Snakes and Stones

[Lord Sorril]

If I may input a request, I'd love more "pre-tumbled/polished" pics like this. It's neat to see the difference with the minerals between their natural and cleaned up states.

Yes, that is a great suggestion! Ideally that is what I would do. I would even take it so far as to show week by week progress. Unfortunately I tumble so many stones that it would be an epic task to document them all. If I have an interesting one I will still try and take some 'before and after' or in-progress photos, like this piece of banded obsidian (shown below) I took a photo/week for the first 8 weeks, then I got really busy and the stone is done now after about 7 months (rotary tumble only).








The final weight of the stone was 1.45lbs on completion and I haven't taken a snake photo yet, but, will probably be #167 in the series.

[Bogertophis]

Is your tumbler EVER turned off? I mean, "7 months"!??

[Lord Sorril]

Is your tumbler EVER turned off? I mean, "7 months"!??

My rotary tumblers never turn off and have been running nonstop for ~3.5 years with minimal maintenance. My vibe tumbler has been running for 2.5 years straight, needs constant repairs and maintenance, hope it hangs in there, can't replace it these days due to supply chain issues abroad.

I have more than 100lbs of stone tumbling 365/7, but, the killer to my electric bill is not the rock tumblers: it is the heating elements in my reptile rooms, when it is -20F outside and I'm heating my rooms to 80F...ouch-now THAT is expensive...

[Bogertophis]

My rotary tumblers never turn off and have been running nonstop for ~3.5 years with minimal maintenance. My vibe tumbler has been running for 2.5 years straight, needs constant repairs and maintenance, hope it hangs in there, can't replace it these days due to supply chain issues abroad.

I have more than 100lbs of stone tumbling 365/7, but, the killer to my electric bill is not the rock tumblers: it is the heating elements in my reptile rooms, when it is -20F outside and I'm heating my rooms to 80F...ouch-now THAT is expensive...

Must be noisy too? Too bad you don't have tumblers that can produce heat for the reptile rooms. Any way to add more insulation to just the reptile rooms? Seems like that would pay for itself.

[Bogertophis]

Photo #161

This stone is a little odd. I've tumbled a lot of rocks, but, this is the only one like it so far.

It looks a lot like a ball of the new antiviral* drug to fight covid-19? Maybe you discovered it first?

*https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/02/healt...ner/index.html

[Lord Sorril]

Must be noisy too? Too bad you don't have tumblers that can produce heat for the reptile rooms. Any way to add more insulation to just the reptile rooms? Seems like that would pay for itself.

Yeah, the rock tumblers are noisy, but, the rotary tumblers are using rubber barrels so it produces a bit of a muffled low frequency noise. The vibe tumbler on the other hand produces a higher frequency buzz that is really annoying. Thankfully my garage is on a separate wing of my house and I don't hear anything. I have a big vibe tumbler that can process 50lbs. of rocks, but, it is very time consuming to load/unload, and requires strict dedication to use properly (which I don't have)...if I run it: I can hear it at night even in my main house.

As for insulation: I am at the limit of what would be considered 'normal' for a house. The previous owner of my house was very 'big' on heat and energy conservation, but, only 'on the cheap' and she had some really-really bad windows. I replaced all the windows when I moved in with some well-rated triple panes. I still cover half of each window to my reptile rooms with foam insulation board. If I was to add insulation on the interior it would decrease the amount of space I have for caging, and I am at floor-ceiling on all four walls in each room.

It looks a lot like a ball of the new antiviral* drug to fight covid-19? Maybe you discovered it first?

*https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/02/healt...ner/index.html

All questions regarding my role in C19 product testing/development will have to be deferred to my companies legal team (which is in fact: True).

[Lord Sorril]

Photo #163

[Lord Sorril]

I wanted to go to the Manchester, NH-Reptile Expo today, my gf wanted to go to the Topsfield Fair...who do you think won?

Sculptures made out of Beeswax:

I see a snake one in there...

Saw this scene below and thought it was disturbing:

Of course I couldn't ID this one (shown below), with Brainy smurf creeping in the background:


It was a good time though, a lot of everything to look at...

[Bogertophis]

I might have come home with the 4-snake platform stand of beeswax... Looks like a good call, either way. (this vs the reptile expo)

What IS that giant 1612 lb. produce? Some sort of pale pumpkin? Sure glad they don't grow in my garden, I think I might have trouble picking them.

[Snagrio]

I might have come home with the 4-snake platform stand of beeswax... Looks like a good call, either way. (this vs the reptile expo)

What IS that giant 1612 lb. produce? Some sort of pale pumpkin? Sure glad they don't grow in my garden, I think I might have trouble picking them.

Yeah, pumpkins. At the county fair I used to go to growing up there was always a section showcasing similar monstrous ones. They also can come in many colors too which is why the ones pictured look pale.