Photo Day, including The Granite Burmese

[reptileexperts]

Thanks Kali! Everyone loves smudges . . .

[liv]

If I ever visit Texas, I am cuddling Smudges and you can't do anything to stop me

[reptileexperts]

lol you would not be the first nor the last

[Evenstar]

If I ever visit Texas, I am cuddling Smudges and you can't do anything to stop me

Me too me too!!!

[xFenrir]

Maybe I should just not come onto BP.net while I'm living with my parents. I keep seeing all these awesome snakes and it's like torture that I can't get any right now!

[reptileexperts]

It took years of arguing with my parents to get my first Ball 12 years ago (which is still with me). And then I learned it was better to ask forgiveness. After that it became a bargaining game with my parents then finally it become a money game and numbers game. More snakes = higher rent. Still beats buying a house at the moment. Did your parents end up being ok with satin?

[xFenrir]

It took years of arguing with my parents to get my first Ball 12 years ago (which is still with me). And then I learned it was better to ask forgiveness. After that it became a bargaining game with my parents then finally it become a money game and numbers game. More snakes = higher rent. Still beats buying a house at the moment. Did your parents end up being ok with satin?

No, she ended up having to be housed at my boyfriends'. My parents have said no to the snakes, and it's their house, so I ain't gonna argue. If I brought an animal into their house without permission, I'd be out on my butt pretty quick. Or the animal would be gone as soon as they found out. My parents don't play around. But I've got plenty of years left to get more snakes. A friend of ours has offered us his male RTB, and he's small/young enough that we could house him for a good amount of time in the 40gal breeder we have...

Honestly, if it had been my Ball Python, they probably would've been okay with it, it was just the fact that Satin is so HUGE, I could see how she could make someone wary. Plus my dad keeps the house at an ungodly cold temperature (I can wear a heavy coat IN the house and feel fine), and I don't think I could've heated her enclosure properly in the winter.

[reptileexperts]

That is the challenge! We rarely run the heater during the winter months right now, and in Texas its not terrible, but some days the house will drop to 50. Fortunately, I have enough heaters running and well enough insulated caging that the room temperature they stay in hovers around 70 constantly regardless of the rest of the house. My mom's biggest snake issue came with my Boa as well. She never liked the fact it "looked" exotic which she then deemed venomous. Then as it got larger she started getting more and more worried. . . She still cringes at the big stuff, and is not OK with the fact that the backyard is about to be a rabbit breeding facility just for my retics, but some how, she's become acceptant. Guess she knows I won't be around the house too much longer. Glad to hear the Boyfriend was able to hold on to her at least! And you can never have too many boas, I just picked up a Sunglow and Snow myself :-) --> http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...k-Sunglow-Male

Cheers

[xFenrir]

That is the challenge! We rarely run the heater during the winter months right now, and in Texas its not terrible, but some days the house will drop to 50. Fortunately, I have enough heaters running and well enough insulated caging that the room temperature they stay in hovers around 70 constantly regardless of the rest of the house. My mom's biggest snake issue came with my Boa as well. She never liked the fact it "looked" exotic which she then deemed venomous. Then as it got larger she started getting more and more worried. . . She still cringes at the big stuff, and is not OK with the fact that the backyard is about to be a rabbit breeding facility just for my retics, but some how, she's become acceptant. Guess she knows I won't be around the house too much longer. Glad to hear the Boyfriend was able to hold on to her at least! And you can never have too many boas, I just picked up a Sunglow and Snow myself :-) --> http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...k-Sunglow-Male

Cheers

I think size plus the bags of dead rats were the dealbreaker. The snake they would learn to get over eventually, I'm sure. Dead rodents? Ehhh... And I can't run heaters, my dad is this energy-conservation nut and since he pays the mortgage we have to play by his rules. But he's a big guy so he thinks it's a nice temperature. My mom and I, however, are constantly cold. But I miss being able to see my boa whenever I want, and even though I know my boyfriend knows how to care for her, I go all "mom-mode" and fret that something might happen when I'm not around. Also, if we had a basement, I think my parents would've let me keep my snakes down there because that way, they wouldn't have to see them and could just pretend they don't exist.

And yes! At first I thought I'd go into breeding BP's, but now I really wanna breed boas. They're just so awesome. I want to get into the big boys too (burms, retics, MAYBE annie's) but I won't even start thinking about all that stuff until I'm settled into a house or a place that I own, not rent. And that Snow you have is GORGEOUS.

[reptileexperts]

Hah, yeah in my house its mom who dictates the temperature based on her comfort levels. . . . she gets hot , we freeze. You're time will come, just keep watching laws to make sure that you can still get into the hobby if push comes to shove. And yeah, I started quite a few ball python breeding projects, and they are alright. Easy care, low cost in food, lots of fun morphs to play with to get neat results. But in all it's just a live painted rock. They are still good pets, and probably the best "beginner" snake for people entering the hobby. But I have to say the personalities are very weak in comparison to some of the giants and more advanced species. Retics quickly became one of my favorite species to work with, and dwarf locales have a beauty and mindset of their own. Boa's are a great project for a lot of reasons - and with relatively low amounts of production hitting the market (in comparison to ball pythons), you can keep supply and demand at levels that make the investment worth while to get higher end animals that add asthetics to your collection, that still generate a return on investment while allowing yourself to still treat your breeders as pets :-). Boa's downside is they need a year off of breeding most of the time after they lay a clutch. And some males just never want to breed. But it's all part of the puzzel and excitement.

As far as the rats go, have you tried getting a separate freezer? I know when we had guest over and they were offered icecream, they seemed to no longer want any when we showed them where it was next to the rats . .. I have since then bought a 7.2 cu. ft. chest freezer that stays full of all sizes of rats, mice, and rabbits.

Cheers