Craigslist rescue

[Slicercrush]

20180603_134546 by nathan doty, on Flickr

Definitely a OD Spider, gorgeous girl! I can't wait to see more updates on her! Welcome to the forum!

(Time to go look at some Caigslist ads...)

[Indy]

[IMG]20180605_140809 by nathan doty, on Flickr[/IMG]

There's her belly. If I hadn't been told she was an OD, without a normal to compare her to I probably wouldn't have noticed more than her pattern. It's pretty darn subtle.

I'm not going to lie, been fighting the urge to do a few punnett squares... always wanted a piebald, maybe an albino or 6, bumblebee... :laugh: If I start with a juvie male, by the time she's up to weight... Pied het, OD spiders Add in the albino in lav albino in a couple generations and just roll the dice from there. Whats the point of having 1 when you can have 5 or 15?

Of course my wife has already threatened me once or twice since I surprised everyone. I *may* have neglected entirely letting her know what I was doing.

On the upside shes been moving back and forth between the hot and the cold side instead of just huddling for warmth, progress is being made!

[Tigerhawk]

She’s in good hands now. Welcome to the forum, I’m sure you will enjoy your time here.

[Indy]

Thanks

Big success tonight. 42 seconds after introducing, she hit her first ever frozen rat off my tongs. She is now curled up in the heat. I'm not counting my chickens yet but I'm happy that she's got some food in her. Hopefully #2 and subsequent feedings will go just as well. She's going to think she's in snake heaven going from monthly to weekly feeds.

My son jumped nicely when she struck :laugh: I stuck my gopro in her tank, going to edit things down a bit. I was hoping to get a snap in in mid strike but it looks like it happened between frames. Ah well, there's always next time.

[Bogertophis]

Sweet! I'm so glad she's in good hands now & hopefully she'll continue to show her appreciation by feeding easily on F/T for you from now on.

[Indy]

2nd attempt ft yesterday, again less than a minute. Very strong feeding response so far. Next week i'll try just drop and go, ignore my frozen rat theatre. I probably want going to get an emmy anyway.

And 2 good teaching moments for my son. In his 9 years on this earth he has had several times where i say "if you do x, y is going to happen. Which he ignores and y happens about 30 seconds later.

But he had decided he is now the resident snake expert and wanted to feed yesterday. I warn if you hold the tongs like that, you'll get bit. Followed by "she's watching your hand" and finally "what did we learn?"
And he learned ball bites don't hurt, so don't be afraid.

Good times

[Bogertophis]

Yes, snakes are "teachers" too, lol... Oops.

[Indy]

One of my favorite sayings back when I was a cop was "Nothing teaches like an ass whooping." I don't know if I was the first but I coined it after trying to keep rookies alive. I got tired of telling someone "If you keep doing this you're going to get punched in the face, at best." Eventually I'd just grab their training officer and say "Watch, here it comes" and Bam! punch in the face. Then I'd finish the fight while they picked themselves up. It was remarkable how often that little momentary interaction would do what me preaching for hours could not.

Anyways, here we go and saved for posterity.

Problem in 3... 2... 1...

Problem 1 by nathan doty, on Flickr

problem 2 by nathan doty, on Flickr

problem 3 by nathan doty, on Flickr

problem 4 by nathan doty, on Flickr

[Indy]

Feed #3 today, tried just doing a drop and while she sniffed around the rat, no strike. I left it in about 20 minutes, pulled and reheat it. I barely had it in her tank before she had it wrapped. From live only and "she just won't eat" to easy peasy f/t with essentially no effort. I'm not sure if I'm lucky or just sooooooo good :laugh: I'm betting a little knowledge and a lot of luck. I'll bump her up a size next week and see how she does.

Shes kept her easy to handle mentality, easy as anything to feed, and has slowly started putting on weight. As long as we continue on this path I'll get to call it a successful rescue. Good days!

[AnnieHeart]

Feed #3 today, tried just doing a drop and while she sniffed around the rat, no strike. I left it in about 20 minutes, pulled and reheat it. I barely had it in her tank before she had it wrapped. From live only and "she just won't eat" to easy peasy f/t with essentially no effort. I'm not sure if I'm lucky or just sooooooo good :laugh: I'm betting a little knowledge and a lot of luck. I'll bump her up a size next week and see how she does.

Shes kept her easy to handle mentality, easy as anything to feed, and has slowly started putting on weight. As long as we continue on this path I'll get to call it a successful rescue. Good days!

Good girl!! I'm glad she's doing so well for you!