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  1. #1
    BPnet Senior Member CloudtheBoa's Avatar
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    01-13-2014
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    Draco, Albino Checkered Garter

    Draco is fairly new to me, but although he's not my favorite (I think of Cloud as my favorite without any regrets) he is definitely the most entertaining. I have him in a 5 gallon tank right now, but I eventually plan on getting a 20 gallon long or bigger by the end of my first year with him. I do like these tanks I saw at Petsmart. The largest is 20 gallons, but it opens from the front and comes with a decorative foam back! The fact it opens from the front is definitely a major factor in wanting to get it. He is proving to be a problem eater in that he's very picky in what he eats. He only eats live fish, and has so far refused both earthworms and mice. I've tried scenting them, I've tried whole worms so they move around more, I've tried small pieces, and I've tried tilapia and salmon filet. I've tried teasing with the worms and just letting them crawl around, but if he touches the worm he just rubs his face against the floor or wall to wipe the slime off and crawls away. The mice freak him out, like he think they're going to eat him or something. He rattles his tail around, flattens his head, and flings himself through the air to get away from it. So far the only method that works is holding him in one hand and lifting the fish up to him in a spoon. He ignores it if I leave it in his water bowl, he ignores it if I drop the fish in front of him so it flops around, and he ignores it if I just hold him over the fish. He's as particular as my ball python, if not more. :/

    He is incredibly silly, and highly interactive. If I come up to the tank and he sees me he comes right out of hiding up to the glass and looks me straight in the eye, following any movement I make. If people aren't around, he pretty much sticks to his hides (I poke my head out at him every once in awhile and I don't see him out whereas he's constantly on the move with company), but comes out to explore once people are there - he loves stalking and staring at people. All I have to do is look at him - I don't even need to move my head - and his head stiffens up with this comical head wobble of surprise. I can just imagine an exclamation point appearing above his head. lol He then either pulls his head into his hide or continues to stare.

    I was warned that being albino he would be photo-phobic, but he's proven to be the exact opposite. Once the timer kicks on and the light comes on, he comes out to check what's going on. Hopefully I can get some awesome shots of him outside once winter ends, if I can trust him enough. As it is, he's unpredictable when I handle him and he will jump to the floor at the drop of a pin. With constant work, he's calming down considerably and is more likely to just stretch his body out into the air and stare at me than fling himself off of it. He's even calmed down enough that I managed to get an accurate measurement of him: he's a teeny 9 inches long.

    His first meal with me. He held onto the meal he had before I got him, but he eventually passed it before I got worried enough to have him checked out (I don't want to imagine the scene that would happen if I tried to take this tiny snake to the vet's and he launched himself through the air like a tiny snake kamekaze):


    He looks so tiny...and he's definitely grown a decent amount since he arrived. That's also the poo he was holding onto in the corner:


    Grasping my knuckle with his head so that he he could crawl out from between my fingers and across the back of my hand:




    Soon...






    8.3 Boa imperator ('15 sunglow "Nymeria," '11 normal "Cloud," '16 anery motley "Crona," '10 ghost "Howl," '08 jungle "Dominika," '22 RC pastel hypo jungle "Aleister," '22 pastel normal "Gengar," '22 orangasm hypo "Daemon," '22 poss jungle "Jinzo," '22 poss jungle "Calcifer," '22 motley "Guin")
    1.4 Boa imperator; unnamed '22 hbs
    3.3 Plains garter snakes
    1.2 checkered garter snakes (unnamed)

    ~RIP~
    2.2 Brazilian rainbow boa ('15 Picasso stripe BRBs "Guin" and "Morzan, and '15 hypo "Homura", '14 normal "Sanji")
    1.0 garter snake ('13 albino checkered "Draco")
    1.0 eastern garter ('13 "Demigod)
    0.0.1 ball python ('06 "Bud")

  2. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to CloudtheBoa For This Useful Post:

    Badgemash (01-22-2014),Bluebonnet Herp (01-20-2014),Pyrate81 (01-21-2014)

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