Moonglow project getting off the ground! :D

[Will0W783]

As those of you who follow my postings know, I recently bought a very unusual, high lavendar Kahl strain albino male BCI. I've been looking for the ideal girl for him, and am acquiring a female breeder triple het for moonglow on Sunday. I've seen this girl in the flesh at the last Hamburg show and am ecstatic to be getting my hands on her!

While my male is most likely not hiding het for anery or anything, I do have another female hypo 100% het for anery who will be ready to go next year. She can be paired with the albino next year, and those babies grown up and bred with the albino x triple het moonglow offspring to hopefully get a successful moonglow (hypo albino anery) out of the mix in the end.

This girl is a proven breeder, a bit over 7 feet long and heavy. She has already been being cooled, as has my male. I am going to be feeding her heavily to get some extra weight on her and plan to put them together around February. Wish me luck guys! Pics are coming as soon as I get my new girl. :)

[presspirate]

Best of luck to you Willow! Can't wait to see the pics! I don't believe I've ever seen a Moonglow.

[Will0W783]

She is triple het for moonglow, not an actual moonglow. She looks like a very nice hypomelanistic boa. But it's the genetics that she carries that will enable moonglows in a few generations.

She came last night, and I was holding her for about 20 minutes and she was fine...calm and curious. Then we took her down to the snake room and I'm standing there talking and next thing I knew, "BAM!" she nails me in the side of the face!!! OUCH!
That absolutely sucked. I was standing there shocked, my face bleeding, and I had to laugh..it was just too funny. All I could think about was that internet picture of the guy getting bit in the face by that scrub python and it looked so funny that I imagine I looked hilarious too. Dang that hurt though. And she just clipped me sideways...scratched my glasses though. grrrr.

[infernalis]

Ouch Kim.....

[Will0W783]

It was not fun. I had hoped I'd never have to find out what being face-bitten felt like. It didn't hurt as badly as I thought it would, but then she only hit me with the one side of her mouth. As soon as I came back downstairs with paper towels all over my face, everyone started cracking up....it was too much. lmao.

[infernalis]

Several years ago Dorothy was holding a tiny brown snake right up close to her face (My precious girl Xena RIP) and Xena latched right on to the tip of Dorothy's nose.http://www.thamfriends.com/forum/images/smilies/yikes.gif

That snake had never bit before, and never bit again. I think that point blank facial confrontations are a reptiles worst nightmare.

[Will0W783]

Yes, I do not generally hold them right up to my face. This girl was being allowed to crawl over my shoulders and body as she pleased. Her head was down by my elbow and then, BAM! She just launched at my face. RTBs are usually pretty calm, cool snakes too...this came as a surprise.

[presspirate]

I'd have to guess face shots to be the worst. Not much muscle in the face and everything is soft and sensitive.

[Will0W783]

Actually, I got tagged in the forearm by a 8.5-foot SD retic and that was more painful. Although the face shot was awful too...the cheek stung like heck, but under my lip didn't really hurt that badly. It was nasty, but not as bad as I thought a face shot would be. She did only hit me with about half her mouth and sideways, so a lot of the force of the strike was lost.

[marvelfreak]

Do i have to ask? Any pics? lol

[Will0W783]

I didn't get any fresh bite ones because I got into a rather ugly fight with the fiance over the bite and my handling of the snake that allowed her to get strike range to bite me. I will try to get some tonight...the bite marks are all still there, so it should be a decent shot..lol.

[marvelfreak]

Cool. I know after getting tag twice in the nose by the baby retic i use to have. It made me super jumpy for a while anytime any of my snakes got to close to my face.

[Aaron_S]

Yes, I do not generally hold them right up to my face. This girl was being allowed to crawl over my shoulders and body as she pleased. Her head was down by my elbow and then, BAM! She just launched at my face. RTBs are usually pretty calm, cool snakes too...this came as a surprise.

Really? You consider this a surprise? I think you should mention in your posts for the all new snake owners that handling an animal for an extended period of time, in front of others, when first receiving it to be a bad idea. It's a high stress time and you really deserved this one.

[percey39]

Good luck with the future pairings Kim, I hope you get some absolute stunners.
Cant say i have ever been bitten on the face and really hope i never do! I would love to see pics as well.

[Freebody]

Ouch, i hope it didnt leave any scars on that pretty face of yours :) GL with the moonglows, im going to be breeding my triple het female with my double het snow male i got a few weeks ago as well, but mine wont happen as soon as yours so your going to have to keep me updated to your succes :)

[Will0W783]

Aaron, I believe I did mention that it was my fault, and I deserved it. However, you just had to insert your opinion as usual. But, in all fairness, for all new snake owners out there, do not let a new snake, or any snake for that matter, near your face. This new snake was not near my face, but down by my elbow, when she turned and shot up. It was the one second I was distracted, and that is when they always get you.

[marvelfreak]

Kim still waiting to see pics. PLEASE!:) lol

[Will0W783]

All right, here are the pictures. It wasn't a very bad bite..the only real marks are some small teeth marks under my bottom lip in the one picture and the small puncture wound on my cheek in the other picture. I should not have been holding her for as long as I was after she'd just arrived...poor thing was probably stressed out. I usually place new arrivals in their cages right away and leave them alone for a few days, but I got to talking with my friends who'd brought her and wasn't paying attention (learn from my mistake, guys, hopefully no one else gets whacked in the face, lol). They're bad pics, but it was my cell phone.

[marvelfreak]

That one nice thing about nonvenomous snake bite they're almost never as bad looking as you would think. I bet it doesn't even hurt anymore. Good to see it didn't do any real damage. So how is she doing?

[Will0W783]

She is doing fine. I think she is going to go into shed, as her eyes looked a little hazy last night. That could also have contributed to the bite. The only handling I have done since was to remove her from her quarantine cage and give her a Nix treatment. I did not see any mites on her but I always give at least one treatment to be safe.