs with a finger or two).
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If I went carpet python. I also had to go boa... I like some variety!

This is Cas, our subglow boa.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...3c446dbce0.jpg

He's quite a character and entirely unlike the pythons. He it took several months for him to figure out what hides were. An early attempt using a piece of cork here:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...7326686234.jpg

He mostly does the half-in, half-out at the glass begging for food, even now that he recognizes his hides, but typically ditches it entirely in shed to go sit in one of the back corners facing a wall.

Here is the best begging pic I have (don't mind the moisture, just did a thorough spray a bit before this)
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He pouts whe he is put back in his cage. Climbing the thermometer suction cup
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Or protesting by climbing along his shower curtain rod
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His colors really pop in good light outside
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Last time he joined for some YouTube watching, he clearly didn't enjoy the video.. sat like this for 15 minutes:
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Very nice indeed, love the sunglows colours

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What a nice collection you have. Thanks for sharing.

Beautiful collection!

Loki, our Anery Motley Stripe corn snake:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...131cd3b629.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...873d83f8f2.jpg

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Ugh.. 3 out of 5 upside down this time.. dangit tapatalk!

Artemis, Kingsville locality bull snake

She's new so only a few pics. She's far less huffy and hissy than the stereotypes unless she's got her teeth in a mouse and you wiggle it (simulate live prey).
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And our latest... Luna the Pastel Leopard Mojave ball python!

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...ec8d10ab60.jpg

She is queen of weird laying spots..
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...df557b5944.jpg

And gets super light in shed:
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My only BP to ever do a scope indoors!
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(Probably upside down.. )

And thinks she is soooooo good at hiding.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...f1091d4a12.jpg

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Picked up 2 more at NARBC Arlington.

A Super Stripe Borneo short tail python from VPI
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...549035cef4.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...3dfc87c615.jpg

And a male BP, Lesser Pinstripe Fire het Clown
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You have a wonderful reptile-family, way too many for me to pick a favorite...:snake:

Great new pick ups there


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